LEGACY, JOURNEY AND STORY OF A COMMUNITY LEADER: RAI GHULAM UD DIN KHAN (1944-2011)

By Ghulam Amin Beg

The Year 2011 took away many renowned social and community activists and leaders of Upper Hunza, Gojal from Ayeenabad Shishkat to Gulmit, Ghulkin to Sisoni-Passu-Shimshal, Khyber, Morkhoon, Sost to Khudabad, Misgar and Chipurson. Everyone contributed a lot to the development of their communities and dreamed of a better future and quality of life for its people on their own homeland. Our tributes go to each and everyone. Infact the story and journey of these community leaders continue to inspire and guide us all in making a difference in our own lives and in the lives of the have-nots.

Known within the family and among relatives as Pik or Pupik, meaning in Wakhi, carrying the name of a grandfather, and popularly know as Chairman sahib in Gojal and wider Hunza, late Rai Ghulam uddin, breathed his last on 3rd November 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, and was led to rest on 5th November, in his home town, Gulmit in Gojal Hunza, by thousands of mourners. He left behind a widow and a daughter and three sisters.

Born in 1944 in Passu, he was from the Ayasho family of Hunza, a grand-grandson of Bopo Abdullah Khan s/o Mir Silum Khan, the first Ismaili ruler of Hunza. Mir Silum Khan was brought up in Gulmit, and Abdullah Khan’s elder brother Shah Ghazanfar became the ruler of Hunza after Mir Silum Khan’s death. Abdullah Khan lived at Ghulkin, was young and bold, trusted by his elder brother, who entrusted him the Chief commander of the forces, as well as appointed heading and receiving all state delegations to and from China and Central Asia. All taxes from Gojal, which was over 80% of the total state income, were collected and presented to him, therefore was known as Mir or Khan. He was also development minded, and sponsored many development projects and a champion of friendly relations with neighbors mainly China and Badakhshan. Fearing left out, the crown prince Ghazan Khan, son of Shah Ghazanfar, conspired and sent a team of killers from Hunza who killed him at Ghulkin. His father, the Shah Ghazanfar, put his son, the crown prince in jail, and was only released after his death, who became the new ruler.

Rai Ghulam uddin’s grand-grand father Ali Parast was son of Mir Abdullah Khan. After the killing of Abdullah Khan, Mir Ghazanfar gave jagir (land and property) to Ali Parast in Hyderabad Hunza. However, when Ghazan Khan became king, he shifted him to Passu, and provided him Jagir there, to keep him away from the center of power.

Arbab Muhammad Adab was son of Ali Parast. Arbab Adab and his son Muhammad Siyab Khan (Rai Ghulam uddin’s father) led the masses in the first popular civil disobedience movement in 1941 and refused to pay heavy taxes and forced labour imposed on the farmers by the feudal state of Hunza during Mir Ghazan Khan-IIs rule. At the beginning of the movement, Muhammad Siyab Khan, who was only 34 years old, made a popular speech in the court of the Mir of Hunza in Gulmit, often quoted by elders; “You rule over the people, not over the mountains and glaciers. The people are fed up of your rule and state repression; you should leave power, as you no more enjoy the support of the people.” This infuriated his administration. He was arrested, tortured and jailed for voicing and representing the sentiments of the people. However, people revolted, broke into the solitary confinement, released him and other prisoners and led a march towards China in protest. Village by village people joined them and they reached Qalandarchi post in Misgar. From that post, they sent telegram message to the British Political Agent in Gilgit and informed him of the repressions and the decision of the people to enter China as refugees and the readiness of the Chinese in taking them as political refugees. The Political Agent advised them not to enter China and offered reconciliation. The crown prince Mir Muhammad Jamal Khan, Prince Ayash Khan and elders from Hunza entered into dialogue with the protest leaders, and as a result, the people returned back and the undue taxes and forced labour laws were repealed.

When Ghulam uddin was only six months old, his father, Muhammad Siyab Khan died in 1944. He and his two sisters and mother were shifted to Gulmit to live with Arbab Gohar Hayat, his maternal grand-father. He was brought up by her mother, Shahfa’at Begum and maternal grand mother, Zawara Begum, daughter of Arbab Diwan Shah and Prince Ayash Khan, son of Mir Ghazan Khan, who was a foster son of Arbab Gohar Hayat. After the death of his father, her mother was married to Arbab Muqeem Khan, cousin of Zawara Begum, and got a daughter. It is interesting to note that both Zawara Begum and Shafa'at Begum remained Arbabs during their lifetime. In fact they were the only women arbabs in the history of Hunza, who used to provide administrative leadership to the Mirs administration as well as deciding legal, social and political conflicts wisely and aptly.

Rai Ghulam ud Din was educated in Gulmit; his first teacher was Momin-I and Momin-II Ustads for some time and later it was Ustad Sanaullah of Baltit, all three were posted at Gulmit. He went to School in Baltit, where Ustad Samarkand was his English and Maths teacher in grade 8. He passed his 10th grade in Science from Gilgit in 1966 and 12th grade in Science from Karachi in 1968. He was commissioned in the army and asked to report Dhaka, but because he was the only son in the family, her mother approached the Mir of Hunza and Prince Ayash Khan, who was Secretary of State of Hunza, and he returned to Hunza state in the late 1968.

This was the period when the educated youth and literati were very much influenced by the political waves that National Students Federation (NSF) was making in colleges and campuses in Pakistan. He also remained affiliated with NSF and converted to the left, joining regular study circles with mentoring from Dr. Shamim Zain ul Abideen and Miraj Muhammad Khan. “Since childhood I was fortunate to live a comfortable life. But when I used to see poor people in the village, I sometimes hated my lifestyle” he said. “My mother would always tell me to be caring and always share your food with the poor, which I used to do, but was not aware of the reasons for why some were poor and others not”. “The discussions with Dr Shamim and Miraj Muhammad Khan and the study circles made me aware of the larger picture, and how Marx and Chairman Mao diagnosed it” he wrote. When Z.A. Bhutto resigned from Ayub Khan’s cabinet, Dr. Shamim and Miraj Khan took him to a meeting in Karachi and introduced to Z.A. Bhutto, who later announced his new party, the PPP.

However when he returned to Hunza, due to his family background and seeing the enormous respect of the people and elders for the Hunza state, he started working for the State. But he also proactively joined a group of reformers under the leadership of G.M Beg of Hyderabad who wanted to implement the new community constitutional system in Hunza state and reforming the educational system.

“Before 1969, the educational activities were directly handled by Mir Muhammad Jamal Khan, Mir of Hunza, Haji Qudratullah Baig assisting the Mir, as Head of Education and Ustad Sultan Ali, as Inspector of D.J. Schools. However after 1969 introduction of constitution and council system in the Ismaili community, the transition in educational governance and management was stimulated when late Ghulam Muhammad Beg self-initiated an educational board and demanded role for educated people in management affairs in Hunza”, Chairman sahib wrote in a handwritten note. It was during this transition late Rai Ghulam uddin become active member of the transition team and engaged in dialogues with the “Mir and Haji sahib, which the Mir finally accepted, after rounds of heated meetings as a legitimate board and we were entrusted the work of salary distribution”, he recalled.

This was the start of Ghulam uddin’s involvement in social work and education in Hunza. During much of the 70s and mid 80s the focus of Aga Khan Education Board was on girls’ primary enrolments and mass education, the targets of which were more or less achieved.

Later when the system was formally extended to Hunza, Rai Ghulam uddin was nominated by His Highness the Aga Khan, to serve as Secretary, Ustad Samarkand as Chairman and later in the 80s Rai Ghulam ud Din became the Chairman, Aga Khan Education Board for Hunza consecutively for two terms. He also served as member of the Regional Council and Chairman of regional Arbitration and Reconciliation Board for Hunza. He received title of ‘Rai’ from His Highness for his dedicated services to the community.

There are many self-help schools, which the communities constructed themselves from Khizerabad Shinaki to Zoudkhun in Chipurson, and later the prestigious Aga Khan Girls Academy in Karimabad Hunza, during his tenures between 1976 and 1986. However he credited the enormous work to, “the vision and guidance of the Imam, and the hundreds of selfless volunteers and activists, both elders and young men and women, who stood up and said ‘Labeek-yes’. We just took the words and guidance of the imam and appealed to the communities to act upon it. It was they who actually did the incredible work”, he said once.

The key motivation for him going village to village, on foot and on horseback, door to door motivating communities and parents to send their daughters and sisters to school, and spreading the words and messages of the imam was, what he said, the first board meeting with His Highness the Aga Khan, in March 1976, where he outlined the policy and defined the focus as girls education, and said he remarked that he had a lot of expectations from this board.

As the number of schools reached over 60 during 10 years, issues of school buildings, teacher training, and quality education emerged. Together with other volunteers and leaders he always led the teams in discussions with the government and with Central Education Board to help make policies that were relevant to the needs of the people and area.

When the Aga Khan Health team came from Karachi to conduct surveys in the early 70s and later polio eradication campaign, he volunteered and joined the team, visiting villages and houses to assist the team in mobilizing the people and in providing logistic support.

In the mid 1980s, when His Highness advised the AKESP to focus on English language and quality education, the communities became desperate with the apathy and slow planning processes of the boards, and started their own community-based School systems, like Dawn Public in Hyderabad and Al Azhar in Gilgit and such initiatives in Jamalabad Morkhoon and Aliabad. The community in Gulmit asked Rai Ghulam ud Din to lead opening a model school. He was elected as founder President of Gulmit Educational and Social Welfare Society, which operates a community-based English medium School, called Al Amyn Model School. He provided a good administrative leadership and transformed Al Amyn School into a model school system in a very short period. He was elected as the first President of the Educational and Social Welfare Societies of Hunza in the 90s focusing on sharing resources and learning in community-based education services, and helped establishing the Hunza Education Resource Project (HERP).

In the early 1990s, he was elected as the first President of the Wakhy-Tajik Cultural Association Pakistan, and remained, the Country Representative of Tajik Compatriots International in Pakistan. He participated in the international Tajik conference in Dushanbe in the first year of independence. He and the cultural activists and literati and artists of Gojal revived a new cultural spirit, confidence and love for the good traditions and values and helped stimulating a new wave of revitalization of mountain heritage among youth. In 1999 WTCA received award from Lok Virsa, for cultural revival and best cultural performance at the Silk Route Festival, which Ghulam uddin received from General Musharraf in Gilgit.

In 1995 he was the only person from Gilgit-Baltistan who participated in the International Women conference in Beijing sponsored by UNICEF for his meritorious work he did for women and girls education. Earlier he travelled many times to China, especially the Xinjiang province visiting his extended family members who either migrated there or were married before 1947 in Yarkand and Sirikol.

Chairman Sahib was a bold, soft-spoken, sincere, loving and caring person. He always enjoyed life. He never lost hope, and always believed in bravely fighting against all odds.

The last time I had the opportunity to meet him was in September, I spent about 10 days with him at the hospital and at home, when he was first operated. During the nights at the hospital we used to discuss many things, ranging from his health conditions, to future of community-based model schools in Hunza, the need for next generation leap forward in education, to the sufferings of the people of Hunza and Gojal due to the Attabad landslide and the leadership crises and apathy of the political elites of Hunza, to the prospects of inching towards self-governance and empowerment in Gilgit-Baltistan to democracy, peace and security in Pakistan to regional stability and Afghanistan, to the revival of cultural and historical ties with China and Badakhshan and importance of research and knowledge sharing and economic and cultural exchanges across border.

He was very conscious of the narratives shaping our lives today, shared glorious stories of the past and also lamented on the failures, and identified the reasons for setbacks in the social, political and economic development in Hunza. But he always eyed at the future and always saw light at the end of the tunnel. He would always curiously like to know for example what new and innovative ideas and projects and programs are being launched by AKDN in GBC, who are the innovators, what is the guidance from the Imam, how the communities are receiving the messages, how people are mobilized to rally around, and what the impacts were on the ground?

Despite his health conditions, it was amazing to see, he was full of joy and life. He sang Persian verses, and shared his wonderful moments of youthful days. He wanted to return to his home town, Gulmit, soon after recovery. He recalled the old Persian lines; ajab zeeb o ajab zeba ast Gulmit, ajoyib dilpasand rona ast Gulmit, roughly translated it means; what an elegance and what a splendour Gulmit is like, what a lovely bloom is Gulmit.

Chairman Sahib’s philosophy of life and worldview was shaped deeply by the spiritual person within him. He was staunchly faithful to and deeply loved the Imam of the Time. He was a tremendous example of a man with a true heart of a darvesh always thinking of how to make his Master happy. He would always reflect on his deeds, and seek help in prayers to keep him and his children and family following the path as interpreted by the Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. He was humbled by the fact that since the days of Shah Silum Khan, his family remained at the service of the imam one way or the other. Even during his travel to Gorno-Badakhshan and China, he interviewed Khalifas and Pirs, hereditary representatives of Ismaili communities, and village elders, and traced his family relations in those distant lands including Afghanistan, and found that in those places his close relatives remained at the service of Imam and of spreading knowledge. For example, he used to mention, the Shah Sikadar of Darvoz, who remained a ruler, a poet and literary person in the time of Pir Nasir Khusraw.

He was deeply spiritual and a social person participating in social events like weddings, funerals, and festivals and cultural events held in Karachi, even travelled to Hunza despite his health conditions to participate in key events, like opening of community centre in Gulmit. He was well connected to the people, and knew how to make distance and physical isolation irrelevant and amazingly adapted new technology and remained in touch with almost everyone known to him, children, young or elders through mobile phone, SMS, facebook and email communications.

When asked about the secret of his successes, he was quick to say without hesitation, "It was the guidance and vision of the Imam, the selfless volunteers and activists of the community and the support of the people, and the freedom and support provided by my wife and family to work for the community".

When asked about failures in life, he paused and counted many initiatives and projects that he was part of but could not succeed for many reasons; like the China trade and Umbrella Union, the Wakhan hotel Pvt. limited project and the Potato growers association. "I put all my efforts with honesty, loyalty and zeal. But sometimes petty politics and miscalculations and bad partnerships affect your sincere efforts" he cautioned.

When asked about his guidance to the youth, he said, “Concentrate on your education, on your career development, always be close to your people, respect your values and traditions, feel the problems the poor people face, don’t forget your roots and your family attachment with the Imam, serve your parents and take care of your family members, and enjoy life”.

Today in order to honour the memory and inspiring legacy of Chairman Ghulam ud Din, let’s follow his footsteps. He always believed that great work, recognition and positive change come through the sincere efforts of dedicated volunteers, activists, young professionals, and community leaders working together in a spirit of unity in diversity.

His dream, patience, energy, strong willpower and ability to approach problems with humility and honour will remain a source of inspiration for all of us. Although he is physically not with us, but emotionally he is still very much in our hearts and thoughts and his work, his ideas, his humor and his memory will always guide us.

Role of Local Civil Society in Democratization in Hunza and Gilgit Baltistan

By Ghulam Amin Beg

Is the grassroots civil society organizations in Hunza and Gilgit-Baltistan de-politicising society or is this first generation social mobilization (organizing people at village levels into informal community action groups) at grassroots levels, now opening the way for more engaged popular mobilization for civic engagement in governance and leadership through more organized second generation (formalized civic groups engaging in advocacy and lobbying and as watchdogs) local civil society actors?

There is a discussion going on, on the role of civil society in the post 8/11 incident in Hunza in various quarters and blogs and we need to discuss, reflect, analyze and agree on some basic principles and framework as a way forward.The general feeling and mode was if the majority political party who is in government is corrupt, non-responsive to the legitimate demands of the people, fails to protect the lives and honour of the vulnerable groups, is disrespectful of the people's rights, and if the opposition parties are either very small, disorganized or selfish, or if the society is too polarized, what options and forums are there for the society to protect their rights and defend the people?

This needs a stocktaking of some key historical milestones. In a post 72-74 Hunza and GB, there were many challenges:

1) when Prime Minister Bhutto abolished whatever local autonomy ( in the form of feudal states like Hunza, Nagar etc.), there was an institutional, administrative, judicial and political vaccum created, as overnight a state system that was there for hundreds of years, was destroyed( i am not saying that was a good system, nor i am advocating any family rule, dictatorships or rule of aristocrats).

The abolition of states were not through majority political will of the people ( it was through finding some local inter-locators in the form of youth groups residing outside Hunza, use of administrative machinery, humanitarian aid in the form of Atta, sugar, ghee, salt and kerosine oil, and second hand relief items, through civil supply depots). In fact in all subsequent elections for over 20 years, people voted for the same ruling family.Though much could be related to the roles played by the post Bhutto regimes sitting in Islamabad and governing GB.

This shows that, while the Hunza state was abolished, there was no organized political mobilization mechanism, except the clan and village-based political and administrative setup by the old state, who were pro Mir and pro Hunza state.However a disorganized youth and entry of the new king's party, the PPP was gaining government patronage and popular support, but no real political base.

The government declared initially Hunza as additional district and later as sub-division. Only opened an SDM office to replace the office of the British colonial political agents in Aliabad (they did not dare take over the Mir's palace, or shift to Baltit which was the capital of the state for centuries!!). A magistrate with judicial and executive powers and a police station office was opened to administratively control the area. Most of the officials posted to Hunza were from outside Hunza. (Interesting it still continues to be so. Unlike other districts and sub-divisions and tehsils, Hunza is the only area, where over 80% of the government jobs starting from grade 1 to officers levels are from outside the area, denying the the first right of refusal to the local people in government employment. If someone may come up with a statistics on this, this would be revealing?)

It was in this vacuum that first the community religious institutions with head offices in Karachi, who are also absent during the state era (this was symbolically present, but all decisions were made by the Mir; the Mir and Wazir were acting both as king and the Pop).spread their grassroots institutional structures at village and valley levels and mobilized a system of Councils and religious and secular education boards, health systems, arbitration and conciliation systems. For the first time social mobilization was started and common people were asked to nominate representatives for various leadership positions in the villages, without the permission of the Mir or the old aristocrats. These volunteer activists or local leaders then identified their basic needs of education, health, food security and income and prioritized development needs to be addressed through community actions. Many schools, health units, cooperative societies and shops were opened, and local conflict management was done outside traditional courts.

So, between 1974 and 1982-3 there were very few or no CBOs or NGOs in that traditional lingo. It was either the government, the PPP and then the community religious institutions who came after the abolition of the state. Between 1974 and 1977, the question is whether the PPP lost the time to mobilize people at grassroots levels, but then after the 1977 Martial Law the PPP and all political parties remained under-ground, so there was no opportunity for political processes.

However, besides the LFO and NA advisory Council, in 1979, the government promulgated the NA Local government Order and union and district council elections held. This created an opportunity for political mobilization and the choice or leadership and development programs.

Then came the geo-politics. Martial Law in Pakistan in 1977 and hanging of Bhutto in 1979. The Karakoram Highway(KKH)was completed by China and opened the same year. The Sur revolution in Afghanistan and the Russians entry and Pakistan joining the US and western governments to support the Afghan rebels- Mujaheeden. The same year the revolution in Iran succeeded. All this impacted Gilgit-Baltistan due to its geo-strategic location and undefined constitutional status.

Some youth groups, nationalist groups emerged who were mostly addressing the larger question of constitutional and political rights, and the legality of LFO and the legal and historical links with Kashmir and the UN resolutions. These mostly lived in cities and relied on advocacy and activism through press and struggled with mainstream nationalist and leftist parties for broader issues encountering Pakistan.

After the non-party local bodies elections all over Pakistan in the early 80s, the UN (UNICEF) came in support of the martial law government, and advised to create community-based programs where elected representatives work closely with communities and community action groups to address local development needs.

It was in this backdrop and vacuum and to cater to new opportunities, fostering social mobilization and self-help mechanisms at village levels came as one response through village and women organizations with support from AKRSP mostly between 1982-3 and 2000. Currently the AKRSP focus in on fostering a second generation civil society organizations which are alliances or federations of small village-based self-help groups so that challenges of hunger, ill-health, illiteracy, child, women and human rights and human dignity etc.are addressed locally.

But after the first PPP government in 1989 most of the political parties are open to work for their constituencies and mobilize people. How many political parties both local and federal actually worked on organization or tanzeem sazi, membership drives, organizing their voters and broadening their support base? what were the constraints and challenges? why no geniune democratic culture was evolved within these parties? how many of these parties have manifestos, elections, leadership change processes, accountability to people, whether they are in power or not? how many women are members and in leadership? there is still a long way to go.

What can the self-help civic or community groups at the grassroots levels (call it membership organizations, small traders/business associations,LSOs, women and human rights associations/groups, student and youth groups, arts councils, labour unions, NGOs, CBOs or non-profit or civil society sector etc.) do to fill the vacuum?

Can we agree on broad principles and a framework for state-civil society interactions? I think yes, lets agree on a new social contract between political action and social action or say between political actors and social actors to bridge the gap between state and society:

a) the civil society is the bedrock of a political system.They act as local 'voice groups' and 'representative forums' and 'think tanks' for political parties who engage with them for dialogue, support, communication and education:

b) Comparatively speaking, the local civil society actors have demonstrated reliability and consistency in promoting principles of participation, transparency, accountability, peace, social harmony, women and human rights, freedom of speech and association as well as in raising issues of hunger, ill-health, illiteracy and economic deprivations from the grassroots levels;

c)these local civil society organizations can create broader and pluralistic foundations for political constituencies and support mechanism for effective delivery of public services, sustained political pressure, popular mobilization and civic engagement in governance;

d) These local civil society groups serve as a platform and nursery for future young political leaders as the start their career through community service, youth service and engagement and learn the issues, problems and challenges of the people and their constituencies, and learn how to plan and implement local advocacy, lobbying, and campaigns;

Personally i feel, It is high time, the genuine local political parties and democratic parties interested in pro-people, pro-gender, pro-poor, pro-growth and pro-environment and pro-youth politics and inclusive and pluralistic and participatory governance agenda to open their hearts, doors and minds to this great resource at the grassroots levels.

As traditional politics in Hunza and GB is highly disorganized, divisive, corrupt and elitest, nor such political actions are contributing to broader state-society relations or any full understanding and practices of democratic principles and processes, allowing dialogue between civil society groups and political actors through civic dialogues will help create new opportunities and relationships and to debate performance of political parties and leaders, create support base, highlight and prioritize issues and development agenda and to assess the mode and perceptions of the people through organized ways.

Broadly speaking it will contribute to protection of the rights of association, freedom of speech,enhance women’s rights and the rights of vulnerable groups such as children and help to develop and enhance people's and local civil society participation in political decision-making.

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!!

Melting Lake, Frozen Souls

By Ghulam Amin Beg

As the spring is approaching, the thick ice sheet covering Attabad Lake might have started melting down, but enabling support to sustain life for the 25,000 souls in Gojal or upper Hunza continues to remain frozen.

The federal government through NDMA, the GB government, UN Agencies and agencies of the AKDN might have joined hands in mid July 2010 and came up with winter contingency plans and early recovery plan and might have foreseen the risks of a frozen lake and many other scary scenarios in paper, but the actual deployment of resources on ground including provision of all weather dedicated passenger boat or heli service for emergencies, provision of immediate and safe dwellings for IDPs and support to extend quality secondary health care and uninterrupted access to education-the first priority of the affected people, remained mere promise during the winter.

Though the flash floods in Gilgit Baltistan in late July 2010, and later flooding all over Pakistan, made things worse for the affectees of the Attabad landslide disaster, however harsh winter and strong winds multiplied sufferings for the stranded people of Gojal valley, upstream the lake.

Having said that nobody should discount the fact that lack of political will, weak implementation capacities and corruption of the government machinery, and indifference of and uncoordinated response and communication by humanitarian and development agencies also played its due role in downplaying the real sufferings of the people and failing to make a real humanitarian, strategic and business case for swift opening and draining of the lake water, and providing resources for implementation of the various contingency and early recovery plans.

For example, against a target of PKR 1.2 billion projected for 18 months early recovery activities in July last year, for areas like winter extended relief, health, education, livelihoods and agriculture, basic communication infrastructure and community restoration, the government was able to mobilize PKR 100 million and other agencies mobilized resources to the tune of PKR 200 million. Much of these funds related to relief and provision of food and non-food items-NFIs. Thanks to initial food aid to IDPs by FOCUS/AKDN, and later the swift response by the Chinese government and then the pre-planned but coincidental after response by WFP with support from donor countries including USAID that the food deficit and fuel problems were mitigated for six months now. What will happen after six months is anybody’s guess.

But as in one complaint letter addressed to the head of a regional institution and copied to ‘all concerned departments’, dated 5th February 2011, a rehabilitation management committee of the IDPs of Shishkat wrote:

Only food is not enough. Feed is given to animals, to beasts in the cages in a Zoo or to criminals in jails. But we are none of them. IDPs are human beings like non-IDPs. They have good or bad feelings in response to the circumstances. IDPs have also their social life. They have to join happy or unhappy occasions in society. They have to educate their children with dignity and need access to health facilities. Besides food is more then eating rice, tea and local bread for months? Our children are fed up of eating same food, they demand quality food, we are unable to provide, because we are cash drained.

Shelter was a key need. However the IDPs from Shishkat complained that they were forced by the government and the community institutions to leave the village and migrate to central Hunza. False promises were made that they will be provided rents to live in rented buildings, job opportunities shall be offered and that living allowance will be made available. Now they complain except for food, no promise was kept and over 150 households are facing problems as they don’t have cash to pay rents, utility bills, mobility costs, school fees and health costs. The temporary winter shelter could only be completed for half of the total IDPs and the winter is near ending.

Then, education was prioritized first by the suffering souls and IDPs. What they needed from the government and the long established non-governmental provider of education, to upgrade two of the existing schools, one for boys, other for girls into higher secondary or inter-colleges to reduce the pressures of young girls and young boys migrating across the lake to other regions in search of education. Annually over 200 students, over 70% girls pass 10th grade and leave the area, as there is no inter-college. That would have reduced costs, trauma and above all retained young people in the area. Providing fee remission to students in other educational institutions was another plan.50% students received from the government, six months remission. The rest are waiting for a promise unrealized. Government and large development agencies with governance structures away from the region, and politicians with myopic visions and party interests move only when there is public pressure, political clout, and institutional voice. The stranded people and the IDPs had none.

Then there was priority for secondary and tertiary health care. The government has a very good building in Gulmit, equipments are in place, but there were no doctors, technicians and paramedics. The government and again largest provider of private health were unable to provide incentives and packages for doctors to stay in the affected area. They only moved in and out for a week or ten days. When the harsh winter came, the doctors were first to fly, as there were no insulated rooms for them, no fuel to cook and no electricity to light. Bharia Foundation provided team of doctors and nurses for three months, and they equipped the hospital, provided a system, but they were giggled and they left. The government wanted the largest provider of health service in the area to take over, but their decision making processes normally followed normal peace time protocols, and went beyond emergency response, and it was too late. Now there is another talk of the town, that Bharia Foundation has been requested to come again. Meanwhile the whole winter passed, and during the last three months, probably twice doctors were mad available for seven days each.

And now snail pace work on the spillway. While the now notorious FWO, is again digging and blasting, this time for 670 million PKR, and promising to lower the lake by 30 meter by 15th May 2011. The first time this contractor, promised to open the lake initially in two weeks, then in 45 days 250 million, but later provided a bill of 800 PKR, and later is history, how settlement upon settlement were inundated and billions worth of trade with China were lost, billion worth livelihoods and assets submerged in the lake, and over 25 kilometres of Karakoram Highway-KKH and vital bridges were destroyed. People complain that in broad day light the FWO officials are selling the fuel oil to boat operators and vehicles on a daily basis. The joke is that the only benefit people have in Hunza from FWO is cheaper diesel which they are blamed they sell in black market.

At one stage, people took a sign of relief when the news came that the President, PM and COAS have agreed to request the Chinese to do the work. Rumours also came out of traders visiting China that even fleet of engineering corp of PLA are ready and on the move. But suddenly, they saw the same workforce at work who ditched them a year ago!

And now, dedicated passenger boat service provided by the army/NDMA remained off the lake for many reasons; high winds, frozen lake and more so lack of transparency and absence of a standing operating procedure or SOP in place. For example no timetables for boat operations were ever displayed, so that passengers, the old, sick and children and women who wish to travel in emergencies know when to leave their home, and when to reach their destiny. So uncertain, humiliating and crooked were the operations that people would wait for 2-4 hours to actually see a boat operator coming and boating at will. If a passenger or group of young people start complaining on late start, they will switch off their motors and float alone. The cargo boats, operated by businesspeople have obvious profit maximization in mind, they are providing the services, and remain the only hope, but people also blame the operators of treating the stranded people like prisoners or criminals.

There is no choice for the people, but to live a prisoner’s life.

In conclusion, the lake is melting down, the actual deployment of resources on ground including provision of all weather dedicated passenger boat or heli service for emergencies, provision of immediate and safe dwellings for IDPs and support to extend quality secondary health care and uninterrupted access to education-the first priority of the affected people,remained mere promise.

One reason for this inaction being, the souls of the 25,000 people are frozen. They have lost their voice under the roaring winds over the lake. They have lost their sense of being free human souls, but living a prisoner’s life. Some youth and literati may be raising voice on this injustice and inhuman treatment, but majority are tranquilized by dozes of divisive petty politics, administrative religious verdicts and stick and carrot policies of the administration.

Currently the Mafiosi, a nexus of corrupt officials, border traders and petty local political opportunists, rule the souls and minds of the suffering people.

The rest of the so-called responsible agencies both governmental and others,with a mandate to respond and deliver, are living in comfort zones in five start office complexes in Islamabad and other places, playing with figures and doing PowerPoint presentations, and flying in helicopters with donors to ‘untroubled’ areas, or making areas ‘trouble-free’ when high officials plan to visit an affected area.

Let’s end this on a positive note. After every winter, there comes a spring. Could the youth find its voice back, as they did in Egypt and the larger middle east?

The only ray of hope for the future. Engage Chinese expertise and technology and engage the army higher command directly advocating that vital national interests and interests of the local affected people converge. Only the youth and the retired servicemen from the area could make a strong case for it.

As one elected representative said, 'This is the last chance for FWO. If the spillway was not lowered by the target date this time, the peoples faith in the ability of the army to deliver shall be badly shaken, and we will not be able to stop the people for whatever decisions they make as a result of this failing'.

The Tragedy of the Dispossessed

By Ghulam Amin Beg

The year 2010 was unique, unprecedented and turmoil in the history of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Lets briefly touch each of the key instances in 2010 below:

i) we saw history repeating itself as mountains moved again since 1858, killed over 19 innocent lives, washed away whole settlements in Attaabad, created a lake spread over 30 kilometres and submerged fully or partially over five villages upstream in Gojal, on the Hunza River. IDPs are in still in camps and on food aid. The frozen lake and snowy winter has created more hardships.

The life and livelihoods of over 25,000 people in Gojal tehsil remain at standstill, international border trade with China was reduced by 70% and tourism industry got a huge blow with hotels, restaurants and gifts shops in Hunza showing pictures of a ghost town.

ii) Then came the flash floods that destroyed whole villages, urban centres and the livelihoods of the people in over 370 villages, affecting over 8000 households and over 86,000 people suffered. For over two months communication between GB and the rest of Pakistan remained disconnected and essential supplies including fuel, food supplies, utility items and medicine remained scarce. In many locations for whole months electricity remained disconnected. Many people are still in camps and on food aid.

iii) Gilgit town again saw madness for some time, dozens of people were killed and target killing still continues. Business and daily routine life, schools, offices even hospitals remained closed during the crises.

The one good news was a peaceful and relatively calm Muharram and active involvement of the religious, political, social activists and leadership across the communal divided and the GB administration to make peace.

Having said that a number of good initiatives were taken by the government and other stakeholders including asking the Chinese Red cross to bring in relief,heli service by army and NDMA, the actions of UN agencies mainly WFP in providing food aid, and those of the large civil society organizations active in GB like the AKDN agencies through FOCUS, AKRSP, AKPBSP, AKESP and AKHSP to name a few.

Similarly the private sector and the media played its due role in helping the suffering people and projecting their cause.

However, much needed to be done, and done professionally,swiftly and with care, especially work on the Attaabad spillway, resettlement of affected people and smooth relief operations in flash flood affected areas and coordinated resource mobilization for early recovery and rehabilitation, and transparent mechanisms by supporting local people to make their own/owner-driven decisions in rebuilding their homes and villages.

Below, I would like all of you to provide your inputs and analysis of the actions by the four key actors that would provide us the opportunity to reflect on the state of affairs in Gilgit-Baltistan, when it comes to saving lives, honour and property of the common people and those affected by natural and man-made disasters?

First, the government and ruling parties; who runs the government, and how and where they make decisions on protecting and saving lives, and on protecting the interests of GB and the local people in general vs the interests of those having vested interests in GB?

Second, how the large civil society organizations operating in GB are prepared and how hierarchical and fragile their systems are and how cumbersome their decision making processes and resource deployment strategies may be when it comes to pre-empting risks, rapid response and coordinated actions;

Third, how the private sector and the media reacted to these new situations, how they supported the people and what benefits they reaped out of the turmoil and what nexuses they created to dispossess the already dispossessed.

Fourth, the local people represented by affected groups, local small civil society, and producer groups and those organized under the banner of local political parties. How they responded, organized themselves and what capacity gaps are there to make their own decisions to govern their own affairs locally?

I look forward to your participation in understanding the tragedy of the dispossessed, in general the local people of Gilgit Baltistan, who are ruled and overruled and misruled by indifferent decision makers sitting in Islamabad and Karachi or are based in Gilgit and Skardu, but are not voicing and representing the actual and unmet needs of the local populations.

In particular, the dispossessed are those IDPs, the poorest of the poor, women and children suffering due to these structural anomalies, the disasters made by politicians, bureaucrats and officials in nexus with contractors and private sector through corruption, bad governance,inefficiency and by civil society policy makers through inaction, indifference, centralization of authority and powers away from GB and lack of space for local leadership in decision making.

In conclusion, how to make these key actors accountable to the people? How to ensure that these actors; the government, private sector, civil society, media and the local people work together to improve the quality of life of the people they intend to serve, and they even thrive on the food aids and relief items and funds meant to ameliorate their sufferings?

Your frank, open, and candid views are welcomed, so that we learn from our mistakes in 2010 and frame an agenda for change in 2011.

Happy New Year

Independence and the Cycle of Dependence

By Ghulam Amin Beg

We hear this story again and again from our war veterans of 1948, ‘we liberated Gilgit-Baltistan from the Dogra Raj barefoot and with sticks our main weapon’. We will hear it on 1st November, the independence day of Gilgit-Baltistan.

We also often hear from our elders, that our forefathers had not enough food to sustain through winters, no shoe to wear, no blanket to warm children, no schools to enter in to learn, no hospitals to get treatment.

But we also hear that our forefathers were the happiest, their average life span over 80 and their general physique very strong. Because, they were hard working, were simple, honest and united in miseries and in happiness, resilient when disasters destroyed everything, yet they bounced back and rebuild everything from scratch through self-help.

Yet, we also observed with our own eyes that when the disaster hit this time, both Attabad landslide and its continued woes even today and the flash floods across GB and Pakistan, people were literally crying for food shortages, fuel shortages, shortage of milk, shortage of tents, blanket, cloth, even finding it difficult to survive for a week without ‘cash’ in their hands and how to fund the health and education bills? However, we also saw some communities seeing hope, and slowly returning to life again.

Yes things have changed the context and ground realities have changed from what our forefathers lived. Yes our needs and times are different. Yes we don’t need to put ourselves in their shoes. Yes there is always time and space for what we think, say and do.

But we can’t discount the argument that, we are heading towards undefined destiny, we live an alien’s life on our own homeland, at every step in government, economy and society we feel being discriminated, demoralized and dehumanized. Despite our myth of independence we are treated like a colony and forced to think, act and behave like oppressed; mute, submissive and always hands off. Isn’t it?

The overwhelming financial, social, cultural and economic challenges we face today, much of it comes because of our myth of independence, unchecked consumerism, unsustainable way of living and corrupt governance. We may say it has less to do with economics, but more to do with our political lunacy and psychology. Collectively, we suffer from chronic dependency syndrome.

It is rightly said, the strength of a community or nation is reflected in the character of its people, individual and group of citizens. While the people of Gilgit Baltistan throughout history remained fiercely independent, self-reliant and confident, we are gradually losing our identity, our character and our very purpose of being. We live in a state of dependence psychologically and have become so hesitant, unresponsive and submissive that, it seems we are being slowly poisoned or kept like mental patients giving special dozes.

Yes we get that since 1948. When Major Brown institutionalized the seeds of sectarian conflict, and when the British colonial masters before leaving Gilgit decided to link our fate with the resolution of Kashmir dispute, despite our resolve to make Gilgit-Baltistan an independent entity, and setting up of our own revolutionary structure and command and control system. Yes, the first political agent from Peshawar came with the very first order of imposing the notorious English law, the Frontier Crime Regulation- FCR in 1948.

Yes, the very first actions in the first five years were to close Kilik-Mintaka border with China, close the Ladakh-Leh passes, and disconnect the Burzil pass to Srinagar. Later during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the passes with Afghanistan was also closed, making Gilgit Baltistan virtually dependent on a single road and exchange link through Babusar and NWFP with Pakistan.

These were seemingly calculated moves to create dependency by cutting off external historical links and economic exchange relations, as well as through FCR clipping the wings of those, who may raise their heads and voices. The climax of it came, when whatever local autonomy was available in the form of local states and political districts these were abolished in the name of ending feudalism and bringing the areas under firm control of the district administrations. Another move was to co-opt the old aristocracy into the government structures and providing incentives. On the other hand, free hand was given to Pakistani political parties and religious groups to promote Pakistani political culture and sectarianism, while local nationalist parties were gagged, branded as anti-state and anti-Pakistan, so that no formidable voice and representation is made.
Why would the Pakistani establishment do this to Gilgit Baltistan, who voluntarily joined Pakistan, and majority of the innocent people still love to be part of whatever Pakistan is left there, and whatever the Paka Pakistanis are doing to Jinnah’s Pakistan?

The reasons are obvious. Its sheer selfishness and geo-strategic and security interests as narrowly defined in other contexts in Pakistan. The 72,496 square kilometer Gilgit-Baltistan region with over 1.4 million people lie at a geo-strategic junction between Central and South Asia, provides the only land link between Pakistan and China, borders with Indian administered Kashmir and Afghanistan on the north, with miles away from Tajikistan. It carries unique and vital catchment area for upper Indus River upon which over 80% of Pakistan’s irrigation, food production and hydroelectricity depends. The region is also known as an international biodiversity hotspot, contains the largest frozen water reserves outside the polar region, unique forest and mineral reserves, some of the world’s highest mountains, a hub where three giant mountain ranges meet, and a living museum of ancient culture and archaeological heritage on earth. GB is also a key trade corridor between landlocked western China, Central Asia and hot waters of South Asia through the Karakoram Highway and potentially rail links and gas pipelines in the future.

The Pakistani establishment thinks it can not let go Gilgit Baltistan or swing in opposing direction in any bargaining on Kashmir with India; neither has it wanted a Gilgit Baltistan which is genuinely autonomous or part and parcel of the federation of Pakistan which makes equitable claims on its share of resources. The overt assumptions are that the region is ethnically sensitive and volatile, but at the same time, there are serious misgivings about local capacities to generate revenues and to self-govern our own affairs.

And there is much credence to this assertion.

For example the little authority or powers transferred to GB over the last six decades were never fully exercised or utilized. Our capacities to legislate, plan and implement public sector programmes remain miserably corrupt and mismanaged. The best officers of Gilgit-Baltistan who serve the state institutions in Pakistan are not ready to voluntarily offer themselves to serve in Gilgit-Baltistan. The best professionals are either not interested to join the government or enter politics and keep the profession of public leadership to mediocre and special interest groups. The youth is not interested in making career choices in public administration, law, agriculture, forestry, pure sciences and the media.

There is vacuum in local governance, administration and oversight institutions. Though over the years talented young professionals are joining the administration and public sector organizations, the judiciary and the legislative assembly, yet this area is still left open to non-entities and corrupt people. Similarly, the media is still under-developed and requires dedicated professionals, both the print and electronic media and now the internet media, in order to voice peoples concerns, analyze critical issues and serve as watchdogs of public interest and conduct public accountability.

More importantly, our nationalist and left leaning parties are discredited by the agencies as anti-state and anti-social by forces of status quo. However these parties are also disconnected from the people and from ground realities that help mobilize masses at the grassroots. Hundred percent of the transportation of our main staple food, wheat is subsidized by Pakistan, 100 percent of the development fund and functioning of the government is funded by Pakistan. We are not ready to generate our own revenue system. Autonomy and independence are linked to self-reliance and self-help. Why should not Pakistan influence our policies and politics when they provide everything, not to talk of how they exploit our resources? It’s like the Americans influencing Pakistan.

This is one key reason that we remain incapacitated and are enchained in the vicious cycle of dependence. Like a captive audience or a tyrannized nation, we are controlled by officials, agencies and corrupt mafias from Islamabad and imposed by Islamabad and their local cronies.

With or against the tide, we always fail to set our strategic directions right or even fail to understand what determines the right choices to set a direction for the future.

Our social institutions, NGOs and the education system in GB foster passivity, social conformity and undermine possibilities of making the youth active agents of change. We are trained and tamed to line-up in schools and in public gatherings waiting for hours as captive audience to receive a petty government official and hear his non-sense speech. We are asked in schools and in public to stay at arms length and on the ground, while corrupt officials are decorated and respected with elevated chairs and garlands, while we are supposed to cheer up and raise slogans in praise of thy lords. We are told this is our culture to be humble, which is good, but autonomy and freedom requires that we ‘become realistic without becoming pessimistic, optimistic without becoming uncritical and critical without becoming cynical’.

We fail to do this at home, in our society, polity and education systems. This is enslaving the youth and the nation. Those who raise voice against such injustice and inhuman behaviour are termed subversive, anti-social and anti-culture and anti-Pakistan elements by the forces of status quo. Those who promote values of justice, equity, freedom, autonomy, self-reliance and national and cultural identity are considered as threats by such forces.

Only thinking minds can break this cycle of dependence. A pedagogical approach is required to critically assess, reflect back and move forward with clear direction and choices for the future.

There is a need to embed the notion of raising one’s voice and asserting one’s right to challenging authority in all its forms. Freedom is a state of mind, so is dependence. We have to change ourselves through self-examination as individuals, communities and as a nation and revitalize our core character of confidence, self-reliance, resilience, bravery and being fiercely independent, while at the same time espousing virtues of grace, wisdom, knowledge and peaceful co-existence.

Autonomy and Independence with vision, social responsibility and the capacities to retain and nurture it. Self-reliance is the key. So is mobilization of the youth and the masses through giving a new manifesto and new social agenda for change.

A new alliance of progressive, moderate and nationalist groups to revitalize the spirit of 1947-48, is very much the need of the time.

Under the Shadow of the new Great Game

By Ghulam Amin Beg

Is Gilgit Baltistan a new pot for cooking a mix of chinese, south asian and continental cuisines by the Yankee and the asian dragon with hot spices from the south asian vultures? Or is Gilgit-Baltistan coincidentally wedged between the devil and the hard rock or is it only a corridor for the exchange of flood waves?

While the first/old great game that was played by the British Empire and the Tsarist Russia ended in the division of Badakhshan in Central Asia along the Panj River into Afghan and Tajik parts, and later when the sun set on the British empire in subcontinent, we found that it left Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan divided as a bleeding wound between the asian dragon and south asian vultures. At the height of the cold war, when USSR entered Afghanistan and the US and allies fought back through proxies and denied the polar bear access to the warm waters, it ended in a devastated, high and dry Kabul, which still continues to bleed. What will happen this time, when the uneasy, but rising asian dragon meets the naked American imperialism at its very borders in Afghanistan and Central Asia for the first time, and when New Delhi darbar's greater ambitions and Pakistan’s’ sense of state insecurity-and notions of strategic depth, and internal anomalies of misgovernance oscillate courting between the two poles? while Tehran continues to pinch the US-Israeli-Saudi nexus in the Gulf, what new order is in the making in this region? Is Gilgit-Baltistan another pawn in the chess game along with Afghanistan and Kashmir in the new great game?

On August 26, 2010, Selig S. Harrison, director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a former South Asia bureau chief of The Washington Post published an opinion in the New York Times entitled as, ’ China's Discreet Hold on Pakistan's Northern Borderlands’.

Building his arguments around the increasing Chinese strategic investments in Pakistan in term of providing men, money and machine, especially in building the Gawadar Port (which the author called Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases in Gawadar, Pasni and Ormara), widening of the Karakoram Highway and projects related to construction of small and large dams and ‘construction of 22 tunnels in secret locations’ in the Karakoram and Himalayas, the author has termed it as, ‘influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army-PLA.

Why China would take this gigantic step? In the author’s own analysis, because, ‘China wants a grip on the region to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan as it takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours’.

And why build 22 tunnels? Because, the author goes on, ‘tunnels would be necessary for a projected gas pipeline from Iran to China that would cross the Himalayas through Gilgit’. Why build these in secret locations?, because, ’ they could also be used for missile storage sites’.

Why has Pakistan reportedly agreed to cede ‘de facto control of Gilgit-Baltistan region to China’, which the author claims was part of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir? The author offers two lines of arguments; first, ’ What is happening in the region matters to Washington for two reasons. Coupled with its support for the Taliban, Islamabad’s collusion in facilitating China’s access to the Gulf makes clear that Pakistan is not a U.S. “ally.”, second, ‘Equally important, the nascent revolt in the Gilgit-Baltistan region’...’where Sunni jihadi groups allied with the Pakistan Army have systematically terrorized the local Shiite Muslims.. ‘Gilgit and Baltistan are in effect under military rule. Democratic activists there want a legislature and other institutions without restrictions like the ones imposed on Free Kashmir’.

What is the author suggesting to stop China to 'engulf' Gilgit-Baltistan and what are the next steps for the Yankee- the United States of America:

“The United States is uniquely situated to play a moderating role in Kashmir, given its growing economic and military ties with India and Pakistan’s aid dependence on Washington. Such a role should be limited to quiet diplomacy. Washington should press New Delhi to resume autonomy negotiations with Kashmiri separatists. Success would put pressure on Islamabad for comparable concessions in Free Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Pakistan, Washington should focus on getting Islamabad to stop aiding the insurgency in the Kashmir Valley and to give New Delhi a formal commitment that it will not annex Gilgit and Baltistan. Precisely because the Gilgit-Baltistan region is so important to China, the United States, India and Pakistan should work together to make sure that it is not overwhelmed, like Tibet, by the Chinese behemoth”.

This op-ed by Harrison was taken by many Indian, Pakistani, Russian, European, south Asian newspapers, online blogs etc., and opinions, analysis and comments were made some condemning Pakistan and China for taking over Gilgit-Baltistan others, including foreign office officials in Peking and Islamabad rejecting the op-ed as baseless, absurd and provocative. Some analysts in India went on to say that it was actually China’s internal problems in Muslim majority Xinjiang that prompted it to work closely with Pakistan to secure its border region from infiltration. Gilgit-Baltistan being the frontline region for making or breaking peaceful co-existence between Pakistan and China. Therefore it is in the interest of China and Pakistan to keep Gilgit-Baltistan terrorist-free and free of jihadi groups and create an island of economic prosperity and peace in this poverty stricken and sensitive region.

What is in this story for us, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan?

Many people here in Gilgit Baltistan are of the view that renewed closer economic ties with China and the Xinjiang province will benefit the people of Gilgit Baltistan and also create deeper strategic relations between China and Pakistan which is in the interest of regional peace and security and shall promote regional economic integration between South and Central Asia.

China is also seen as a stabilizing factor in the region. However, Islamabad also shares Chinese concerns about what it calls the three evils; separatism, fanaticism and terrorism in Xinjiang. Both countries agree that counter-terrorism, counter-separatism and counter-fanaticism strategies are required both at local, national and regional levels between Pakistan and China. However, in doing so it is also important for both countries to protect, promote and deepen local self governance, local autonomy and strengthen empowerment of local people and guarantee the fundamental rights of the local people to use and own their own resources on their own homelands through fairplay and internationally accepted principles.

In the new great game for access to the oil and gas reserves of Central Asia, controlling trade corridors and reaching out to the warm waters of the Gulf and the Arabian Sea, any regional strategy and frameworks must underline the aspect of self rule, alleviating the sufferings of the mountain people in these strategic nodes, and protecting their fundamental rights guaranteed by international conventions rectified by both Islamabad and Peking.

At the same time, the local people in Gilgit-Baltistan and Xinjiang must rise above petty internal conflicts and schism and accept plurality of views, adopt progressive ideas and embark on social modernization and educate their children to benefit from the new opportunities.

Gilgit: Getting MAD Again!

By Ghulam Amin Beg

MADness upsurges in Gilgit town once again, after a lull of few months. What seemed to be a football scuffle by young boys, led to continued skirmish in the town since the last week of July, now leading to half a dozen death tolls finding many other reasons to kill, as if the devastation caused by the flash floods and Attabad landslide was not enough, which together killed over 203 people in GB alone! This time the rumour was the fighting was triggered by shortage of fuel in the town and a long queue at a local petrol pump, where the policeman, on duty, reportedly, favoured one over the other to control order. This was given sectarian colour, which later led to indiscriminate fighting between opposing groups using heavy arms, torching three houses to ashes and taking innocent lives in the holy month of Ramadan.

Dawn editorial on Saturday August 28, reported that, ‘law-enforcement personnel arrived only after the groups had stopped trading fire. Some observers have said the killings were the result of a personal feud; however, in a country where ethnic and sectarian hatreds are never far from the surface, the slightest disagreement can be given a communal colour. What is disturbing is that the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister has said some police officials were involved in fanning sectarianism; two policemen were among those taken into custody on Thursday in connection with the investigation of a murder case’.

It seems, even our fasting- Roza or Soam, which is an individual’s devotion to ALLAH, pledging to refrain from ‘all evil deeds’ during the month of Ramadan, did not help stop or abandon our mutual acrimony and mistrust, and failed to aid us in overcoming our worst fears of each other. Worst still, we are unable to reflect, anticipate and diagnose the problems that are making us MAD, despite all the prayers, listening to sermons by pious religious scholars and the special meditation sessions we attend during this month?

In Islam, fasting like other forms of Ibada is holistic and closely intertwined with amal-actions. It covers restricting ones ears, eyes, tongue, heart, legs, hands and arms to the orders of God. If one is telling lie, hurting others by using harsh language, or kills others, then ALLAH clearly do not need someone starving from dawn to dusk to please Him.

‘Fear, mistrust and sense of marginalization, these are the commodities abundant these days and that lie at the root of conflict in Gilgit-Baltistan’, said 23 year old Zakir, who is a business student at the University and lived all his life in Gilgit town, sometimes criss-crossing between the firing line in the neighbourhood, at times forced by the circumstances to join hands with those young boys, who, presumably, defend the vital interests of their community.

‘What is scarce these days in the town is, a sense of mutual respect, mutual benefit, sense of security and above all ability to mediate and sit across the table and talk to each other’, added Usman, another student colleague, from the same town.

‘The intriguing question is everyone in the town wants peace, security and a normal life’ but nobody is able to stop this madness’? Said Salam, another student from the same town and a classmate. ‘Who are these armed people? Who protects them? Who funds them? Who provides them logistic support’? He further added.

‘There is a minority group within the large communities that incite risks of hatred; however the majority within the communities have no courage to distance themselves from those who teach and preach hatred, and fight and kill. When they are rounded up by the police or search operations are planned and launched, the whole community resist and come to their rescue’, said Nizam, a retired government official.

‘Even those whose sons, husbands and fathers are killed on the ground, we see them soothing when the number of those killed is higher on the other side of the fence. All they look at is the score board, how many x were killed and how many Y?’ said Nadra, a government school teacher in the town. Where is the human being within? Where is the kind heart of a mother and love of a daughter and sister?, she questioned.

The nexus between government machinery, petty town politics and infiltration of people, ideas and money from sponsors in mainland Pakistan and beyond is also blamed for this state of affair. The Pakistani machinery administering the region as a special territory outside the ambit of the constitution of Pakistan, is also blamed for using infamous subjugation tools of hit and run, divide and rule and ostrich policy, vis-a-vis, fanning sectarian violence and creating a sense of alienation, denying the local people the right to govern their own affairs, and playing one against the other as a political expediancy.

'Actually ‘the mafia’ within the government thrives on such disasters and violence, when there is kind of a police state and all policy decisions are made based on security concerns, based on sectarian lines and through bureaucratic and administrative measures, black money, corruption and favouritism flourish under the carpet and everyone in the chain is beneficiary, both local officials and those appointed by Islamabad’ said a retired police officer.

‘This is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), and a lose-lose game. Nobody is going to win; the government machinery, the two warring sides, and those neutral in this game of madness, all are the losers’. Said a businessman, who ran for his life to escape the cross-firing, walking through streets to reach his home in five hours, which he normally covers in 20 minutes.

'Conflicts bereave conflict' said an Assistant Professor at the University. 'It costs enormously! You name it; it costs lives, it costs the economy, it ruins the education and future of our children, it hampers development targets and goals, it creates social problems, unemployment and a bad image for the peace loving people to the outside world and poor marketing of our beautiful paradise on earth. It creates psychological issues, blurs our vision, blackens our future, infact destroys our world and the hereafter' he added in a lecturing mode.

'Peace and reconciliation is the only way forward', he further added after a pause.

Accepting each other and accommodating each others views are the only means we will reach peace. The promise of pluralism is challenging but the process and outcome is just,liberating and empowering leading to a win-win situation for all.

However the billion dollar question is who will bell the cat? A neutral mediator is very much the need of the time.Can we find one? Can we agree on a neutral mediation? What should be the process and framework? Who should lead this?

CDMs-Confidence building measures, are required as a first step to over come our own fears, insecurities and mistrusts first, and then critically analysing the overt and covert roles of the various security agencies and the government machinery in calming the situation and arguably fanning such hatreds through deepening marginalization, vested designs and through bad governance, corruption and inefficiency.

Engaging the youth, especially the urban youth, women and children at the grassroots levels in peace and reconciliation is essential in the long-term to create a culture of dialogue, democracy and positive encounter.

Creating a sense of political, social and economic participation in the governance of the affairs of government at various levels in equitable and transparent manner, especially reaching out to the under-served communities and those marginalized in urban pockets, is another step.

Finally, ring fencing and reaching out directly to those whose families were lost during these years of sectarian violence, soothing their families and engaging the disgruntled youth on both sides and creating conditions and enabling environment for them to reintegrate in the society, is crucial to initiating a new social contract between mountain communities in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Let’s start a new chapter.

Rather then getting MAD, let’s focus on MAB- Mutually Assured Benefits and win-win solutions.

The Pamirs-Between Romance and Realism

By Ghulam Amin Beg

My dream and curiosity to revisit the cradle of’ my’ civilization came true, when InWent provided an opportunity to attend a regional workshop and study tour on ‘pastoralism and rangeland management in mountain areas under conditions of global and climate change’ starting at Khorog in Tajik Badakhshan and ending at Kashgar in Xinjiang China. We passed by road through the vast lands of Eastern Pamirs and over the Kulma Pass entered the land of Mutztagh Atta, skipping the Khunjerav pass, by few kilometres. This happened between August 13 and 22nd 2010.

Though different families trace their family roots differently, however most in Gojal, upper Hunza claim they have either migrated from the now Tajik part of Badkashan (Wakhan, Ishkoshim, Rushan, Shughan, Darwaz, Vanj etc.) or having relations, maternal or paternal in those lands. My family, both paternal and maternal also trace some of their relations to this land and people, who are called collectively, Pamiri people or the Pamiris. Most Pamiris are Ismaili Muslims, with the exception of people in Darwaz and Vanj and Murghab, who are Sunni Muslims.

Hence my visit to this part was a visit to the past and also kind of ‘back to the future’ scenario.

As we travelled from Dushanbe to Khorog, on the way, as we entered the territory of Badakhshan, my very first impression was appreciation of the vast and beautiful land, the magnificently flowing Panj River encountering us at every turn, the beautiful, cheerful, dancing and singing Rushanis and Shughanis creating an overt impression of a happy people in a far distant land of the pure, with little or no worries about the here or the hereafter, as we normally are concerned here under the administrative control of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan!

We were elevated when one of our friends, regularly offered five time prayers and made call for prayers, and enjoyed his spiritual communication with God from such a close range, on roof of the world!

But as we saw, across the Panj River, was Afghan Badakhshan, and as at every important turn, Prof Kreutzmann explained to the group of researchers, development practitioners from Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia , Switzerland, Canada, UK and Germany, how Badakhshan was once one unit and how the great game between the British empire and the Tsarist Russia led to the division of Badakshan into two different administrative and political realities forcing one land, one people and one culture to be separated across the river boundary, I felt like travelling into a living Museum of war crimes and oppression and suppression, making a virtual tour of what, why and how the crime scene was set and who were the political players and strategists on the chess board.

I realized that we, the ‘Pamiri people’, the utopians amongst us, are strange! We all love our natural environment-despite living with all kind of risks, vulnerabilities, fear and helplessness in the face of nature. We keep the light of hope glittering through clicking on the ‘spirituality’ of our being, and feel intellectually elevated through creating micro logics based on modern concepts of rationality and discarded traditions and concepts of superstitions, which we create and recreate a lot, and somehow live with it, happily! Sometimes it works, sometimes its killing, we continue to live with both!

We show immense attachment to our primitive cultures, terming it ‘cradle of civilization’ and feel affection for our people, thinking as they are the simplest, honest and chosen ones on earth. Most of us are also very conscious of finding our ‘roots’, tracing the migration patterns of our forefathers into the past, trying to establish pedigree charts as far as 16 generations plus, if possible. The Kyrgyz of the big and small Pamirs would even go further deep, as MANAS transcends time and space in their microcosm of oral history and setting pedigree standards.

I also felt that despite the great Pamir Highway constructed by the Russians in the 1930s to the last border of the Pamirs on the roof of the world, despite all the education and modernization projects, people in the upper parts, and in the valleys continue to live a life of subsistence and are very much in the vicious cycle of poverty of culture and culture of poverty.

We saw unfortunate incidents where people are helpless as the state and government education and tertiary heath services are not available to people in far flung mountains, and they are, like our rural villages, very much at the mercy of nature and highly vulnerable. My impression was, if 75 years of communism could not end the isolation and poverty of these pastoral communities, how can a ruthless capitalist model of governance change life for better for these people? We need to create new pluralistic models of social, political and economic governance.

While the civil war of the 90s has great scars on the minds of the people, especially the Pamiris who were siding the democrats and were bundled with the Islamists now go along with the Wahdat-unity, and support the Presidents party, who is representing the balance of power in this small but regionally and tribally divided country. Annually roz-e-wahdat-unity day, is celebrated and the President prioritizes one development priority for each region; this year for Badakhshan it was a chaikhana, teahouse, with magnificently carved woodwork and nicely designed building, near the Pamir Botanical Garden and below the UCA campus on the river side, costing perhaps, over 4 million somoni, so that the President's guests could be entertained, a gift to the Pamiris.

However, the sentiments, choices and priorities of the youth, the educated, and the literati are important for the future of the Pamirs. While the old guards and the opportunists continue to support the present regime and remain loyal to state apparatus and Dushanbe partocracy and salute priorities set by Dushanbe, the youth, in general, is looking for any opportunity to either migrate to Russia, EU or North America for studies, jobs and settlement. A real brain drain, but at the same time, these young man and women send remittances regularly which MSDSP studies say is over 60% of the household income. Salaries in government are very low average 60 somoni (one kg of meat is 10 somoni in the market in khorog) for mid level officials. Business opportunities are limited. In total less then 3000 people work in Badakshan in government, international organizations and the private sector, as salaried class, as compared to over 40,000 who work in Russia alone and send remittances.

AKDN has invested a lot from education to rural development to health to private sector development, like investing in Pamir Energy Company and operating Serena hotel to mobile company- Indigo and revitalizing the heritage and parks. Another important contribution is regional integration between the two Badakshans, Afghan and Tajik, through constructing bridges and promotion of economic, scientific and cultural exchanges at micro levels. Has this created a new sense of dependency? Are the people now banking on the resourcefulness of this new set of institutions and feel like,"they will do it for us for ever,as they came to our rescue in the 90s when there was famine like situation"? Even people might be expecting miracles happening when there is economic downturn or a natural or man-made calamity. I saw an amazing sense of gratitude and humbleness amongst old men and women, youth and children alike regarding this aspect. It seems for a moment, during this transition, there seems a romance between spiritual fulfilment, material needs and social harmony.

How long will this romance continue? Would these new set of institutional actions, actually create viable market mechanisms and create a responsive local government system or will it remain a parallel, well designed and well feed structure, which fades away, when donor funds are dried up, and people are again left to the mercy of corrupt, inefficient and unaccountable politicians and officials, who look down upon citizens rights, and only know the language of dollar, favouritism and power play?.

What are the lessons from Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral in Pakistan, where these institutions have a long presence to share with Pamiris? What are the successes and limitations and constraints?

I am a dreamer! I thought, i was crazy, idealist and impassionate! But the Pamir yatra opened my eyes, and I felt like there were others who are far crazier then I was! I met people who could be termed, 'real pamiris' who understand the realpolitic inside-out, but are pessimistic about current dispensations and order, both governmental and non-governmental. Leadership matters. What steps need to be taken to create and retain young, visionary, bold and proud pamiri leadership in the mountains? This is a real challenge, as they see it. They know that generally in the center-periphery relations it is important to know, who makes policies, and who implements it? Whether it is urban elites and powers sitting in cities and the centre, making policies for the rural areas, considering them poor and uneducated, not fit to sit around and share the decision making table? Who are the new development elites making decisions, are they urban elites, specialists from outside or decisions are made far away in headquarters?

They are worried that participatory, home grown and grassroots ideas are not actually making its way up, and that the best people are flying out. When this happens, mediocres and vested interest groups make small circles.

I can sense that while the Russians were feeding and nurturing the Pamiris, the post independence removal of subsidies, and lack of governance capacities created a vacuum, which were filled by the drug and Klashnikov mafios from Afghan side, which led to the civil war in the 90s. In the post civil war, while the government and state is trying to assert itself, and has created stability, this stability needs time and vision translating into economic opportunities for the youth. The Chinese, as we see them here working on the KKH, are actively working on widening the roads in Badakshan and linking it to China and Dushanbe through Kuliab pass. China and Xinjiang offers a new economic promise for the youth of Badakshan, as it offers for the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan. the economic future lies in economic integration of the two Badakshans and Gilgit-Baltistan with Xinjiang and Beijing through the KKH and the Pamir Highway and scientific, cultural and social exchanges with Xinjiang and China and linking Islamabad with Dushanbe, Kabul and Urumqi in this region.

This would require, the youth to learn in the best institutions of learning in China, Russia and the west, learning more about economic development, businesses and markets, technologies and institutions in the region.

The Pamiris and youth of GBC need to have one aim in their career, for the next 10 years; 'Seek knowledge/education, even if you have to travel to China'. And the institutions need to support the youth in this endeavor.

These were some of my initial thoughts that I penned down here. If there is an interest, i can share more thought on this at a later stage.

Day of Tributes and Reflections- Imamat Day!

By Ghulam Amin Beg

11th July 1957,at the age of 20, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, became the 49th Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The Ismaili community is a truly global community, spread around the world, coming from diverse cultures and background, living in over 25 countries spread over all the continents of the world.

Happy Salgirah Mubarak to all the members of the community on this auspicious occasion.

Since assuming office of the Imamat, Hazar Imam guided the community through ‘adapting a complex system of administering the community founded by his grandfather Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, Aga Khan III, during the colonial era to a new world of nation- states’.

As the hereditary Imam, Hazar Imam transformed the spiritual and material lives of his followers in all corners of the world through his interpretation of his world view of Islam, which was liberating, logical and spiritual faith that teaches searching for new solutions, compassion, humility, tolerance, unity in diversity and that give practical expressions to the ethics of faith through generosity and relentless services be it material, knowledge and of time.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, the Ismaili community living with the tradition since the 11th century, continue with the values of hard work, generosity, peaceful co-existence and tolerance. Since 1960, when Hazar Imam first visited Gilgit-Baltistan and Hunza, people celebrate the Imamat Day and other occasions in a serene, peaceful and dignified manner.

These are days where tributes are paid to the Imam for his leadership and guidance and the services of those volunteers and leadership of the jamat are acknowledged who made great contributions through their voluntary services, time, and material and knowledge nazrana to better the lives of other people and to contribute to the mission of the Imam.

In Hunza-Gojal, especially in Gulmit, my hometown, which is partially submerged in the lake now, used to celebrate Imamat Day in a unique way all over Gilgit-Baltistan, or may be all over Pakistan.

A week of preparation precedes the 11th July grand ceremony at the Polo ground stadium. Fully uniformed ladies and gents volunteers, boy scouts, girl guides, school children in uniform, guided by the beautifully dressed Silver Jubilee band takes a flag march. The band plays beautiful tunes and takes applaud from the packed audience in the stadium over 3000, men, women, children and even guests and leaders from other villages, government officials, tourists, and travellers alike. It turns into a festival of its kind. Local youth entertain the audience with skits, drama, songs, dances, music. Elders present traditional dances and youth and senior citizens participate in various sports competitions.

What is going to happen this year in Gulmit?

When over 80 families have lost their land, houses and everything? The lake water has submerged one jamatkhana-community centre. The 80 families are living as guests with host families. The community leadership and the local volunteers have done great great work and continue taking care of all the distressed people with support from government, FOCUS-AKDN and other agencies like the PRCS, Bharia Foundation(running the hospital and providing medical services) and others.

It was encouraging to know that the community has decided to celebrate the Imamat Day with the same zeal, pride and emotions for the love of the Imam, as was demonstrated for the last many decades now.

The tradition would continue. The community has the resilience to face the crises with dignity. Bravo!

While, those lost lives in the Attaabad disaster would be remembered and those distressed would be taken care of and provided support, let’s celebrate the event in the unique tradition with prayers.

Now some reflections or retrospections!

We learn from the speeches and teachings of the Imam on different ocassions that such events are not only days to pay tribute to those who served, and celebrate our successes, but also a day to reflect back and see what our plans were, what did we achieve, what went wrong, what lessons we have learned, how to correct it and move forward with anticipation based on sound understanding of and planning for the emerging problems and opportunities.

In this context, this event is a day of reflection for all of us, who are affectees as well as carry some kind of leadership role in various capacities.

What went wrong, when despite knowing since 2003 about the landslide and its consequences, we were unable to find an alternate space for the families of Attaabad then, and continue to do so even now?

Before the disaster happened, what could have been done better to save precious lives?

What could have we done better to provide the IDPs a dignified living, rather then making a mockery of them putting them in school IDP camps for six months for political reasons and pushing them begging for food from ‘Benazir langar’?

With all the resources and networking of the community, what could have we done better to support the government to open up the dam barrier within the 45 days, as was envisaged by the government initially?

When the task was not achieved within 45 days by the government, what could have we done better to give a clear message or support to the people regarding their shelter and future accomodation,rather then waiting for the government to come up with their plans first?

when it was becoming very obvious and clear that the only thing clear from the government side was that there was no clear plan,there was confusion and that the worst thing was going to happen, what better plans could we make, what better actions could we take?

What other actions, except for sharing risk reports with the government and providing tents, could we take to identify the ‘at risk’ sites and communities in other locations,in GBC(Ishkoman, Mayun, Shehrsabz and Parsan are living cases) to save lives and resettle them away from the risk zone?

Time for reflection please!

So that we learn from our successes and also from our failures to minimize risks in the future.

Remember, this thinking needs to start from the grassroots level, at the village, union and tehsil levels moving to regional and national levels. A bottom up approach is required.

We saw the perils of top down approach, how messages of ‘saab acha hai’, everything is Ok, ‘don’t worry’, ‘nothing is going to happen’, ‘we will not let more then 9 houses submerge in ayeenabad’ etc. etc., made local leaders and activists complacent as if these people were standing on their toes, working day and night to make our lives better, save our homes and properties.

But as we woke up, the water was over our heads.

Rebirth of Hunza-Nagar!

By Ghulam Amin Beg

I initially put the title as, ‘Rebirth of Hunza’, but reading the media report on the demonstration staged in Nagar and addressed by elected politicians demanding not to open the spillway and vowing to break the ‘legs of the traitors’, I changed the title to Rebirth of Hunza-Nagar! As I know many thinking youth and social activists from Hunza-Nagar are aware of the dangers and downstream consequences of ‘waiting’ for the summer peak flows in July-August to explode the Hunza water bomb.

However, it seems two different streams are coming out of the Attabad spillway; one of hope, patience, bravery and resilience in the face of this historic creeping disaster, the other of lies, deceit, incompetence, negligence, injustice and oppression. Unfortunately, those associated, directly or indirectly with the later, are blaming the former of being ‘anti-social’ and ‘tools in the hands of the enemies of the land’ and ‘traitors’.

Never before, in contemporary Hunza-Nagar, has the youth seemed so dejected and agitating at the incompetence, corruption, inaction and disregard to human dignity, killing of meritocracy and pluralism by the powers that be, as was visible during this disaster. The six months of isolation, siege and emotional, physical, social, economic and political trauma made the youth more strong and resilient and sparked a new hope for the future. They are ready to take any challenge and stand up for peace, justice and competent leadership. With the gigantic task of early recovery and rehabilitation on their shoulders, and the new Hunza-Nagar district structure in the offing, they have resolved to take direct democratic action to reduce the frustrations of the youth, saying enough is enough. Their resolve is uncompromising and their method is peaceful, democratic and their goal is to promote good governance, meritocracy, pluralism and justice for all. The slogan is NO to Corruption, NO to incompetence, NO to favouritism, No to Injustice. MAKE HUNZA-NAGAR CORRUPTION FREE AND MAKE ALL CONTRACTS, APPOINTMENTS, POSTINGS ON MERIT AND ONLY MERIT.

The first glimpse of this direct action we saw was on Thursday June 17, over four hundred barefoot young volunteers from Hunza-Gojal marched and boated towards the ‘ground zero-Attabad spillway and started widening it applying local knowledge and expressing their frustration against the inaction of the government. Despite the fact that the police used force to brutalize the victims; baton charging and fists and kicks by police and injuries to the young volunteers, however the youth remained peaceful and unprovoked, and their spirit remained unfailing as they broke the barricade and reached the spillway and registered their protest in a unique way.

It apparently seems like the Hunza Landslide disaster has created deep social and political wounds and mistrust between some elements in the local administration and social and political leadership in Hunza-Gojal and the common people, especially the dejected youth, rather then healing it. Much of the blame rests with bad communication and the unruly attitude of our so-called administrators and leaders who are not trained to perform their duty with care and respect human dignity and plurality of views.

Arguably, these officials are obviously not trained how to touch the hearts and minds of people in disasters, especially at lower and middle tiers. I have not heard anybody talking against the Chief Secretary? Not withstanding though the arrogance of General Farooq and Qamar uz Zaman Qaira, I have heard many people praising General Nadeem, the new chairman of NDMA. What impressed the victims and the youth? Just because he visits them every now and then, talks to them, sometimes eats with them. Probably he knows from his experience that consoling and respecting human dignity is important tool to touch the hearts and minds of the affected people which in turn helps organizing the affected people as a resource and also helps lower their expectations. Even when General Kayani visited the area and talked to the affected people, everybody right, left centre praised his attitude and honest talk.

Not advocating or eulogizing the old feudal system, which had its own demerits, historically, Hunza-Nagar have, generally, installed wise, honest, brave, humble and competent leaders as their Mirs purely on merit. Those found otherwise were either removed through tribal consensus or popular uprisings or eliminated through mutiny within the ruling family. Infact sound leadership and quick access to justice were the two pillars of the old Hunza-Nagar states. The one thing that the people of Hunza-Nagar jealously guarded throughout history was their self-respect, dignity and national pride. There was no compromise on this throughout their turbulent history.

In contemporary Hunza-Nagar, due to many depoliticizing factors, the aristocrats, educated youth, civil society, women rights groups, social activists, farmers, businessmen, the professionals and the elders have remained aloof of whether the government deputes a deaf or fool as their administrator or an idiot becomes their leader at any level of political governance.
One of the positive effects of the Hunza water bomb is a complete transformation of this attitude of the educated youth, businessmen, farmers, women, social activists, professionals and the elders. It is like a rebirth of Hunza-Nagar. Now people demand administrators, leaders, elected members and politicians who are wise, honest, brave, humble and competent and are elected/selected or appointed purely on merit. In one corner meeting a young person said, WE DON’T NEED CORRUPT AND IODINE DEFICIENT ADMINISTRATORS AND LEADERS in Hunza-Nagar!

Another effect of the disaster was the feeling of integration amongst the youth within the Pakistani society due to the gradual response from the federal government, civil society, mainstream media, and even provincial governments of Pakistan and AJK government. The projection and appreciation of the positive images of self-help, self-esteem and appreciation of local culture and traditions, the youth and people in Hunza-Nagar and generally in GB praised it with gratitude. From a previous feeling of dejection and imposition, a feeling of oneness and humanism evolved as organizations and people previously unknown to the area like Al Khidmat Foundation, Jamat ul Dawa, Muslim Hands and Baharia Foundation, UN agencies etc. were facilitated by the government to come to help distressed people. Not to talk of the support received from various organizations and institutions already working in GB for decades including agencies of the AKDN, the Ismaili Councils, the Anjum-e-Imamia, Tanzeem e Ahel Sunnat and local civil society actors like V/WOs, LSOs, KADO and NDO.

On the role of newly founded GB government and the role of local administration there was mixed feeling. Initially there was appreciation by all quarters as the government and local administration responded to the first phase of the Attabad disaster; the search and rescue and transferring people to camps in Altit and later relief efforts and establishing air and boat communication service across the lake and immediate delivery of cheques to the families of those victims who lost their lives. However, gradually confrontations and finger pointing started due to the complexity, time scale and administrative and logistic difficulties in handling the issue of making the spillway by the contractor-FWO, which is a federal agency not under the control of GB government. As frustrations by the people mounted, the local administration and GB government tried to own and justify the pace of work at the spillway and hence became the focus of criticism.

Starting from this point, and with the help of ‘enigmatic angels’ and their unfound notions of ‘national security’ continued to haunt and harass the affected people through repressive instruments even at the height of the natural calamity. They looked around for conspiracy theories and easily found one; anti-social and anti-state elements inciting innocent people! A centuries old time tested policy of ‘divide and rule’ taught by their British masters.
These local nodes and angels presumably fed the senior officials and elected members with lies that they uttered with no scrutiny and tried to take political mileage out of it to repress democratic rights of freedom of speech, association and curb civil liberties, just to cover their incompetence, negligence and corrupt practices by blaming the victim.

Already in despair and anger, for the common people and the youth of the affected areas of Hunza-Nagar district, any small gesture of support made, or any finger pointing, were counted and numbered as either alleviating their sufferings or as disrespect for their human dignity, fundamental rights and notching their wounds.

Political wisdom, principles of justice, tolerance and respect for dissenting views started eroding much before the water started overtopping the barrier! At the earlier days of the disaster, the CM was quoted in the media as saying these people were ‘Nashukar’. Recently a senior Minister was overheard whispering and expressing similar sentiments to a PPP women leader and advisor to PM, even adding these people were destined to this kind of ‘Aafat’ because they were ‘Fahash log’ and not faith practicing!

The educated youth felt the wound and damages caused by both the natural disaster, and the kind of messages they received from the political leadership between the lines. It was clear to them that those who showed dissatisfaction to the quality and pace of work by the contractor making the spillway, and objected to the incompetence and mismanagement of officials responsible for relief operations were being targeted as anti-social and anti-state. The youth were also very conscious when media reported that some GBLA members in the assembly sniffed that the matter needs to be investigated as to which ‘community’ was behind such anti-state deeds, and that why such dissenting voices always emanate from ‘Hunza and Ghizer’ alone. Obviously, these members probably don’t bother to walk few steps at ChinarBagh and see why the list of those martyred in 1948 from Hunza-Nagar and Ghizer was so long, why majority of those killed in action to defend Pakistan at Siachen, Kargil and now in tribal areas are mostly from those areas, they were pointing fingers at?

Looking at this kind of mindset and pattern of arguments, it seems obvious that there are elements and forces within who are deliberately blaming the victims to camouflage their incompetence, corruption and bad governance. And there are those who want to create a rift between Hunza and Nagar, as the structure of the new district is going to be put in place, jobs and resources might be allocated, and some elements want to sow the seed of conflict on this route linking Pakistan with China, probably looking for a human disaster to multiply the effects of the ongoing crises. Beware, youth of Hunza-Nagar.

The Hunza-Nagar youth spread from Karachi to Khunjerab is united that during these hours of crises and throughout recovery and rehabilitation of the direct and indirect affected population of Hunza-Nagar district, the youth has to take the lead role in championing the cause of the downtrodden and becoming the torch bearers of merit, competence, pluralism and justice for all. The youth will not allow any ethnic cleansing through government sponsored expediency, whether the affected people are upstream or downstream, the youth must always stand for justice, fair-play and human dignity.

As the establishment of the new district of Hunza-Nagar is in the offing, the youth will need to play its proactive role in impressing upon the government to uphold merit, fairplay and principles of justice and equity in all recruitments, postings, contracts and allocation and disbursement of resources. United the youth, together they can make a real difference. As the KKH, China trade and tourism is the lifeline for both Hunza-Nagar. The youth must compel the government to discharge their duties, obligations and commitments diligently and befitting with quality and standards of public services and in the best interest of the people.

In order to protect the public interest, which is its prime responsibility, the people have the right to demand from the government to constitute a judicial enquiry and ask the contractee and contractor of the spillway what bench marks were there to achieve. What were the objectives and milestones of making the spillway? What was the initial design? What was the basis for designing a spillway? Was any assessment or boring done to ascertain what materials lie beneath? Who was responsible for design and implementation of the technical work? What was his/her professional competence? Was the technical design and guidelines implemented in letter and spirit? What loopholes were there? Why the contractor failed to achieve desired results despite escalating costs against initial estimates? Who is responsible? What actions must be taken, so that such criminal negligence or incompetence is avoided in future?

By blaming the affected people and their sympathizers as traitors, nobody is going to forget about this gross incompetence, underestimation and negligence. History will always ask these questions? What went wrong as we lost over 25 kms of KKH, so many strategic bridges on KKH, our vital and strategic link with China and the billions of loss to Pak-China trade? Not to talk of the total loses to the people directly affected villages, to Gojal, and whole Hunza-Nagar and GB, and the social, emotional, psychological and economic costs, as this is something these elements might think the poor people were destined to on moral grounds. Was these damages done to Pakistan’s vital interests, the work of the nationalists and those victims, whom these people call ‘agents of the enemies of the motherland’?

Are people not justified in saying that the real agents of the enemies of Pakistan live within?

Is the Chief Court in Gilgit-Balistan or the Supreme Court of Pakistan or the Parliamentary Committees on Environment and Communications not having any jurisdiction to take Suo motto action against those who breached the trust, compromised on vital national security interests due to incompetence, corruption, professional negligence, provision of bad services and professional misconduct? Is there any hope left to tell the people actually what went wrong, and why? The Bar Associations, the media, the civil society, the free judiciary and the national and international human rights groups have to play their roles to uncover the truth and take to task all those responsible for this episode.

For the youth of Hunza-Nagar, the direction seems clear now. They have to organize themselves, and proactively come forward and take the responsibility for their life, dignity and existence as affectees and victim of the circumstances. People of Hunza-Nagar happen to be ethnic and cultural minorities and our existence is at risk in a physically fragile, highly divisive social and political environment. Given the kind of mindset demonstrated by the senior government Ministers putting blame on the victims, we can not afford to stay aloof anymore.
The state of Pakistan has the responsibility to protect the rights of the people, under its jurisdiction even if under whatever expediency Pakistan continues to refuse constitutional and legal status to the region, despite voluntary and unilateral annexation of Hunza-Nagar with Pakistan, by the people. The paradox is Pakistan on the one hand denies constitutional, legal and citizenship rights to the people of Gilgit-Balistan and does not accept us as their voting citizen and representation in their parliament, and when we demand such rights and full integration in Pakistan or to be left alone or accept our basic human rights, we are blamed to be anti-Pakistan and anti-state and agents of XYZ!

Even if we accept that Pakistan’s hands are tied due to whatever political and diplomatic blunders it made in 1948 and the constitution of Pakistan is silent about Gilgit-Balistan, in the interim period, so long as the Kashmir issue remains unresolved, the state of Pakistan is bound to act and provide local governance to the people under its administration under UN Resolutions and guarantee fundamental human rights of the people under international human rights conventions. The current GBESG Order 2009 was partially welcomed by various quarters, but it seems that the division of subjects between the Council and the GBLA, the flawed Rules of Business and slow pace and weak capacity to implement the Order, is negatively affecting the development and democratization processes and harming the basic rights of the people.

As arrogant, unjust and uncaring attitude continues, and as incompetence, negligence, corruption and favouritism takes root, the youth, people and the victims have the right to continue to resort to direct democratic actions through peaceful means, and reach out to national and international forums to seek justice to protect their life, dignity and property on their own homeland.