Protest staged: Chitralis vow to resist move to change status of Shandur

PESHAWAR: The residents of Chitral have vowed not to allow any change in the status of Shandur.

Led by Shahid Ali Khan Yaftali advocate, they staged a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club to express their resentment over the federal government’s move to include the Shandur pasture in the proposed Handarab National Park. They also rejected the suggestion of a joint administration, saying that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan had no right over Shandur.

The protesters pointed out that Shandur was part of Chitral that belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Speaking on the occasion, Shahid Yaftali said that the people of Chitral would not forego their claim over the pasture and urged the federal government to withdraw the notification issued for the purpose. He argued that Shandur was situated in Chitral while the Handarab National Park was located in Gilgit-Baltistan and there was a distance of 40 kilometre between these two places. Other protesters said the prime minister had been misguided in order to seek the approval of the plan from him, adding that the government should establish the Handarab National Park in Gilgit-Baltistan but must not change the status of Shandur. The protesters said that the British government had also declared Shandur as the part of Chitral in 1914, adding that a representative jirga of the Pakistani government had endorsed the declaration in 1959. The Federal Land Commission in its report in 1975 had also declared Shandur the part of Chitral. In support of their claim, they recalled that in 1895, the residents of Gilgit helped the British army transport goods till Karyangaz area near the Shandur pasture while beyond that point the people of Chitral accompanied them.They also recalled that the ruler of Chitral got a rest house constructed at Shandur Top in the beginning of the twentieth century. The official record, they said, showed that the commandant of the Gilgit Scouts had sought permission from the ruler of Chitral to stay at the rest house in 1926. They maintained that the Shandur pasture was declared part of Chitral when a dispute took place between the residents of Ghazir and the people of Chitral over the ownership of Langar jangle. The speakers recalled that until 1988, the forest guards of the Chitral Forest Division guarded the pasture. They said the district administration of Chitral had been looking after the pasture since 1981.

They added that the Chitral police registered the first information reports about the robberies and murders that took place in Shandur and the district judiciary heard the cases. The protesters maintained the provincial government had declared the Shandur Top feasible for the construction of an alternate route under the CPEC. The protesters asked the elected representatives from Chitral to raise the issue in the national and provincial assemblies.