Grinding to a halt: Lowari Tunnel closure spreads misery

Locals demand passage should be open three days a week.

CHITRAL: Chitral residents travelling to their landlocked district are at the mercy of freezing temperatures and a dark tunnel. 

Some have to brave the elements for more than 12 hours outside the still under-construction Lowari Tunnel without any kind of facilities.

Mohammad Ishaq, a local, told The Express Tribune his travel to Chitral from Peshawar took about 24 hours. “It was torture,” he said, adding there was no hotel near Lowari Top to provide shelter or food.

Locals blamed elected representatives for their plight, saying they paid no attention to the miseries faced by people.

They pointed out there were about 10 to 15 transport companies sending people to the district from Qissa Khwani in Peshawar and its nearby areas.



Chitral-bound coaches depart in the evening from illegal bus stands operating under the protection of the local police, alleged locals. They arrive at the southern end of the Lowari Tunnel in the wee hours of the morning.

Passengers then have to undergo the grueling ordeal of waiting for about 10 to 12 hours outside the tunnel which opens twice a week on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. However, authorities do take exception in some cases and open the tunnel to facilitate locals and increase the flow of traffic. Nonetheless, keeping the tunnel only open for the prescribed hours over the weekend causes women, children and elderly tremendous hardship.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.