People's power in upper Chitral gets it done

The cliché that the real power belongs to people has been proved, yet again by the brave and resilient people of tehsil Mastuj, District Chitral. It took them just three days to accomplish this herculean task, what otherwise the inefficient and corrupt government couldn’t do in three long years. This remarkable feat of the great people of the region will always be remembered in golden annals of history. Certainly the people deserve our appreciation and applause.  On 4th of January, 2013; the villagers of Charun, Koragh, Zait , Reshun etc, opened the blocked side of the main highway which links Chitral to the northern areas. The road was  damaged in summer 2010 catastrophic floods. The district government initially maneuvered to build an alternative road above the original site, a thin road early used by the generations of British era colonialism. Since it was not even feasible for light vehicles so the failure of the district government initiative was quite obvious at the first place. Then the local villagers from the adjacent areas were able to find out their way by constructing a rough makeshift road alongside the river bank.  A dangerous temporary makeshift road, which was quite difficult for transportation, but anyway who needs head when knee can perform the same task. The local and provincial government with all delaying tactics, and mind-boggling strategies weren’t able to build a single inch of the damaged highway. The flooding of 2010 brought the whole country to a standstill. It inflicted great human and economic losses to an already unstable state of Pakistan. This natural calamity has taken thousands of lives, millions became homeless, and its effects had deteriorated the physical infrastructure of the country. According to the economic survey of Pakistan, 2010-2011; the floods of summer 2010 caused a staggering $10 billion loss to the national exchequer. The flood originated from the northern side of the country and ran through it creating havoc and chaos. Geographically, Chitral being on the front side where the heads of main river Kabul located was hit hard by the flood. Though there were minimal losses of lives, but the damages to the physical infrastructure was colossal. The main highway which connects lower chitral to upper chitral and then leads to Northern Areas was badly damaged, hence cutting off the upper parts of the region to the lower parts of the district in general and to the country in particular. The notion that the government which consists of self-interested people will take care of the common masses is just a mere illusion these days. In reality the true messiah of common people are people themselves. Whenever they believe in their man power, we find exemplary situations like these, where people’s cohesiveness and unity have done miracles, by accomplishing the task in just three days when the government completely failed to do the same task in three long years having all the state machinery at its disposal. This remarkable achievement people of subdivision Mastuj possessing true grit and firm resolution proves that there is no limit to human will and power. This example should serve as a lesson and an awakening call for the whole country to learn from. It clearly shows that man is indeed a creature with bountiful abilities at its disposal. The weiter, a resident of Charun, Chitral, is Research Associate at Human Resource Development Centre, IMSciences, Peshawar.]]>