LOWER DIR: Activists of Jamaat-i-Islami on Saturday staged a sit-in and organised a walk on the under-construction Kalpani-Talash Bypass to protest the prolonged delay in the project’s completion, which has remained unfinished for the last 10 years.

Speaking on the occasion, JI Talash zone chief Maulana Javed Iqbal, tehsil deputy emir Mohammad Raziq, Dr Noor Mohammad and the party’s political committee president Malik Taj Mohammad termed the delay in completion of the 10-kilometre road a “slap in the face of the government.”

Talking to reporters on the occasion, the speakers warned that if work on the project was not resumed immediately, the party would launch a protest campaign after its public gathering scheduled to be held in Timergara on May 17.

They urged the provincial government and local lawmakers to take notice of the issue and ensure early completion of the project.

They said the road was not only important for Talash but would also benefit nearly five million people across five districts once completed.

The Kalpani-Talash Bypass was approved in 2016 during the government of former chief minister Pervez Khattak. Construction work formally began a year later, while compensation was also paid to landowners for the 10-kilometre-long and 33-foot-wide stretch of land acquired for the road.

Local MPA Malik Shafiullah had told reporters a day earlier that the communication and works department had submitted a revised PC-1 of the project to the finance department, which had already been approved, adding that funds for the scheme were expected to be released soon.

Meanwhile, sub-divisional officer of the C&W department’s highways wing, Sajjad Ahmad, said around 70 per cent of work on the project had been completed, while the remaining 30pc would resume as soon as funds were released.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2026