PESHAWAR, Dec 27: Former MNA from Chitral Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali on Thursday moved the Peshawar High Court to keep the Lowari tunnel open for traffic throughout the week.

Recently, NHA had decided to open Lowari tunnel, which connects Chitral with the rest of the province, for passenger vehicles on three alternate days of the week due to the construction work.

Under the decision, the tunnel remains open from 12 noon to 5:30pm on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In the petition, Maulana Chitrali, a central leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, prayed the court to declare the four-day closure of Lowari tunnel by NHA illegal and unconstitutional.He said Chitral’s current population was around 600,000 and Lowari tunnel was the only land route available to them during the winter season for traveling to other parts of the country.

The petitioner said the four-day closure of the tunnel had stressed out the patients needed to be shifted to Peshawar and other cities for emergency treatment, while the transportation of dead bodies to and from Chitral also suffered.

He also complained that the situation had subjected transporters to great hardships as they had to use the tunnel for the movement of food and edibles. Maulana Chitrali said the opening of the tunnel for three days a week and that, too, for a few hours was not enough and had aggravated the people’s problems.—Bureau Report