Kohistanat stays cut off from Maimana 6 months a year

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Residents of the Kohistanat district of northwestern Faryab province complain of lack of transport routes linking them to Maimana.

Due to heavy snowfall during winter, they remain disconnected from the provincial capital for six months, the residents say.

In emergency, people have to travel on horses and donkeys. The sick are also shifted on animals through difficult terrain. At times, residents say, people deviate from the exact path and fall victims to snow and cold weather.

Lolash, 80 kilometres from the provincial capital Maimana, was upgraded as district centre in 1978. This district was considered a stronghold of mujahideen during the jihad following the 1979 coup.

In the Hamid Karzai era, Kohistanat district got its first administrative chief, Haji Zareef, an influential person.

The incumbent Taliban government has divided Kohistanat into two districts. The centre of one is Lolash. Bandar, 27 kilometres from Lolash, serves as the centre of the other district.

Local residents say since Kohistanat was upgraded 43 years ago, particularly in the past 20 years, no sketch has been drawn up for the main district road.

This is despite the fact that Afghanistan received billions of dollars in international aid in recent years.

Drivers try the pathways used by animals.  Syed Tajuddin, an elder from Bandar Kohistanat and the administrative chief, said the district was 135 kilometres from Maimana.

It remains cut-off from the provincial capital for six months a year due to heavy snowfall. Nobody could travel during those months.

He said this year heavy snow had not yet fallen and still the fare to Maimana was 1,000 afs while 150afs were charged per seven kilograms of food items. Healthy people fall ill while the sick die during the trip.

Saadullah, a resident of Bandar district, said Kohistanat is mountainous terrain, with no roads. Drivers follow animal trails in the summer/

He added critical patients and pregnant women could not be evacuated to Maimana. They often die on their way to hospital.

He said if government and international organisations do not help construct a proper road connecting Kohistanat with other areas, people of this district will not witness prosperity.

Habibullah Ajami, a young man from Bandar, said the people of Kohistanat faced several issues. But there is a dire need for the construction of a proper road.

He said due to the closure of pathways in the winter, life was crippled and agriculture harmed. In the winter, more people die and remain vulnerable to natural disasters such as drought and famine.

He called on the government to prioritise construction of the Kohistanat district road — a longstanding demand of residents.

Sahib Din, aka Khalifa Karzai, has been driving his flying coach on the Maimana-Lolash road for the past 10 years. He has witnessed several problems while travelling the route.

In addition to food items loaded on it, the coach carried up to 16 passengers. The driver claimed if he did not carry them to their localities, the passengers would die of cold.

Mullah Abdul Rahim, administrative chief for Bandar Kohistanat, said the district had 75 villages. Their residents are without electricity and roads. There are no medicines in its clinics. Its agriculture is far from developed, the education system in the district is also declining.

Despite the availability of funds and other resources, the previous government did not work for the uplift of the district and kept its people deprived of even elemental facilities.

“God willing, the Islamic Emirate will get stronger and problems of Kohistanat district would be addressed,” he hoped.

nh/mud

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