CHITRAL: The seasonal exodus of Chitralis to lower parts of the country with the onset of the harsh winter to find employment has left the local population – predominantly composed of the elderly and children –feel dreary.

Every year, as temperatures plummet and heavy snow blocks mountain passes agricultural activities and local commerce come to a halt, and unable to find employment during these dormant months, the youth pack their bags and migrate south.

Academics and social activists said this seasonal migration, a deeply ingrained economic reality for the region, highlights persistent unemployment issues in the district’s remote valleys.

Prof Hissam, teaching social geography in a college, said a majority of young migrants sought opportunities in the bustling urban centres and industrial areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, where they are liked for their robust physique featured by hilly areas.

He said Chitrali youth were readily employed in the shopping plazas, hotels and in homes as domestic servants as they are considered trustworthy for their gullible nature.

“I know many leading confectionaries, shopping centres, restaurants and jewellery shops in Peshawar where hundred per cent employees are Chitralis, which bespeaks their capabilities coupled with honesty and polite behaviour with the customers,” Hissam said.

Gul Aman of Oveer Valley, an elderly man while seeing off two of his sons in bus while departing for Rawalpindi, told Dawn that the earnings of his sons were his sole source of income, who will work in a building site there along with his villagers.

Pointing towards a group of youth filling a Rawalpindi-bound mini-bus, he said they were all from his village, who had been contacted by the contractor two weeks ago.

Hussain Ahmed, a former social organiser with an NGO working on poverty alleviation, said this cyclical migration pattern has been a great source of income for the area since 1950s. “These people return to Chitral by April to coincide with the agricultural season and warmer weather.”

He said winter migration has been the sole source of income for about 50 per cent households of the area where poverty and unemployment is common. Mr Ahmed said the elderly people also left the area for Peshawar and other cities to sell Chitrali caps in the streets.

“It is a tough reality,” Mr Ahmed noted. “We rely on the money they send back during these months. Without these remittances, many families would struggle to make ends meet until the spring planting.”

He called for sustainable solutions to reduce this forced seasonal movement by developing winter-resilient local industries, such as tourism-related services, vocational training in marketable skills, or small-scale winter agriculture initiatives, to provide year-round employment opportunities to people.

“Until then, the silent valleys of Chitral will keep waiting for the spring, when the youth folk return home, bringing back resources, experience, and renewed energy to their communities,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2025