April 16, 2007	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 15: The valley of Chitral is still reeling from the destruction wrought by widespread avalanches that killed over 70 people and paralysed the already poor communication infrastructure over two weeks ago.

Worse still, various tiers of government have failed to coordinate with each other and reach out to the affected people in the far-flung villages.

Besides, there have been allegations of misappropriation in distribution of relief items sent by the federal government. People in the worst-affected areas of Mastuj tehsil also alleged that the MMA government had sidelined them purely on political grounds.

The district government has even failed to realise the looming shortage of essential items as supplies have been suspended due to blocked roads from the main town to the far- flung villages in the over 14,800 square kilometres valley.

The tehsil nazim of Mastuj, where the most-affected areas are situated, has alleged that the district government of the MMA had even failed to send relief goods sent by the federal government to his constituency.

Hundreds of people including women and children have stranded in the main Chitral town, while in upper parts of the district transport vehicles and other machinery have stopped operations due to unavailability of fuel.

The villages have also run out of daily-use items like wheat flour, ghee, tea, pulses and kerosene, etc.

People of the Mastuj tehsil have staged protest demonstrations against the provincial government and accused it of deliberately ignoring the area, particularly from Reshun to Boroghil, since coming into power.

They said not a single penny had been spent in the area and development funds had been diverted to areas that traditionally voted for the religious parties.

“It is deplorable that the MMA government has left even the avalanche-devastated areas of upper Chitral in the lurch due to their particular political leanings,” they said.

They said two weeks after the disaster hit the area, people who lost their near and dear ones as well as houses and other valuables had been supplied only a 20kg bag of wheat flour, one kg tea and a blanket per family.

They asked the federal government to fulfil its promise and provide relief goods to the affected families on emergency basis. They also demanded that the government should declare the district as a calamity-hit area and write off agricultural loans of less than Rs100,000 owed by the people.

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