Mountain falls on entrance to Parsan road tunnel

Siraj Ulmulk

CHITRAL: The mountain side connected to a small tunnel built by people of Parsan 20 years ago collapsed burying the narrow passageway to the area on Monday.

The mountain came down in front of some villagers who were even able to capture it on their phones. Miraculously no one got hurt.

The story of the tunnel goes back 20 years. Its about a small pristine and scenic village called Parsan in Chitral. This village caught the attention of UNDP when the village people started saying that water had started oozing out of the floors and walls of their homes for no apparent reason.

When UNDP went to investigate they discovered that the many fresh water springs above the village had permeated down to the village floor and had started entering homes. The villagers were told that there was a danger that all homes built along the slope of the mountain will sooner or later loose their floors and crumble down. And that it was only a matter of time when even the homes on more level ground will become unlivable.
So many of the villagers migrated to safer places in Chitral but some still preferred to live and die in their ancestral homes.
A word about Parsan and its people. Although only an hours driving time from Chitral these people did not have a vehicular road to their village twenty years ago. Their only choice was to use horses (they still have a polo team) or walk with their lock stock barrel and belongings. It was their dream to see a vehicle, any vehicle, in their cute little village.

“Why not build a road ourselves” they asked one another. So they got down to it.

With picks and shovels they started digging into the mountainside. After years of effort they started seeing a road shape up but not before they chiselled into the rocky part. They even made a small tunnel in it. By then news reached Aga Khan Rural Support Programme ( AKRSP) the organisation which at that time was doing more than the government of Pakistan to bring relief to the people of Chitral. Officials of AKRSP visited the work site on the road and wasted no time to give a shoulder to the people of Parsan to complete their road project.
When the first vehicle, a Willys jeep, entered Parsan the people wept with joy. Their dream had come true.
This road became a symbol of resilience and strength to all the people of Chitral. It became the most talked about road in the district.

Tourists who had heard of this amazing feat of the people of Parsan would come to see just this marvel of road building through which they entered the high village of Parsan in their rugged 4WD vehicles.

The last time I travelled on this road to Parsan I was amazed to see so many foreign tourists dancing away with the few villagers who had decided not to shift away from their homes despite the hard ships they were facing. Among the visitors I also recognised lively Rizi Omar who has a special love for all mountains and whose husband Omar Rasool had put his heart into building a beautiful road from Chitral to Booni in 1989.