CHITRAL: Residents of Bumburet valley belonging to the Muslim community have asked the government to desist from using their agricultural land for construction of dancing and worship places and a graveyard for the Kalash community.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, elders Mohammad Farooq, Khurshid Ahmed, Noor Mian and others said the Kalash community owned 80 per cent the land in the valley, but the local administration was acquiring the land owned by the Muslims under the Compulsory Land Acquisition Act.

They said the Muslim community had a very small landed property, and it was unjust to deprive them of it.

They said both the communities had long been living with peace and amity, but land acquisition step of the administration at the behest of some Kalash leaders would disrupt the peaceful environment prevailing in the valley.

PLEA FOR CASE AGAINST MPA: President of Tehreek-i-Huqooq Chitral Pir Mukhtar has approached the Booni police for registration of FIR against local MPA Maulana Hedayatur Rahman, Upper Chitral deputy commissioner, National Highway Authority chairman, secretary communication and works department and secretary relief department for their failure to save a section of the Booni Road from eroding into the river in Reshun village.

In the application, he contended that the nominated people were the custodian of the road but they committed negligence in fulfilling their duty to timely protect it from erosion, as a result, the district was cut off from rest of the country.

He said the road erosion had impeded the people’s free movement.

A police official told Dawn that they would be proceeding on the application after obtaining opinion of the legal branch.

Meanwhile, work continued for the second day on the construction of a makeshift route to restore the vehicular traffic after a section of the road fell into the river.

Upper Chitral deputy commissioner Shah Saud told Dawn that vehicular traffic would be restored within two days as the work continued round-the-clock. He said NHA officials were supervising the work and also considering different options to contain further erosion of the road.

On the other hand, the commuters continued to suffer due to closure of the road to vehicular traffic. They complained the NHA had taken over the road in January this year from the C&W department but failed to establish its maintenance offices in Chitral.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2021