Chitral News

Chitral News Brief

16 Feb 2022: Former District Naib Nazim Sultan Shah of Susum Lotkooh has passed away due to Cardiac arrest.

29 Jan 2022: Women ice hockey team of upper Chitral has won the national ice hockey championship held at Gilgit, by beating the hosts by 2-0 goals. 

28 Jan 2022: Chitral gets it’s first female SDO as Shehla Nawaz of Parwak, Mastuj  a graduate of UET was selected as SDO ( BPS-17) C&W after qualifying the exam through KPKPSC

21 Jan 2022: Shoaib Sultan, founding Chairman of ‘Rural Support Programmes Network’ (RSPN) has nominated Shahzada Masood Ul Mulk as his successor who will assume office of the Vice Chairman forthwith and later take over as Chairman. He is currently the CEO of Sarhad Rural Support Program.

08 Jan 2022: Dr Farida Anjum, a graduate of Imperial College London hailing from Ayun Chitral, has been appointed as the first Lady research director of the Agriculture research center KP.

24 Dec 2022: Deputy Commissioners of Upper and Lower Chitral districts have even replaced. Muhammad Ali Khan and Arshad Qayum Barki have been appointed as DCs upper and Lower Chitral in place of Manzoor Ahmad Afridi and Anwarul Haq respectively, who have been told to report to the establishment division.

16 Dec 2022: Two Chitrali scholars Mir Zaman Shah and Sher Rahmat Khan have successfully earned their PhD doctorate from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT university) Melbourne Australia.

08 Dec 2022: Kalash winter religious festival ‘Choumas’ or ‘Chitrmas’ has commenced in Rumbur valley and will continue till 21 Dec. ‘Choumas’ is the largest and supposed to be most sacred religious festival of the Kalash held every year at this time.

08 Dec 2022: Fahd Khwaja , son of senior journalist Nadir Khwaja has won the national table tennis championship held at Quetta , for the second time.

17 Nov 2022: The new DPO Chitral, Nasir Mehmood, after taking charge has promptly attended to the drug peddling menace in Chitral. While talking to news repoters the police chief vowed to not show any mercy on the culprits as due to them drug addiction is increasing in Chitral.

11 Nov 2022: Newly appointed District Police Officer Nasir Mehmood has taken charge. His predecessor Sonia Shamroze has been posted as DPO Battagram.

03 Nov 2022:  Anwar Aman, a Chitrali American businessman, was awarded a medal by President Arif Alvi at a ceremony to honour Pakistani expats who have rendered invaluable services to Pakistan.

24 Oct 2022: PIA has completely removed Chitral from it’s list of destinations. It may be mentioned that there is a complete setup of administrative and security staff at Chitral airport causing a heavy cost to the government on daily basis, without any returns, as PIA has suspended it’s flights to Chitral indefinitely.

24 Oct 2022: Former Tehsil Nazim, prominent poet and founder member of Jamat Islami, Amir Khan Mir, passed away in Chitral.

19 Oct 2022: Molana Jamshed Ahmad has been elected as the Amir Jamat Islami, lower Chitral. He has held the position of district Amir earlier too.

17 Oct 2022: Mehtar Fatehul Mulk Ali Naser met the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi at Islamabad. He discussed the problems of Chitral with the President and invited him to visit Chitral which the President accepted and said he would visit Chitral shortly.

14 Oct 2022: Three persons lost their lives while another two were injured when a truck collided with a van iside the small tunnel at Lowari. This is a rare case as since opening of the tunnels there have hardly been any accident inside them. It is hoped that this will not give an excuse to the NHA to make the tunnel oneway, because more accidents occur on roads outside the tunnel but the road is never made one way.

13 Oct 2022: District Administration lower Chitral has imposed a ban on duck hunting at the Balach riverside (Shotar). This will be a big respite for the poor migratory birds which are hunted cunningly and cruelly withe the help of decoys and camoflages. Human beings are intrinsically cruel and only stringent laws can prevent cruelty by them to helpless beings of Allah.

07 Oct 2022: Chitral Chamber of Commerce elected Sadar Qadafi as president, Abdul Ghafar Lal as Snr Vice President and Mujeebur Rahman as Vice President. Chief Patron Sartaj Ahmad Khan welcomed the new members and expressed hope that they serve the interests of Chitral diligently.

24 Sep 2022: Three young boys age 14, 15 and 17 respectively, fell off a bridge at Zanglasht Torkhow and lost their lives. As per report one boy fell off the bridge while crossing it, while his two companions trying to save him also drowned in the river.

10 Sep 2022: A young footballer Mansoor s/o Kamal Khan of Karimabad has passed away. He had struck his head against the side wall at the parade football ground in Chitral city during a match yesterday and was admitted in the hospital.

08 Sep 2022: The Ismaeili Imamate has donated ten million US Dollars directly to the government of Pakistan and additional five million dollars will be given to the AKDN for assistance in flood disaster rehabilitation. A telephonic conversation was held between Prince Rahim Aga Khan and Prime Minister Pakistan in this regard.

05 Sep 2022: Doctors in Chitral quoting health grounds have demanded removal of live poultry shops from the Bazar area to separate isolated markets away from the population. The stench due to these live chicken shops is also a very disappointing experience for visitors and tourists.

02 Sep 2022: Unannounced suspension of PIA flights to Chitral has dealt a heavy blow to tourism in the area as most tourists including foreigners prefer to travel by air due to poor condition of roads and lowari tunnel hassle (holding up traffic there). High cost of fare is and irregularity of flights is a reason for low occupancy on the route due to which flights have been suspended altogether for the next month and half.

16 Aug 2022: Gulab Zareen Charvelu of Gahtak Denin has passed away. he was the father of Niaz Ahmad, Ziauddin, Munir Ahmad (VC Nazim), Safiullah and Farid Ahmad.

13 Aug 2022: Maj Burhan s/o Lt Col (r) Sardar Muhammad Khan of Chitral, has been awarded COAS commendation certificate for apprehending dangerous target killer gang along with suicide jackets and IEDs.

12 Aug 2022: According to unconfirmed sources, President of Pakistan is expected to pay a two day visit to Chitral in the coming week. All eyes are on the President’s visit to see the amount of austerity he displays by way of protocol and pretext of security etc. The country is on the brink of bankruptcy and precedence set by the President in saving government money even of symbolic nature would go well with the people.

12 Aug 2022: Retd Captain (hony) Zafar Ali Khan of Zhang Bazar passed away at 98. He had the honour of lowering the Union jack and hoisting the Pakistan flag at Drosh garrison on Independence day 1947. He was the father of Engr Khalid Jamil.

09 Aug 2022: A teenage boy from Kari village committed suicide by jumping into the river from the improvised cable crossing cart over the Chitral river at Denin.

07 Aug 2022: Titular Mehtar of Chitral, Fatehulmulk Ali Naser announced his entry into formal politics by joining the PTI at a meeting with the party chairman Imran Khan in Islamabad. He will be the first Mehtar to formally join a political party. It’s to be seen if his entry into politics changes the dynamics of unhealthy tribe/clan/sect politics into merit based politics disregarding aforementioned considerations.

14 July 2022: Body of Ehsanul Haque Jan, a talented and popular son of Chitral and senior UN official, was brought from the US and laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Booni, upper Chitral.

05 July 2022: Former Ameer Jamaat Islami Chitral, Abdullah Jan passed away at his home in Goldoor Chitral Town. he was the father of Saifullah Jan, Shareefullah Jan and Asadullah Jan.

03 July 2022: Dozens of vehicles carrying tens of hundreds of visitors to Shandur on their return back were stranded at two points where mountain streams burst out with flash floods at Harchin and Shaidas gol. The route was not open till filing of this news Sunday night.

02 July 2022: On the second day of Shandur Polo festival, Chitral C team beat Gilgit C team by 11 goals to 2. In the second match Chitral B team beat Gilgit B team by 8 goals to 2. In the third friendly match Gilgit officers beat Chitral Officers team by 3 goals to 1. The final match between Chitral A team and Gilgit A team will be held tomorrow.

01 July 2022: On the first day of the Shandur Polo festival, Laspur beat Ghizer by 15 goals to 4. In the other match Gilgit D team beat Chitral D team by 6 goals against 4. In the third match Mastuj beat Yasin by 7 goals to 6 in the extended time. Despite the petrol price escalation making travel expensive, the event was well attended by spectators from both sides.

30 June 2022: Ehsanul Haq Jan, son of Shamsyar Lal of Booni lost his life in a traffic accident in the USA. Ehsan, a talented and senior UN official was living with his family in New Jersey where the accident took place.

29 June 2022: Muhammad Irfanuddin has been posted as Additional Deputy Commisioner Lower Chitral, while Fida Ul Karim has been posted as Additional Deputy Commissioner Upper Chitral.

23 June 2022: A queer situation has developed in the context of Shandur festival this year. Earlier it would be statements from petty politicians on Gilgit side claiming Shandur to be theirs, but this year the drama has risen to next level, where the Chief Minister of GB and the Chief Minister of KP have invited each other claiming to be the host for the tournament. Interesting drama is expected ahead. The situation well depicts the state of fiasco in governance of Pakistan at all levels.

22 June 2022: Vehicular density in Chitral bazars and transport terminals has reduced markedly after the giant leap in fuel prices. Only exception being official vehicles running on free provided fuel, which have however not been affected.

21 June 2022: Freak weather phenomenon, like the freak economic situation in Pakistan, has affected Chitral with snowfall at Shandur top, Terich, Melp and other high lying valleys of the twin districts, on 21 June, otherwise supposed to be one of the hottest and longest days in Pakistan.