CHITRAL: The two-day Baroghil festival ended here the other day at the sports stadium recently completed by Aga Khan Agency for Habitat.

It was organised by the district administration of Upper Chitral with the financial assistance of Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) at the altitude of 13,000 feet above the sea level.

The main events of the festival included yak polo, horse polo, buzkashi, donkey polo, horse race, yak race, horse and cattle show, exhibition of local cuisine and handicrafts of Wakhi culture and Wakhi musical concert.

A good number of people from other valleys of Chitral and Giglit-Baltistan had thronged the venue.

The final of the yak polo was contested between the teams of Shikarwarz and Chikar villages which the latter won by one goal while in the horse polo Garil village defeated Shikarwarz village 5-3.

The most thrilling competition was however that of buzkashi – a game of carrying a goat carcass by a horse rider defending himself against the opponent riders – which was won by the team of Sher Khan and Sher Azam of Lashkar Gaz village.

The local cuisine exhibition by the local womenfolk attracted the people in which various items of Wakhi food were put on display, while a local organisation Punar had displayed handicrafts.

The horse and cattle show won a great applause from the participants in which the livestock of the valley, including yak, sheep, ram, goat, cow and ox, were paraded before them.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2019