Shandur Festival concluded, Chitral to get Benazir Shaheed University soon
PT Report
Islamabad, July 10: The Shandur Polo festival ended yesterday after three days of exciting competitions between different clubs belonging to Chitral. Shandur Club defeated Lawari Club to lift this year’s trophy. Provincial Information Minister participated in the final match along with a large number of provincial ministers, members of assembly, government officials and thousands of Polo lovers belonging to Chitral as well as different parts of Gilgit – Baltistan.
It is pertinent to note here that teams from Gilgit did not participate in this year’s tournament based on an ownership dispute surrounding Shandur.
The information minister presented trophies to the winner and runner up teams and also announced cash prizes for all teams that participated in the tournament.
“Shandur is an integral part of Chitral and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa”, the provincial minister said in his speech. He also announced establishment of Benazir Shaheed University in Chitral district.
The provincial sports minister of KPK said that the conspiracy to sabotage the tournament remained unsuccessful, referring to GB governments’ decision to boycott the tournament.
Chitral and GB are twin brothers, there is no problem between them, however the PKP Ministers may wish to divide them.
Shandur festival is a common heritage, the GB government should not have bycotted it, for reasons that the villagers on both sides of the Shandur border have legal or customary claims to some of the pastures. Let the parties settle their dispute in the courts. Secondly the issue was already raised during and before the elections, and committee was discussing the merits of the claims and how to resolve the issue through dialogue and peaceful means. While the ANP might have more clout on President Zardari and the PM, the GB PPP should put up a strong case to the President and PM and to the committee to resolve the issue.
As far as the management ofthe festival is concerned, why only Chitral Scouts? Lets place the GB/NA Scouts also at Shandur, Both the Scouts should jointly organize the Shandur festival with representation from the districts of Ghizer and Chitral and the civil society and the private sector tour operators.
I fully concur to the opinion expressed by Mr. Amin Beg regarding the dispute of Shandur Festival. The decision of GB government to boycott the festival could bear fruits only when the GB government takes the issue to the tables of Federal Government. Through this; a just, impartial and acceptable decision for both the parties could be sought. We wish both the governments should strive to bring a “WIN-WIN” situation.
Why are there no photos of the Shandur Polo festival in your rather sparse report ? This is one of the most interesting events in the region and after the excellent coverage of the Hunza landslide I guess I expected the same wonderful photo coverage – ” one picture is worth a thousand words”…….