CHITRAL, Nov 14: People here have called for the restoration of PIA flights between Islamabad and Chitral. They criticised the airline management for cancelling “the service on the pretext of lack of passengers”.

They said the flights were discontinued as a result of PIA management’s failed policy to show that the route was not commercially viable.

Addressing a press conference, a local PPP leader, Fardad Ali Shah, said the suspension of the service was a conspiracy against the Chitralis and it had nothing to do with commercial feasibility.

He said his party, if elected, would resolve the issue on a priority basis once and for all so that people in Chitral continued to avail of this facility. Meanwhile, the Chitralis working in southern cities of the country have urged the government to increase the number of Islamabad-Chitral flights to two on daily basis till the closure in December of the Lowari Pass for road traffic.