Pakistan: Three-day Shandur festival ends

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Three-day Shandur polo festival ended on Tuesday with colorful events in the Shandur valley northwestern Pakistan.

On the last day, a final polo match was played between the Chitral-A and Gilgit Baltistan-A teams, which was won by Chitral team.

The festival held at Shandur polo ground, called the "roof of the world".

The ground is considered the highest polo field in the world with its around 12,500 feet altitude.

"I spent three days and really enjoyed it, the arrangements were fabulous and weather was very much pleasant," Faheem Wali, a senior advocate of Peshawar High Court told Anadolu Agency.

Army personnel, police and local administration especially the headquarters Frontier Corps North did a tremendous job by making life easier with all the facilities they could, he added.

The local artisans and skilled entrepreneurs showcased their products besides polo game, food stalls, traditional music, dances and adventurous activities in the gala.

Firework, kite flying and rafting in Shandur lake were also enjoyed by the tourists during Shandur, an annual event hosted every year in first or second week of July since 1936

"I visited here several times before but have never seen such a crowd in Shandur like this, and we all really enjoyed it," Qazi Jalal, a resident of Peshawar commented.

He suggested that government should out source the arrangements for next year to provide more good facilities to the visiting tourists.

However, most of the tourists were complaining about the worst condition of the roads and demanded the government to allocate funds on urgent basis to build these roads.

"The government should build the roads and develop this place as a tourist resort through some crash program," Wali suggested.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government officials said the festival was a unique event of the world and hoped that Shandur festival would attract more foreign tourists to northern areas of Pakistan.

"This festival has provided great thrill and enjoyment to tourists, spectators and fans of the polo game," Atif Khan, senior minister of tourism KP, said in a statement.

Such events would change international perception of Pakistan from terrorism effect to tourism promoting the country, he hoped.