Earthly Matters: Who will save the
Kalash?
RINA SAEED KHAN
Living in harmony with nature in
three secluded valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains and celebrating the changing
seasons according to their pre-Islamic religion for centuries, the ancient
Kalash tribe of Chitral is under attack. This past week, armed militants from
across the border in Afghanistan’s remote Nuristan province attacked shepherds
in the high altitude pastures of the Kalash valleys — Bumburet, Birir and
Rumbur — in three separate incidents.
In the first attack, which took
place last week on a pasture in the Bumburet Valley, they stole around 400
animals and killed two of the Kalash shepherds who resisted the attacks. The
militants had come for their goats and sheep, essential for the Kalash who
survive on their milk, goat’s cheese and butter during the long winter months.
Goats also play an important role in their festivals, which are a part of their
unique culture and religion. It is estimated that the militants have stolen
around 2,500 goats and sheep in such attacks.
In the second attack in Birir
Valley’s pastures, the shepherds ran away and hid in a nearby village fearing
for their lives, while the militants herded their livestock over the high
mountains, back into Nuristan. The third and most recent attack in Rumbur
Valley’s pastures was repulsed as around 260 Kalash men rushed up to the
mountain to protect their livestock. Army action is expected to flush the
militants out of the area, as they are said to be still hiding nearby.
“Our livestock can eventually be
replaced but the two men who died have gone forever,” says a Kalash community
leader from Rumbur Valley. “We have had to defend ourselves during the three
attacks which occurred just when the Shandur Polo Festival was taking place in
north Chitral and all the army and government officers were busy with the
festivities.”
It is the not the first time these
attacks have occurred — three years ago, Taliban sneaked into the pasture-land
of Bumburet valley, killed a shepherd from the Kalash community and took away a
herd of 200 goats and sheep.
“This time we are terrified. The
militants have told one of our Muslim neighbours, who was also in the pastures
with his livestock, not to worry; ‘We won’t do anything to you, we are after
the Kalash and we plan to kill them all in their villages.’” The most recent
incident has created an unprecedented sense of insecurity amongst the local
villagers.
The Kalash villagers, who now number
around 4,000 people, live in the three narrow valleys of Bumburet, Rumbur and
Birir in the towering mountains of south Chitral. Bumburet and Rumbur have been
badly damaged by flash floods and glacial floods that poured down the steep
mountainsides last summer when unprecedented rainfall hit Chitral.
The Kalash are animists in an
Islamic state and have been threatened by the Taliban in the past. The people
of this tribe are the last survivors of Kafiristan, who mostly converted to
Islam in the 19th century. Their neighbours across the high mountain passes in
the Afghan province of Nuristan are the Taliban who hold sway in many parts.
“If our livestock goes, our culture
goes,” explained Akram Hussain, who heads the Kalash Cultural Centre in
Bumburet Valley. The Kalash believe in a creator, ‘Dezau’ but also believe in
various deities, semi-gods and spirits. Prayers are usually offered during
their festivities and their elaborate rites demand the sacrifice of dozens of
goats.
The Kalash also confront other
problems as migrants move into their valleys. “Some of these migrants are
brainwashing the Kalash people. There have been several conversions to Islam,”
explained Hussain. “They are slowly taking over our lands but they should not
be allowed to frequent our lands. The government really needs to help us.” He
felt that the government and, in fact, the world was ignoring their plight.
“Scientists all over the world spend so much money digging up old fossils and
studying old cultures and here you have a living ancient culture that is
struggling so hard to survive and the world is doing nothing about it.”
According to Unesco, Pakistan is a
signatory to the Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Kalash
tribe urgently need to be placed on its ‘Safeguard List’. However, this has to
be done by the government of Pakistan itself. “They have to send the nomination
to Unesco, explaining why the culture is so unique and special that it needs to
go on a global list — we can only help with capacity building,” points out
Vibeke Jensen, the Unesco country director in Pakistan. “There are
international instruments for safeguarding these tribes.”
For now, however, it seems that the
Kalash are on their own. During the long winter months their valleys will be
cut off from the outside world by snow. At least the deep snow will be a
deterrent to militant attacks. In September 2009, the last Greek volunteer
Athanassios Lerounis, who was helping the Kalash build their traditional
structures, was kidnapped by the Taliban. He was released only after eight
months in captivity. No other Greek volunteer has come here since then. “That
was a big blow to our community since he was doing good work for the Kalash,”
says Shahida, a local Kalash woman from Bumburet. “The second blow was when one
of our shepherds was brutally murdered on the border with Nuristan a few years
ago.” The Pakistan Army had moved into the valleys in recent years to provide
them with better security but the recent attacks are the third big blow to the
Kalash and they are reeling from it. “Maybe we should just move from here — if
another country will have us and give us protection. We can’t live like this in
constant fear for our lives,” says the community leader.
Soldiers patrol the Kalash valleys
and have set up many checkpoints where ID cards are checked. Military camps
have sprung up in Bumburet and Rumbur in the last couple of years but still the
attacks continue.
According to Syed Harir Shah, a
Chitrali disaster management expert who runs an NGO called JAD Foundation:
“Serious efforts must be made to develop a comprehensive and integrated
security plan to protect the Kalash people. Influential conversion of Kalasha
should immediately be stopped through legal coverage. Local people (Kalasha)
must be recruited into the Pakistan Army, Chitral Scouts and Chitral Police and
they should be posted in security posts within jurisdiction of Kalasha.”
He is also clear about other
resources needed to protect Kalash culture within Pakistan. “Preaching by
Tablighi Jamaat and other individuals should immediately be stopped. Urgent
legislation for the protection of Kalash community should be passed by the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, incorporating severe punishable criminal clauses
for the forceful conversion of Kalash to another religion. All official
positions in the Kalash area should be reserved for the Kalash community and
additional security posts should be established within the three Kalash
valleys.”
An army operation took place on Aug
2 and five militants were killed on the border with Nuristan.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine,
August 7th, 2016
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