UPPER DIR: After heavy snowfall in the last few days, over 50 jeeps took on the curvy and treacherous road in the second Lowari snow jeep rally competition on Sunday where the contestants exhibited excellent driving skills in the Lowari Pass.

Syed Azaz Shah of Islamabad 4x4 Jeep Club won the 37-kilometre rally while Taimoor Ali of Frontier 4x4 Jeep Club, Peshawar, ended up as runner-up in the competition.

Five jeep clubs participated in the rally which also included Main Machine 4x4 Club of Lahore, Chitral 4x4 Jeep Club and Afford and Adventure 4x4 Jeep Club, Peshawar.

The event attracted a good number of people who had to trudge through snow on foot to reach Qulandi as private cars were not allowed to go to the area. The race started from Qulandi area of Upper Dir and passed through the Lowari Tunnel to Ziarat in Chitral and ended back in Qulandi.

This section of Dir-Chitral road has received over feet of snow so far. The road was closed by the heavy snowfall and bulldozers of army’s engineering corps cleared the unpaved track of snow to make it usable for the jeep rally.

The rally presented a spectacular view as jeeps raced on the track nestled in lofty snow-clad mountains. This was the second consecutive year that the snow jeep rally was organised.

General Officer Commanding (GOC), Malakand, Major General Ali Amir Awan said that the annual jeep rally would be organised with more fanfare next year.

He said the rally would have a positive impact on the local tourism. He said that holding of the jeep rally became possible due to the successful military operation ‘Zarb-i-Azb’. He also praised the local people for making the rally a success.

The GOC gave away trophies and cash prizes of Rs50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs20,000 to the winner, runner-up and third position holder, respectively.

Operation commander Amir Yaseen Rao, provincial senior minister Inayatullah and MNA Tariqullah were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2017