A note of gratitude to @Telenor Pakistan.
When I was in high school, I would usually be in my hometown Yarkhoon during vacations and it would be the time when board exam results would be out. It was around 2010 and we had no way to communicate, no telephones or cellphones. I would get to know about my results 10-20 days after they were announced through travellers and newspapers. Fast forward, we got cordless phones, then we eventually got Telenor Pakistan reception. This made it possible for us to at least audio call our families when we were away. Nevertheless, during this last summer, there was no internet and I had a very tough time doing my MSc thesis. Thousands of students had to stay in the cities during pandemic because their classes were online and there was no internet at home.
Finally, I just talked to my family on video call now because Telenor has started 4G service in some parts of Upper Chitral. This is no less than a blessing for us and we are extremely grateful to Telenor! Nevertheless, technology is a basic right now! All of my generation and people before in Yarkhoon are technology illerrate because we were marginalized by the government and the private companies.
Daer ayad Drust Ayad.
Now, it is a challenge to see how people use this technology in our area. I hope people who have awareness of internet can help those who had no exposure before. It is a historic day for Yarkhoon and I am super happy to be able to video call home and to see that we would not have to travel a thousand miles just to use internet. I also hope that all those parts in Chitral that do not have internet yet, get this basic necessity soon.
PS: Sorry about all those city friends who wanted to “chill” in an “internet-free” zone during their vacations
Wish this was completed summer last year , would have stayed in Mastuj for 6 months ????.
More power to the locals and students now!!
[…] Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan are (were) known for their hospitality, but I am afraid that we have seen the trend changing and tourism is taking over…through greed and exploitation. We used to see guests as the people sent by God and offer them whatever we had at home, but now we see guests as money and only allow to host those who can feed our capitalist desires. This is how Murree has changed and this is how Hunza is changing. You will go to Hunza and the tourist to locals ratio makes it look like a museum. We need to rethink this massive tourism trend in such vulnerable places as a local proverb goes […]