NWFP Minister for Population Welfare Saleem Khan has said the federal government has approved the Tajikistan Road Project in principle to establish road link between Pakistan and Central Asian states via Chitral as this is the shortest and most feasible route in this regard.
Addressing a public gathering in his native village Garam Chashma in Chitral, the other day, the minister said the proposed road would provide access to Central Asian states to the sea via Pakistan and it would help promote trade and generate other economic activities in the whole region, including Chitral.
He said Prince Karim Aga Khan had struggled for the project, and the Aga Khan Development Network had agreed to fund the project. The minister said the government had allowed the people of Chitral to travel through the under construction Lowari tunnel during the upcoming winter season when the Lowari top was closed due to heavy snowfall.
Saleem Khan thanked the federal government, specially Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for including Chitral in the special package for Malakand division and said it would help compensate the losses of Chitral’s farmers which they suffered due to imposition of curfew in the region during the Malakand operation. In response to public complaints against the line departments of Chitral, he warned the concerned officials to redress the grievances of masses, otherwise, there would be no place for them in Chitral.
Source: BRecorder
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