PESHAWAR: Shahzada Farhad Aziz, who died in the Dec 7 crash of Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-661 near Havelian, was himself a flight enthusiast and accomplished paraglider.

Mr. Aziz, a member of Chitral’s royal family and a teacher at the Langlands Public School, was accompanying daughter Tayyaba Aziz to Islamabad, where she was scheduled to undergo an university entrance test.

Mr. Aziz was recuperating from wounds suffered in a paragliding accident when this correspondent first met him in the summer season of 2013.

Chitral’s Shahzada Farhad Aziz learnt basics of the sport from Austrian visitor and taught them to youth

Wearing a sling to support broken arm while healing, Aziz came out of his house located next to the fading mud-brick fort, built by his ancestors on the banks of the River Chitral.

We sat in the shade of the giant oriental plain trees next to the fort, discussing Aziz’s passion for flying over cragged and rocky vastness of Hindukush mountains. In 1998, Aziz saw an Austrian national fly from Birmoghlast pasture overlooking Chitral town and land on the bank of river. He was immediately fascinated by the idea of flying over the gigantic mountains surrounding the district.

When the curious local residents surrounded the paraglider, he informed them that Chitral had the best topography for paragliding and rather, it’s the best place in the world.

Aziz took the Austrian national home that evening and began following him on his paragliding excursions.

Mr. Aziz learnt from the visitor the basic paragliding tricks and tips and transferred them to youths of Chitral in the years ahead.

“My first flight covered a distance of just 10 feet,” he reminisced with a chuckle.

In Aziz’s word, the Austrian paraglider wanted to open a paragliding institute in Pakistan; however, his premature death left his plans unfulfilled.

The paragliding fever soon started spread across Chitral, as more and more locals started to take interest in the sport. The visiting teams began to impart training to flying enthusiasts, besides donating their flying gears and equipment.

In 2005, Saifullah Jan, a close associate of Mr. Aziz, received paragliding training in Islamabad and returned to the valley to formally start the sport in Chitral.

The Hindukush Association for Paragliding (HIKAP) was formed in 2009 to promote flying sports in Chitral and Mr. Aziz became its president thereafter.

“When we set up the HIKAP, there were around 20 new members who were eager to learn paragliding,” Mr. Aziz said. The Pakistan Army invited HIKAP paraglider to the Swat after the scenic valley was cleared of the Taliban in the Rah-i-Rast military operation in 2009. They also performed at an army-arranged festival in Upper Dir besides performing at the annual Shandur polo festival.

“The HIKAP is only paragliding association in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It provides free trainings to flying enthusiasts, while down the country, clubs charge Rs25,000 for basic training,” he said.

Mr. Aziz was eager about the prospects of holding an international paragliding event in Pakistan.

“Thousands of people will visit the country if such an event is arranged,” he said.

The district has now over a dozen trained glider pilots, probably the highest such number in a single area in Pakistan, while the association has around 50 members.

Saifullah Jan, his longtime associate, said Mr. Aziz’s efforts helped put the district on the map of paragliding.

“He not only used to very generous in training the youth, but his doors were always open to foreign visitors as well.

“Often, he used to take home foreigners for stay,” he said.

Mr. Jan said Mr. Aziz, Shahzada Sirajul Mulk and he worked together to set up the HIKAP to promote paragliding and use the sport for boosting tourism in the district.

“After flying from Birmoghlast, a paraglider can easily fly up to the borders of Afghanistan and Tajikistan and China and land at the Qaqlasht plateau in upper Chitral,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2016