Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Shattered Shangri-La- Lessons For Hunza!

By Ghulam Amin Beg

If James Hilton, the British author of the best seller, Lost Horizon published in 1933, had visited Hunza valley on Thursday, 11th August, 2011, it would have shattered his dream of a Shangri-la, the fictional land of harmony, peace and tranquillity.

On that day, paradise was turned into hell; it was like paradise on fire, and seemed like the Ultar mountain demon, the evil spirit had come down the valley, and entered the evil body of the police officers, who sprayed bullets indiscriminately at innocent, unarmed and peaceful protesters, who’s homes, land and everything they lost on January 4, 2010, in the Attabad landslide lake. The shooting, killed a father and a son and injuring dozens of others.

As one speaker, addressing the spontaneous crowd of over 8,000 people who gathered the other day in Aliabad, at the crime scene, to condemn state terrorism and demanded arrest of the killers, said, ‘yesterday the sky was also weeping, you saw the sudden black clouds up above the valley and the heavy rain shower for almost one hour’, he said while crying. ‘Never before in the history of Hunza, such barbaric act of violence has ever happened, those buried in their graves for centuries, might have shaken as to what happened in Hunza, the land of peace and heaven on earth’, said another speaker.

Termed as a worldly paradise and a permanent happy land between the Himalayas and the western end of the Kunlun mountains, bordered with western Xinjiang Province of China, Hunza remained fiercely independent state for over 1000 years, and has close historic ties with China, before it was attacked and occupied by the British colonialists in 1892, and later, the British-installed rulers joined and lead the other occupied neighbouring states to annex the whole Gilgit-Baltistan region with newly carved state of Pakistan in 1948.Since then, the area is administered by Pakistan as part of the UNCIP Resolution of 1948, linked to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

The overt reason cited for the brutal killing was, the police force on forward security protocol duty along with the entourage of the Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan, who was visiting to distribute cheques to the same unfortunate victims of Attaabad lake who were protesting, wanted the road to be clear of any protest to pass the caravan smoothly.

In a similar pattern of incident, five days earlier, on August 5, 2011, over hundred armed mafia group linked to border trade with China, entered Hunza from south, passed quietly through all the police check posts, with no hindrance and boarded boats at Attabad spillway and reached Hussaini lake harbour upstream, attacked the small village of around 60 households, terrorized women and children, broken into houses, torched shops, tents and motor bikes, and injured dozens in a clash with local wage-labourers and local people. The police on site remained aloof and as spectator.

The reason for this act of terrorism and barbarism at Hussaini was that the local wage labourers and youth who are internally displaced and unemployed due to submerging in the lake of their houses and land and the only highway linking the valley down with Hunza, wanted their first right of refusal and opportunity to work at their own land. While the mafia and trade groups want a total business control at both ends of the Attabad Lake, which was unacceptable to the local people.

Later a peace delegation from the neighbouring valley visited Hussaini, and condemned the acts of the mafia, and apologized to the people and promised that such incidents will not happen again.

“We are born soldiers. We know how to fight and die for our land and our people. Look at the list of martyrs of 1948, 1965, 1971 and the Siachen and Kargil wars’, said an ex military officer from Hunza, ‘but we will never be such a coward to shoot at unarmed, civilians, terrorize women and children. Don’t be mistaken by our patience and love for peace, we know how to defend ourselves, and protect our people and our peace of mind, he added.

Other speakers at the gathering in Aliabad also draw a pattern in what happened on 5th August and what happened on 11th August. Obviously there is merit in many of the points raised. Who is for example interested in containing China, by delaying the widening of Karakoram highway (KKH), and draining of the lake that has blocked the KKH; who is interested in controlling the newly established Hunza-Nagar district, which is an important trade corridor with China; what is the interest of the vested interest groups in gaining petty shares in the existing booty from the illegal sale of relief goods including fuel oil at the spillway; What happened as a mob response damaging public property and buildings, was it pre-planned by the same vested interests who attacked Hussaini and killed IDPs or was it just a spontaneous reaction of teen-aged boys frustrated for many other reasons?

There is a need to look back at what happened, and what is being planned to happen as a result of these two events, and may be other twists. Who is watching these and the early signs? Who will take pre-emptive measures, and issue early warnings? Who is responsible for preparedness and response in the event of such man-made disasters?

The youth, nationalist and democratic leaders and activists need to call an all parties MARAKA to address these issues, draw lessons and chart a plan of action to defend the people and protect the Shangri-La from the evil spirits.


Rise up again, before our Shangri-La is shattered, and we are LOST in the Horizon!!

26 comments:

Aslam Khan Ghalib said...

The incident of 11th August 2011 has opened a new chapter for the peace dwellers of Hunza to think and rethink about the perturbation made to their balanced system with the aim to destabilize its peace.
The only region which was previously a symbol of peace now witnesses great deterioration because of external interventions.In the whole country it was the only region free of crimes,bomb blasts,anarchy and above all the inhuman acts.The true spirits of brotherhood,fraternity,equality,generosity,tolerance, volunteerism and faithfulness are buried in the very depth of their souls which distinguish them as a superb community of the globe really reflecting the truthfulness in them.
I fear,some interest groups are trying to disorient the cool minds, trying to giving a bad name to the real peace symbols by creating unnecessary hype and perturbation in the system.I would urge you all to be what you were and never give away with the peace and unity.

Anonymous said...

nice article to read ,but kindly try to share authentic information.sorry to correct you that CM was paying visit to nagar not to distribute checks among IDPs.

samina said...

i wish the MARAKA must be call to avoid to come such evil spirits to our Shangri-La again.

Amin Beg said...

Thank you for the correction. Ya i am sorry for not having the exact plan of the CM with me.
My info was based on the talk of town when the incident took place.
People were saying he visited Nagar and was coming to Hunza to discuss the district HQ issue and supposed to distribute cheques.

Mehboob Hussain said...

comment on facebook:

what a beautiful article, comprehensive and awakening article.Comendable buddy

Ali Ahmad Jan said...

Great article, also please write the name of writer/ author

Liaquat ALi said...

A very good article sir!

Nur Momad said...

Just playing the devil's advocate ... "are we overplaying the risk"?

Moorkhun Gojali said...

amin bahi i would apprecaite if you can write more about the mehdishah and puppt cabinets and their pree in taking the lifes and property and wealth of this back ward nation. Who are thier subordinates and whats their vision for the people and more for the nation of Gilgit, baltistan. besides killing the innoncent people of this peaceful region

Moorkhun Gojal said...

‎@ Noor. yes! corrupts politicians are playing their games to gain their objectives by hook and crooks. Now it even came to take the lives of innoncent people specilally the peaceful hunza people,Long live Hunza valley and its people

Amin Beg said...

ya nur i see your point. I was in hunza on that unfortunate day, and see the smokes, the burning of buildings on day-1 and the anger and feeling of the youth and the people at the gathering in aliabad on day-2. I tried to reflect the mode and how confusing things were, and how divided our politicians were despite agreeing that this was a conspiracy at turning paradise into hell!

Zaffar Baig said...

Outstanding Article! - 'Shattered Shangri-La Lessons for Hunza'. Strategic game is being played against the Valley as well as G-B! We have experienced delaying the KKH work.

Meharban Karim Alvi said...

The evils are ruling our country and the evil sprit came all the way from Islamabad and have entered in the soul of GB politician and police.
The youth really need to think debate, unite and need to safeguard our peaceful area from this kind of acts in future.

Sajjad said...

dear amin, ....am going through all your columns in pamir times.. amin, in my understandng,,,, some elements are of the opinion to press people of hunza.. so that they can never come up agsit any thing.... since... there needs reaction reationaly.. let expand your writings up to open press... and the like..

hassan said...

A well narrative and eye witnessed article giving a picture of what the situation was like in hunza but not "shangrila"...we are a identity and this word hunza is not a just given name to a place where hunzokuts live...moving on and realizing the fact which is the truth which i think is that our people lost the direction and prompted for violence with their own hands for the burning and smoke . we just not burnt the property of the killers instead we burnt our own resources. does the buildings belonged to the killers???? No. if such was the intensity of revenge the why not blood for blood...

Hisamullah Beg said...

Can you suggest a date and venue?

Amin Beg said...

sir ii, thank you.
I may not be in a position to suggest that.

This could be initiated either by HDF or any organized forum or youth group or political party, sending invitations to all parties and stakeholders.

I am ready to participate in my personal capacity.

hus sain said...

I cant believe that these are you own people
celebrating their rise to power

Mara Rose said...

This is terrible & very sad. I am deeply sorry for your loss.

I visited Hunza in 1997–truly Shangri-la, the most beautiful place on earth. Everyone we met was hospitable & kind.

What is happening to our world?

Amin Beg said...

Pleased to know you visited Hunza long time ago and still remember that!

While we now live in an interdependent and interconnected world, it seems
the satellite waves are also becoming a carrier for transporting violence, terror and shock waves!

We wish for a better and safer world

Alimember said...

We are just stunned and frustrated for what happened in Hunza during the last two weeks. I am personally searching for answers to the questions raised by Amin Sb from the day the incidents took place, but nothing other than earning frustration. We hope we can find all the answers and will be able to protect our land of peace and peace of mind from the depraved minds in accordance with the circumstances.

Asim Saeed said...

Thanks for such a wonderful article with profound analysis!

As far as the 8/11 incident is concerned, i wonder why didn’t our political parties whether the nationalists or the federalists even bothered to enlighten the people about the real perpetrators of the orchestrated drama on the dear land. The only achievement to them was ‘Political mileage’ they gained against the fragile government.
Meanwhile It is a matter of great threat that how fundamentalist elements in the national intelligentsia are pulling their muscles hard for reaching their global agendas in our area. The need of the time is understand the larger picture of the story and how to dealt with them.

Farzana Aziz said...

Salaam amin baig bhai
Thanks for yor great effort to raise awareness regarding the need of time. This was the question always in my mind from the day of ataabad disaster that who will take lead and save the people of gojal.. thanks you took the initiative .. this is the time we can do something … we are always with the good leaders of gojal to save from evils eye…thanks again n stilp we are expecting the same from our well educated people.
Farzana azizz

Meharban Karim Alvi said...

The evils are ruling our country and the evil sprit came all the way from Islamabad and entered in the soul of monster politician and police.
The youth really need to think debate and unite and need to safeguard our peaceful area from this kind of acts in future.

Khudadad said...

Excelent article by Amin Beg. It is very much clear that the trade mafia are fully involved in the recent terrorist attack on Gojal fully supported by the elected members at GBLA and using the slogan of GB Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The same mafia has taken loan amounting to Rs.1.5 Billion from National Bank of Pakistan Soust Branch and want to write off the debt and need grounds to justify the Attabad disaster and law and order issue at border area to convince federal govt, CBR and the court where they have already submitted petition to write off the said loan. These mafia has already recheduled the loan for further many years and has got sufficiant remissions on the markup. It is time to wake up and realize th senstivity of this serious issue and consolidate our efferts to join hands to save our motherland before it is oo late.

Christiane Becht said...

Hi Amin Beg! Through Didar's post on facebook I get to read about the happenings in Hunza (thanks for the good article) which make me very sad. I am sorry to all the people of Hunza that these events have happened, especially to those with personal damage, injury or even loss of a loved one. I can only confirm what another writer statet: That I found only very hospital, extremly friendly people in Hunza, which I would love to visit again. I can totally understand any thoughts on revenge onto the people who are so disoriented that they do such crimes. At the same time I want to beg everyone in Hunza to keep the peacful attitude that we all appreciate so much there. "Blood for blood" does not work, as many centuries of war have proven. Defending yourself in the eye of an attack is one thing. Attacking someone is another thing, however "bad" this other may appear. It will all come back to you, maybe even worse. To save the valley of Hunza, let's all pray for peace, forgive as much as we can the victimizers, and not become victimizers ourselves. Forgive ourselves for any 'crime' we have done, may it be very small. Let's ask the Shangri-La spirit to come back, watch over the Hunza valley. And maybe ask your friends in the world for international support in praying for that. You might not be aware how much Hunza is well-known amongst Westerners - even if it is not in the press nowadays - known for its beauty, for its mountains, the nice people, and very well known for the saga that the peaceful people in Hunza become very old! You have a great reputation internationally (!), and if you can keep your peace up, you will profit from this some day again! Don't spoil your chances with appearing in the international news by being a war zone. No one would want to visit again, even in 10 or 20 years. I do hope for the best for Hunza and all its people. I send my love out to all my friends there (you know who you are!) and include you in my prayers! Sending you light & love, Christiane