CHITRAL, April 10: Tanzim-i-Tahaffuz Huqooq Chitral Convener Maulana  Abdul Akbar Chitrali has said that his organization has chalked out activities to press the government to commence work on the Lowari tunnel.

Talking to Dawn, he said the shops will remain closed on April 15 in Chitral and Jahangirpura, Peshawar, where there is a concentration of the Chitrali community.

He said the proposed long march to Islamabad from Chitral on May 1 had been deferred due to the referendum.

He said that the people of Chitral had united under the banner of the TTH, setting aside all other affiliations, as the communications problem had become a question of life and death for them.

He said the people of Chitral had connected the success of the referendum to announcement by the government to commence work on the tunnel.

The polling stations will remain deserted if the government did not meet the demand, he said.

Maulana  Abdul Akbar Chitrali corner meetings of the organization in the major towns of the district had proven that the masses desperately wanted an all weather road.

He made it clear that the organization had no political motive other than the Lowari tunnel and it is due to this reason that all the district leaders of the political parties and their workers had joined the TTH on the one-point programme of construction of the Lowari tunnel.

PPI adds: The residents from Chitral, in a meeting of the Tanzim-i-Tahaffuz Huqooq Chitral in Peshawar, told the military setup that if the construction work on the Lowari tunnel was not started immediately, they would desist from taking part in the referendum.