Owais Mughal and Adil Najam

Following yesterday’s murderous attack on Islamabad, Karachi has been rocked today by a series of blasts (seven reported till now).

Manzoor Ali Shah

The 2008 edition of Pakistan’s famous Shandur Polo festival starts today. It will continue for three days. This polo tournament, organized by Gilgit and Chitral polo clubs, will be played at Shandur Pass which is considered as the the highest Polo Ground in the World.

The game of polo has been played for a long time in the world, but in Pakistan it sometimes assumes mythical importance

Pakistan’s northern areas are famous for their natural beauty. They have awe-inspiring mountains, serene lakes, roaring rivers and gigantic glaciers. But the game of polo attracts many a visitor to the region for reasons other than watching nature’s munificence.

Polo is one of the oldest games played in the world. And the northern areas are known for the kind of polo played here. Every year, in the second week of July, polo teams from Chitral and Gilgit face each other in Shandur — the world’s highest polo ground. This event dates back to old colonial times when in the ‘30s a British political agent, Maj Evelyn Cobb, who was fond of playing the game in the moonlit Shandur, initiated polo matches in the area.

Owais Mughal

The citizens of Lahore saw a Railway Locomotive for the first time in their city in March 1862. Lahore at that time was connected via Railways to Amritsar and rest of the India but not to the port city of Karachi. The Lahore-Amritsar line though complete, was not inaugurated yet. It was to be inaugurated later on April 10, 1862. Therefore, Karachi being the closest port to Lahore, was used to import the first locomotive that was to drive down in Lahore.

The photo above is not the locomotive which first made its appearence in Lahore; This is however, now the oldest surviving locomotive in Pakistan. It is named as ‘Eagle’ and it was built in 1876 in England. It is now placed outside Moghalpura Workshops, Lahore. Photo is courtesy of Mr. Thomas Kautzor

From Karachi port, this locomotive was shipped to Lahore via river transportation system. It was a long and slow journey. The locomotive was shipped from Karachi port at Kimari to Kotri (located at western bank of Indus) by train. At Kotri it was tranferred to a steam boat of Indus Steam Flotilla company.