Gilgit - BaltistanPakistanPolitics
Shandur Festival 2009 dedicated to martyrs of Gilgit – Baltistan & Chitral
PESHAWAR: Shandur Polo Festival 2009 will be held according to schedule and this year’s event will be dedicated to the soldiers from Chitral and Gilgit who have laid down their lives in the ongoing operation in Malakand Division.
NWFP Minister for Sports, Tourism and Culture Syed Aqil Shah stated this while chairing a preliminary meeting to discuss arrangements for the upcoming event, says an official communication. The event would honour the families of the courageous soldiers who sacrificed their lives for ensuring peace and stability in the rest of the country, he said. Source
I think they deserve this recognition. The brave Jawans of Chitral and Gilgit have always made tremendous sacrifices and we salute them all.
SA
KYA SHAM THI TERE AANE KI AAS THI…AB TAK JALA RAHE HEIN TERE NAAM K CHIRAGH… Tribute to the MARTYRS of the north….
Slam Sad Slam
Sher Nar Now Jawanan Gilgit Baldestan Chitral
God Bless you Jawanan (Ameen)
Ali Aman Gojali
Badakhshan
While we honour those who lost their lives in service, and those who are still serving, the point is;
What the government wants to acheive by dedicating a festival to those killed in an ongoing civil war in NWFP, ofwhich chitral is a relatively peaceful district?
Isn’t it a mischievious act to show that a particular ethnic group in a particular geogrpahic area, who are NOT constitutionally and legally Pakistanis, are fighting the taliban as mercenaries?
Are they inciting the taliban to move to this relatively peaceful area?
or, they want another ‘sectarian tension’ in this region?
The government should assess the repurcusions; secuirty, sectarian and political, during and after the festival before deciding to politicise this mainly tourist promotion festival.
If the government is bent to organize the festival anyway, it should be dedicated to Peace and Social harmony in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral.
I agree with Amin Beg. It’s really a mischievous move on the part of our government. It also seems to me as part of the military establishment’s image building campaign. First they created, nursed and equipped the Taliban monsters and termed them their “strategic assets. When the monsters got out of their control, and challenged the very basis of state institutions and the army itself, they started the so-called ‘Rah-i-Rast’ operation forced millions of people to fled their homes and hearth. The top leadership of the Taliban are still very much intact.
The rogue administration of Gilgit-Baltistan and the ‘invisible forces’ have been trying to spread hoax Taliban fear through the local vernacular and tabloid newspapers and launched a spat of target killings to incite sectarian strife in the peaceful region which should be condemned and exposed.
The government functionaries and the ill-informed and mindless electronic media tarnished the image of Gilgit-Baltistan by describing Swat, Buner, Malakand and Tribal Areas of NWFP as Northern Areas, destroying the tourism industry, which is the mainstay of our economy. And now the same media is spreading rumours that Taliban will target some institutions of an international NGO.
Why should we be proud of becoming ‘loyal servants and mercenaries of the Pakistani establishment?
THE GOVT OF PAKISTAN,
THE TOURISM MINSTRY IS NOT INTRESTED WITH THE REAL CAUSE FOR THE PROMOTIONS OF TOURISM IN NORTHEN AREAS WHERE HAS PAKISTAN HAS A VAST POTENTIAL IN TOURISM INDUSTRY,PLACE LIKE DUBAI IS EARNING ITS BUDGET FROM 100% TOURISM INDUSTRY WHERE AS EXCEPT DESERT THERE IS NOTHING HER NATURAL IN UAE.EVERYTHING IS FAKE THE FOOD,THE PLACES, THE TOURISM ATTRACTIONS ,EVEN THE SNOW SKI OF DUBAI,WHICH IS NOT REAL ITS ARTIFICIAL MAN MADE IN THE MIDDLE OF DESERT IS EARNING MAINLY FROM TOURISM AND
THAN COMES THE HEAVEN PLANET OF NORTHENR AREAS THE GREAT PAKISTAN,WE HAVE ALL THE NATURAL REASOURCES AND ALL THE ATTRACTIONS STARTING FROM SITE SEEING ,SPORTS IN ANY FIELDS IN NOTHERN AREAS MOUTAIN TOURISM,EXPEDITONS YOU NAME IT WHAT WE DONT HAVE IN PAKISTAN, I LOVE THE SOIL OF PAKISTAN AND , I AM ASHAMED OF OUR POLITICIANS WHO DO NOT GIVE EVEN 2% INTREST TO THE NORTHEN AREAS TOURISM INDUSTRY,ITS VERY SHAMEFUL MOULAS IS ON THE POST OF TOURISM MINSTRY AND ALL THE HEADS ARE FROM PUNJAB WHATEVER MONEY IS EARNED FROM TOURISM ETC.IT ALL GOES TO PUNJAB AND ITS VERY DISAPPOINTING THAT ONLY ONE SHANDUR POLO MATCH IS ONLY HELD FOR OUR PEOPLE,WE HAVE MUCH MORE ATTRACTIVE FESTIVALS AND TOURISM POTENTIAL WITH RICH CULTURES,
WITHIN PAKISAN AND SPECIALLY IN THE NORTHEN AREAS OF PAKISTAN.GOD BLESS PAKISTAN,
THE FUTURE OF NORTHEN AREAS INSHALLAH WILL BE BRIGHT IN THE DAYS AHEAD,INSHALLAH
.LAST PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE SWAT,DIR,BUNE,CHITRAL WITH NORTHERN AREAS, NORTHEN AREAS IS ONLY AREAS SKARDU,HUNZA,GILGIT,GHIZER,DIAMER,THIS IS THE SAFE AREAS HEAVEN FOR TOURISM AND SAFE FROM TALIBAN,FOR GOD SACK DONT INCLUDE THE WAR ZONE AREAS WITH MY LOVELY HOMELAND THE NORTHREN AREAS.
PLEASE LOOK INTO THE MAP OF PAKISAN AND THAN FIND OUT WHERE IS NOTHERN AREAS DO NOT INCLUDE N.W.F.P WITH OUR PEACEFUL LAND,
GOD KEEP THE EVEIL EYES AWAY FROM GILGIT,SKARDU,HUNZA AND GHILZER VALLEY.LONG LIVE PAKISTAN.
I HOPE SHANDUR POLOFETIVAL WILL BRING SOME KIND OF PEACE MESSAGE TO ALL OF NOTHERN AREAS AND TO OUR COUNTRY AT LARGE,PAKISTNA ZINDA ABAD, GREAT PAKISTAN.
Dear Amin beg and Farman Ali,
I absolutely understand your heart burning and wonder how many peole in the north can understand these facts and beyond?? the answer is 0.1%?
If I begin to speak all the geo-political, religio-political and socio-political facts, I am sure to be entitled as GHADDAR, KUFFIR.etc. Which is far beyond the reality.
At present, we need to be happy and proud of being a colony of a colony where Jews and Christians play their interests and we’re only proud of being killed, another words ‘MARTYRED’.
Good heaven!!!! God bless the departed souls.
We’ll have no choice either to flee into CHINA or face this ‘Jews brought menace’? Choice is at the mercyfull nation of NAs.
Israeli prime minister said, If you have Hizbullah, We have Jandallah’, So you can better calculate the fact.
Today, Nawaz sharif is off to England with his brother shehbaz? Can’t they establish a hospital of that calibre in pakistan??? if not, why?? because they’re a colony who play for their bosses.
Yar Kha
I see eye to eye with what Amin Baig and Farman Ali have expressed in this blog. Admittedly, our sympathies are with the aggrieved families who lost their near and dear ones in combat against Talibans. However, to dedicate a festival to martyr seems an covert move by the government to pit the people of North and Chitral against the neighboring regions. It is pity that government is ready to hired the services of Gilgit-Baltistan and use them as mercenaries but not ready to address the basic demands of the people. I think people of Gilgit-Baltistan should boycott the festival until the final decision about the status of Gilgit-Baltistan. By dedicating Shandoor festival to veterans government is sending an invitation to extremists in Swat to spread their activities to North by avenging.
Pakistani state has developed a macho mentality by celebrating violence and idealizing violence. the current turmoil in the country is the cumulative outcome of sowing the dragon teeth. in order to ward off any kind of Talibanisation we need to be vigilant enough to understand the overt and covert mechanisms employed by the power to perpetuate its grip over society by cultivating irrational, emotional, myopic and macho culture in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Leadership is there ………….insitutions are there …………. guidence we have …… so why we are forced remain obediant for the Government of time…
Those who are unaware of the situation after dedicating the polo tournament to those who lost their precious life in a war which doest have any result will defiantly trying to aggravated the warlords of NWFP to switch to Gilgit Baltisan, to destroy the peace full environment, it is also pity to note that those who are contributing to this blog are aspiring the Govt. of NWFP for dedicating the tournament to the names of GB army persons who fought war to save NWFP.
Why not the Govt of NWFP established a fund to help the children’s and widows of those who’s beloved one has lost his life to save children’s & women’s of NWFP instead of dedicating the tournament to the names of GB army Jawan’s.
Im totally shocked and speechless after reading all these blogs.I really dont understand something.For the first time since Pakistan was created I think the government has done something right and that is dedicating the Shandur Polo Festival 2010 to the Martyrs in uniform but there is still so much opposition to it.Seriously i think that the only reasson for this opposition is because the Government has taken this inititative.I dont blame you even i can not believe that the government has taken such a great decision.
The only reason for this decision is to honour the sacrifices of the army.There is no hidden element here.Please i request you all dont ruin the father of all games played on the highest ground of the world with these petty issues we both know that Shandur Polo Festival is an old tradiotion and has alot of historical significance.Please keep the government and its ulterior motives out of it and just concentrate on the game and its theme,which is to honour the lives of all those who thought of Pakistan first and the provinces later and sacrificed everything for their beautiful country.