Tight security for Lowari Tunnel staff ordered

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications here on Monday recommended “proper security” for foreign consultants and engineers working on the Lowari Tunnel project.

The committee meeting held in the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Saeed Ahmed Zafar expressed serious concern over the activities of criminal elements and militants against foreign technical experts in the country.

The meeting was informed that many engineers and experts belonging to China and other countries had been kidnapped and killed in Balochistan and the NWFP.

The committee called upon the authorities to ensure safety to the foreign workers at the Lowari Tunnel.



Taliban flexing muscles for Chitral?

Report Zulfiqar Ahmad

ISLAMABAD: After completely ruining the peace of Swat, Buner and
Dir, now the next destination of Taliban seems to be Chitral, the
largest district of Malakand Division.
Sources told this reporter that the next target of Taliban is definitely
Chitral, where they could not reach due to the closure of the Lowari
Pass for the last over five months due to snow.
They are flexing their muscles to show dominance in the valley as quite
a large number of their like-minded hardliners are already there, said the
sources. According to these sources, Taliban access to Chitral will
damage the peace of the valley to the point of no return as the population
of the district consists of three communities - Sunni, Ismaili and Kalash.
Expressing grave concern and fear over the possible shift of Taliban
to Chitral after opening of the Lowari Pass, Chitralis living in twin
cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad have demanded of the government to
deploy troops replacing the handful of paramilitary personnel on Lowari
top.
They said if the government did not take precautionary measures
to stop the Taliban from entering Chitral, soon the already backward
valley would present the view of Stone Age with no education and
other basic amenities of life.
They said Taliban will easily enter Chitral through Lowari Pass as
hardly five to six police personnel that too with meager arms
ammunition deployed on the way was no big threat to them.
The recent killing of nine personnel of Chitral Scouts in Dir by the
Taliban has sparked anger throughout the serene valley.
In Chitral, they said, everybody is Afzal Khan Lala. The people of
Chitral are the most peace-loving in the whole country and any
conspiracy to sabotage the peace of teh valley would be retaliated
with full force of the local people, they added.


Chilim Jusht festival from next week

By Our Correspondent

CHITRAL: Chilim Jusht, the spring festival of Kalash people living in the three valleys of Bumburate, Rumbur and Birir, will commence in the second week of May and continue for five days, activists of Kalash development said.

Preparations for the festival have been started and the Kalash people, both male and female, are seen in city markets busy in shopping for the occasion. They have gotten many suits of traditional clothes stitched, renovated their houses and replaced the old utensils.

The festival usually attracts a large number of tourists to the valleys, but the Kalash activists said the turnout this year might be low because of the security situation in the Malakand division.

They said that during the festival, the number of tourists to the valleys reached its peak and all the hotels and rest houses were occupied to their capacities by the visitors.--Dawn


Four SHO s awarded
CHITRAL: Four station house officers of Chitral were awarded cash prizes and commendation certificates for their outstanding performance in curbing the menace of drugs in their respective areas, by DPO Mohammad Saleem Khan Marwat here on Monday.

Those who received the rewards were Mohammad Khalid of Drosh, Ali Murad of Arandu, Zafar Ahmed of Ayun and Inayatullah of the Chitral city.--Zahiruddin