Quake-hit people of upper Chitral to relaunch protest

Under the platform of Tehreek Huqooq-e-Awam upper Chitral, we had launched peaceful protests and last held a gathering of thousands of people at the Charun bridge on February 22.

But our local politicians and some government officials deceived us saying we should end our protest as the chief minister of KP was coming to Chitral to resolve the issues of the people, Muhammad Younus Khan Lal of Kosht told ChitralToday.

He said after the public protest in Charun, a delegation of the affected people was called to Chitral to meet the deputy commissioner during which they were informed that the provincial government had stopped further distribution of cheques among the quake-hit people due to unknown reasons. He said it is still not clear how much amount the provincial government had released for the payment of compensation to the affected people.

He said on the directions of the local administration, the affected people had submitted applications on stamp papers and their damaged houses were verified many times. But after the process was completed, they were told that the district administration had no money. He said that on the requests of the PTI leaders and Chitral administration officials, the Tehreek leaders suspended their protest ad waited for the visit of the chief minister during the spring festival and later the Qaqlasht festival but the chief minister did not come to Chitral and neither the issues of the quake-hit people were resolved.

Mr Younus said less than 4,000 people affected by the earthquake were paid compensation in upper Chitral against about 14,000 in lower Chitral even though the magnitude of destruction was severe in upper Chitral. He said the link roads to Kosht were still to be repaired while temporary bridges arranged over the rivers and streams would soon be washed away by the rising water. People of the area, especially students and patients would be the most hard hit, as the government failed to release funds for the reconstruction activities.

Sources in the government told ChitralToday that the KP government was not serious in the development and reconstruction activities in Chitral. At a recent meeting with some PTI leaders from Chitral, the chief minister openly expressed his displeasure and lack of interest in allocating funds for Chitral, saying all the provincial and national assembly seats along with the posts of district and tehsil nazims were won by other parties in Chitral.