Dispute within: Commuters suffer as KKH blockade continues

Kohistan, G-B residents lock horns over controversial piece of land.

KOHISTAN: Commuters continued to suffer on the third consecutive day as armed villagers from Kohistan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Diamer Valley in Gilgit-Baltistan continued their separate blockade of the Karakoram Highway.

Hundreds of Kohistanis have blocked the highway; the only land route between China, Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and the rest of the country. This is in protest against the ‘illegal’ occupation by G-B’s natives of a 10-kilometre strip near Basri Nala on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) by erecting a check-post. Kohistanis allege the area belongs to Kohistan district.



According to villagers, residents of Kohistan and G-B are likely to clash over the issue as both groups are armed and claim their right over the disputed land.

To end the dispute, Hazara Commissioner Abid Ali Khan, Hazara DIG Akhtar Hayat Gandapur and adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister from Kohistan Abdul Haq are also involved in negotiations with the local administration and elders of Diamer but have failed so far to end the blockade.

SHO Harban Javed Khan said the provincial government has engaged tribal elders of Kohistan and the situation is expected to improve by today. The protest, where security forces personnel have reached to prevent any untoward incident, has left transporters and families stranded on both sides of the highway.

Meanwhile, work on 4,320 megawatt Dassu Hydropower Project in Kohistan remained suspended for the fourth day as Kohistanis led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial legislator Abdul Sattar forcibly stopped construction work on the dam. They claim Wapda did not accept their charter of demands which includes compensation on market rates, jobs and other facilities.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2013.