CHITRAL: Grief again gripped Chitral on Saturday as the residents remembered their family members and friends, who were killed in a plane crash on Dec 7, 2016.

The PIA aircraft crashed near Havelian en route to Islamabad from Chitral, killing all 47 passengers, including singer-turned-Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed.

Qurankhwani was held in mosques across the region, especially in Goldur, Jang Bazaar, Zait, Booni, Junali Koch, Lone, Garam Chashma, Langa Drosh, Brep and Morder, where the victims were buried.

Residents fondly remembered the then Chitral deputy commissioner Osama Warraich, who also died in the crash along with his family.

He was popular for his excellent administrative skills and public welfare projects.​

The region’s first public park, which Warraich established on the Booni Road, was named after him.

A memorial for crash victims has also been put up there.

Unlike the last seven years, no formal ceremony was held at the Osama Shaheed Park this time around to lay a wreath on the monument.

Meanwhile, a road accident, just hours before the PIA flight PK-661 departed from Chitral Airport on Dec 7, 2016, prevented a man from the Kalash valley from boarding the ill-fated plane, granting him a new lease of life.

The man, Sheikh Abdullah of Batrik village in Bumburate valley, had recently converted to Islam from his Kalash religion and got close to pop singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed during his mission to the valley those days.

His previous name was Sabit Khan.

Bartik villager Yaqub Khan told Dawn that Junaid Jamshed grew so fond of Sheikh Abdullah during his weeklong stay and decided to take him to Islamabad and even purchased him a ticket in the ill-fated PK-661 flight.

He, however, said just hours before departure, Sheikh Abdullah fractured his leg in a motorbike crash in Chitral city and was admitted to the DHQ hospital.

“Junaid Jamshed asked his local friends to send Sheikh Abdullah to Islamabad soon after his recovery as the doctors didn’t allow him to travel. However, as the plane crash killed Junaid Jamshed, so Sheikh Abdullah eventually returned to his village,” he said.

Sheikh Abdullah serves as a muezzin (mosque attendant) in his village and becomes sad whenever someone asks him about his friend.​

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2024