MANSEHRA: Despite being notified as a settled district in 2011, Torghar continues to suffer from a lack of basic health, education, road infrastructure, and other essential services.

Women and children are the worst affected, as the district has no higher secondary school for girls.

There is also not a single collegetoeducatelocalyouth,and those ambitious to continue their studies either have to move to the neighbouring districts in the Hazara division or the rest of the province.

The people here are still without adequate healthcare services, even after getting the status of a settled district through the presidential order in 2011.

Over 200,000 tribesmen dwell in mostly mud houses straddling the banks of the River Indus, still practicing centuries-old culture and traditions.

The jirga, which is the main feature of Pakhtun culture, is still a major public forum hereto decide peoples` affairs outside of the court.

The tribesmen and local bodies`representatives are furious at the government`s apathy towards resolving their issues as they are still without health, education, roads and other civic infrastructure.

`Over 14 years have passed since the status of a settled district was granted to the erstwhile tribal belt, but we are still deprived of fundamental services available in other districts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,` Haji Mohammad Khan, the Judbah tehsil chairman, said.

He highlighted that the construction of the District Headquarters Hospital, which was halted nearly six years ago due to a lack of funds, remains incomplete.

`If such a crucial health project has been stalled for almost nine years, one can only imagine the fate of other development schemes,` he added.

The local government system, which was established four years ago, has also failed to serve the people as the provincial government has not released development funds.

`We had high hopes that the local governments would bring improvements in civic services, water supply, and sanitation, but we remain powerless,` Mr Khan lamented.

He further said that if local governments had been granted the powers enshrined in theLocal Government Act, 2013, they could have significantly improved the living conditions of their constituents.

Torghar has one of the lowest literacy rates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly among women.

`Believe it or not, despite being a settled district, we don`t even have a single higher secondary school for girls as well as a college for boys in the entire district,` said Mohammad Zahid, a resident of Judbah.

He said that over 90 per cent of schoolgirls quit their studies after primary education owing to the lack of middle and secondary schools.

`Our people are still living in the Stone Age,` Zahid added.Kiramat Nusratkhel, another resident, emphasised that connecting Torghar to the Hazara Expressway via the JudbahThakot Road, which was only hardly 30 kilometres away, could greatly benefit the people of Torghar and the neighbouring Malakand division.

He also urged the district administration to install potable water supply schemes as most water sources have dried up due to prolonged dry spell.

Women in Torghar, a deeply conservative district, are among the most affected by the lack of healthcare and education.

`How can the people of Torghar progress when our girls have no access to schools or colleges,` Nusrat Apa, a localwomen`s rights activist, questioned.

She urged the government to initiate projects that could improve the lives of women.

`Though the Sungi Development Foundation, an NGO, has recently launched some projects benefiting both men and women, the government must take responsibility for health and education reforms in the district,` she added.

The women`s rights activist stressed an immediate need to complete the District Headquarters Hospital so that women no longer have to rely on unskilled birth attendants, as in some cases pregnant women died on their way to health facilities due to complicated labour.