Call to reopen roads in Tirah Valley

TIRAH: Residents and traders of Maidan area in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency have asked Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Inspector General Frontier Corps (IGFC) Maj Gen Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood to reopen Sheenkamar and Dwatoi roads forthwith.

Talking to The News, traders, shopkeepers and other residents asked the government to open the roads that link Sheenkamar and Dwatoi areas to Maidan area.  “Traders have been facing problems while transporting vegetables and fruit from Kohat, Hangu and Sadda to Tirah,” said a trader, Muhammad Usman Afridi.

He explained that he had paid Rs10,000 fare from Kohat and Rs6,000 from Sadda in Kurram Agency per loaded vehicle to bring them to Maidan area of Tirah and this expenditure on transport leads to increase in prices of vegetables and fruit.

“If Sheenkamar and Dwatoi roads to leading Maidan area are readied for traffic, it will benefit thousands of tribesmen from upper and lower Tirah,” he added. He stated that traders wasted days to bring goods from Kohat, Hangu, Sadda and Peshawar due to the long travel to Maidan valley.

Usman claimed that sometimes the vegetable and fruit were damaged on the dilapidated roads of Orakzai and Kurram agencies and also there is at least 150 kilometres distance in mountainous areas between Kohat and Maidan.

Another tribesman, Dr Shahid Zaman, said that the doctor community had been facing a lot of problems while taking medicines from Peshawar and transporting them via Kohat, Orakzai and Kurram agencies to Tirah for the last 10 years. Dr Shahid complained that sometimes the medicines also get damaged during the long travel between Tirah and other areas. He said several women of Maidan had died in delivery cases while being shifted to Peshawar.

“Sometimes serious patients being shifted to Peshawar and Kohat from Maidan expire on the way in Orakzai and Kurram agencies due to dilapidated roads and long distance,” he said.Khyber Agency Political Agent Khalid Mehmood said that Sheenkamar, Dwatoi and Maidan roads would be opened soon after repatriation of the displaced families from lower Tirah valley. He said that they had also discussed the reopening the Sheenkamar, Dwatoi roads with the security forces and other stakeholders.

“Due to militancy and continued operations against the proscribed militant groups, the roads of the lower parts of Tirah valley remained closed,” he said, adding that hopefully all the link and main roads would be opened for traffic soon.