March 16, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 12, 1424

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PESHAWAR, March 15: Chitralis stranded by weather in Peshawar are in a pitiable state, reduced to becoming prisoners of nature.

They can be seen in thousands in and around the buildings on the Mall, and Peshawar Cantonment. At the other end of the road are the province’s senior ministers and chief minister, indifferent to the plight of those who had voted for them in the last general elections.

Although the Chitralis have sent two MPAs and one MNA to the assemblies on the ticket of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), they have not seen any improvement in their lot.

The frequent cancellation of PIA flights, which are themselves insufficient in number, the chaos prevailing in the reservation office, the closure of the Lowari Pass and the insecurity of the Kunar route through Afghanistan, are factors holding them hostage in the provincial metropolis.

The flights used to be thrice-a-day in the early 1970s when the population of Chitral was 150,000. But, despite the fact that the number has spiralled to reach 500,000, the number of flights remains the same. The situation is similar in the PIA’s reservation office, where, for a common man, it is next to impossible to get a seat on a flight. The tickets are allegedly sold in the black market, outside the PIA offices, at a price triple that of the original one.

Because of heavy snow, the stranded Chitralis cannot leave through the Lowari Pass which remains closed for them. Passage through Afghanistan is fraught with danger. Some of them did, in a desperate attempt, try to cross the Lowari Pass but six of them lost their lives. Many tried their luck via the Kunar province of Afghanistan but were sent back to Peshawar by the Karzai administration. They returned to Peshawar with bruises, injuries and empty pockets.

Appeals to Prime Minister Jamali to allow the operation of C-130 flights as a remedial measure fell on deaf ears.

In the early 1970’s, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had Chitralis airlifted by C-130 sorties, free of cost. The Chitralis still nostalgically remember the time in 1975 when fodder for animals and bread for men were air dropped in the remote village of Boroghil, Chitral. Former Chief Minister Aftab Sherpao had moved Chitralis through helicopter sorties between Chitral and the Dir districts in 1996.

The fate of the Chitralis at present stranded by weather hangs like a question mark over the government. After staying in hotels in Peshawar for the last one month, waiting for a seat on a flight, they are strapped for cash.