Our special thanks are due to Chitral News for keeping us abreast of day-to-day happenings in our beloved motherland-Chitral. All the Chitrali people, especially those living out of the District are indebted to ‘chitralnews’ for its coveted services in the field of information. Every body has a natural attachment to his/her native land and that is why we look for a piece of news about Chitral in the pages of newspapers each morning. These days, every one of us anxiously awaits news related to work progress on the Lowari Tunnel Project - the lifeline of Chitrali people, and it is Chitral News which provides us with up to date progress reports.  It's recent report tells that tunneling is in full swing and 3.3 km tunnel has been completed including Chitral side excavation. It is really important and encouraging information. If the work continues at this pace then there remains no doubt to see our long wished dream coming true. It also insures that the project will be completed within the stipulated period (Insha Allah) and no one would ever venture to reverse it.

 Chitral has experienced a long period of complete oblivion in the past. We won’t be wrong to call it the dark age of Chitral. We had no strong voice to fight for our rights. The ruling junta gave no importance to this part of the country and neither did we have media support. It is a heart-rending fact that even well after the merger of the state very few of our compatriots knew that Chitral was a part of Pakistan.

In the sixties, our college class fellows enquired whether it was in Pakistan or Afghanistan, and we used to reply with bitter feelings that Chitral had been the first princely state to vote for joining Pakistan .

 This was the sate of affairs before Late Ataliq Jaffer Ali Shah got representation of Chitral in the West Pakistan Assembly. He was the first leader of Chitral who realized the unfair absence of adequate land communication facility for Chitral and took this problem very seriously and for the first time proposed Lowari Tunnel Project. It is said that most of the MNAs considered the proposal a ridiculous dream and mocked at the idea, but the honorable MNA continued his honest struggle until late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto materialized it in mid-seventies. We were unlucky that with the end of Bhutto government the project was dropped as ‘non-feasible’. The project remained dumped in cold storage for a long period of nearly three decades (courtesy our so called 'leaders').

The whole credit of revival of the Lowari Tunnel Project goes to President Gen: Musharaf alone.  Chitralis and their coming generations would remain obliged and indebted to him for this. We expect that at least no Chitrali should utter a word against President Musharaf and paint us an ungrateful people just for the sake of  politics  No public leader of to day should dare to claim and highjack the credit just like the ideology of Pakistan , which was hijacked by some political parties who were deadly opposed to it during the independence movement.

In the recent years, we have had two major developments, the initiation of the Lowari Tunnel Project and commissioning of Islamabad–Chitral Air Service. However, very few of us know the respectable hands working behind the curtain. We have the pride of having patriotic and sincere social workers, like Captain Shahzada Sirajul Mulk and  Wing Comdr Fardad Ali Shah who with no ‘testimony of public leadership’ have  rendered  their best  services  in the launching and monitoring of these two very important projects, without expecting any publicity and applause from the public.  May Allah reward them for their sincere services to their native land and the people- Ameen.

Sher Wali Khan Aseer,

Abbottabad

.