CHITRAL: The bazars and markets of both the districts of Chitral are literally drowned in fake, counterfeit, adulterated and substandard commodities. Whether it be food stuff, medicines, cosmetics, items of household use, rather anything and everything that can be made fake or counterfeited can be found in the bazars. As a matter of fact one has be lucky to find a genuine stuff anywhere in the markets of Chitral.

This is not a new phenomenon and has continued since the time the concept of faking and counterfeiting started, but now it is reaching alarming proportions. A contractor who had to stay in Brep village of upper Chitral for few days, talking to CN said he could neither find a genuine soap nor a shampoo in any of the shops there. The soaps were carrying labels of popular brand names like? Lux, dove, lifebuoy etc, Head and shoulders, Sunsilk etc but all were Batkhela garage made counterfeit items of the worst kind. Even third class plastic chairs made of cheap scrap had names of famous brands like Toyo, Boss and Citizen engraved on them.

Unfortunately, there is no moral guidance by the clergy nor administrative control by the government to check the menace which is playing with the lives of Chitralis, who are degenerating physiologically with passage of time due to being subjected to everything fake and counterfeit. .. CN report, 24 Sep 2019