Lowari Tunnel is closed for traffic for past three weeks. PHOTO: FILE
Chitral valley is in grip of a humanitarian crisis due to closure of Lowari Tunnel, the sole land link between the valley and the rest of Pakistan.
The tunnel has been shut for the last three weeks creating shortage of food and basic supplies in the valley, said Prince Iftikharuddin, MNA from Chitral and member of the royal family that ruled the valley till its accession to Pakistan in 1947.
He was speaking at a press conference along with notables from Chitral at National Press Club Islamabad on Thursday.
The tunnel gets snowed in and despite deployment of heavy machinery by Army engineers the thoroughfare barely opens for a few days in weeks. The snowfall is so heavy and incessant that it remains humanly impossible to keep the track open.
Prince Iftikhar of Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) blamed the closure of the tunnel on the federal government.
He said it was sheer negligence of the federal government as it failed to keep the Lowari Tunnel open despite several requests made well before the advent of winter.
He appreciated Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for ensuring that the tunnel opens for two days a week, but demanded the federal government to keep the tunnel open for eight hours on a daily basis, although with the advent of heavy snowfall every effort has failed to keep the tunnel open for traffic. He said Lowari Tunnel has been blocked for the last three weeks due to snowfall, which has created serious shortage of supplies.
“About 600 trucks, carrying edible items, oil and other goods of daily use have been stopped from entering into Chitral at the Dir side of the tunnel by National Highway Authority, creating a humanitarian disaster,” he said.
He also flayed the government for the Rs1 billion allocation for Lowari Tunnel in last year’s budget, saying it should have been at least Rs4 billion. He recalled that in Gen Musharraf’s government, drilling of the tunnel was completed only in two years but the subsequent governments failed to complete the remaining work.
He warned that the people of Chitral must not be treated with discrimination, saying it was the only district which remained peaceful when Malakand division was taken over by the militants.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2014.
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Hello! the land of Nobel Prize winner in Science? Hello! the land of Nuclear Technology and Rocket science expert. Why the people who made fighter jets that can bring down F-16 cannot cross a snowy mountain to feed & reach their own people? Sir put aside politics and help fellow countrymen in the name of love for humanity please. Its a simple disgrace for the Siachin Eagles to have this tragedy nearby. There Russian, Chinese, Australian and U.S ships are working round the clock at southpole in -60°C to retreave their enemy with their boats even while loosing few of their own Ice breakers to the storm, whats up with this delimma here? We help other nations too in many life threatening situations why not our own people, Brave men?