ISLAMABAD: The main cause of ongoing floods is fast melting of glaciers in the upper parts of the country, which are dissipating at a faster speed as compared to the rest of the world. This was stated by Prof M. Iqbal Khan, the only Pakistani glaciologist, who visited Antarctica, while talking to APP on Sunday. He remarked that the pace of melting glaciers in Pakistan is faster than any other country and only rains could not be held responsible for the floods. “It is the glaciers which are adding fuel to the fire and due to the melting of glaciers the flood situation is aggravated,” he added. Giving details of the glaciers in the country, he said there are a total of 202 dominant glaciers which contain huge quantity of water. He described glaciers as “frozen water resources” which are melting at a fast pace, as the recent decade has experienced...

Booni is a village 80 kilometers to the north of Chitral town. Just like the rest of the villages in the Hindu Kush region, Booni is also a fan-shaped landmass formed by glacial deposit at the mouth of what is called ‘Booni Gol’ or the stream of Booni, which cultivates the tracts of crops, vegetable, fruit bearing trees of apples, pear and grape and so on.     On July 26, 2010 in the afternoon, a huge flash flood that originated from Booni zom glacier, smashed road networks, telephone and water supply lines depriving the local communities of the basic life amenities. The jeep-able road that once connected Central Booni to Molgram in the south vanished in a flash and the blacktopped road cleanly swept. The proportion of the flood was so immense that the wide span of the stream could hardly accommodate it. Consequently, the overflow entered the settlements destroying...

  The three-day Broghil festival 2010 is set to be organized from July 28 to 30, 2010 at Teri Dast, the scenic venue near the Chiantar glacier in the Eastern Pamir region. The objective of the event is to create income earning opportunities for the Wakhi communities by attracting tourists in addition to protect the indigenous culture of the unique community along Wakhan Corridor. The festival will be categorized in to two broader segments i.e. indigenous sporting events and traditional Wakhi music. The sporting events will be: 1.      Wakhi free style  polo 2.      Central Asian buzkashi on sturdy Badakhshi ponies 3.      Horse race 4.      Yak polo 5.      Yak  race 6.      Tug of war 7.      Mountain marathon   The cultural events including: 1.      Traditional Wakhi folksongs such as ‘bilbilik’ etc 2.      Wakhi folkdances 3.      Central Asian violin [ghirzhak] 4.      Playing ‘gharba’ with religious songs 5.      Food festival 6.      Exhibition of Wakhi handicrafts...

PESHAWAR: Different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have demanded immediate halt to the construction of community halls in the Kalash valleys in Chitral as they felt it would harm the local culture.Kalash Environmental Protection Society (KEPS), Frontier Heritage Trust (FHT), Institute of Architects of Pakistan (IAP), Civic Awareness Promotion Society (CAPS), Zareef Khan Foundation (ZKF) and Sarhad Conservation Network (SCN) in a joint statement urged the government to immediately stop the construction of new community centres in the three valleys inhabited by the minority Kalash community as the Kalash people resented the decision and considered it harmful for their culture.According to the SCN press release, the new secretary for minorities, Khyber Pakhtun-khwa, had sanctioned three community halls for women, one for each of the three Kalash valleys. But the local community in Rumbur, Birir and Bamburet opposed the centres. In Balanguru, they already have two Jestakhans (community centres) damaged by certain elements four...

GILGIT, July 4: The territorial dispute between Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finally resulted into boycott of famous freestyle polo festival by GB and its team withdrew from the event. The two sides held discussions to work out an amicable solution to organise the festival but the dialogue between delegations of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held in Phandar valley ended without any result as none of the participants was ready to take a step back from the stated position, official sources said. Finance Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, Mohammad Ali Akhtar, who led the GB delegation, said that the delegation of KP was told in clear terms that they were no more ready to participate in the festival as guests as the territory on which the polo festival was held belonged to GB. He said that the KP delegation was led by Provincial Minister Salim Khan who tried to convince the GB team...

Chitral -- With just two days left for the Shandur polo festival to begin (7-9 July), it is still not clear whether the Gilgit team would participate. CN came to know from sources that the Gilgitis were demanding equal rights over the ownership of the place and were not willing to participate as guests. A high level meeting between teams led by KP minister Salim Khan and GB minister Muhammad Ali ended in a deadlock putting the GB participation in doubt. However efforts are on to salvage the situation. The festival would go ahead as planned said KP organisers when contacted. It may be pointed out that that politics has even reached the Shandur playground at 12000 ft above sea level taking over from hitherto 'Polotics' found there. --(CN report, 05 July 10) Please visit the following website link to read the news from original source: http://chitralnews.com/News-5-7-10.htm Coutesy: Chitral News

PESHAWAR, June 15, 2010: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Sports, Tourism and Culture Syed Aqil Shah while expressing his complete satisfaction over the arrangements made by the Provincial Tourism Department, and District Administration Chitral for the successful holding of Shandur Polo Festival from July 7 to 9 this year has said during the festival while Shandur will be decorated and President of Pakistan will be invited to the festival. This he said while presiding over a high level meeting to review and finalize arrangements for the Shandur Polo Festival here on Tuesday. The meeting besides Secretary Information, Sports was also attended by GM STC Muhammad Azam Khan DCO Chitral Rehmatullah Wazir, DPO Chitral, Commandant Chitral Scouts and representative of C&W and STC. The meeting expressed its full satisfaction over the arrangements made by the District Administration Chitral and Chitral Scouts for the festival. The lovers of the game anxiously wait for the...

Environment Day on June 5th was celebrated with enthusiasm in Chitral town through the participation of environment activist, social workers and NGO and community representatives. A placard and banner bearing walk was taken out from Chew Bridge to polo ground Chitral. The feature of the walk was the participation of students from Broghil, in the Eastern Pamir region.     The walk came to an end after it reached the Chitral polo ground where community representatives and head of NGOs and environment activists addressed the gathering. The grave concern regarding environmental degradation was highlighted particularly in reference to the disappearing peat bog in Broghil, to the extreme north of the Chitral district. The speakers also pointed out the recent ecological imbalance that has resulted in the growing population of caterpillars destroying hawthorns, apple, mulberry and clover. This problem, they maintained, in northern Chitral is linked to the disappearing bird species such...

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Sports, Culture & Tourism Syed Aqil Shah on Tuesday said that Shandur polo festival would be held from July 7-9 in a befitting manner.“President Asif Ali Zardari will be requested to attend the event on July 9 as chief guest,” the minister told a meeting held to review arrangements for Shandur festival. Sarhad Tourism Corporation (STC) managing director Muhammad Azam Khan and others attended the meeting.Syed Aqil Shah said the chief ministers, governors of the four provinces and ambassadors of different countries would also be invited. He said the PIA would run additional flights to Chitral from Peshawar and Islamabad on the occasion while roads from Chitral to Malakand and from Malakand to Shandur would be kept open.He said a tented village would be established at Shandur while media team for the coverage of the festival would also be sent. He said the responsibility of holding...

Chilimjosht, the spring festival of the Kalash communities in Rumbor, Birir and Bumborate, Chitral, Pakistan will be celebrated from May 14 to 18. This year both national and international tourists are expected to participate in the festival.You can please note the date of the festival in three of the Kalash valleys as follows:1) Rumbor May 14-15, 2010, two days2) Bumborate May 15-16, 2010, two days3) Birir May 18, only one dayYou can be in contact with us should you need more information related to the festival. Thanks!