Both Lowari top & tunnel closed to Chitralis

CHITRAL, Dec 28: The only land route connecting Chitral with other parts of the country was blocked on the Lowari top after snowfall early Saturday morning. In the meantime, the government has not opened the under-construction tunnel to allow the stranded people to reach their destinations. But sources told this scribe that vehicles of influential people and those having connections with the NHA officials were being allowed to use the tunnel while the common Chitralis were rudely turned back from both sides of the tunnel. Although Peshawar High Court and a civil court in Chitral have already directed the departments concerned to keep the tunnel open three days a week, there seems no one even to implement the verdicts. Haider Ghazi of Chitral told this scribe on phone from Lowari tunnel southern portal on Saturday that some 50 vehicles had reached there at 8am from Peshawar and Islamabad but due to the closure of the Lowari top and the tunnel, the passengers were stranded amid freezing cold. He said the passengers also included women, children and elderly persons. The people of Chitral have demanded that the government without any delay should open the tunnel to facilitate the passengers in travelling to and from the valley without any trouble.  ]]>