Doha
22 Feb. 2017

A blockbuster exhibition dedicated to two of the most important artists of the twentieth century, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), has opened today at the Fire Station’s Garage Gallery.

The exhibition, which is the first to show these artists together in the Middle East, will run from 22 February to 21 May 2017. The show is a collaboration between Qatar Museums, the Musée national Picasso-Paris and the Fondation Giacometti.

‘Picasso-Giacometti’ brings together more than 120 works by these two artists drawn from the notable collections of the Musée national Picasso-Paris and the Foundation Giacometti in Paris, as well as exceptional loans from French and other international collections, covering paintings, sculptures, sketches, photographs and interviews with the artists.

It has been organised by the Fondation Giacometti and curated by its Director, Catherine Grenier.

The exhibition tells the captivating story of both Picasso and Giacometti. It explores, for the first time, the previously unknown relationship between the two artists, who, despite an age gap of twenty years, shared many key moments during their distinguished careers, both on a personal and professional level.

Organised into six sections, the exhibition evokes different aspects of each artist’s production, including the development of their work as young artists through to their modernist creations, and shows the correspondences between their works, the influence of the surrealist movement, and the return to realism during the post-war period.

The show includes key works by each artist, such as: Self Portrait (1901), Woman Throwing a Stone (1931) and The She Goat (1950) by Picasso, and Flower in Danger (1932),Tall Woman (1960) and Walking Man (1960) by Giacometti, presented alongside rare and fragile casts, some newly discovered drawings and photographic archives.

Khalifa Al Obaidly, Director of Qatar Museums’ Fire Station Artist in Residence Programme, said:

“We are hugely honoured to present a tribute to the legacies of Picasso and Giacometti, a first for the Middle East, at the Fire Station, which is home to our Artist in Residence Programme. The Fire Station is a place where our artists in residence encounter one another, just as Picasso and Giacometti encountered each other and shared a dialogue and many similarities, despite their age difference.”

Khalifa Al Obaidly added:

“This exhibition is truly exceptional, and by bringing such internationally significant artists to Qatar, we hope to spark creativity for a young, creative generation, help to build an exciting, creative future for Qatar and enrich the lives of all those who live in and visit our country.”

Catherine Grenier, Director, Fondation Giacometti, and curator of the exhibition, said:

“The very close relationship between Picasso and Giacometti has never been shown before this exhibition, and we are particularly pleased to share this discovery with the Qatar audience. Thanks to an exceptional gathering of masterpieces, the audience will benefit from a large presentation of unique artworks from these two giants of Modern Art, and will be introduced to the specific context of emulation and artistic exchanges which characterised this particularly fertile time for arts.”

‘Picasso-Giacometti’ reflects two years of research undertaken by the Fondation Giacometti and the Musée national Picasso-Paris and is curated by Catherine Grenier, with Associate Curators, Serena Bucalo-Mussely and Virginie Perdrisot.

On 22nd February from 6 – 8pm, a public roundtable event will take place at the Fire Station auditorium with Catherine Grenier and the Musée national Picasso-Paris director Laurent Le Bon. The event will see both directors discuss the exhibition, its concept, development and curation.

In addition, the exhibition will be accompanied by a series of engaging, fun and interactive educational activities for school children, teachers and families to enjoy, as well as a self-guided handbook for visitors. Activities will include training for teachers in a three-hour long session, which will enable teachers to conduct self-guided tours of the exhibition for students, run workshops and equip teachers with materials to have post-visit discussions with students. In addition, all schools will be invited to the exhibition and hands-on workshops will take place at the Fire Station Education Studio, where students can create their own art based on the artworks from the show. Guided tours and art workshops with QM educators will also be on offer to families.

Also, in a first for QM, the show includes four replicas of Giacometti’s works for visually impaired visitors to interact with and enjoy.

The ‘Picasso-Giacometti’ exhibition was previously on show in Paris earlier this year at the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

The sponsors for the ‘Picasso-Giacometti includes:
- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) – official sponsor
- Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. – exclusive automotive partner
- W Doha Hotel & Residences – hospitality partner

Doha
22 Feb. 2017

2016 Annual Qatar Traffic Report revealed today that Traffic congestion during 2015 in Qatar has an economic impact of QAR 5.6 to 6.6 billion.

Using its advanced traveler info system (MasarakTM) and utilizing its unique and rich bank of traffic data in Qatar, the Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) launched its 2nd annual Qatar Traffic Report (QTR) for year 2016 at the Hilton Hotel in West Bay. The event was attended by key national partners, and local media organizations.

The 2016 QTR provides unique insights about traffic congestion and movement in Qatar throughout the year, across the main road segments and during different times of the day. More importantly, this year report provides interesting comparisons with the status and economic impact of traffic congestion in the prior year of 2015.

The key findings and the detailed analytics provided by the QTR can be of significant value to national entities and private enterprises in Qatar especially the ones who are active in the areas of transportation, road safety, smart cities, and urban planning. Examples of important use cases where the QTR can be of great service may include areas such as: assessing the impact of road/infrastructure projects on traffic over time; Monitoring changes in congestion levels across Qatar; Identifying problematic congestion areas in specific times/days; Quantifying the economic and environmental impact of road congestion; and comparing the traffic trends from year to year now that we have two-years’ worth of history on that.

On the release of the 2nd edition of the QTR report, Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, the Executive Director and CEO of QMIC commented by saying “We are pleased to release the 2016 QTR that provides the only comprehensive, scientific and data-centric update about the status of traffic congestion in Qatar. We are equally pleased that after many years of hard work, QMIC has developed and deployed the only advanced traveler info system in Qatar with a comprehensive state of the art data collection network combined with necessary intelligence and user applications.

Dr. Abu-dayya told " We strongly believe that Masarak represents a key enabler for major ITS, smart city, and road safety projects in Qatar. We urge national entities and private enterprises to make full use of it and to work with us on evolving it to make sure it continues to meet their expanding needs and requirements and to support our vision of creating a thriving local industry in this important domain.”

QTR takes into consideration a number of key globally accepted metrics to report on the severity, time, and locations of traffic congestion in Qatar. In order to gauge traffic conditions for year 2016 in a scientific, methodical and accurate way, the QTR uses the concept of Masarak Congestion Index (indicates average reduction in speed due to congestion) and the Travel Time Index (indicates the increase in travel time due to congestion) to assess the level of road congestion.

Based on analyzing more than 1.4 Billion data records collected by the Masarak advanced traveler info system across the major road segments in Qatar, some of the key findings revealed in the 2016 QTR include:

• The average number of extra hours spent due to congestion is 109 hours per commuter in 2016 (this is slightly higher than the 102 hours in 2015)
• The economic cost (lost productivity) of congestion in 2016 is estimated to be between 5.6 and 6.6 billion QR (compared to about 5.2-6.0 billion QR in 2015). This translates to a loss of about 0.9-1.0% of the GDP in 2016
• Although the overall congestion for 2016 is slightly worse than 2015, congestion levels in the 2nd half of 2016 are better than those of 2015. This indicates that road projects completed by Ashghal in the middle of 2016 started to have a positive impact on traffic flow
• We expect traffic behavior to keep improving or stay flat on a year-year basis as more road projects are completed
• Congestion behavior started to spread more geographically due to urban expansion
• Oct. 2016 was the most congested month in the year with a travel time index of 1.75 throughout the day.
• The highest congestion period is the morning peak (around 7 am) where the average congestion index is 36%
• In the morning peak hours of work days, Sundays had the highest travel time index of 2.14 and Thursdays had the lowest travel time index of 1.97 QMIC’s QTR has been considered as a traffic index (and a score card) for Qatar over a period of 2 years so far.

Having a traffic index for a country or a region resonates globally and is considered highly desirable and needed to measure and calibrate the road network, to set the right traffic policies and procedures, and to improve urban planning to ensure smoother traffic movement while taking into consideration the ongoing population growth and major infrastructure projects in the country.

The QTR is one of the key outputs of the Masarak System which was fully developed and deployed by QMIC. Masarak represents a comprehensive platform and integrated suite of services serving the areas of Intelligent Transport, Road Safety, and Smart Logistics/Telematics.

In addition to its analytics platform, proprietary technology, and GIS layers, Masarak has its own sophisticated multi-source data collection network consisting of: a large fixed sensing network using QMIC’s WaveTraf Bluetooth traffic road sensors, thousands of Telematics devices installed in fleet vehicles, and crowd-sourced data being contributed by thousands of iTraffic mobile application users.

Having these sources of traffic data has given QMIC the ability to compile the most and only comprehensive bank of traffic and mobility data in Qatar based on collecting hundreds of millions of speed records across the Qatar road network in the last few years.

Doha, Qatar
21 Feb. 2017

Over 320 World Human Right organizations from 80 countries today urged governments of the world on implementation of laws on rights of women, children, prisoners, respecting human rights in conflict ridden areas, etc.

Two-day international conference on ‘Human Rights Approach to Conflict Situations in the Arab Region’ ended today was organised in Doha, Qatar by National Human Rights Committee Qatar (NHRC) in collaboration with UNHRC, General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers and the Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions.

A 34 points recommendations include setting up a regional centre for human rights protection in the conflict areas in the Arab region, urged all the governments around the world to implement human rights laws in regard to respecting human rights in the conflict ridden areas; framing and supporting policies that aim for human rights and ending violence in the region; empower the vulnerable sections of the population;

Among recommendations also included Supporting curriculum to empower human rights; responding to humanitarian needs at the earliest; ensuring protection of human beings especially women, children and people with special needs as well as responding to the rights of children to education and avoiding child labour.

The conference highlighted that there should be no discrimination to the victims of abuse in these areas and all possible efforts must be done to support them physically and emotionally. Stressed on new legislation and laws to protect affected children and schools and efforts to adopt schools which are under constant attack. The conference also called on the UN bodies to initiate dialogue with all the key players in the region and hold all key players accountable for their actions.

There was also a call to provide necessary medical aid to the victims as well as setting up sustainable development centers.

Kate Gilmore, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights lauded the efforts of NHRC and hoped that the recommendations will be implemented in the right spirit as they come at the right time since the region has been surrounded with conflict since long time.

On a question by 'asiantelegraphqatar' regarding any possibility of setting up proposed Regional office in Qatar, Kate Gilmore lauded the contributions of Qatar in promoting of human rights in the world said that 'if Qatar will show it's interest, she will fully support'

Dr. Ali bin Samikh Al Marri on a question from reporters on possibility of setting up of proposed Regional Office in Qatar, he said that it was for the governments and other organisations to decide on the matter.

Dr. Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, Host of Conference and Chairman National Human Rights Committee said on the implementation of the proposed recommendations that these recommendations are prepared with the consent of participating delegates including UNHCHR, large number of regional and international human rights, several governments representatives and regional civil societies have attended the conference.”

TASS
Moscow
21 Feb. 2017

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed condolences to Russia in connection with the death of its Permanent Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin.

In a written statement, he called him "a uniquely skilled diplomat" who served his country in one of the most difficult periods in modern history.

The UN Chief, who returned from a trip to Europe and the Middle East, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the news of the sudden death of the Russian ambassador.

"Ambassador Churkin was a uniquely skilled diplomat, a powerful orator with great wit, and a man of many talents and interests," Guterres said adding that he will miss the skills and friendship of the Russian diplomat.

He marked the contribution of Churkin to the United Nations, and expressed deepest condolences to his family and friends, and to the Government and people of the Russian Federation.

Earlier, UN Security Council which is now chaired by Ukraine issued a statement on the death of the Russian diplomat. President of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson said that in the coming days they will hold a special session in memory of the permanent representative of the Russian Federation.

Vitaly Churkin died in New York on Monday, a day before his 65th birthday. The Russian foreign ministry said he had died while performing his duties.

More:
http://tass.com/world/932038

Doha
20 Feb. 2017

Two days long conference on 'Human Rights Approach to Conflict Situations in the Arab Region' inaugurated this morning in Doha by Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser AlThani, Prime Minister & Interior Minister of State of Qatar.

In addition to representation by several governments around the globe, over 320 human right bodies and related institutions from world-wide are participating in the conference organised by National Human Rights Committee Qatar (NHRC) in collaboration with UNHRC and regional human right bodies. World bodies meeting in Qatar to look into mechanism how human rights bodies may play their role in solutions in Conflict situation in the Arab region.

Among Key note speakers included Dr. Ali Bin Samikh Al-Marri, Chairman QNHRC, Qatar Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mohammed Bin Ali Koman, Secretary General of General Secretariat of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, Al-Taleb Baccouche, Secretary General of Arab Maghred Union, Adel Abdulrahman Al Asoomi, Deputy Chair of Arab Parliament, Issa Bin Said al-Kasyyumi, Chairman of Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions.

A signing ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding between the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar and the Arab Parliament was also held on the occasion. Dr. Al Marri talking to media on the occasion said that main purpose of the conference is to look into the means and ways how human rights bodies can play their role in solving situations of conflicts and violence in Arab region.

Talking about signing of MOU, NHRC Qatar Chairman told that it is in order to promote human rights activities in the Arab region.

Various panel discussions and inter-active debates will take place in two long conference covering topics including 'Respecting Human Rights as a preventive approach', 'Human Rights Responsive, Approach in conflict situations', 'Human Rights in Conflict Resolution', 'Protection of women, children and minorities in conflict situation', 'Int'l mechanism for the protection of minorities rights', 'How to protect the right to education in armed conflict', 'Avoiding the use of schools for military purposes and the safe schools declaration', 'Human Rights approach to transitional justice', 'Humanitarian aid in conflict affected areas in the Arab Region', ' 'Humanitarian appeals : success & Lessons learned', etc.

Doha
20 Feb. 2017 (QNA)

Youssef bin Abdullah Al Afifi, Vice President of the Arab Network for Human Rights Institutions expressed regrets at the increase of civil conflicts in the Arab countries which led to the killing of a large number of people, mainly women and children.

Addressing the International Conference on Human Rights Approach to Conflict Situations in the Arab Region, currently taking place in Doha, Al Afifi noted that the current struggles led to a collapse in all political, social, and economic rights.

He noted that such a tragic situation requires more effort to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of people in those areas. Al Afifi called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to assume its responsibility in protecting the lives of innocent people.

Youssef bin Abdullah Al Afifi then gave a presentation on the efforts of the Arab Network in promoting human rights in the past few years. He said that the organization has played a big role in raising awareness on humanitarian rights in order to protect them.

Doha
20 Feb. 2017 (QNA)

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani inaugurated Laffan Refinery 2 project this morning of Monday under the theme "Energy Enrich our Future".

Present on the occasion were Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi, Chairman of Advisory Council and a number of Sheikhs, Ministers, members of the diplomatic corp. and the guests.

Engineer Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Petroleum and Board Chairman of Qatargas expressed his gratitude at the presence of Emir of Qatar and inaugurating important national project coinciding with national vision 2030. He said ultimately results of today's event will bear the fruits in terms of sustainable development and to ensure a decent living for generations to come.

AlKaabi said that the successful operation of the Laffan Refinery 2 has doubled Qatar's energy to refine condensates, bringing its total capacity to 292,000 bpd, and making it one of the largest condensate refineries in the world as it has higher levels of environmental conservation.

Engineer Saad Sherida Al Kaabi stressed that the project supports the energy and industry sectors and will create new economic opportunities by enhancing the strength of exports and meeting long-term needs of global markets.

A documentary was screened about the energy sector and the efforts through which the State of Qatar maintained its leading position in the field of natural gas industry and the evolution of the project.

A brief about Laffan Refinery 2 project and the integration between human and technical capacities was also presented during the ceremony.

Various media houses from United States of America (US) reported The Senate Intelligence Committee's chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) has sent formal requests to the White House and over a dozen organizations, individuals and agencies that all materials concerning the probe into the Russian dealings with the U.S. be preserved.

James Comey, FBI Director on Friday also presented his an hour long classified briefing to the committee members and no comments were given by the members on it. However, Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff is quoted saying on Sunday that "I think they're going to do their job. And they have to do that. Those are things that Richard Burr and that team have to do."

Talking on ' Meet the Press' on NBC Channel, he said "That doesn't mean that there's anything there. It just means they need to do some things that satisfy their committee, that they've looked into something. And then they can have meetings behind closed doors that they always do in the Intel Committee, and then they'll issue a report." Priebus also denied that members of President Donald Trump's campaign had contact with Russia before Trump's victory.

"We don't know of any contacts with Russian agents," Priebus said.

Senate Intelligence Committee asked for confirmation that the White House, the FBI and the Justice Department had directed their employees to maintain all materials and evidences related to any contacts that Trump's administration, transition team, campaign or any other person acting on their behalf have had with Russia or its government officials.

Congressional staffers argued that they had not discovered any evidence to show that materials related to the probe are not being preserved.

However, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer from New York had said Thursday on the Senate floor: "There is real concern that some in the administration may try to cover up its ties to Russia by deleting emails, texts and other records that could shine a light on those connections. These records are likely to be the subject of executive branch as well as congressional investigations and must be preserved."

Doha
19 February 2017 (QNA)

Prime Minister and Interior Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani held Sunday an expanded meeting with representatives of the private sector and businessmen in the presence of Ministers and representatives of the government sector in the Committee of Promoting Business and Investment Environment.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister reviewed the actions taken by the government based on the Committee's recommendations which aims to overcome obstacles facing investment in the country.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser AlKhalifa underlined the necessity of the government's implementation of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani's directives to promote the economic growth in the State by providing a proper environment to diversify the economy and attract local and foreign investments.

Prime Minister noted that promoting the economic growth in the country is a shared responsibility between the government and the private sector, adding that the private sector has great opportunities to play an effective and positive role in the economic growth.

Prime Minister refereed to the last October meeting with heads of the listed companies in the presence of some of ministers as representatives of the government, where they reviewed the opinions and perceptions about the development of business and investment environment, and decided to form a joint committee of representatives of the government and the private sector, called the Committee of Promoting Business and Investment Environment.

The committee belongs to the Office of the Prime Minister and is aimed to discuss and overcome the obstacles facing the private sector, in addition to studying the initiatives and proposals of joint ventures between the public and private sectors.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister underlined the government's attention to the committee's recommendations to find the necessary solutions to enhance the business and investment environment in order to achieve the public interest of the state and the private sector.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser AlThani reviewed some of the actions taken by the government, including the extension of commercial licenses validity from one year to five years, and the current steps taken by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to prepare legislative amendments to Law No. (25) of 2005 concerning the commercial register so as to allow an increase of the commercial registration validity to 5 years and an increase to the deadline for the renewal of the commercial registration to two months. The amendments will be submitted to the Cabinet General Secretariat to take legal action on its issuance in accordance to applicable laws.

The validity of environmental permits from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment were also extended from one year to three years, and it has been also working to facilitate the renewal of environmental licensing procedures.

HE the Prime Minister said that the Ministry of Economy and Commerce is working on the preparation and publication of a guidebook to clarify the business activities and investment opportunities. The data will be updated continuously, and the Ministry will decide quickly on granting licenses for informal events for the hotels and tourism sectors through a single window.

Prime Minister directed to quickly implement the electronic link between the various competent authorities to issue permits to facilitate the procedures, and to work on a study to facilitate the procedures for the lease and the rental model in order to facilitate the issuance of licenses and business records.

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani announced directives to conduct a comprehensive review of Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 with the participation of the private sector.

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has held a meeting with private sector representatives to review the strategy and make recommendations and proposals on the promotion of tourism in the State of Qatar .

The meeting also discussed a draft Regulation for the Law of Tourism with the private sector, taking note of their observations and recommendations in preparation for issuance.

QTA is scheduled to continue meeting with private sector representatives to examine a number of topics for the development of the tourism sector, including proposals on the provision of land for the establishment of tourist resorts, marine resources and theme parks.

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of State of Qatar agreed to grant the 4 and 5 stars hotels the issuance of tourist visas and directed to respond to hotels' requests for working visas to cover their needs of staff in the tourism sector.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior also announced directives setting clear criteria for the classification of hotels in conformity with international standards and giving hotels a sufficient period of time to be re-positioned.

He pointed out that passengers via foreign airlines will be given tourist and transit visas on the basis of the principle of reciprocity with Qatar Airways.

Prime Minister announced that Lusail and the Pearl projects shall be expected from the procedures of issuing licenses while their managements shall be provided with the authority to grant special licensees of construction, completion of construction, electricity and civil defense for real state developers.

In this context, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in coordination with the Public Authority for Electricity and Water, the Department of Civil Defense and other relevant agencies were directed into achieve the conclusion of an agreement with the management of the two projects by the Ministry of Municipality and environment, Civil Defense and Kahramaa, which requires on the other hand that the management of the two projects shall assume full responsibility before the State in case of a breach by the developer companies of the standards and conditions stipulated by the agreement and the approved urban plan.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior announced directives to the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to define specific periods of time to decide on building permit's applications, including preliminary and final licenses or building completion certificates.

HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani said that the Ministry of Energy and Industry is working on implementing the Single Window project for the issuance of licenses for all private industrial projects and it is also going to announce all the required standards and measures for the issuance of industrial licenses so as to facilitate the procedures within a specified and clear time frame for issuing licenses.

The Prime minister decided to form a committee to develop an appropriate mechanism for pricing lands in the industrial and logistics areas. He also directed the Ministry of Transport and Communications to study a project aimed at establishing free zones according to the latest international standards, which would have a vital role in promoting economic diversification and attracting local and foreign investments.
In this context, HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior pointed that there is a number of allocated lands, which are being developed, for the construction projects of schools and hospitals by the private sector.
The lands' locations and the date of their release will be done later along with the determination of their price as well as the evaluation of projects and their value added for the health and educational process in the State of Qatar.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani stressed the government's ongoing efforts to work and coordinate with the private sector to support Qatar's economic growth. HE the Prime Minister called on the Business and Investment Environment Development Committee to continue its ongoing work in order to study and discuss all the obstacles that may face the private sector and make recommendations to overcome them, stressing that the Committee plays a vital role in achieving communication and providing solutions to several problems.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior also called on the Committee to work on coordinating between the public and private sectors to study the opportunities for cooperation between the two sides and provide initiatives and proposals for joint projects in order to contribute to enhancing the economic growth in Qatar.

Chitral, Pakistan
19 Feb 2017 (APP):

As many as seven died and similar number injured due to land sliding and avalanche in Ziarat near Lawari tunnel in Chitral district.

The deceased and injured persons were mechanics and technical staff of Sambu Korean construction company.
Deputy Commissioner Chitral Shahab Hameed Yousafzai said after continuous heavy snowfall avalanche hit a nearby mountain rock on the top of a workshop of SAMBU construction company of Korea, working to construct 8.5 km long Lawari tunnel.

Workshop was hit by land sliding and avalanche as a result of, 14 people were covered under the debris. Chitral Levies, Chitral Scouts and Chitral Police along with local volunteers took part in rescue operation
and recovered seven dead bodies and seven injured from the debris, who were rushed to Teaching Hospital of Peshawar.

According to DC Chitral those who died in this incidence were identified as Rahmat Zada of Drosh,(Chitral) Jalal Khan resident of Drosh, Rahmat Ghazi of Drosh, Nadeem Khan of Punjab, Haji Iftikhar, Kamran Khan and Muhammad Asif residents of Punjab.

Those who were injured in this mishap were Altaf Hussain of Liya Punjab, Zamarrut Hussain of Gojar Khan, Qaisar Nisar of Sialkot, Shakeel Ahmad of Jinjirat Koh Chitral, Gul Alam of Drosh Chitral Mujeeb of Dhameer Arando Chitral, and Bahadar Wali of Drosh Chitral.

It is worth to mention here that avalanche hit Chitral scouts post a few years back as a result 7 soldiers had died as well as 4 people had died by avalanche in this area in 2014.

While District Police Officer Syed Akbar Ali Shah added that a heavy avalanche hit house and cattle house of Kabeeruddin resident of Ajoo goal Garamchishma area as a result 25 cattle died under the debris of
avalanche but people of the house survived miraculously.

DC Chitral added that roads of Arkari valley, Broghul Kan khoon are still blocked due to heavy snowfall and we are trying of our best to open them very soon.