Funeral ceremony of 3 family members of Hayat Khan

Hunza, May 29: Twelve people including three children and five women were killed when an overcrowded jeep plummeted off the narrow mountain downhill 75 to 100 feet in Attabad village, about 25 km north of Aliabad, Hunza. About 6 people, hanging outside the jeep, jumped and saved their lives.

According to sources, three members of two families, each, and two members of two other families, each, lost their lives in the accident. Almost all of the people were close relatives. The names of the deceased persons are Hayat Khan, Khushan, Husnain Ali Ghulam, Bibi Khurshid, daughter of Bibi Khurshid, Bibi Shahri, Bibi Fiat, Ali Madad, Mehboob Ali, Salika and Wajahat (driver). Hadi Hussain (member union council), Shahbaz, Ajaz Karim, Nizam uddin, Piyar Ali and Walayat saved their lives by jumping off the jeep.

The accident is said to have occurred due to brake failure. The accident took place around 8 am when the jeep, full of local passengers, left for Aliabad, Hunza. The small mountain village is located at around 8500 feet above the sea level, with a population of seven hundred people. The village is prone to natural disaster due to large cracks in the mountains above it and, also, in the land, an extension of the mountain, making the village . The village is located at a distance of about 5 km above the KKH and can be accessed only through high power four wheel vehicles.

Hundreds of volunteers, scouts and FOCUS activists from the surrounding villages participated in the rescue efforts. Ikrammulah Baig, Chairman Aga Khan Social Welfare Board, Hunza, Fida Karim, Chairman, Aga Khan Economic Planning Board, Shama Lal, President Ismaili Local Council Hunza and members of Ismaili Regional Council Hunza were present to monitor the post accident situations. AKSWB has also made relevant arrangemnts for burial of the dead bodies. Due to lack of telephone facilities and being away from KKH, people faced problems to reach the village. Later on, Qamar, District Commissioner Gilgit, Khawaja Khan, President Ismaili Regional Council Hunza, Ghulam Ali, Secretary Ismaili Regional Council Hunza and other Jamati leadership visited the deceased families.

The villagers told Pamir Times that they have contacted the political representatives many a times for the widening and proper maintenance of the road but despite of repeated reminders they did not pay any heat and consequently this un-fateful accident occurred which claimed twelve precious lives.

Wednesday, May 28: ISLAMABAD: The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has adopted a two-pronged strategy for development of agriculture sector, which has helped bring down poverty in the Northern Areas.

“We have adopted a two-pronged strategy i.e. agriculture for poverty reduction and livelihood security and value and chain development in agriculture for improved access to markets for poverty alleviation in the area,” Izhar Ali Hunzai, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the AKRSP, told a seminar on “Agriculture for Development” here on Tuesday.

The AKRSP is the largest development network in the region and playing an important role in the socio economic development of the area. “Over 20,000 farmers have been trained in improved cultivation, post harvest and drying methods,” he remarked.

Izhar said that the AKRSP’s interventions in social and agriculture sectors had helped in improving the living conditions of the people, especially the common man and the poverty in the area had also been brought down to 25 percent. He added that under the strategy, holistic and community-based approach to the National Resource Management (NRM) and livelihood security, extensive farming through community-led infrastructure, land, water, pasture and forestry development, intensive farming to increase productivity through prevention of losses and introduction of new technology and improved management practices, a participatory Research and Development service interventions had been adopted.

Regarding the value chain in agriculture, he said that selecting promising sectors and sub sectors with potentially large multiple effect, social organisation for aggregating small surpluses to generate marketable volumes, agribusiness intermediation for inputs and services, and building capacities of farmers and service providers, small infrastructure, including farm to market roads, physical and virtual markets and strengthening public sector capacity for standards, certification, access top information and enabling fiscal and pricing policy were the aims of the project. The AKRSP revolves around community-based organisations with focus on rural development.

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