Georgian Expedition to Saraghrar 2021.
On 19th August a 3 member expedition of Georgian climber reached Zondrangram with an NOC and Permit from the authorities concerned. They left for the BC the next morning and set up their tents with Irshad as Tourist Guide and Mr. Hayat as cook. They had hire 30 porters at Zondrangram.
They had also purchased a goat at Zondrangram for their kitchen which they kept at the pasture around the camp at Khotgaz in the Roshgol valley of Terich. For a couple of days they grazed the goat and planned to slaughter it a few days later. One of them was vegetarian but the others wanted to eat it in case of fresh supply stopped. That higher region of the valley is haunted by poachers but in the presence of the climbers in the area the poachers did not dare to approach in day time but they knew about the presence of the goat in that particular camp.
One night some poachers reached the camp at the wee hour of the night and untied the goat which strayed out and the guys at the camp in their tents. They were fast asleep so the goat left the camp and the poachers led it down the valley. In the morning the residents of the BC found the goat missing and started their search throughout the day. The next morning the runner of the expedition left for down valley to search the goat and bring some fresh supplies. At the summer hut called Shugan he asked about the missing goat and he was informed that it had come to Shugan after the poachers and then went down the valley.
The runner walked down from Shugan ghari and found the foot prints of the goat on the trail and followed it till he reached Lasht village. There he asked children about any single goat and was told that that particular goat had reached the hamlet led by one of the villagers ( the true poacher and a well known mischief monger). One of the porters who had gone to the BC with the climbers saw the goat and identified it tht it is the one which had been driven up by the porters along with the climbers.
The same porter searched for the goat, caught it and carried it to his cattle fold to hand over back to the climbers. Then the man went to sit in his shop in the Bazar but when he came back in the afternoon he inquired about the goat and he was told that Mr. Sher Wazir Shah ( the above mentioned poacher) had forcibly entered the fold and driven out the goat to his own cattle fold. The above mentioned porter scolded his sister for that laziness and told her to go to the poacher’s house and fetch it but she was told by the poacher another story that he had handed it over to the family of the cook of the team but after further inquiry it turned out that the goat had been driven to another fold which belonged to another co poacher. The news spread in the village and many children had seen the goat being driven by the said poacher.
Meanwhile the runner of the team reached the village and the goat was retrieved from the fold and the runner slaughtered the goat, kept all the mutton in Fridge for freezing, to be carried to the climbers on need basis. Mr. Sher Wazir Shah of Lasht Zondrangram hatched this plot and did his best to steal the goat of the Georgian Expedition. This man has been implicated in attacking staff of Snow Leopard Foundation, baton Charge by some 12 men-both his sons and nephews an SLF employee, two constables.
He also bribed wild life watchers to stop Booni based local Tourists from going into the Roshgol valley as it was against his interests- poaching ibex. The Ibex flock in the Roshgol valley of Terich UC is under frequent poaching by this Shikar mafia led by Sher Wazir Shah. The ibex population is in great danger and the mafia is in league with a particular wild life watcher of the same village. The chief of the poachers has to be kept under control by the district administration.
As president of the local chapter of the prestigious ALPINE CLUB OF PAKISTAN I have the duty to make the movement of all adventure tourists as smooth and convenient as possible. My membership No of the Alpine Club of Pakistan i.e. A.C.P. is: 02990073
Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig,
Zondrangram, UC TERICH
Distt. Upper Chitral
