From the Karakoram Highway to Kaghan: How an NGO in Mansehra Can Hear Your Request

Mansehra is the gateway to the Kaghan valley and the northern stretch of the Karakoram Highway. Its city is a trading stop for trucks heading to Gilgit, while its tehsils climb from farmland around Baffa and Oghi to the forests and glaciers above Balakot and Naran. For many households, though, life is not the postcard view that tourists see. A person searching for an NGO in Mansehra may be a widow in a mountain village, a family still paying for a house rebuilt after the earthquake, or a student who cannot afford college fees.

From Mansehra city to the last village below Babusar, anyone can send a request to Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO). It has no office, relief centre or staff anywhere in Hazara; its only office is in Larkana, Sindh. You reach it online, through Message PHWO in a free PHWO account, or through a volunteer, at no cost at all. Every application is verified and assessed. Where the facts are confirmed and the need can be answered, something is arranged; still, no outcome is certain.

The district in census figures

The 2023 census district table puts Mansehra at 1,797,177 residents across 4,125 square kilometres of valley and mountain. Under 9 percent live in towns; a Mansehra home holds 6.1 people on average. Hindko is the most common mother tongue, with Pashto and smaller language groups also counted, as seen in PBS Table 11.

With more than nine in ten people living in villages, many of them scattered on steep slopes, simply reaching a hospital, a court or a bank can take most of a day.

Living with the memory of 2005

On 8 October 2005 a powerful earthquake struck northern Pakistan and Kashmir. Balakot town was almost destroyed, and villages across Mansehra lost homes, schools and family members (ReliefWeb: South Asia earthquake, October 2005). Two decades later some families still carry the effects: disabilities from injuries, children who grew up without a parent, and loans taken to rebuild.

If an old injury keeps the earner in your family from working, or the house built after the quake now needs repair you cannot afford, you can explain it in Request help. Attach medical papers or photos of the damage. Monsoon landslides and flash floods on mountain streams also cause losses each year, and those can be included too.

Seasonal work in the hills

A large part of Mansehra’s income is seasonal. Hotels, jeep drivers and shopkeepers in Kaghan and Naran earn in the summer months and very little in winter. Hill farmers grow maize and potatoes on terraces, cut fodder and keep a few animals. Many men go to Rawalpindi, Karachi or abroad for labour.

When the season ends early, or an accident on the highway takes a driver’s life, families borrow to get through the cold months. Flour and fuel for the cold months, fees, doctors’ bills, rent and small loans can all go into one application. A student who needs a laptop or phone for studies or freelance work can mention that as well, with proof of admission.

Step by step: applying from a village in Mansehra

1. Open Request help or message PHWO from your free PHWO account. Weak signal is fine; you can send things one at a time.
2. List the family members, what money comes in, and the one or two things you need most.
3. Add a live photo of yourself, and explain your need in Hindko, Pashto or Urdu.
4. Include treatment slips, school vouchers or loan notes where you have them.
5. Wait for a volunteer’s call if more detail is needed.

Please never pay a middleman. All PHWO services are free, and nobody is permitted to ask for money on its behalf.

Legal advice for cases in the Mansehra courts

Mansehra city is home to the district’s sessions and family courts; for appeals, Hazara litigants go to the Peshawar High Court bench in Abbottabad. Land and inheritance quarrels are common in hill areas where boundaries were never properly recorded, and women often face pressure to give up their share.

Upload your papers to Free legal aid and a volunteer lawyer will go through them and set out the choices open to you. You can ask without registering an FIR. Custody questions and cases with a hearing coming very soon are looked at first. Court representation by a volunteer is sometimes possible, never certain. The Mansehra district bar is another place to look for free help.

Public help available in Mansehra

• King Abdullah Teaching Hospital in Mansehra for government treatment.
• Rescue 1122 for accidents, landslides and floods; 15 for police.
• Hill families can learn if they qualify for BISP by sending the CNIC in an SMS to 8171 (bisp.gov.pk).
• Mansehra’s zakat committee distributes the state’s zakat to people on its lists.
• Provincial offices, including relief after landslides, are listed on kp.gov.pk.

Donating and volunteering from Hazara

People from Mansehra working in the Gulf, the UK or in Pakistan’s cities can Donate money or goods, or back one verified household through Sponsor a case. No part of Zakat or Sadaqah is held back; it all goes to deserving families.

Advocates practising in Mansehra or Abbottabad, teachers who can help village families apply, and fundraisers abroad are all welcome on the Volunteer page. Every volunteer receives a certificate, a letter of appreciation and an experience letter. Families seeking a match can also use the free Rishta Desk, open to every faith, where each profile is checked with a live selfie and reviewed by PHWO staff; families decide, and no match is promised.

Public services in Mansehra you can also use

• District and Sessions Courts MansehraFamily, civil and criminal cases
• District Bar Association MansehraReferral to advocates
• Peshawar High Court, Abbottabad BenchAppeals from Hazara
• King Abdullah Teaching Hospital MansehraGovernment teaching hospital
• Rescue 1122Dial 1122
• PoliceDial 15
• BISP office MansehraSMS CNIC to 8171
• District Zakat Committee MansehraGovernment zakat

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions