CHITRAL: The district heads of various political parties and representatives of civil society organisations here have demanded of the government to issue corrigendum to the notification ofestablishment of Hundarap-Shandur Model Protected Area in which Shandur hasbeen ‘erroneously’ mentioned as part of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk, Abdul Wali Khan advocate, Maulana Jamshed, Qazi Naseem, Waqas Ahmed, Yousuf Shahzad and others said that Shandur was the summer pasture of the people of Laspur in Chitral since long which they could not cede to GB at any cost.

They said that clubbing Shandur with Hundarap, declaring it a protected area or national park and showing it as part of GB had sent shock waves through the valley of Chitral as it would divest Chitralis of their historical pasture, a venue of world-fame festival and source of sustenance as they grazed their livestock here for four months of the year.

Substantiating their claim, they cited historical evidences, including travel account of the officer of British Army leading the expedition to invade Chitral from his Gilgit base in 1895 in which he had shown the pasture as part of Chitral.

In 1959, a dispute arose between the people of Laspur (Chitral) and Ghizar (GB) over the ownership of a shrub forest of Langar adjacent to Shandur on Ghizer side and the case was decided in favour of Chitral.

They said that the pasture had been shown as part of Chitral district in the extraordinary gazette notification of 1975 in which the residents of Laspur valley had been mentioned as the owner of the pasture.

The political and civil society activists termed the inclusion of Shandur in the national park of Hundarap a part of controversy.

They said it was unfair to include a settled and undisputed territory as part of a disputed territory because GB had a special constitutional status.

MEDICAL KITS: The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) handed over protective medical kits worth Rs3.4 million to the management of DHQ hospital here the other day for use by the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff while dealing with Covid-19 patients.

In a function held on the hospital premises, Chitral Lower DC Naveed Ahmed received the kits from SRSP chief executive Shahzada Masoodul Mulk while medical superintendant Dr Shamim was also present.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2020