CHITRAL, Sept 27: People from different walks of life have appreciated the decision of the provincial government to postpone the Jashn-i-Chitral festival which was scheduled to commence from Oct 12 in the district.

District heads of different political parties and representatives of civil society organisations told Dawn on Saturday that the time was inappropriate to hold the annual fair and make jubilations when the situation in the neighbouring districts was highly tense and innocent people were being killed.

District president Awami National Party, Muzafar Ali Shah claimed that the general public did not favour the holding of the fair due to the prevailing circumstances in the adjacent districts of Swat and Dir but some elements were evincing keen interest only to boost their businesses. He said that the people of Chitral and Swat had always enjoyed cordial relations while certain quarters did not want it to continue.

He said that the people of Chitral were totally perturbed at the killing of innocent people of Swat which was hit by high tension. Expressing his regrets, he said that the provincial government should have examined the ground situation before deciding to hold the fair in Chitral instead of yielding to few elements that allegedly put forth their own interests always. District secretary of the PPP, Mohammad Hakim, said that the personnel of Chitral Scouts and police had been deployed in Swat and Bajaur and almost every week, the dead bodies of one or two martyred personnel were brought to Chitral and the decision of the government to hold the fair in Chitral had filled the people with anger.

He said that security was the biggest problem as it could have provided a fair chance to the terrorists to come to Chitral and carry out their nefarious activities during the event. He claimed that the holding of fair was more to attract the attention of terrorists than the tourists towards the district. Mr Hakim said that his party did not want a fair which was against the will of the common people as the choice of time was totally wrong.

Chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami Maulana Ghulam Mohammad said that the people of Chitral did not want jubilation of any kind when the people of their neighbouring districts were bleeding.

He said that in the name of culture, no one would be allowed to propagate ‘obscenity’ in the district and the exhibition of Kalash dance in Chitral city had long been abandoned in 1974 due to the protests of the people. The Maulana said that those fond of ‘cultural shows’ should go to Kalash valleys but such shows would not be allowed in Chitral.

The JI leader said that the government should provide jobs and social security to the residents of the backward area as hungry people could not make jubilations. He said that the proposed fair was a cruel joke with the jobless and poverty-stricken people of Chitral.