November 3, 2001	Saturday	Shaba’an 16, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The government authorities struggled on Friday to clear boulders and armed pro-Taliban tribesmen who have closed the Karakorum Highway for over a week to protest against the government’s support for the United States, witnesses and officials said.

The highway that snakes along the ancient Silk route was still closed on Friday despite an announcement on Wednesday that the blockade had ended. Officials said huge boulders blasted from the hills and a few defiant men had delayed the opening. “We have cleared the entire road in our area, but there are still some problems in the Kohistan area,” a senior Northern Areas official told Reuters by telephone from Gilgit.

“There the local authorities say that some armed men have not given up their positions on the peaks,” said the official, adding that he expected progress later in the day when religious leaders met them.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of trucks and buses, have been unable to move on the highway, the only road to the region.

Maulana Shamazai was leading a group of religious leaders and government officials approaching each blockade to persuade tribesmen to end the protest over the government’s support for the US-led attacks in Afghanistan.

“We are fed up of this. The government says the blockade has ended but the road is still not open. What’s the use of such protests, creating hardship for your own people,” a resident of Gilgit said by telephone.

Senior government officials in Islamabad say that fortunately the blockade came when the tourist season was over and trade with China was cut by the closure of their border after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.—Reuters