Staff Correspondent
CHITRAL: Residents of Brep and Yarkhun Valley have appealed to the Postmaster General (PMG) Peshawar to withdraw the decision to close the Brep Post Office and restore its services.
According to a statement issued by local residents, they recently learned that Sub-Postmaster Ali Ahmad Khan was preparing to close the facility and shift its furniture, stationery and official records to Mastuj.
The residents said local elders immediately gathered at the post office and stopped the sub-postmaster from closing the records and removing the office equipment. They said tensions rose during the incident, prompting police to arrive and bring the situation under control. The police subsequently urged the residents to continue their protest peacefully.
The residents said the Brep Post Office was established in the 1970s after local people travelled to Peshawar and submitted a request to the then Postmaster General Sardar Ali Sardar Aman of Booni, seeking postal services for the remote area.
They said the facility serves a population of around 35,000 people spread across approximately 158 kilometres and also provides banking-related services to the local community.
The residents said the area had suffered significant damage from floods in recent years, leaving many families facing financial hardship. They added that declining local economic activity had also affected the post office’s income, but the facility remained the only such service available to people across the valley.
They said the area lacked several basic facilities, including a hospital, electricity, college, paved roads and fibre-optic connectivity.
The residents appealed to the postmaster general to reconsider the decision and issue a notification for the restoration of the Brep post office, saying its closure would further deprive the remote population of essential services.