By Sudhir Ahmad Afridi

Landikotal: Flash floods played havoc in Khyber Agency. Thirteen persons in the whole Khyber Agency were reportedly flown in the floodwater whose dead bodies have been found whereas dozens homes, animals, trucks and cars were also taken by floods on Monday before dawn. In the entire Khyber Agency the communication system, power supply and roads have been badly affected by flash floods due to which the residents have been suffering alot. The main road from Begyari Check Post to Khyber in Landikotal has been blocked at many spots. The stones and other rubbles have fallen from the roadside mountains, which have created barriers on the main road. Thus the fifty minutes drive road of forty kilometers from Karkhano markets take more than three hours to reach Torkham or Landikotal.The traffic gets blocked in many areas due to barriers on the Pak Afghan road. Three to six Khasadars were visible on the roads to control the traffic to go in their own lanes.

It should be kept in mind that last year on 28th June, 20007, the similar and historic flash floods had also played devastation, particularly in Landikotal.More than fifty persons were killed in that floods in the whole of Khyber Agency and hundred of villages had been flown. The railway track was badly damaged which is still hanging in the air. The main bridge at Ali Masjid had been flown which is yet to be built whereas this time the alternative road beside the collapsed bridge was washed in this flood on Monday. The old British made bridge at Takhta Bag Jamrud is no more available whereas the railway track on its top is hanging in the air without having the bridge for its support.

Political Agent Khyber Agency Tariq Hayat disbursed cheques of money, distributed other food items and utensils at Jamrud among the flood affectees. The elders at Landikotal have repeatedly asked the government to compensate for the loss of their relatives and devastation of their homes, but so far they have not been helped as per government promises, told Ajar Khan Afridi a flood affectee in Khyber.He also told Political Agent Khyber in a Jirga some days back that they needed funds for the construction of protection walls for the safety of their homes from floods. Alawdin Khan, another flood affected told that a source intimated them that the FATA Secretariat had issued a huge amount to compensate the heirs of the killed persons last year in the floods, but he regretted that so far they have not been given any thing. It is a test case for the government whether it helps the flood affected tribesmen or ignores them as in the past, told flood affected people in Khyber. The hanging track of railway is a proof of that destruction in Landikotal and Jamrud.