Lowari tunnel closure

The scenically beautiful but remote Chitral valley saw the Lowari tunnel as its salvation, a hope now mired in anger, confusion and heavy snow. Before the tunnel was built, the valley was cut off during the winter months. It was impossible to traverse the Lowari Pass, which is precipitous and difficult even during the summer, and the valley inhabitants were inured to sitting out a grim winter every year. The Lowari tunnel was to ensure all-weather access to the valley, facilitate the summer and winter tourist trade and alleviate the worst of winter privations. A combination of events, natural and otherwise, has now led to the closing of the tunnel for the last three weeks and Chitrali representatives speaking at the Islamabad Press Club on January 16 talked of what they are terming a ‘humanitarian crisis’ in the valley as supplies cannot get through.

Despite the deployment of heavy machinery by the army, the snowfall is so great that they are unable to keep the approaches to the tunnel open, and as many as 600 trucks carrying essential supplies have been prevented from getting through from the Dir side. Hitherto, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had been able to keep the road open for two days a week, but the weather has defeated even this. Political finger-pointing aside, nothing can be done to mitigate the severity of the weather. There is a real and urgent need to get supplies into Chitral and that may mean an airlift if matters deteriorate much further. The tunnel — which is not yet fully completed — is a lifeline for Chitralis but it is vulnerable. Harsh winters are a reality that has to be planned for, and the Chitrali representatives may have a fair point when they say that the federal budget allocation is insufficient to maintain the tunnel in an all-weather condition. The valley has considerable potential as a year-round tourist destination, and it remains deficient of health and education facilities after decades of neglect at the centre. Chitral needs help, and it needs it now.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2014.

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