CHITRAL, Aug 12: A four-day festival began here on Sunday to welcome ground-breaking of the Lowari Tunnel project by President Pervez Musharraf on Aug 14.

The event, Chitral Mela, began with a procession, led by the former ruler of Chitral, Saiful Mulk Nasir.

Thousands of people from all over the district have already thronged the festival site, where different games and folk music programmes will be held daily till the Independence Day.