CHITRAL, May 30: A Kalash girl, Lakshan, made a stride to the apex of eminence as her life sketch has been included in the Urdu text book of 6th class prepared by the NWFP Text Book Board.

She has been portrayed as a model who rose from abysmal poverty coming from a very remote area and changed the fate of her people who are known for their unique mode of life, traditions and customs.

The children have been told that to accomplish all that first of all she concentrated on her studies and passed the matriculation examination with distinction. She wanted to bring about a pleasant change in the lives of her community who were backward and gullible.

It was some eight years ago when one of the ministers of Aftab Sherpao government in the province chose Lakshan to make her a pilot. The minister was staying in the valley as it was the occasion of merriment there because the famous Kalash festival Chilim Jusht was being observed.

Luckily the minister visited the house of Bashara Khan, father of Lakshan situated in the Rumboor valley. By the time Lakshan had just passed her matriculation examination.

She was introduced to the minister and was told that she is the first Kalash girl to complete the secondary school education and longs to become a pilot. The minister appreciated the desire and got her admitted to the flying club in Peshawar to get a commercial pilot licence.

This was the beginning of her rising to eminence. She, however, identified herself as social worker rather than as aviator. She founded Kalash Foundation with the aid of foreigners and did not continue aviation as the profession. She has visited a number of foreign countries and speaks English fluently which impress people here.

No tangible changes, however, have been brought about by her organization so far. She has cultivated close intimacy with a good number of people both in the country and abroad.

Meanwhile, the move on the part of the board has drawn widespread criticism from the people in Chitral. The exclusion of the lesson on Hazrat Khadijatul Kubra from the volume of the book and the inclusion of the Kalash girl has proved to be a cause of annoyance for them.

They say that it was part of secularisation of the society as the achievements of Lakshan were not of that magnitude to make her worthy to be presented as model to the coming generation.

The local members of assembly (all belonging to MMA) have expressed displeasure and have assuaged the wrath of the people by promising to undo it by registering their protest on the floor of their respective houses.