The protesters, including representatives of various organisations of traders, asked the government to open the under-construction tunnel for safe communication of the people in the winter. The protest demonstration was held outside the Peshawar Press Club. Carrying banners and placards inscribed with demands calling for the opening of the tunnel for two days in a week, the protesters criticised both the federal and provincial governments for playing with the sentiments of the people. “A child died due to severe cold near the tunnel but the authorities did not move to facilitate the stranded people,” said a protester. The protesters said they were living in Peshawar and other parts of the country but their families were still in Chitral but they had no road communication due to heavy snowfall and closure of the road. Expressing concern at the death of the boy while on way from Chitral to Peshawar for medical treatment, the protesters said the government should compensate the heirs of the deceased. They urged the federal government to fulfill its responsibility and expedite work on the tunnel to bring an end to woes of the public. They demanded the KP government to extend cooperation to the passengers stranded on either sides of Lowari Pass to avert any mishap on the Chitral-Peshawar road. The stranded people, they said, were in dire need of basic requirements and government should facilitate them.]]>