Protests in Chitral being banned

CHITRAL, Jan 22: The district coordination officer has said ban is being imposed on taking out protest processions against frequent and unscheduled loadshedding in the night time.
The DCO, Motasim Billah Shah, was speaking at the monthly meeting of the district peace committee held here on Thursday under District Nazim Maghfirat Shah.Mr Motasim said the credit for the peaceful and calm situation in Chitral went to the peace-loving people of the district.

He said the control room established in the district secretariat was open round the clock to receive information to maintain peace in the district.

The committee, comprising representatives of civil society organisations, different valleys and law-enforcement agencies, reiterated that to maintain peace and tranquillity in the district, opening of the Lowari tunnel for people was necessary. It said there was no threat to the peace of Chitral but the magnitude of problems due to the closure of the Lowari Top could create law and order situation.

The committee members said a large number of passengers were stranded and the district faced shortage of daily-use commodities, urging the government to open the tunnel for people for one hour daily.

The district nazim said the local government had approached the federal government to allow the people to use the tunnel to mitigate their problems.

He expressed satisfaction over the performance of the peace committee and assured it of full support.

To step up efforts of the committee, he announced constituting jirgas at the local level, which would also include the union council nazim concerned and officials of law-enforcement agencies.

The jirgas, he said, would hold periodical meetings to assess the hurdles at grassroots level and propose measures for their removal. Dawn