Shandur polo festival to kick off on July 7

Govt to arrange transport to the polo ground from Chitral while PIA to operate special flights

Steeds and riders from across the country will be gathering at the proverbial ‘roof of the world’ in Shandur for the annual polo festival on July 7, the government announced on Wednesday.

“The three-day festival will be organised from July 7 to 9,” Muhammad Tariq, the secretary for Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Museums, Culture and Youth Affairs told a meeting on Wednesday.

He added that for the past couple of years, the annual event could not be held on its regular dates in early July since it fell in the holy month of Ramazan.



The meeting discussed the process for making all the requisite arrangements for the event, floating advertisements to attract tourists from across the world to Chitral.

Tariq said polo was internationally popular and every year, thousands of visitors and tourists from across the world travel to Chitral to watch the world’s highest sporting tournament.

The highlight of the tournament will be the participation of the two arch-rivals — the teams of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

Amongst the arrangements, the tourism official said that the department will be arranging transport service from Chitral to Shandur to facilitate visitors.

“Local cultures such as music and performing arts from Chitral and G-B will be on show apart from stalls selling traditional goods and a tent village for providing boarding and lodging facilities to both foreign and domestic tourists,” he added.



The official said that PIA has decided to operate special flights to Chitral from July 5 to 12. In addition to the sport and some performances, a number of other programmes have been planned to showcase work of local artisans and culture during the three-day festival.

To provide security, he said that the district government of Chitral, police, army and other stakeholders have assured of their full cooperation to organise the festival in a befitting manner.

The secretary directed to set up the tent village, tourism information centres, renovating the polo ground, arranging for water and power including power generators, telephone connectivity, transport, brochures and advertisements for publicity of festival, arrangements for media coverage, security and provision of other facilities.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2018.