Protest: Kohistanis block KKH to press for demands

Villagers protest against the recent demarcation of Kandia valley.

KOHISTAN:

Hundreds of villagers blocked the Karakorum Highway (KKH) suspending flow of traffic to China’s border for four hours on Tuesday to protest against the recent demarcation of Kandia valley.

The Kohistanis were demanding re-annexation of two union councils with Dasu which had been lopped off by the MMA government in the last few months of its tenure to grant Kandia valley the status of a tehsil. According to locals, both union councils are situated on the right side of the River Indus and the headquarters of their new tehsil is across the river which they said would create complications for residents of Sheetal and Harban.

They said the two union councils have been part of Dasu for the past several decades and their new demarcation was not feasible in terms of administration. They said if the creation of a new tehsil was an imperative, the government should declare Sheetal and Harban as tehsil headquarters without changing the status of Kandia. The villagers dispersed peacefully after the intervention of the local administration.

In another incident, hundreds of villagers affected by the Dobair Khwar Hydropower Project in Pattan, blocked the China Tunnel Road from KKH as a mark of protest against the delay in payment of compensation for last year’s flashfloods. While the Rs3.9 billion project was under construction, heavy flow of water from the tunnel had washed away hundreds of kanals of agricultural land during the flashfloods of 2010. After the project’s administration assured the angry villagers of taking up the issue with higher authorities, they removed the blockade after about five hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2011.