CHITRAL: The annual Shandur Polo Festival is now just a week away. Final preparations are underway at the venue, including the installation of fencing around the polo ground and the implementation of other “security measures.” Teams from both sides have been announced, and the horses have already been moved to the world’s highest polo ground at an altitude of 12,000 feet for acclimatization. All of this is routine; it happens every year, and there is nothing particularly new about it. Equally familiar is the fact that the Shandur Festival has traditionally remained a VIP-centric event, where ordinary spectators are treated as children of a lesser god.
This year, however, a growing number of Chitralis are raising their voices and demanding that the principal guests, including the chief guest, travel to Shandur by road rather than by the customary helicopter flights. Given the soaring cost of fuel and Pakistan’s fragile economic condition, many believe that official helicopters—whether civil or military—should be prohibited from landing at Shandur or Sor Laspur for ceremonial purposes. Whoever serves as the chief guest should experience firsthand the roads and travel hardships that the local population endures throughout the year.
In an age of heightened public awareness and instant communication, it is becoming increasingly difficult to shield people from the realities of inequality and privilege. Citizens are more informed, more connected, and more willing to express their concerns about perceived injustices. The call for VIPs to travel by road is therefore not merely about transportation; it is a demand for empathy, accountability, and a closer understanding of the everyday challenges faced by the people of the region. .. CN report, 04 June 2026
5 thoughts on “Shandur festival; Let the VIPs take the road like other people”
Have nailed it, Chitral News.
Valid points. but I wonder why we should go there at all only to be treated in a humiliating manner when political and bureaucratic elites enjoy VIP treatment at the expense of public funds. Shandur festival has lost its traditional spirit and become an annual spectacle for VIPs.
In that case it should be renamed ‘Shandur VIP polo tournament’,
Very valid observation but criticism alone will not deter our VIP tribe from continuing to enjoy their perks , to make their protest effective the locals should boycott the event at the last moment preferably after the VIPs have arrived
Over the years the spirit of Shandur has been badly defiled by the ever increasing protocol and pseudo security culture. That is why there are hardly any return visitors other than the polo crazy Chitrali fans and some gilgitis because what first time visitors from down country see at Shandur in the form of unnecessary barbed wires and security cordons, highly exagerrated and disgusting protocol for VIPs and the discriminatory attitude of the authorities towards the common spectator is a total turn off.