Muhammad Abbas of Gilgit – Baltistan to represent Pakistan in Vancouver 2010
A view of the Naltar Ski Resort - PT File Photo
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani skier Mohammad Abbas, a native of Naltar valley in Gilgit – Baltistan, became the first man in the country’s history to qualify for the the Winter Olympics, to be held from Feb 12 in Vancouver, Canada.
A ceremony was arranged at the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad to honour Abbas.
Canadian High Commissioner Randolph Mank, office-bearers of the ski federation, Abbas, politicians and diplomats attended the ceremony in large number.
Abbas was part of a group of eight Pakistani skiers that undertook a nine-week advanced training-cum-competition tour of Europe early last year in a bid to earn points and qualification for the Winter Olympics. A skier automatically qualifies for the Winter Olympics if he has an average of 120 Federation de International Skiing points, something which was expected of at least half the team but only Abbas could manage.
Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP), led by its President Air Marshal Shahid Lateef, had sponsored the trip and had in fact been providing financial, logistical and coaching support to the selected skiers for the past couple of years.
Abbas and almost all members of the team belong to Gilgit – Baltistan which is the home to the country’s top ski resort at Nalter, near Gilgit.
2 comments February 8, 2010
Gojal clamours for urgent attention
by Zulfiqar Ali Khan
A month has already passed since the devastating landslide of Atabad Hunza. KKH, the lifeline of communication between Pakistan and China lies blocked. This situation coupled with the already poor communication infrastructure in Gojal area has increased the miseries and danger to the lives of the 25,000 inhabitants of the area.
The experts monitoring the water level in the lake formed as a result of the landslide estimate the water inflow in the lake at 200 to 250 cubic foot per second. This is raising the level of the lake by an average of 2.6 feet per day. Presently the lake stretches to about 11 km towards Gulmit and it is estimated to further increase to about 25-30 kilometres towards Hussaini village.
The water has already inundated 900 kanals of land and thousands of orchards in Ayeenabad and Shishkat Payeen (lower), besides submerging 11 houses while others are watching haplessly and waiting to see when their houses go under water that has also damaged the electricity and telephone infrastructure. According to experts, the height of the potential spillways point is still 79 meters from the present water level in the artificial lake.
The Frontier Works Organisation is working as the coordinating agency of Army on the excavation of the spillway. The Rs54 million project was started on Jan 29 after completing a 600 meters approach road, eleven days after the disaster.
The authorities have given March 15 as deadline for the release of the water. The slush debris is hindering the pace of work. Presently about 60 workers with four excavators, four bulldozers and one compressor are engaged in the work on the site.
According to FWO about 13,952 cubic meters of the total 112,500 cubic meter (13 per cent) debris from the spillway had been excavated till Thursday.
The local people are, however, dissatisfied with the pace of work and demand deployment of more machinery to ensure immediate release of water to save the settlement in Gojal.
According to experts, the lake could submerge about 14,800 kanal of mostly cultivable land in Ayeenabad, Shishkat and Gulmit -3,000 kanal in Ayeenabad, 7,000 kanal in Shishkat, 3,000 kanal in Shishkat Payeen and 1,800 in Gulmit. The estimate further reveals that the lake could submerge 187 houses displacing 1,736 people — 32 houses in Ayeenabad, 157 in Shishkat centre and payeen and 10 in Gulmit.
The lake has already submerged 3.5km of KKH and could submerge about 25km of KKH from the blockade area to Hussaini village. Experts predict that the water could submerge the main bridge on KKH between Gulmit and Shishkat village within 15-20 days. This will cut off the more than 3,000 population of Shishkat village from the rest of the world.
The authorities are not ruling out the possibility of sudden bursting of the lake which could devastate the settlements downstream in Hunza-Nagar and Gilgit district. According to some reports, if this happens it would not only wash the settlements along the river but also damage KKH, bridges and other installations.
The district administration and Focus, an NGO, has established early warning system for the communities living in low-lying areas downstream. A similar blockade of the river near the present site in 1858 not only submerged the low-lying areas upstream but also washed areas up to Attock drowning about 1,500 Sikh soldiers.
Meanwhile, the eleven families of Ayeenabad who have lost their houses and properties in the lake are still unattended and the government has not yet registered them as IDPs. The people are living with host families without any proper relief. With the passage of time the number of displaced people will increase adding to the problems for the authorities.
An initial survey of FOCUS identifies three more potential disaster areas in Hunza-Nagar. NDMA should expedite efforts for a complete geological survey of whole GilgitBaltistan and plan accordingly.
Proper communication infrastructure like online banking facilities and internet service should be extended to Gojal in order to ensure proper communication disaster situation. DAWN
7 comments February 8, 2010
Safety of laborers working on KKH expansion project
Laborers working at the KKH near Murtazabad – Hunza, as part of the mega expansion project jointly being carried out by the Chinese and Pakistani government. Safety of these laborers is a serious issue being ignored by the contractors and governments.
One can generally see the Chinese workers employed for the same project wearing helmets and other safety gears but the local laborers are prone to all kinds of major and minor hazards. [Photo by Noor]
2 comments February 7, 2010
ISO activists protest against Karachi carnage
Gilgit – Activists of the Imamia Students Organization (ISO) protesting against the bombings in Karachi that targeted Shia mourners on Chehlum of Imam Hussain (AS)
Add comment February 7, 2010
Traders back from China, without fuel and flour
by Zulfiqar Ali Khan
HUNZA, Feb 05: The 26 member delegation of local traders and government officials retuned back to Sost from China on Friday without any success to bring along supplies of essential food and non food items for the 25,000 people of Gojal land locked due to the blockade of KKH.
Talking to this scribe, a local trader said that the Chinese Government not allowed the export of petroleum items. He said there should be a prior ministerial level negotiations to allow the supply on the base of humanitarian ground.
The traders informed this scribe that the price of 25 bag flour in China is Rs. 832, excluding transportation cost. They said the local people don’t have the purchasing power and on the other side there was no assurance of subsidies from Government side.
The local traders have however purchased 100 tonnes of fertiliser, rice, sugar, vegetables, cooking oil, noodles and some other items which are not as important as flour and petroleum items.
This situation has further reduced the hope of local people to get supply of basic necessities from China on humanitarian basis.
Meanwhile, about 500 people mostly students and patients from Gojal are stranded in Gulmit and Aliabad due to suspension of the helicopter services for last many days due to movement of VIPs and bad weather conditions. The local community has demanded of the government to ensure the service of an Army helicopter as due to the regular suspension of the service the local communities are facing a lot of problems. Talking to this scribe, some community members said that the present helicopter has the capacity to carry only 12 people or 20 bags of flour which is not enough to satisfy transportation needs of the twenty five thousand stranded people.
5 comments February 7, 2010
PT crosses ONE MILLION HITS
Pamir Times crossed a milestone tonight, entertaining 1, 000, 000 + visits, starting on October 23, 2007. 13, 223 comments have been approved and over 1600 posts have been made on the most popular blog of Gilgit – Balitstan.
Thank you dear visitors 
Noor on behalf of Team Pamir Times
14 comments February 6, 2010
[Pictory] Shishkat – Gulmit Bridge in danger
Photo of the Shishkat – Gulmit Bridge taken 3 days ago. The bridge will submerge in the artificial lake within two weeks according to reliable sources. Submerging of the bridge would disconnect Shishkat from rest of the valley.
Courtesy: FOCUS Pakistan
5 comments February 6, 2010
AGM of Silk Route Dry Port Trust held
by Farhat Ullah Baig
Sost, February 5: Annual General Body Meeting of the Silk Route Dry Port Trust was held today here at Hussainabad – Sost. Issuance of share certificates and dividends to the investors was discussed during the meeting. Dividends were also distributed among the shareholders.
The movement for release of Dry Port from the clutches of Ghazanfar Ali Khan’s family had resulted in the election of a new cabinet for running day to day affairs of the port trust. The previous cabinet had not been able to organize even a single general body meeting during its tenure.
1 comment February 6, 2010
Traders return from Xinjiang – China
by Farhat Ullah Baig
Sost, February 5: The first group of local traders from Gojal returned from Xinjiang – China today bringing along various items for the consumers. Four containers of goods reached Sost earlier today carrying the essential commodities of daily usage bought by the traders.
They were accompanied byMD of NATCO, Zafar Iqbal, and other offiicials of the local administration.
These traders were visiting China as part of the contingency plan developed by government for resuming supplies for the twenty five thousand strong population of Gojal valley.
Add comment February 6, 2010
Hundreds of Gojalis stranded as bad weather forces helicopter service down
PT Report
Gilgit, February 5: Vulnerability of the only access route to Gojal has been exposed by the changes in weather pattern. Choppers could not fly to Gojal valley and hundreds of people remain stranded in Gulmit, Gilgit and Aliabad, waiting for the helicopter sorties to resume.
Due to lake of adequate hotel facilities for the public in Gulmit a lot of difficulties are being faced by the stranded commuters. Similarly, in Aliabad and Gilgit low income people are forced to live in hotels for days, while waiting for the flights to take place.
The work on lake breach is likely to take over forty days and even after the lake water starts flowing out, work on the Karakuram Highway will remain untouched. In this scenario the people of Gojal are in high trouble and have demanded alternate mechanism for transportation, including the usage of motor boats in the artificial lake.
Add comment February 6, 2010
Nilofer Bakhtiar to raise Hunza situation in Senate
Video by Zulfiqar, Ikram Najmi & Ghazi Karim
HUNZA, Feb 04: Senator Nilofer Bakhtiar said that she will raise the issue of disaster in Hunza valley in the next senate session. She also said that she will convey sentiments and demands of the local people at the highest level and help resolve the issues they are facing.
As acting chairperson of PRCS Ms Nilofer said that Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) will establish its office in Hunza soon.
She said the society has provided 12 million worth relief goods to the affected communities since the incident of Jan 04. She also announced to establish vocational training center for the women to enable them to play a productive role. PRCS will deploy a doctor in the camp to help those people traumatized or developing psychological problems due to the disaster, she said.
The affected people appealed the Senator to provide scholarships for the students of the affected village in order to continue their education.
The community representatives also demanded of the PRCS to start relief operation in Gojal valley where 25,000 people are land-locked due to the blockade of KKH and theinundation of the low lying areas due to the lake advancement.
5 comments February 5, 2010
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2 comments February 4, 2010
