Travelling on Chitral-Peshawar road a nightmare

PESHAWAR, April 7: Passengers travelling on the Chitral-Peshawar road are facing immense trouble not only due to the blockade of the Lowari Pass but also in the hands of the police and other law enforcement agencies. On Sunday, passengers who left the Chitral town for Peshawar and Islamabad had to face road blockade at three points. The passengers had left Chitral at about 7am and when they reached at Pattay near Drosh, the Chitral Scouts stopped them at a check post for security reasons for about two hours. Later, when the passengers reached the Lowari tunnel and were supposed to be allowed entry at 12 noon, the security staff there kept them on waiting till over 2:30pm. At last, when the vehicles crossed the tunnel after about 3pm, the passengers had to face another road blockade due to flooding at a nullah in Meena. Here there was no one to help the passengers to cross the nullah as neither the local police nor the NHA officials came to their rescue. The passengers had to push the vehicles and cross the flooded nullah risking their lives. It took about 24 hours for the passengers, including women, children and elderly people, to reach their destinations in Peshawar and Islamabad. ]]>