Name of new district other than Upper Chitral won’t be acceptable
BOONI: Social and political activists Mr Shuja Uddin has said Chitral is our identity and without it we will be doomed for ever as far as our recognition is concerned.
He said as the KP government was about to announce the bifurcation of Chitral into two districts, a debate over the name of the new district had started with some vested interest demanding that it should be named as the Mastuj district.
“We are known the world over by the name of Chitral. If upper Chitral is called the district of Mastuj who would recognize it and its people? It will create confusion among the people of Pakistan as well,” Mr Shuja told ChitralToday.
He gave the example of Dir which was made two districts and named as upper and lower Dir. He said upper Dir district could also have been named after any town or area but it would have created ambiguity and the people maintained its name.
Similarly, he added, if we are bracketed with the name of the district of Mastuj, people outside of Chitral would be confused about our identification as nobody knows where Mastuj is located.
Mr Shuja said the people of upper Chitral, including Yarkhun, Booni, Laspur, Torkhow and Mulkhow, were in unison to name the new district as the district of Upper Chitral.
He advised the government not to lend any ear to those who were advocating for naming the new district as the district of Mastuj on flimsy grounds as it would create an issue of identity for the people of whole Chitral and would not be accepted by its inhabitants.