Corps commander in Boroghil to inaugurate road

CHITRAL, Nov 10: Corps Commander Peshawar Lt-Gen Khalid Rabbani on Sunday morning flew in a helicopter to the far-off Boroghil valley of Chitral to inaugurate the reconstructed portion of Boroghil road. He was accompanied by commanding officer Chitral Scouts Col Naeem and other military officers. Gen Rabbani will inaugurate the Dubargar-Boroghil portion of the strategic road built by the Army Engineering Corps. It may be noted that in October 2012, Rs157 million had been approved by the provincial government for the widening and repair of the track to Boroghil, the border valley of Chitral along Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor. The 135-km-long road from Mastuj to Boroghil is being built in phases. Located in the extreme north-east of Chitral, Broghil valley borders with Afghanistan in the west and China in the north-east. Except during the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when food and fodder for the cattle-keeping inhabitants of the remote valley were airdropped, successive governments have ignored the area. The intensity of Boroghil’s backwardness can be judged from the fact that its first primary school was opened only a few years back. In July 2011 militants, intruded into Chitral from the Nooristan province of Afghanistan and killed over 40 personnel of Chitral Scouts. Soon after the incident, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani visited the border areas in Chitral. During his visit to Boroghil valley, the army chief was reported to have expressed serious reservation over the inaccessibility of the area due to absence of road and telecommunication facilities]]>