SHANGLA is a lush green, beautiful district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Its snow-capped mountains, green meadows, milky white waterfalls enchant visitors from across the country.

But behind the beauty is the ugly face of issues that have brought misery to the local people, especially the young ones, who hardly know about the beauty of their area.

This is so because the young ones from Shangla spend their time in black, dark, ugly, dangerous coalmines in Balochistan for hours every day so that they may be able to put food on the table back in Shangla where their family members live.

It is a disheartening sight when the relatives of these Shangla coalminers meet them during work and struggle to recognise them. They cannot even differentiate among their sons, fathers or husbands because coal dust paints them black from head to toe.

Our educated youngsters are deprived of their rights and education, which forces them to dig for coal 3,000 feet below the ground level.

I know how life could be working in such hazardous conditions, for I have lost one of my uncles in a coalmining accident. Our youths are frustrated with education system as there is no merit. The only merit is money; if you have it, you can get government jobs.

Shangla, despite being a backward area, has produced some prominent politicians, but they constantly ignore their own people and have forgotten the promises they have made and continue to make.

The government should give Shangla youth education and opportunities like people in other parts of the country have. They, too, deserve to lead a normal, prosperous life instead of working in killer coalmines far away from their homes.

Fawad Ali
Shangla

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2023