GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government has finally decided to participate in the three-day Shandur polo festival scheduled to start from July 29 after successful dialogue with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

GB government had been boycotting the event due to a lingering territorial dispute with the Khyber Pakhtunlchwa government for last three years. It accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of monopolising the sport.

A meeting was held in Islamabad between GB and KP representatives recently to work out an amicable solution to organise the festival, but the dialogue ended without any result.

Later, the GB government announced to boycott the event this year too and also announced to organise a Shandur festival separately. GB government had been demanding equal share to arrange the event.

Polo matches between archrivals Gilgit and Chitral are considered the major attraction of the event.

GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman had constituted a six-member parliamentary committee to sort out the issue after conducting dialogues with the KP government.

After deliberation the committee decided to participate in the event and send polo teams from GB.

Barkat Jamil, local lawmaker, who is also member of the parliamentary committee, announced this decision here on Friday. He told reporters that after successful dialogue with the KP government GB government had decided to participate in the event.

Mr Jamil explained that the GB government was of the opinion that as long as the territorial dispute between GB and KP persisted, the festival should be arranged by the federal government.

`Now the event would be organised by the Inspector General of Frontier Constabulary, which is under the federal government, he said, adding GB scouts would also ensure security of the event.-Correspondent