Compensation sought for festival's cancellation

Report Zahiruddin, Chitral

The residents of Boroghil have demanded of the government to compensate them for the losses they incurred as a result of the cancellation of Boroghil festival at the eleventh hour by the government.

Public representatives from the area said they were busy in preparations for the last five months to make the event a great success and spent thousands of rupees.
They said situated at a distance of 250 kilometers from the district headquarters, the area is backward and its residents were very poor where even farming was not possible due to its climatic conditions and high altitude.
They said livestock keeping was the only source of livelihood in the area while the residents of the area had determined to open up their area to the outsiders including foreigners to promote tourism so that new sources on generating income could be explored.

They said the area is abundantly rich in natural beauty and has fabulous sources of attraction for the tourists that is why the federal government had included the festival in the calendar of events of ‘Visit Pakistan Year in 2007.’

The residents said that the festival was also named as the “Yak Festival” as the animal was the only source of income for the local population. Yak polo, yak race, horse polo, buz kashi and cultural show would be the main events at the festival.

They alleged that some hidden forces became active then and the festival was celebrated with a very low profile. They said that this year, the people were determined to make the event a great and impressive event on self-help basis which was to commence from 20th July soon after the Shandur festival, but the government imposed a ban on the festival citing lame excuses.

This time, however, Wetland Project, Pakistan and Chitral Association for Mountainous Areas Tourism (CAMAT), a local NGO of the stakeholders of tourism industry, were jointly sponsoring the festival.

The manager of CAMAT, Shamsuddin said individuals and parties had invested a large sum of money for different stalls in the venue of the festival while its cancellation has caused them irrecoverable loss. He said the ministry of tourism should compensate the individuals, the NGOs and the residents of the area for canceling the festival.