CHITRAL: The residents of Karimabad valley on Sunday demonstrated on Chitral-Garam Chashma road in Shoghore village to reiterate their demands for restoration of flood-damaged roads and suspension bridges in the area.

Led by former district naib nazim Sultan Shah and other activists, including Mohammad Yaqub, Jamat Bai, Syed Jamat Shah and Nazir Ahmed, hundreds of local residents reached the road on foot covering a distance of 32 kilometers to hold the protest at Shoghore village.

The protesters’ leaders said that earlier they had given one month deadline to the government but no repair work was started on the damaged roads and bridges.

They said that 13 jeep-able suspension bridges and the main valley road had been washed away by floods four years ago, but the government didn’t show any interest in restoring the communication infrastructure in the valley.

The protesters said that due to damaged roads farmers couldn’t ship their produce to market, thus inflicting huge losses on them. “The farmers have to use mules to transport their agriculture products to market, which puts extra financial burden on them,” said a protester.

The residents of Karimabad said that the valley was the most backward union council of Chitral as it had always been consigned to oblivion by the successive governments.

The protesters said that the road and the suspension bridges had been constructed by them on self-help basis.

They criticised the local MPA Salim Khan who, they said, didn’t render any service for uplift of the area.

The protesters warned the government of starting a long march towards the district headquarters and then onward to Peshawar along with their women and children to highlight the ‘injustices’ done to them.

Published in Dawn March 16th , 2015

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