A cycling tour for cross-border peace
Pakistan’s top cyclists and a ninemember team from Afghanistan taking part in the event
Dozens of Pakistani and Afghan cyclists embarked on a 350 kilometre race on Friday through Pakistan’s scenic but militancy-hit northwest to promote international tourism and cross-border peace.
The 87 spandex-clad competitors began their journey in Peshawar, the ancient capital of the northwest Khyber Pakthunkhwa province and focal-point of a home grown insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2001.
The event included Pakistan’s top cyclists as well as a nine-member team from Afghanistan, Nisar Ahmed, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cycling Association said. “It is a very positive step, three to four countries will take part in the next race,” he added. Dressed in brightly coloured gear and riding latest generation racing bikes, the cyclists attracted droves of onlookers as they crossed historic monuments such as the 1,400-year-old Peshawar fort.
From there they are due to pass through Abbottabad, a relatively quiet, leafy garrison town where Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by US Special Forces in 2011.
They will then head to the capital Islamabad for the final leg, and ride toward picturesque and hilly Nathia Galli that lies in the western Himalayan range.
Ehsan Ullah Khan, an Afghan cyclist, said such events could help bring his country closer to Pakistan.