The last breaths of Kalasha language in Kalkatak of Chitral

By Fakhruddin

According to linguistic experts, 6,000 languages in the world will reduce to half in the middle of this century if language shifting continued in the same rate as it is now. Speakers of a minority language shift to a majority language due to many reasons.

In our county, a number of languages are endangered. Kalasha is one of them. Kalasha, the language spoken by a minority in Chitral, is threatened of extinction because its speakers are adopting the major language of Chitral, Khowar. The best example of this shift is the village of Kalkatak in southern Chitral. The inhabitants of Kalkatak have changed their mother-tongue three times during the last century.

They gave up Kalasha, adopted Palula, and then abandoned Palula for Khowar. Now, the last remnants of the Kalasha language will soon disappear from the village.

At the beginning of the last century, the language of Kalkatak was Kalasha, an Indo-Aryan language; and the language of an ancient tribe also called Kalasha, which today lives in three valleys in Chitral, Bumboret, Rumbur and Birir. There are only about a dozen elderly people living in Kalkatak who still know Kalasha, but they do not like to speak it. The Kalasha language will be extinct from the village with the death of this handful of people.

Muhammad Wali Shah, an elderly man of 72, says: "The people with whom I used to speak Kalasha in my childhood, do not like to speak it now". He added that until 60s, he could still find some company with whom to speak the language, but after that no one likes to converse in the language.

Kalasha was still dominant in the village in the 30s. No one had yet left it for Palula or Khowar, and some non-Kalasha speakers had even learnt it. Salah Khan, another elderly man, says: "My father was a Khowar speaker who immigrated to the village from Madak and married a Kalasha woman of the village. There was Kalasha in my home and this is why I know Kalasha".

Rahim Khan, a man of 40 and a son of Kalasha parents, does not know Kalasha at all, but speaks Palula. He says "I learnt Kalasha from my parents along with Palula and Khowar in my childhood, but later on I forgot the language, since Palula was so dominating." He speaks Palula with his children.

The people of Kalkatak gave up Kalasha because they felt inferior, and because it was easy to adopt other languages. In the time of the Kator ruler, all Kalasha of the area were in the Rayat class -- the lowest class. The people of the upper classes were using 'Kalash' as a derogatory term for the people. The people were hesitant to speak the language in front of Khowar speakers. The difficulties increased further when a fort was constructed in the village in 1930 for the son of a Khowar-speaking ruler, and many Khowar speakers came to the village with the prince.

Wasim Khan, born in 1937, says: "The people of Kalkatak gave up Kalasha because they felt inferior. Other tribes in the area considered the Kalasha inferior in status, and because of the Kalasha language this inferiority was more visible. The people of Kalkatak thought that people considered them inferior because they spoke Kalasha."

The villagers already knew Palula and Khowar along with their mother tongue and they had no difficulty in adopting either of these languages. The interaction and intermarriage of the villagers with Palula speakers from the Biori valley had already made them fluent in Palula. For a long time they were speaking these languages along with Kalasha.

Khoshani, an old lady of the village, says: "My parents were Kalasha speakers and my mother-tongue was Kalasha. I used to speak Kalasha as long as I was with my parents. I stopped it when I married and began to speak Palula. My mother-in-law was a Palula speaker from Biori and the language in my parents-in-laws' house was Palula."

Muhammad Salim, an influential Kalasha man, migrated to Biori Valley with his family to protect himself from enforced labour under the mehtar. He stayed there for a long time and came back to the village with the Palula language. His children spoke Palula. The summer-pastures of the villager also lie at the eastern end of the Biori valley. The people of Kalkatak had to go through the valley with their goats in order to get there. The shepherds of both language communities had a lot of interaction with each other while in the pastures.

The inhabitants of a small village called Serdur, near Kalkatak, are immigrants from Biori. They have been there for three generations. They still speak Palula, and depend on Kalkatak for many things. Until recently, they had no graveyard or Mosque, and they still come to Kalkatak for the Eid prayers.

To the people of Kalkatak, 'Kalasha' was a term not only used for a language but also for a tribe who were considered inferior, and, perhaps more importantly, for a religion which was considered infidel. To them, speaking Kalasha meant being perceived as inferior and infidel. Although the people of Kalkatak had given up the Kalasha religion long ago, they had kept the language.

Meanwhile, the Kalasha of Suwir - a village across the river to the west of Kalkatak - took an oath never again to speak Kalasha. The villagers collectively gave up the language. This must have had a great effect on the people of kalkatak.

The Kalasha language is taking its last breath in the village of Kalkatak. The few speakers of Kalasha in the village are in their seventies. With the death of these people the last symbol of the Kalasha tradition will disappear from the village forever.

Sambu co. offered Rs50m for continuing work on Lowari Tunnel

By Zulfiqar Ahmad



ISLAMABAD: The government has offered an amount of Rs50 million in addition to the project cost to the South Korean construction company working at the Lowari Tunnel to change its plan to wind up due to security concerns.
Initially, the total cost of the project was Rs8 billion but it was increased when the Korean company conveyed its apprehensions to the government that they had to abandon the project due to security concerns after the launch of military operation in Dir and other parts of Malakand division, sources told this reporter on Tuesday.
Resultantly, the government increased the project cost taking into account the security expenses and shifted the engineers and consultants of the company to Islamabad till normalization of the situation, sources revealed.
They said the company was going to suspend work at the tunnel permanently if the government did not take appropriate action on time.
“The company has also asked the government to arrange two choppers stationed on both sides of the tunnel to shift the manpower in case of any emergency,” sources said.
They further added that the government had assured foolproof security for the company’s workforce till work at the tunnel is completed.
The drilling at the 8.8KM long, 7.15 metres high and 7.55 meters wide tunnel has been completed, while rail track is being laid and the work will be completed by the end of the current year.

No doctors in Mastuj; AKHS accused of overcharging

Report GH Farooqui

CHITRAL: Speakers at a workshop here strongly condemned the health department for its continuous failure to appoint a doctor at the Rural Health Centre of Mastuj despite the fact that four posts of doctors were sanctioned for the centre.
The one-day workshop on human rights was organized by Easy and Equitable Access to Justice Program for Women, a project of Legal Awareness Program for Human Rights (LAPH), in collaboration with the Human Rights Monitoring Committee, Mastuj.
The speakers said the health department had no regard for people's problems and was ignoring their requests to appoint doctors in the whole area. They said there was no lady doctor in the area and the residents were compelled to rush their women to the Aga Khan Medical Centre at Booni in times of emergency.

But they regretted that most of the time the patients died on their way before reaching the hospital due to the dilapidated condition of the road.
On the other hand, they also alleged that taking undue benefit of the situation, the the Aga Khan Health Service's medical center at Booni was overcharging the poor patients.
The workshop was presided over by Abdul Rehman, a social worker from Mastuj.

Chairman Board of Director LAPH Niaz Ali Shah said his organization was working for uplift of humanity especially for protection of women's rights. He said LAPH arranged seminars and workshops for raising awareness among the masses regarding human rights.
He said they also supported widows for their rehabilitation and helped poor students in order to decrease the dropt-out ratio besides providing free legal assistance to poor and helpless women. For this purpose, they have opened three free legal aid centers which help oppressed segment of society.
He thanked Tehsil Nazim Chitral Sartaj Ahmad Khan for his support for protecting human rights.

He said there was great discrimination in different agencies and women were totally being ignored. He said there are only 135 schools for girls in the valley and for boys the number was 565; there are 606 female teachers against 1,827 male teachers; a male doctor has to check up to 4,000 patients but a lady doctor has to see over 40,000 patients.
Those who spoke on the occasion were Haji Imatuddin, Nazir Shah, Bibi Saliha, Salahuddin, Muhiuddin and Shakira Naz.

Two more Chitralis killed in Lower Dir

ISLAMABAD: Two more Chitralis have been killed during the ongoing military operation in Maidan area of Lower Dir, reports said.
One of the victims, who belonged to Laspur valley, worked for the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) regiment. His body has been transferred to Peshawar for onward dispatch to his native village. But due to unavailability of flights it could not reach Chitral on Friday.
The second victim was identified as Hashmi Ali, a resident of Morder, and a jawan of Chitarl Scouts.
Nine personnel of Chitral Scouts had also been killed in the same area recently.

Chitrali baby's life saved at Pims

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: The life of a newborn baby born to a couple in a Chitral village with a major congenital deformity in the passageway from mouth to stomach was saved after an operation at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Islamabad.
According to Bulbul Hussain, a resident of Bakarabad in Chitral, when the condition of his son deteriorated soon after birth, local doctors told him to take the baby to a major hospital immediately. The parents took the baby to SherpaoHospital in Peshawar where he was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula with esophageal atresia (a condition in which the passageway from the mouth to stomach is not formed and has communication through the airway).
However, considering the seriousness of the case, the doctors at the Peshawar hospital referred the baby to Pims in a critical condition.
The baby was admitted to the paediatrics surgery ward at the Pims for two days after which he was operated upon by a team of pediatric surgeons, including Associate Professor Dr M. Amjad Chaudhry and Dr Saifullah Khan.
Dr Saifullah, who is also a resident of Birzoz village in the Yarkhun valley of Chitral, told this correspondent on Tuesday that after the operation the baby was doing well and had been discharged from the hospital. He said this could be the first case of its nature in the medical history of Chitral.

Tight security for Lowari Tunnel staff ordered

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications here on Monday recommended “proper security” for foreign consultants and engineers working on the Lowari Tunnel project.

The committee meeting held in the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Saeed Ahmed Zafar expressed serious concern over the activities of criminal elements and militants against foreign technical experts in the country.

The meeting was informed that many engineers and experts belonging to China and other countries had been kidnapped and killed in Balochistan and the NWFP.

The committee called upon the authorities to ensure safety to the foreign workers at the Lowari Tunnel.



Taliban flexing muscles for Chitral?

Report Zulfiqar Ahmad

ISLAMABAD: After completely ruining the peace of Swat, Buner and
Dir, now the next destination of Taliban seems to be Chitral, the
largest district of Malakand Division.
Sources told this reporter that the next target of Taliban is definitely
Chitral, where they could not reach due to the closure of the Lowari
Pass for the last over five months due to snow.
They are flexing their muscles to show dominance in the valley as quite
a large number of their like-minded hardliners are already there, said the
sources. According to these sources, Taliban access to Chitral will
damage the peace of the valley to the point of no return as the population
of the district consists of three communities - Sunni, Ismaili and Kalash.
Expressing grave concern and fear over the possible shift of Taliban
to Chitral after opening of the Lowari Pass, Chitralis living in twin
cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad have demanded of the government to
deploy troops replacing the handful of paramilitary personnel on Lowari
top.
They said if the government did not take precautionary measures
to stop the Taliban from entering Chitral, soon the already backward
valley would present the view of Stone Age with no education and
other basic amenities of life.
They said Taliban will easily enter Chitral through Lowari Pass as
hardly five to six police personnel that too with meager arms
ammunition deployed on the way was no big threat to them.
The recent killing of nine personnel of Chitral Scouts in Dir by the
Taliban has sparked anger throughout the serene valley.
In Chitral, they said, everybody is Afzal Khan Lala. The people of
Chitral are the most peace-loving in the whole country and any
conspiracy to sabotage the peace of teh valley would be retaliated
with full force of the local people, they added.


Chilim Jusht festival from next week

By Our Correspondent

CHITRAL: Chilim Jusht, the spring festival of Kalash people living in the three valleys of Bumburate, Rumbur and Birir, will commence in the second week of May and continue for five days, activists of Kalash development said.

Preparations for the festival have been started and the Kalash people, both male and female, are seen in city markets busy in shopping for the occasion. They have gotten many suits of traditional clothes stitched, renovated their houses and replaced the old utensils.

The festival usually attracts a large number of tourists to the valleys, but the Kalash activists said the turnout this year might be low because of the security situation in the Malakand division.

They said that during the festival, the number of tourists to the valleys reached its peak and all the hotels and rest houses were occupied to their capacities by the visitors.--Dawn


Four SHO s awarded
CHITRAL: Four station house officers of Chitral were awarded cash prizes and commendation certificates for their outstanding performance in curbing the menace of drugs in their respective areas, by DPO Mohammad Saleem Khan Marwat here on Monday.

Those who received the rewards were Mohammad Khalid of Drosh, Ali Murad of Arandu, Zafar Ahmed of Ayun and Inayatullah of the Chitral city.--Zahiruddin

Man seeks protection against elder brother in Chitral

CHITRAL: Mujahidur Rahman, a resident of Jughoor village, demanded of the government to provide him justice and safety against his elder brother, who ‘attempted to murder’ him on Saturday evening.

Addressing a press conference in the general ward of DHQ hospital here on Sunday, he alleged that the District Nazim, Maghfirat Shah, was using his influence to save his brother.

Mujahidur Rahman said he had a land dispute with his brother Jamshedur Rahman, who called him at his home on Saturday evening for a compromise, but allegedly fired at him, injuring him critically.

He said that although the police registered a case against the accused Jamshed and his accomplices, but no arrest had been made due to the ‘interference of the district nazim’. He alleged that some months ago, the local police had implicated him in a false case of forgery to pressurise him to withdraw from his claim on the land.

Mujahidur Rahman feared that the accused would go scot free due to the explicit support of Maghfirat Shah. He said the police did not bother to provide him security at the hospital, while the accused was free and could attack him again.

He claimed that due to his implication in the false case, he lost his job in Saudi Arabia. Mujahidur Rahman demanded of the chief minister, chief secretary and the IG police to help him. --Zahiruddin

Suspension of PIA's Saturday flight to Chitral slammed

CHITRAL: The residents of Chitral have condemned the PIA management for diverting its Peshawar-Chitral flight on each Saturday to Kabul.

Talking to this correspondent, they said that it was a great injustice with the people of Chitral, who greatly depended on such flights.

They said that due to closure of the Lowari Top road the postal system also greatly depended on the PIA flights.

They said that the management of the national airline should make some alternate arrangement for the Peshawar-Kabul route instead of diverting the Chitral flight.--Zahiruddin

More economic powers to Chitrali women promised

By Zahiruddin



CHITRAL: Chairman of Biyar Local Support Organisation (BLSO) Syed Sardar Hussain Shah has said that the organisation is working on an extended programme to give economic emancipation to the womenfolk.
Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, he said that the BLSO was established three years ago with the help of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP).
He said that the organisation gave top priority to the women development from the day of its establishment in its area of activity in union council Charun.
Giving details of the programme, Mr Shah said that initially 140 women were imparted training in small enterprises in the leading institutions of Islamabad and Lahore who further trained the educated as well as the illiterate housewives.
He said that micro-credit scheme was then introduced which enabled the women to launch their own business on small-scale while guidance and counseling was provided to them on each step.
Mr Shah said that utilising their training in different trades, the women started manufacturing different articles like shampoo, organic jam, tomato paste apart from embroidery and raising household poultry and honeybees. He said that the women were also trained and helped to grow vegetables on commercial scale to supplement their income.
Describing the story of success, he said that the embroidery articles produced by the women were of superb quality and were put to exhibition in Islamabad on national level and the BLSO received demand of the articles from different countries including India and UAE. He said that the women also made carpets from pure wool, which were also in great demand.
The BLSO chairman said to discourage the middlemen, the organisation established a display centre at Booni to pool the produce of the women for onward marketing.
He said that according to a recently held survey, the women associated with BLSO earned more than Rs20,000 a month which helped them lead a respectable life while the number of suicide cases in the area had also declined.
Mr Shah said that the BLSO had also set up a maternity home at Charun Oveer which was a remote area and it had greatly helped to reduce the number of maternal and neonatal deaths.--Dawn

Call to ensure women rights

Report GH Farooqui

CHITRAL: A one-day workshop on women rights was held at Mulkho, some 98 KM from here. The programme was jointly organized by Khow Local Support Organization (KLSO) and Mulkhoh Cultural and Historical Society (MCHS) supported by Legal Awareness Program for Human Rights (LAPH).
Bashirullah, Manager KLSO, pointed out the main problems faced by women of the area like lack of health acre and education facilities. He said there is only one high school for 18,990 population which is not sufficient. He said women are being empowered by imparting them training in different skills like honey bee keeping, handicrafts etc. He said no society can develop until they involved women in the decision-making process because they are important component of the community.
Niaz Ali Shah, Chairman Board of Director of LAPH, highlighted women's rights on legal point of view. He said the main cause of women frustration was our attitude and denying women property rights and ignoring them in decision making. He said women are half of our total population and we should bring them forward for sustainable development. He said some are depriving women of their basic rights through wrong and traditional practices.
The speakers said due to discriminations we treated sons and daughters unequally which created frustration amomg females.
Ms Gulshad, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, highlighted women's rights on Islamic point of view as well as according to UN human rights charter.
Ghulam Muhayuddin lamented that due to our traditional practices women reamined undeveloped.
Chairman KLSO Mukarram Shah said women are deliberately being neglected and they are not given their rights. He said a nation can never develop until their women did not work shoulder to shoulder with their men.

Encroachments on state lands in Chitral

By Islamuddin

Chitral is the biggest district of NWFP covering an area of about 15,000 square kilometers. Only 3% of this land is either under cultivation or built up and the remaining 97% land, comprising mountains, glaciers, forests, pastures, barren land and riverbed has traditionally been held by the people in common (shamilat). The entire population in the catchment areas have historically enjoyed user rights on these categories of lands.
In 1975 the Govt. of NWFP issued a notification to regulate use of the common land (shamilat). Under this notification control over the 97% land, comprising shamilat was given to the state, while the people were allowed user rights subject to state regulations. However, either owing to connivance or political pressure the Govt. machinery was unable to control and regulate the state land.
In 1977 when the PPP Govt. was overthrown, the landed aristocracy shifted its loyalty and became camp follower of Ziaul Haq in return for his support to subvert Bhutto’s Land Reforms. With the active patronage of Ziaul Haq, the judicial process was also manipulated to give legal cover to the encroachments of state land. Official custodians of state property opted to stay on side lines, while landed aristocracy fought out their cases in the courts. With the Govt. keeping out of the legal battles, the Notification of 1975 was not pressed into service until 2005, when the Chitral Dost Alliance made it an election issue. Again in the 2007 general elections the Notification of 1975 was made an election issue by the PPP candidate for the provincial seat. Soon after the election, in march 2007, the provincial Govt. of NWFP issued a circular to the settlement staff of Chitral not to transfer state lands to private individuals.
The people of Chitral have pined great hopes with the coalition Govt. of NWFP. Both PPP and ANP are perceived to be pro-poor parties. Their intention to implement 1975 Notification is a testimony of their commitment. But, as the saying goes, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. The people of Chitral want to see action on the ground. So far no drive has been launched to remove encroachments and reclaim state lands. We have yet to see the state impleading itself in cases involving state property. In fact it is still the other way round. State lands continue to be encroached. Land mafia is again trying to close ranks with the new ruling parties to protect their vested interests and defeat the laws of the land. Any further delay to establish writ of the Government may push it to evacuating state lands through military action.
On the one hand state is being deprived of its property and on the other hand reckless use of the land is pushing Chitral towards environmental catastrophy. Forests and glaciers are disappearing, roads and river leads are shrinking causing floods due to overflow. Land erosion, windstorms and floods have become order of the day. The people of Chitral are looking towards the Govt with expectancy. They are demanding of the Govt. to assert its authority. Encroachments should be removed and closed cases, where the Govt. failed to implead itself in land disputes, should be reopened. In case there are legal impediments, these should be removed through legislation.
The existing situation is simply untenable. How can 99% people survive on 2% land, while 98% land remains out of bound for them due to official apathy? The Govt must establish its writ and restore public confidence in its ability to do justice. It is time to act before it is too late and the suggested action should not confine itself to the reclaiming of the encroached state land but it must also include action against officials and elected representatives who failed to protect Govt. interests.
Chitral offers the promise of becoming the richest district, if it can reclaim its control over the 97% state land, which it can lease out to the local people. At present it is paying hefty amounts to land grabbers for buying sand, concrete and stones from the illegal occupants of river beds for its different development projects in the construction sector. It reflects poorly on the state and the people of Chitral, that a few land grabbers are fleecing them. Before the people of Chitral are pushed to the wall, the state must come to their rescue as well as to establish its own writ.

Kaghlasht Festival draws crowds

Report GH Farooqui

CHITRAL: Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Shahzada Mohiuddin said some 130 million rupees have been approved by the federal government for different uplift schemes in Chitral. He was speaking as chief guest at the concluding ceremony of Qaghlast Festival on Thursday. The MNA assured the participants of blacktopping the Mulkhow and Qaghlasht roads. He also announced Rs30,000 for the management committee of the festival. He said the young generation should participate in healthy activities to save themselves from social evils. He also presented the winner and runner-up trophies to different teams. Thousands of people participated in the final where the management committee had arranged for traditional plays with cultural shows and folk dance to enthrall the spectators. Other speakers on the occasion demanded water supply to this ground to irrigate it and for construction of a road. In the final of polo, Kosht defated the team of Booni by 3 to 2 goals. Sardar Ahmad was captain of the winner team while Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk led the runner-up team. Sardar Ahmad was also declared as man of the match. As many as six polo teams participated in the tournament.10 football teams participated in the festival. During the semi final Morder football tams versus Reshun team and Kushum versus Mastum contested in which Morder and Kushum football teams qualified for final match. In football, Morder defeated Kushum with a penalty as the match remained equal till the end. Muhammad Qadir was captain of winner team and Zulfiqar Ali of runner-up team. The Morder team captain was also declared man of the match. As many as 16 teams participated in cricket tournament. The cup went to the Booni team which defeated Medical Star with seven wickets. Inamullah of Booni white teams was declared man of the match while M. Zakeer of medical rep team was announced man of the tournament. In Tug of War, Mastuj Tehsil won the trophy by defeating Mulkhow. A total of 40 persons participated in race competition. Zahurul Hassan of Koragh scored 1st position, Shamsud Rehmat of Morder 2nd position and Amir Ali of Kosht remained third. 10 teams participated in volleyball tournament and the final match was played between Chitral Scouts and Booni in which Chitral Scouts defeated Booni by two to zero. A local traditional match called Ghaluchun Ghal was played between Booni and Mulkhow team in which Booni defeated Mulkhow. A competition of musical chair was also held among special people.