Chitral roads: Suspension of work, use of poor material trigger protest

CHITRAL: The local elders and leadership of all the political parties on Tuesday expressed anger and anguish over the sudden suspension of construction work on the Ayun-Kalash Valley road and use of substandard material on the by-pass road in the town.

Speaking at a press conference, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Abdul Wali Khan advocate, Jamshed Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Fazal Rabi Jan of the Pakistan People’s Party, Maulana Abdur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl, Ghulam Muhammad of the Awami National Party, local elders and councillors and others said that the government launched construction work on the Ayun-Kalash Valley and other roads after the Peshawar High Court Chief Justice took notice and the movement by the local elders.

However, they said that the government stopped construction work on the Ayun-Kalash Valley road and started shifting the machinery. They also lamented that the by-pass road in the Chitral Bazaar was being built in a haphazard manner. “We will approach the court against this injustice being done to the people of Chitral,” said Abdul Wali Khan.

They said that the elders, leadership of all the political parties and local people would launch a protest movement against the government move as leaving the construction work on the Ayun-Kalash Valley road halfway was not acceptable to them.

The elders and local politicians also criticised the deputy commissioner for not giving compensation to the landowners despite his pledge of payment in the last week of November.

They said that it was a joke with people to stop work on the road and payment to the owners of land acquired for the Ayun-Kalash Valley road. They believed that district administration and the provincial government had committed contempt of court of the Peshawar High Court for which another petition would be filed with PHC.