Swat peace festival: Fireworks and music amid tight security
The festival will have about 15 sporting events, four of which are exclusively for women.
MINGORA:
There was tight security. There were stalls. There were fireworks and there were smiles. A large number of people including women and children from across the region attended the first day of Swat Peace Festival — the festival that aims to restore people’s confidence and revive tourism in the flood-affected region.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Masood Kausar inaugurated the festival at Grassy Ground on Saturday. It started with a car rally from Khairabad to Saidu Sharif.
The visitors enjoyed fireworks followed by a musical night in which famed singer Rahim Shah, Zek Afridi and others entertained the audience. Shah gave his CDs to the audience and received a huge round of applause.
Locals welcomed the festival and hoped steps would be taken to rehabilitate infrastructure, particularly the road to Kalam.
“The infrastructure has been damaged a lot at the hands of the floods and most tourist spots are currently cut off from rest of the country,” said Inayatullah, a school teacher.
The festival will have about 15 sporting events, four of which are exclusively for women. Seven regions of K-P and five districts of Malakand division are participating. The two mega-events are a polo tournament at Kabal ground, the first of its kind in Swat’s history, and a 9-hole golf tournament at the recently renovated Kabal Golf Club.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2011.
There was tight security. There were stalls. There were fireworks and there were smiles. A large number of people including women and children from across the region attended the first day of Swat Peace Festival — the festival that aims to restore people’s confidence and revive tourism in the flood-affected region.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Masood Kausar inaugurated the festival at Grassy Ground on Saturday. It started with a car rally from Khairabad to Saidu Sharif.
The visitors enjoyed fireworks followed by a musical night in which famed singer Rahim Shah, Zek Afridi and others entertained the audience. Shah gave his CDs to the audience and received a huge round of applause.
Locals welcomed the festival and hoped steps would be taken to rehabilitate infrastructure, particularly the road to Kalam.
“The infrastructure has been damaged a lot at the hands of the floods and most tourist spots are currently cut off from rest of the country,” said Inayatullah, a school teacher.
The festival will have about 15 sporting events, four of which are exclusively for women. Seven regions of K-P and five districts of Malakand division are participating. The two mega-events are a polo tournament at Kabal ground, the first of its kind in Swat’s history, and a 9-hole golf tournament at the recently renovated Kabal Golf Club.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2011.