April 03, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428

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PESHAWAR, April 2: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has asked the NWFP government to declare emergency in the Chitral district and dispatch relief and rescue teams to the rain-affected area, where over 50 people have died in incidents of roof collapse and avalanches during the past two days.

In a statement issued on Monday, PPP leaders Rahimdad Khan, Syed Qamar Abbas and Zainul Abideen expressed grief over the deaths and condoled with the bereaved families.

They claimed that the federal and provincial governments had failed to restore power and telephone links to Boni, Shandoor and Broghal and a vast area had been cut off from the rest of the country for several days.

They said hundreds of people had been injured and marooned in Turko tehsil’s villages.

They said local people had so far recovered 33 bodies from the wreckage of houses and snow-covered pits, but they were facing difficulty in retrieving 13 bodies in Tarko and its adjoining villages. They said the villagers could recover only three bodies in Drangam village of Mulko tehsil. They said the people in the hilly villages had no contact with their relatives.

They alleged that the provincial government had not yet made any contact with the people of Garam Chashma, who had been without a land-link with the district headquarters for two weeks.

They said the number of casualties in the area had still not been ascertained and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government had not taken any step to airlift the injured. They said the residents ha recovered the bodies on a self-help basis.

They demanded that emergency should be declared forthwith in the district, communications link and power supply to the area should be restored and the people should be compensated for the loss of life and property. They also urged the government to send medical teams to the area.