Historical Shandur polo festival in July this year
Roots of polo in Shandur are pretty deep which often leads to perplexity.
PESHAWAR (APP):After over two years, the annual Shandur Polo Festival will be held on its old schedule in July this year, an official of the Tourism Corporation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Saturday said.
Talking to APP, he said, “It will be organized from July 7 to 9, as for a couple of years the annual three-day calendar festival could not be held due to floods and Ramadan last year, however, this year, efforts have been taken to hold the event on its old schedule in July,” he also confirmed.
The TCKP, he said, has started a process to put in place the arrangements and float advertisements to attract tourists from across the world. In this regard, officials from the Gilgit-Baltistan government are likely to be invited to Peshawar to make the arrangements in order to facilitate the spectators.
The poor condition of roads leading to the venue at Shandur located in Chitral near the KP province and Gilgit-Baltistan is the major obstacle for tourists in reaching the area. Despite repeated announcements and the federal government’s decision to include Gilgit-Shandur-Chitral road in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), work on the construction of the road is yet to be started.
Shandur top, which is 3700m high, also act as a bridge between the two opponent teams of polo – Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan. Shandur annual year festival brings a great sense of contentment among the people of these districts. The festival is often embellished with cultural orientations of both teams that include their cultural dances, moment of paragliding and an essence of its folk music.
Roots of polo in Shandur are pretty deep which often leads to perplexity. Still there are two main streams towards it. Some states that the balti raja of skardu, Ali Sher Khan Anchan was the one who laid down the foundation of the king game polo in the region of Shandur.
On the other hand, some states that in 1935 the British occupiers were the ones who brought polo in the region of Shandur. But the matter of its history still remains unsolved.
1936 was the year when both of these rival teams came face to face to put forward the steps of their first polo tournament. The game was not been stable in another following year’s due to unpaved roads and infrastructure.
Furthermore, the situation used to get worst when they had to face the calamity of floods in summers. Shandur polo ground being far away from their residencies caused them immense efforts towards the annual year festival.
In 1989 when Benazir Bhutto visited shandur polo festival as a chief guest Premier. She declared it as an international event around the world. Moreover she made a covenant to recognize it in an international world too. Arrival of tourists in ones country brings all sort of favorable dealings and enhances its image around the globe. Every year Shandur Polo Festival bestow Pakistan with its attractive powers a huge amount of tourists.
