Crisis in Kurram: Skyrocketing Prices and Trade Route Blockades Aggravate Woes

Kurram district faces severe shortages and soaring prices for essential goods like food and medicine. Despite limited government aid, prolonged trade route blockages and tribal violence exacerbate the plight. Residents call for more significant intervention to restore normalcy and ensure access to necessities.

Residents of Kurram district are enduring an economic crisis, confronted by soaring prices for crucial goods amid extended trade route blockages and persistent tribal skirmishes, according to a Geo News report. Relief measures provide little respite, as prices for basic staples remain distressingly high.

Essential food items including tomatoes, onions, and cauliflower are sold at exorbitant prices, with tomatoes and cauliflower priced at PKR 500 per kilogram, green chilies and sugar at PKR 800 and PKR 200, respectively, and tea at an unprecedented PKR 2,200 per kilogram. The price hike is largely due to blocked trade routes, which have resulted in extreme shortages of food, medicine, and fuel.

The blockade, in effect for over 100 days following tribal violence in November 2024, has severely disrupted daily life. Residents struggle to secure basic necessities, prompting calls for urgent government intervention. Despite two recent aid shipments, activists argue the efforts are insufficient, urging for larger convoys and resumption of helicopter services to transport critical patients to advanced medical facilities.

While a fragile peace agreement in December 2024 partially alleviated blockades, the situation remains dire, demanding immediate and sustained relief efforts from authorities to ensure access to essential supplies and restore normalcy.

(With inputs from agencies.)