MANSEHRA: The people of Siren Valley have launched efforts to revive the British-era Monroe Track on a selfhelp basis after the forest department failed to carry out its planned rehabilitation and establish tent villages and service spaces for trekkers and nature lovers.
‘British government officials used the track to travel from Siren Valley to Kaghan Valley through dense forests. The forest department planned its rehabilitation in 2022, but could not execute the plan, prompting local volunteers to start repairing it for four-wheel drive up to Kundbangla resort,’ Nayyar Shahzad, a local mountaineer, told reporters.
The 66km-long track, built by the British government in 1906, was abandoned after the country’s independence in 1947, but people and trekkers from the Siren and Kaghan valleys still use it during the summer season.
Mr Shahzad said trekkers used jeeps to travel from Shinkiari toKundbangla facilitation centre and then to Kamalban in Kaghan Valley through the dense forests and soothing environment of Shaheed Pani, Nadi Bangla and Lalian Danna.’The local community is actively working to revive the track,’ Mr Shahzad said.
‘The forest department, as part of its plan to create opportunities forrespectable livelihoods for the communities settled along the ancient track, had planned to establish tent villages at four places besides creating sitting spaces, but nothing haspractically happened on the ground, Mr Shahzad said.
FOUR INJURED: Four people were injured when armed men opened indiscriminate fire on the KhatainDa-Galla toll plaza on the Karakoram Highway here on Saturday evening.
‘We have shifted the injured to the hospital,’ Amir Shahzad, SHO city police station, told reporters.
According to witnesses, an armed group allegedly led by Sardar Shahzad and Raheel Tanoli stormed the toll plaza. They opened indiscriminate fire, leaving two toll plaza workers and two passersby injured. The attackers fled the scene, leaving their vehicle behind.
A police contingent rushed to the scene and shifted the injured to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, where the condition of one of them was stated to be critical.
The injured were identified as Shafgat Mian and Hassan Shams, employees of the toll tax management; Mohammad Jamil, a resident of Islamabad, and Mohammad Sartaj, a resident of Abbottabad.
The SHO said preliminary investigation revealed that the armed group had an enmity with the toll plaza management over its control and some other properties.
The police lodged an FIR into the attack.