CHITRAL, Nov 9: With the arrival of winter, unskilled labour force of high altitude Chitral has begun migrating to lower regions in search of work.

Autumn is the season of wheat cultivation in the lower districts and the unskilled labourers of Chitral district hope to find jobs there as farmhands.

According to data collected by a non-governmental organisation, the number of unskilled and unemployed labour exceeds 50,000 in Chitral district’s total population of about half a million.

Irfan Ali, an enumerator of NGO, told Dawn that the limited employment opportunities in the district for unskilled labour reduce to almost zero in the four months of winter.

“More than 80 per cent unemployed youths go to Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore only from a single union council of upper Chitral in this season,” he said. He added that they returned to their native area at the end of spring season when they were needed to work in their fields.

Mr Ali said that during the winter season, only elderly men, womenfolk and children or government employees remained in the villages. “By effective natural resource management, the tremendous potential of the unemployed youth can be exploited which will lead to general prosperity in the area as presently the natural resources go unexploited,” he added. He said that no earnest and affective effort had ever been made to provide self-employment opportunities to the youths. He said that the prevailing poverty in the area debarred the labour force to seek an employment in the overseas because one had to spend quite a heavy amount to get a working visa and meet the travel expenses.