KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: A group of students on Saturday embarked on a more than 150-kilometer march from Pakistan’s northern Gilgit district to Skardu, aiming to raise awareness about road safety.

The marchers called for making the 167-km single-carriage Juglot-Skardu Road (JSR), which connects the Gilgit division with Skardu district in the Baltistan division, safer for travelers by building tunnels at various locations prone to landslides in the mountainous region.

Skardu is a major tourism, trekking and mountaineering hub in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and home to Askole and Hushe villages, often referred to as gateways to snow-capped peaks, including K2, the Gasherbrums and Broad Peak, as well as the Baltoro, Biafo and Trango glaciers.

“We are marching just with a single agenda and our slogan is: ‘Build tunnels, save lives,’” Shehbaz Shareef, a member of the Baltistan Students Federation (BSF), told Arab News.

“We have organized this walk to raise awareness about the need for safer and reliable routes between Skardu and other parts of the country.”

Shareef said the original construction plan for JSR included five tunnels, but none were built.

“This route has been constructed by FWO [Frontier Works Organization],” he added. “However, the tunnels were not built, and this road has become more dangerous.”

Arab News contacted FWO, a construction and engineering organization managed by the Pakistan Army, for its version. However, it was referred to the local chapter of the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, which did not respond to the query until the filing of this report.

The Awami Action Committee (AAC), a civic rights body in the region, announced its support for the march.

“We are very thankful to the BSF who are raising a very important issue. They are demanding the government to make this road safer through this march because this road is the only land route to the Baltistan division,” Najaf Ali, chairman of the AAC Baltistan chapter, told Arab News.

“It has become a well of death. Accidents are common on this road, and it has devoured many precious lives. A few days ago, five people were killed after a landslide buried their car. We have grown tired of lifting bodies due to accidents.”

Ali urged the government to build the requisite tunnels on the road.

“This is a matter of life and death, so we are with the students, and we will warmly receive them in Skardu,” he said. “Additionally, we also held a meeting with trade bodies and decided to launch a big drive to press the government to make this road safe.”

Mesam Kazim, opposition leader in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly, said they would do their utmost to press the government for the construction of tunnels on JSR.

“In 2022, we adopted a unanimous resolution demanding the federal government to order the construction of tunnels on the Gilgit-Skardu road to avoid frequent blockades of the artery due to landslides,” Kazim said.

“In the initial PC-1 [survey] uploaded by NHA [National Highway Authority], the construction of tunnels was part of the plan. Tunnels have been missed, and international standards [of construction] have been violated by FWO on JSR.”

He lamented that there were no parking lots, safety barriers, or speed limit boards on the road, and more than 100 people had lost their lives in accidents on JSR over the last few years.

“Who is responsible for these casualties?” Kazim questioned.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday directed authorities to take strict action against tax evasion and ensure non-compliance is addressed as part of his administration’s efforts to enhance revenue collection and modernize the tax system, according to the state media.

Chairing a meeting in Lahore, Sharif emphasized the need for incorporating advanced technology to improve the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance.

“Improving the FBR’s performance through technology is the government’s top priority,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency quoted him as saying.

The prime minister called for the swift completion of the FBR’s value chain digitization and instructed the rapid implementation of video analytics in the cement and tobacco industries, sectors prone to tax underreporting.

He expressed optimism that digitization efforts would help recover billions of rupees for the national treasury.

The government has recently undertaken a series of tax measures, including expanding the tax base and targeting untaxed sectors.

Earlier this year, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasized the need for everyone to pay their fair share, describing tax reforms as critical to breaking the cycle of external financial reliance.

Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio remains among the lowest in the region, at just over nine percent, though the government aims to increase it to 13.5% in the coming years.

The Pakistani administration has also announced to launch a crackdown on affluent individuals not yet in the tax net, with the FBR tasked to identify and penalize evaders.

The tax reforms are also part of the International Monetary Fund’s recommendations, which led to the approval of a fresh $7 billion loan package for the country this year.