Caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Justice (R) Dost Muhammad Khan Saturday inaugurated Shandur Polo Festival being played at the world's highest polo ground at Shandur in District Chitral.
German Ambassador Matin Konler, Ms. Marion Pfennigs, First Secretary, Provincial Caretaker Minister for Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Museums, Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Rashid Khan, Chitral Deputy Commissioner Khursheed Khan, Colonel Saqib of the Frontier Corps, Secretary Sports and Culture Gigit-Baltistan Waqar Ali Khan, Commandant Chitral Scouts Colonel Moinuddin, District Police Officer Mansoor Aman and government representatives of Gilgit-Baltistan were also present on this occasion.
In the inaugural sports' festival the team of Laspur Chitral defeated Bander Polo team of Gilgit-Baltistan by 5-1 in a thrilling match while in the second match Sub-Division Mastooj Chitral defeated Yaseen of Gilgit-Baltistan by 8-5 in another thrilling match.
Speaking on the occasion, Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Dost Muhammad Khan announced Rs. 1 million for the winner team, Rs. 0.7 million for the runners-up team and Rs. 0.5 million for the third position team.
He also announced Rs. 0.1 million for the kids of FC Public School who presented a national song. A large number of foreign and domestic tourists and visitors turned up to enjoy and experience the battle between the true warriors on the world's highest polo ground in Shandur. The polo teams of Chitral, Gilgit, Laspur and Ghizer are participating in the "game of kings" and the "king of games".
The Laspur polo team faced Ghizer on the first day of the gala while Chitral-B and Gilgit-B teams will face-off on the second day. This year the festival is being organized on its actual date as for a couple of years the annual three-day event could not be held on the old dates due to Ramazan.
The polo game has now got international fame and every year thousands of visitors and tourists from across the world come to Chitral to watch the grand gala. Besides other arrangements, the Tourism Department has also arranged transport service from Chitral to Shandur to facilitate the visitors.
The local cultures including music and Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan's performing art are also part of the festival to put on display. A tent village had been set up for providing boarding and lodging facilities to both foreign and domestic tourists. Most of the visitors were also complaining that there were no washrooms facilities and the washrooms setup by the organizers was only meant for VVIPs. Besides polo, there are numbers of other programs to showcase work of local artisans and cultural nights during the festival.
The district government of Chitral, police, army and other stakeholders had assured full cooperation to organize the festival in a befitting manner. For more attraction for the tourists, there is a cultural and music evening while fireworks are other features to be arranged at night time. Paragliding and traditional dances of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan enthralled the sitting spectators held soon after the announcement of the opening of the King Game.
The Shandur annual festival brings a great sense of contentment among the people of these districts. The festival is often embellished with cultural orientations of both the teams that include their cultural dances, paragliding and folk music.
Chitral is the most peaceful region and it attracts thousands of domestic and international tourists annually, especially during the Shandur and Kalash festivals. This year, the number of foreign and domestic tourists increased as compared to the previous years as peace has been restored in the province and the visitors could now visit any scenic place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without acquiring non-objection certificate (NOC).