Innocent girls continually paying the price of cursed marriages without their consent   By Suhail Ahmad Daughters, as the Quran emphatically endorses, are the blessings of Divinity. In contrast, like other orthodox societies of Pakistan, people in Chitral, as being deeply and loosely connected with religion, treat their girl children in a quite miserable way. From cradle to grave, women …

Gul Hamad Farooqi Last month eight members of a poor workers’ family – two brothers, their mother, wives, and three children – perished when their house caught fire after a gas cylinder blast in Ayun, upper Chitral.  They were brought to the District Headquarters Hospital Chitral but couldn’t be provided treatment due to a lack of facilities and staff. The …

Bank of Karomber Lake. — Photo by author “My Love!I am the receding sunshine on the mountains,the running wind on the lake,the fading chant of the shepherd.I’m the story that’s overDon’t call me or recall me for I’m gone now once and for all.”(Translated from a Wakhi song) As the blue waters of Karomber Lake bathe in the sun’s golden …

Two young auto-workers at work vulnerable to hazards. Photo by the writer. Gul Hammad Farooqi CHITRAL: The child labour in extreme unsafe environment has become a norm in Chitral as young mechanics, often of tender ages, are forced to work in auto-repair shops without safety gears. The practice has rendered a large number of children prone to hazards related to …

By Gul Hamaad Farooqi CHITRAL: At least eight people died and 10 others injured when a passenger van fell into a deep ditch in Chitral on Wednesday, eyewitnesses and police told The High Asia Herald. According to the Koghuzai police station SHO, a passenger coach on way to  Booni from Chitral collided with a sports car at Raghlasht village. The driver lost control …

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) has been helping communities create safe and resilient human habitats, with improved services in areas where they could see a future for themselves with focus on programmes related to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Herald Report The climate change caused by global heating and overexploitation of resources by corporate greed have put the existence …

Over 4,000 Kalashas, belonging to an ancient pagan tribe are living in three valleys in the Hindu Kush mountains   by Ali Ahmed Jan Kalasha, an ancient ethnic pagan tribe living in high mountains of Hindu Kush for centuries, is striving to preserve its unique but endangered intangible cultural heritages from extremism, external intrusion, and coercion. They live a commune …

One of the expedition members fell on a glacier and three were stranded overnight on Koy-i-Zom peak in Yarkhun valley   Gul Hammad Farooqi Chitral, Sept 30: Five British trekkers and their guide and four cooks who were trapped on a mountain in upper Chitral have been rescued, local officials confirmed to The High Asia herald late Monday evening. The …

Women in Pakistan sew sanitary pads to break period taboo for girls BOONI (Chitral): Bent over her hand-crank sewing machine, Hajra Bibi stitches sanitary pads for the women of her mountainous village in northwestern Pakistan, one of many rural areas in the deeply conservative country where periods are still taboo. “I am responding to a crisis,” said the 35-year-old mother, …

by Karim Ullah The Khor bridge: Perhaps, one of the longest suspension bridges in the region, the 1,200ft bridge was built in 1999 by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) with the financial assistance of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) which connects four mountainous villages in remote Sheshi Khor valley. Earlier people of the surrounding four valleys used to cross …