A 60 years old woman died after she and a kin were trapped in a snow capped road towards the Leepa valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, marking the first snow-related death of the ongoing harsh season in the area, official sources and residents said on Tuesday.
Noor Jehan and her son-in-law were trudging through a snowy track between Reshian to Moji village of Leepa valley on Monday afternoon, when a huge mass of snow fell over them near a place known as Mian Wala Matha.
According to official sources and residents, even though both managed to remove snow from them after hectic efforts, the lady however did not survive in subzero temperature, with her helpless son-in-law waiting in vain for help throughout the frosty night.
Early morning, people from the deceased lady’s Chanoola village and adjoining hamlets trekked through the snow and removed the body from there.
They reached back home - at a distance of hardly five kilometres - at about 2:30pm following which the funerals were held.
Among the mourners was Shaukat Javed Mir, a key leader of the opposition People's Party who has long been campaigning under the banner of a local alliance of all parties for construction of 3.79 kms long Leepa Tunnel to save the lives of tens of hundreds of the residents of the picturesque valley, located some 100 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad.
Reshian village lies some 25-30 kilometres before it.
From beyond Reshian, the valley is accessed by two dangerously narrow roads, known by the names of Birthwar Galli and Sher Galli, and one pedestrian track, known as Panjal Galli, which run through an altitude of around 10,000 feet.
“Every year we lose our near and dear ones to avalanches as they trudge through the snow capped routes linking our valley to the rest of the world at the peril of their lives, but ironically our desperate calls to build us the tunnel cut no ice with the authorities,” PPP leader Mir said.
Also on Monday afternoon, another group of 23 persons, including women, was left stranded in the middle of their journey by jeeps via 10,000 feet high Barthwar Galli due to heavy snowfall.
They were able to reach their homes by 9pm only after the army personnel and locals came to their rescue, sources said.
Mir recalled several names who, he said, had lost their lives during this arduous journey in the past.
“It is why we have long been stressing upon the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad that the
tunnel between Reshian and Leepa should be built at all costs,” he said, expressing the hope that Prime Minister Imran Khan would “sympathetically and generously allocate funds for this vitally important project without further ado.”
Tariq Naqash
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