Qaklasht Festival concluded in Chitral

Gul Hammad Farooqi

CHITRAL, April 19: The five days long annual festival of Qaklasht ended yesterday at the green carpeted plateau of near Booni, some 80 KM from here.

Qaklasht is spread over thousands of acres of land surrounded by snow covered peaksDuring the 5 days festival 14 football teams, 18 Volley Ball teams, 22 Cricket teams, 7 free style polo teams, 2 Tug of War teams, 10 falconry and 12 shooters  – centuries old traditional rifles with explosive, Sia Kama, displayed their sporting brilliance.

Besides, culture shows, poetry and Chitrali music also enthralled the visitors.

According to results of different sporting events, Union Council Kosht football team defeated Biyar to win the event, Booni Cricket team defeated Brothers Eleven , Chitral Scouts volley ball team defeated Charun , Biyar team defeated Mulkoh in tug of war match, Syed Ahmad Shah won in falconry and Faizur Rehman of Kosht team was declared winner in the traditional shooting competition.

The event was sponsored by Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa formerly known as STC, in collaboration with Chitral Association for Mountain Areas Tourism (CAMAT) and volunteer group of Qaklasht festival committee.

On the final day, member KPK assembly, Haji Ghulam Muhammad, was chief guest who distributed trophies and cups among the winner and runner up team. Tourists from outside Chitral could not attend the festival in large numbers due to lack of awareness as well as due to repeated cancellation of PIA flights for the last 4 days.