NO TO ETHNIC DIVISIONS
Not only does the recent 'constitutional package' for the people of Gilgit – Baltistan fail to address questions related to their basic rights, it also promises newer, and stronger trouble. While crafting the seventh district, controversially christened “Burushal", comprising Hunza and Nagar, the region's ethnic diversity has been undermined and harmony jeopardized.
Burushal, meaning the settlement of Burusho (an ethnic group), is purely representing the Burushaski language, as one of the four languages spoken in the valley. Shina (a lingua franca of the Northern Areas), Domaki (the language of the great musicians and blacksmiths) and the Wakhi (an international Pamiri /Tajik language spoken in the upper Hunza) are the other three ancient languages that demand equal attention and patronization from the government.
Creating an enabling social environment for human development has to be a thoughtful and considerate process. The 'constitutional package', crafted by bureaucrats, lacks public legitimacy & ownership; and this also clearly exhibits in the case of Hunza–Nagar. Calculating the repercussions of ethnic divisions is not a Herculean task. It only requires a little comprehension of human societies and a bit of political wisdom.
At one end societies are progressing towards bracing a global identity while on the other there are people who still are eager to divide our society on the basis of race and ethnicity. The names of Hunza and Nagar have historical legitimacy, strong global recognition and deep public support & ownership. Why on earth would, then, someone think to change the regions' name, that too, without including all the stakeholders in the process? If changing the name is imperative, for whatsoever reason, the process of renaming should be transparent & representative to the demography of the valley.
Keeping in view the inclusive approach in sharp contrast with exclusive approach, the abbreviations of Hunza and Nagar have been and coined together that form Hunnar District (Hun, taken from Hunza and Nar from Nagar). This combines the communities of both places and one cannot receive any ethno-linguistic smell or otherwise, which hurts the communities living in Hunza and Nagar. It is also noteworthy that there is no significance of Nagar and Hunza rather the entire Northern Areas without upper Hunza (Gojal) that makes the valley the most strategic, having the international borders like Shimshal, Khunzhrav, Misgar and Chipursan within its area. So, how come the community of this most strategic region is neglected?
It is a pity that while the package claims to offer the communities sweeping 'decision making powers' the decisions are already made in privacy and leaving the community leaders in darkness. Vested interest leaders want to destabilize the region's harmony and thwart the developmental process that has been started, mainly, by some biased NGOs. This, it seems, is yet another of their attempts.
Changes are being reported in the geographical and administrative structures for the sake of electoral constituencies in the region keeping in view again the ethno-linguistic perspectives. Baltit, a densely populated Burushaski-speaking village, is being hooked with the Gojal tehsil--predominantly inhabited by the Wakhi speaking community: thus, to craft a new constituency. The population of Gojal, more or less 20, 000 , is lesser than that of Baltit and other smaller wards surrounding it. This offers a déjà vu win for any candidate who speaks Burushaski, in any election in the near future.
The key beneficiary of this administrative shift would be particularly the Burushaski speaking titular Mir of Hunza, Ghazanfar Ali Khan and his family as well as ill-willed advisors. Due to his new arrangement, these concerned persons would be able to play and ensure their linguistic card on the one hand, and on the other party-affiliations as Ghazanfar himself is within the PML and his wife as a novice PPP member. To whom it may concern? In this connection, Ghazanfar and his divide and rule advisors are to be held accountable for engineering such hatred and further divisions among the peaceful communities of Hunza.
In addition, it is also noteworthy that Mir Ghazanfar has a greater say and meddling in the region's trade and economy. His family has widely been accused of high level corruption at the Silk Route Dry Port Sost, located in Gojal valley.
It is high time for those people of Hunza and Nagar who are concerned about the region's peace to raise their voices against these unjust, ill intentioned and mischievous decisions by the so-called tunnel-vision leaders or otherwise.
No doubt "Northern Areas" is a misnomer. It, in no way, is linked to our history, our culture and our aspirations. The name should be changed. Changing the name of that region would have far reaching implications for its political and, thus, socio-economic future.It is heartening; however, to observe that there is no consensus on what should the region be called. The intelligentsia of that region, seemingly, was completely divided. Some preferred to call it Gilgit-Baltistan, some called it "Karakorum", some insisted that it should be called Balawaristan and still others had colourfully foolish names in their pockets.
Sohni Des, Gulistan, Gilgistan, Shumalistan were some of the more innovative ventures of some of our creative folks. I am sure that given a chance we would have been able to get more than a million names for that tiny region of ours. We are confused even about what we want to call our "motherland".Isn't it ironic, then, that some of us think that we are a "nation", that too historically!!No we are not a nation. We want to be a nation. Rightly so. Nature has put us in a geographic situation that interlinks us more than any other connection could have. We have to live in the mountains. We have to prosper. We have to educate our people. We have to defeat poverty. We have to enjoy the eternal beauty of that region. We want to be a nation. Our languages, our common history and our cultural connections would be part of the solution but they are not going to make us a "nation".I don't have a problem with the name of the nation. The symbolic importance of a name can not be undermined but we must not forget that just a noun is not going to make us a nation. The process of nation building has to be structured in such a way that our separate pluralist identities are not compromised. Painting the whole northern areas in one color is not going to be the panacea. We will have to know, respect and promote our regional cultures, traditions, beliefs, customs and priorities in order to attract people towards a common reality.It would really be unfortunate if some of us think that a mere change in the name would rectify all errors automatically. The restoration of regional pride and fostering commonality would have to be a well thought, planned and executed process. At times I find people with really short term myopia with no real sense of the political and socio-economic mechanisms that can strengthen the sense of belongingness. We take the loyalty of the diverse population, with varying priorities, for granted.Similarly highly ambitious plans of some nationalists also help distortion of the realities of our time. For instance some think that they would be able to snatch/ claim some parts of China, (like Tibet), parts of Pakistan (Kohistan, Chitral), parts of Afghanistan (Wakhan) and parts of Kashmir (Ladakh). These people, most probably don't realize that a tiny state or province with such expansionist intentions would be an easy target for nuclear power like China, Pakistan, Russia and India. Our geographic location puts us at the centre of all these states (of which we want to get tiny parts)!!The sovereign status of such a state is almost impossible because we would be dependent on these same potentially rival, powerful, states for the survival of our people.Even assuming that we would be able to exist, survive and flourish by aligning with one or two of these powers dangerously jeopardize our desire for self governance, autonomy and sovereignty. We, most probably, would be functioning as a proxy state with the chords of our life in hands that are not our own.My suggestion, thus, for all my brothers and sisters who are sincerely worried about the political future of this richly gifted region of ours is to think out of their boxes. It is important for us to be rational in our approach towards solutions. Personal priorities, party loyalty, familial bigotry and dreamy ambitiousness would only lead us towards short term solutions and even if we are able to gain our short term objectives we or the coming generations would soon be confronted with even more chronic issues.One must feel pride for the political awakening that has unleashed in the land of the black mountains. However, mere symbolic excitement and jubilation are not the solution.The name, if changed, would not be the end. It would be the beginning of fathoming even more intriguing, real and core questions pertaining to our political ideologues and our action schemes. Whether we are ready for such a change or not is a question that we should start asking ourselves.
Labels: Baltistan, gilgit, Gojal, Hunza
Ecotourism & Development
Ecotourism, in simple terms, is traveling to naturally rich areas with an exalted sense of responsibility. An eco tourist is a traveler who is strategically concerned about the well being of his area of travel, its people and its flora and fauna. Ecotourism, unlike ordinary tourism, emphasizes on the travelers not only to be sensitive to the cultural heritage and value systems of the local people but it also asks them to actively engage in spreading awareness about conservation of local cultural heritage and natural resources.
Pakistan has designated 2007 as the “Tourism Year”. Despite of the hollow claims of the government it is for sure that the local political turmoil, the exploding bombs and day lighter robberies are factors enough to scare any tourist away. However, this year can be used to interact with communities living in the mostly visited regions and prepare them for the future. As teaching every visiting tourist is highly challenging, or presumably most of them already are familiar with these concepts, an attempt must be made to educate indigenous societies about the benefits of being responsible hosts.
The northern areas, which no doubt attract the major chunk of nature lovers, sight seers and adventure tourists, the need to educate indigenous societies and make them positively contribute towards the protection of environmental and cultural heritage increases manifolds. The northern areas are home to some of the most diversely inhabited regions of the country. At an area that measures a little more than seventy two thousand square kilometer live some of the rarest languages, the rarest cultural heritages and some of the rarest wildlife of our planet. The adverse impact of the high inflow of tourists and increasing “literacy rate” can be gauged by looking at the changes in their normal dress codes, their languages, and their consumption patterns. It is important to engage these communities in a type of tourism that, while empowering them economically keeps their cultural uniqueness intact.
Various NGOs have been working to spread awareness about conserving pastures, animals and herbs but it is depressing to see that not as much efforts are being made to empower local communities as well. The term ecotourism has been a misnomer, even in the traveling industry. Most tourists consider it to be a “leave-no-trace” game and, definitely, burry the tins, the wrappers, the bottles that they bring but they don’t consider the many traces that they leave on the minds of the, mostly impoverished, societies. Of course tourism supports local economies and must not be stopped. Stopping tourism, in many cases, may mean inviting hunger and joblessness and is also against the spirit of free humane interactions. Nevertheless, the local communities can be trained to teach the tourists about their cultural heritage and natural resources.
Organizing community groups and increasing their comprehension of the spirit of ecotourism can generate a healthy two-way interaction between the tourists and their host communities. The yield of such an interaction would be multifaceted. Such an interaction can also be converted into a profitable enterprise by better equipping the community groups. This would mean creating more jobs at one hand and productive community participation on the other hand. Apart from the economic prospective such enterprise would systemize and synchronize cultural and environmental tourism. In my point of view the spirit of ecotourism can truly be enhanced only if more emphasis is laid on creating awareness in the respective communities about the value of their cultural heritage and natural resources. The idea is to make these remote societies realize the pride potent in their way of living. Making the indigenous societies confident also require macro level projects like conserving symbols of their history.
The Aga Khan Cultural Services, Pakistan, has successfully restored pride in local history and culture by conserving monuments like Shigar Fort in Skardu and Baltit Fort in Hunza. The hitherto dilapidated buildings have turned into symbols of cultural and historical pride. Many people, in Hunza particularly, had to change even their political opinion after the international status gained by the Baltit Fort. Anti-Hunza state elements used to loath the Fort as a symbol of monarchy. But now they are not very vocal and praise the fort as a “contribution of their forefathers” to the glory of the state. Some even go a step ahead and claim the Fort to be a public property. No doubt such love for the symbol of culture and history is highly appreciable. It, in many ways, even improves the intellectual propensities of large segments of societies by providing newer horizons for thinking and helping them a deeper understanding of the cultural dynamics. This, in turn, facilitates ecotourism. People don’t stop at the brick and mortar buildings. They also realize, having gained better comprehension of their region’s resources, the worth of their region’s natural resources as well.
The economic and psychological impact of such conservation works has triggered more voluntary identification of places that the communities want to be conserved. The overall impact of this phenomenon has been a stupendous growth in tourist arrivals. A more balanced and stable change can now be expected in the quality of life of the people. The revived sense of ownership and uniqueness has, in many cases, been turned into highly profitable form of trade and commerce. Karakurum Areas Development Organization (KADO) has used the community’s confidence in the symbols of its culture to launch a highly successful handicrafts venture called Karakurum Handicrafts Development Program (KHDP).
Similarly many mountain societies have voluntarily contacted the IUCN to help them conserve their natural resources. IUCN launched the Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) in the northern areas and has, successfully, engaged the local communities in protecting their region’s rare wildlife. Such endeavors have attracted a growing number of international trophy hunters who pay money having hunted a wild animal. The Khunjerab Village Organization (KVO), in Gojal, has been able to collect funds worth 2 million rupees in a short span of time from controlled trophy hunting in the Khunjerab Valley. The money charged from these hunters is being shared with the communities and utilized by the villages for developing themselves collectively. The KVO, according to an MACP case study, has established an “Agricultural Fertilizer Fund” to “provide sufficient chemical fertilizer to the local communities”.
There is no single tool or method that develops all segments of a society. Development has been and will be a highly collaborative enterprise that draws heavily and vitally from its various forces intending positive change within a society. A cohesive program that integrates micro and macro level development projects, like educating community about conserving environmental and cultural heritage and, at the same time, Conserving symbols of their cultural heritage and natural resources, hold better perspectives for a more stable improvement in a society’s life quality. These projects make the region more attractive for tourists, hence, enhancing the prospects of ecotourism even more.
Cultural Pluralism Festival, Gojal HunzaIn the bosom of the lofty Karakuram peaks, loud speakers scattered music in all directions. A huge number of men and women were, clapping, dancing and swaying on the tunes of Shina Music. Talib Hussain Talib, a prominent vocalist of Shina language, was singing his famous song, Soomar Laila, in the event titled Wakhi Tajik Cultural Pluralism Festival, 2006; in the scenic valley of Gulmit. Performers from the six main cultural heritages of the region had been invited to this festival. Dramas, songs, skits, local games and a range of other events adorned the already bewitching valleys of Gojal, in Hunza.
The event was organized by the Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association (WTCA), Pakistan. The Association is registered with Lok Virsa Pakistan and Ministry of Culture. The objective was fostering commonality and appreciating diversity of local cultures. This festival was the first organized effort of its kind to focus the richness that adherence to humanity and pluralism can bring about in the sectarianism hit north of Pakistan. After the year long cessation of life, and the annihilation of more than hundred young and old, men and women, the need for such efforts are highest. It is through objective socialization that people can be coaxed to forget the minor differences and become partners in harnessing the harsh realities offered by the geographic and political remoteness of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The festival allowed the proponents of peace and inter-culture harmony a wonderful chance to speak their minds out on one hand and narrating the beauty that colors of the local cultures present, on the other. If a study of the different sects, based on languages spoken were to be formulated, interesting an interesting paradox develops. Majority of the Sunnis speak Shina; most of the Shias (Ithna Ashris and Noor Bukhees) speak either Burushaski or Balti, a significant number speaks Shina as well. The Shia Ismilies speak almost all languages, Shina in Puniyal, Wakhi in Gojal and Ishkoman, Burushaski in Central Hunza and Yasin and Khowar in Gupis and Yasin Tehsils. The language bond can be used to trigger integration at all levels.
While some divisions might be seen in the sect-language paradox, musical tunes have a “universal” harmony in the entire region. It is for this reason that a tune composed in one language (culture) gets replicated in the songs of all other languages, immediately. Famous songs, having varying lyrics in different languages, are sung by performers in their own languages without much effort. The musical instruments are also the same through out the region. Sitar, Flute, Dadang, Damal, Surinaae are common to all traditions and cultures of the region. Even the beats of the Saaz, traditional sets of organized music, are similar.
The commonality in the regional cultures can be used to scheme the uphill task of regional integration, that some call nation building, for other purposes.
The festival had been planned in association with the Aga Khan Rural Support Program and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The said organization can do the region a befitting service by telling us how we are related and, thus, promoting peaceful coexistence. Thank you WTCA, Pakistan for stirring our sentiments and making us think. The program was a practical example of how cultural pluralism and commonality can be combined for the cause of development. This example must be followed by those who love peace and appreciate the differences that exist in the creation of God.
The Garelth Attack: A tale of Mob MentalityA mob, allegedly, belonging to Sumayar Nagar attacked the office of Executive Engineer Works and Power Department, located at Garelth Hunza. The event underlines a dissatisfaction with the governmnet, that seemingly is surging, in the entire region. At the same time it is a mirror of how issues of public interest are hijacked by local political figures for their own interests.
Important documnets were, allegedly, stolen from the said office and the furniture and equipments inside were badly damaged. It has been argued by some national newspapers, like DAWN, that there were financial interests of a few Contractors that invoked the rampage.
The same story repeats itself in our societies most of the time. FEW use MORE to attain goals of their own. And the MORE just follow them, like herds of cattle. I am using a derogatory term, may be, but most of us are not better than cattle. A corrupt sheep can come and lead us towards hell and we all follow, in most obidient ways.
The trend definitely has its roots in lack of education. People just don't understand the manners that they are being exploited. However, unemployment is another major reason for huge mobs that, seemingly, are always available for playing havoc with public life and property. If more of the youth are employed they would have better things to care and think about, instead of being used as feul.
Malik and Hunzai(2005), in one of their reports on development trends in Northern Areas and Chitral, have argued that unemployment is a major cause of the involvement of our youth in sectarian outfits. They argue that unemployment makes the youth available for, otherwise, unnecessary anti-social functions.
Their Report can be read by clicking
here
The election of women representatives in Diamir district of northern areas is a wel come step forward. Henceforth female participation in local social life was not very visible. It is for the first time that women from this Himalayan region would be able to voice their opinion, on a political fora, may be not very vocally, but there would not be death silence either.
As always there is a degree of resistance towards what some call the " march towards nudity and BAY HAYAYI". Poor old mentatlity. Can not be blamed entirely. They are not highly educated.
The Ismaili Muslims offering Eid Prayers, having ended the month of Ramadan, in this cold valley of the upper Hunza(gojal). Gojal is the border region of Pakistan, that connects with China. The region is inhabited by Wakhi and Burushaski Speaking people. All of them follow the most moderate tareeqah in Islam, Shia Imami Ismaili tareeqah. They are hospitable, loving and peaceful people.
