Work on Yarkhun bridge begins

Chitral Update Report
ISLAMABAD: Work on the damaged jeepabale bridge connecting the
Yarkhun valley of Chitral with other parts of the district
has been re-stared after about five months.
The bridge was washed away in August 2006, cutting off the
valley of over 40,000 people from the outside world. Since
then the people of the area have been awaiting the
reconstruction of the vital bridge but the government has
failed to complete it even after the lapse of over two
years.
So far work on the Rs7.9 million project has been started
and abandoned three times. Last time, a contractor resumed
work on the directives of the newly-elected MNA and MPA
but after drilling a few bores left the site in May as the
water level increased with the coming of summer. Though
officials say the project would take three to four months
for completion, people of the area are still not sure
whether the bridge would be reconstructed even by next
summer.

Face of man accused of women trafficking blackened in Chitral

People belonging to all walks of life in Chitral
have demanded stern action against a resident of Bakarabad
for his alleged involvement in women trafficking.
The local people also alleged that Mhmoor had been
selling innocent girls aged between 13 and 18 years
to old aged people from down districts after getting
huge amount from them under the pretext of arranging
marriages.
The local residents and workers of Anjuman Dawat Azeemat
beat him up and blackened his face and paraded him in
the bazaar. He was later handed over to police who
registered an FIR against him under the charge of
women trafficking.
The police also lodged a cross-FIR on the complaint of
the accused and arrested two members of Dawat Azeemat
for attacking him.
As a result, hundreds of students of different colleges,
members of the said NGO and trade unions protested
against the arrest of the two members of the NGO who
were produced in a civil court in presence of hundreds
of students.
The angry protesters also chanted slogans against police
and demanded action against the administration and
transfer of the DPO. The police refused to provide
any comments on the issue.--GH Farooqui

Five cases of violence against women in Chitral in three months

PESHAWAR: As many as 261 cases of violence against women were reported in the NWFP from July to September 2008, said a report released by civil society organisations. Five of them were registered with the Chitral police.

The quarterly report on violence against women was compiled by Aurat Foundation and Violence against Women Watch Group in collaboration with Trocaire. The data has been collected from newspaper reports, hospitals (medico-legal reports) and two women crisis centres. Aurat Foundation resident director Shabina Ayaz said out of a total of 261 cases, 97 were reported in Peshawar district, 39 in Mardan, 21 in Charsadda, 13 in Nowshera, 12 in Swat, 11 each in Mansehra and Swabi, nine in Buner, six each in Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan, five each in Chitral, Kohat, Haripur and Malakand, four in Upper Dir, two each in Tank and Lower Dir, one each in Karak, Batagram, Kohistan, Shangla, Bannu district, and Mohmand and Bajaur agencies. She said the nature of violence was murder, head and body injuries, kidnapping, honour killing, suicide, customary practices (Vanni) and domestic violence. According to the quarterly report, total number of victims in 261 cases is 312 out of whom 265 are women and 47 men. The reasons for violence are family and property disputes, refusal to marriage proposals, illicit relationship, spying against Taliban, poverty, dispute with in laws, forced marriages, domestic violence, ransom and several unknown reasons. Out of 261 cases, 210 were registered with the police (first information reports), 27 unregistered and there is no information about 24 cases whether they were registered or not. It has been observed that most of the violence cases reported from Peshawar are from Urmar, Mathra and Tehkal, villages adjacent to the provincial capital.

Bids for trophy hunting invited

The NWFP wildlife department has sought bids from hunters/outfitters for hunting permits of 10 Himalayan ibexes and four Kashmiri Markhors under the trophy hunting scheme in Chitral and Kohistan districts
Advertisements are being floated in the press and bidders are asked to submit their offer till October 31, said Chief Conservator Wildlife Dr Mumtaz Malik.
In order to attract maximum number of hunters and advertise biding internationally, the advertisements will also be notified in all the leading newspapers of English and Urdu languages and websites of international organizations dealing with wildlife, he added.
After completion of the bidding process, permits will be issued and hunting will start from December 2008 to March 2009.
He said the trophy hunting will be permissible only in community game reserves in district Chitral and Kohistan.
About terms and conditions of hunting, Dr Mumtaz said every hunter desirous of hunting markhor in Chitral will be required to buy hunting permit for Himalayan ibex as well. Last year, four Markhor permits were sold for Dollar 81,000, 68,000 and 58,000, respectively while Himalayan ibex permits were sold for $3,000 each.
Big Game Shooting License Fee of $100 will be charged in addition to the trophy hunting permit fee.--APP

Preparations to welcome Aga Khan in full swing in Chitral

The Ismaili community in Chitral donated 400 cattle (yaks, goats, sheep and cows) as well as precious carpets and handmade items to Darbar Fund to express joy at visit of their spiritual leader to Chitral that is expected in mid-November.

These cattle were sold at Booni and the fund was deposited with Darbar Fund. MNA from Chitral Shahzada Muhauiddin was chief guest on the occasion of cattle sale point (mela) while MPA Ghulam Muhammad, Tehsil Nazim Mastuj Shahzada Sikandar and other notables of the area were also present on the occasion. Thousands of people visited the mela.
This is the first time that all expenditures for Prince Karim Aga Khan’s visit to Chitral would be borne by the local faithful. The cattle and other items were donated on the appeal of Sardar Hussain, convener, Darbar Fund, Chitral.
All expenditures of the visit would be borne by the Darbar Fund and the spiritual leader and 49th Imam of the Ismaili community would be given a tumultuous welcome on his arrival. Sardar Hussain, regional convener of Darbar Fund, said their target for the fund was Rs10 million in which some six million had been collected from local Ismailis. He said uniformed volunteers had arrived from Boroghul and Yarkhun valley, hundreds kilometres away from here. A handicrafts and local fruit-exhibition show was also arranged side by side with the mela.
Kaneez Fatma, coordinator of Meraman Project, funded by empowerment through creative integration, had arranged the exhibition. She said some 380 local women were trained in different handicrafts and marketing.--Agencies

Shortage of technical staff mars uplift in Chitral

Report Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: The shortage of technical staff in the works and services department has affected pace of development activities and projects worth millions of rupees have been put at stake, sources said on Friday.
The sources said that the post of deputy director of water and sanitation was lying vacant for the last six months while three posts of assistant directors and seven sub-engineers were vacant for the last one year.
The apathy of the government could be gauged from the fact that the department was being run by only a single sub-engineer for execution of two projects worth Rs100 million at Drosh and Booni, the sources maintained.
There were scores of other small and medium sized water supply and sanitation projects work on which had either been stopped or being carried out using substandard material due to the absence of competent engineering staff, the sources further said.
They said that due to shortage of staff projects of roads and buildings were being affected adversely, as only three sub-engineers were presently available to cover the whole district, adding the district was also going to be deprived of its due share in the annual development programme (ADP) for the forthcoming fiscal year.
They said that many projects of vital importance had either been dropped or could not be completed within the stipulated time.
They said that detailed estimates of different schemes were to be submitted to the provincial government to be included in the draft proposals of the ADP but the capacity of the works and services department was not that much to prepare the documents by December this year.
When contacted, district nazim Maghfirat Shah said he had been trying his best to fill the posts but without success.
He alleged that the provincial government was turning a deaf ear to his requests as the departments provided basic and primary infrastructure facilities to the people and any inertia at the government level could not be afforded.
Mr Shah said that area-wise Chitral was the biggest district in the province and thus needed more manpower to timely complete the development projects and repair and maintain the existing road and water supply infrastructure.
He said that the nazims of various union councils had even warned to lock out the district offices of the departments if the vacant posts were not filled within two weeks.