Show Shandur as part of KP, court orders textbook board

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board to rectify errors in textbooks and show Shandur tourist resort in Upper Chitral as part of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The direction was issued on a petition filed by Shahid Ali Khan Yaftali Advocate.

A bench of the high court, comprising Justices Muhammad Naeem Anwar and Muhammad Ejaz Khan, was informed that Shandur was part of Chitral and the Land Commission of 1975 in the gazette notification had declared it a property of the KP government.

Moreover, court records of 1914 and 1959 also showed Shandur as part of KP and even the chief court of Gilgit-Baltistan had maintained the status quo in 2011.

After the issuance of the direction, officials from the textbook board assured the court that corrections would be made in the textbooks in accordance with the court direction. The court then disposed of the petition.

For years, especially after the annual Shandur festival started attracting tourists from world over, some people in GB have been claiming ownership on Shandur. 

Read details of the dispute here.