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Mastuj makeshift bridge collapsed.

by Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: The holding of Shandur festival has been jeopardized by the collapse of jeepable suspension bridge at Mastuj which connects the Laspur valley with the rest of the district, the people of Mastuj told chitraltimes.com through telephone here on Tuesday. One Sher Aziz said that the makeshift bridge erected by the local people was washed away by the river last night whose level is steeply rising with melting of glaciers in the mountains. He said that hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the bridge and thousands of passengers faced miseries and troubles. The suspension bridge contracted by the communication and works (C&W) department has already been collapsed last year but the department miserably failed to restore it for vehicular traffic. The residents of Mastuj said that with the collapse of the bridge, the population of three union councils of Laspur, Matuj and Yarkhoon has been severed from the rest of the district. The collapse of the bridge will badly affect the Shandur festival which is scheduled for 7 to 9th of the next month and mobilization of necessary items will not be possible. A leader of PPP Syed Sardar Hussain Shah said that the provincial sports minister is boasting of making special arrangements for the event to attract more number of tourists and restore tourism in the area but ignored the vital infrastructure of bridge. He said that C&W department utterly failed to start the repair work of the bridge and the government did not feel its importance with the result that at this crucial time, there is no connection between Shandur valley and the rest of the country. The C&W department awarded the contract of repair work of the bridge only last week but the contractor is working at snail's pace which may take many months for its restoration, he said. A number of tour operators expressed their apprehensions about festival and questioned that how they will send their guests to the venue in the absence of bridge. "Very few of the tourists will know how to swim to cross the river and proceed to Shandur pasture", a tour operator said in light vein. The horses of the players of Chitral team were also being sent to the venue when the bridge collapsed, a player said.
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A Kalash Girl Embraces Islam

by Our Correspondent

CHITRAL: A Kalash reading in a primary school in the Bumburate valley embraced Islam facing the stiff resistance of her parents who did approve her conversion. Malik shah Kalash told chitraltimes.com that the daughter of Qasim Baig Kalash from Saroz Jal of the valley had been expressing her strong inclination towards Islam for the last one year but her parents tried their level best to dissuade her which ended in failure. He said that she is now living in a Muslim family after her formal conversion. Her new Muslim name was Zar Sima.