Last week I happened to visit once the most beautiful village of Chitral, Sonoghur, commonly known as Jannat (heaven) Sonoghur. The dreadful glacier burst and subsequent floods in 2007 has almost wiped half of this village away leaving behind huge heaps of stones in place of lush green fields, orchards and singing waters. Though the horrible disaster could not take away the usual smiles from the faces of its inhabitants, the laxity of the government has deeply disappointed them.

At present the people of Sonoghur are confronting two major issues. First, there is no proper bridge providing people of Sonoghur access to Parwak, a village across the river to do their business, work in their farm lands and attend schools. The local people have improvised approximately 400 feet long and 2 feet wide suspension bridge supporting water pipeline and use it as a crossing bridge for themselves. I crossed it during my visit to the village and looked into the eyes of my death from only a few millimetres. It was a nightmare and very dangerous experience. The bridge swings sideways and with each step it resonates to a level that can easily bounce anyone into the gushing currents of Chitral River. From Sonoghur side, the supporting ropes provide support to hold on to them which gradually sag down and level with the surface of the bridge near its centre and do not rise up again as one moves ahead. Therefore, after traversing a quarter of the bridge one is helpless and only good fate can save people from drowning into the river.

The second major problem confronting ill-fated people of Sonoghur is the absence of a proper road. Had there been a safe bridge over Chitral River people could have at least walked to Parwak to ride vehicles coming from Mastuj side. The road from Sonoghur to Miragram is cut off at Shichan gol for the last few years. The contractor has gone away with repair funds without completing a square inch of the assigned work and paying to the land owner. Therefore, the land owner does not allow local people to repair the road on self-help basis. The absurdity of the authorities has left people to face enormous communication difficulties for the last four years.

These two major issues could have been addressed at least partially by providing side ropes for the people to hold on while crossing the improvised suspension bridge and by repairing the road at Shichan gol. But the question is who will care for the people. The Chitral representatives at national and provincial assembly must be busy with their own business. Will the chief minister of KPK, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, president or prime minister of Pakistan take notice of the longstanding genuine issues of the people of Sonoghur whose life has been at risk for the last few years? -- Riaz Hussain,Madaklasht 10 Aug 2011

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