HUNZA VALLEY

Hunza Valley is a mountainous valley in Gilgit in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The Hunza valley is situated at an elevation of 2,438 metres (7,999 feet). The territory of Hunza is about 7,900 km² {3,050 mi²). Karimabad (formerly called Baltit) is the main town, which is also a very popular tourist destination because of the spectacular scenery of the surrounding mountains like Ultar Sar, Rakaposhi, Bojahagur Duanasir II, Ghenta Peak, Hunza Peak, Darmyani Peak and Bublimating (Ladyfinger Peak), all 6000 m (19,685 ft) or higher.

HISTORY

Hunza was formerly a princely state bordering China to the North-East and Pamir to its North-West, which continued to survive until 1974, when it was finally dissolved by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The state bordered the Gilgit Agency to the south, the former princely state of Nagar to the east. The state capital was the town of Baltit (also known as Karimabad) and its old settlement is Ganish Village.

Hunza was an independent principality for more than 900 years. The British gained control of Hunza and the neighbouring valley of Nagar between 1889 and 1892 followed by a military engagement of severe intensity. The then Thom (Prince) Mir Safdar Ali Khan of Hunza fled to Kashghar in China and sought what can be called political asylum.

Hunza river The most authentic and dependable notables and the best of oral tradition narrator of Hunza, through generations, have narrated the tale of Alexander the Great. When he conquered all the cities and countries and brought them under his sway, he finally consolidated and established his court of justice. The hordes of the armies of the king were returning through this place (Hunza Valley) from the direction of China, While this army was passing through this valley, four persons of this force Shaano, Safar, Mamoo and Fulolo fell ill. On this the commander of this Army appointed and detailed the fifth person Mughal Titam as the caretaker of this small ill group. He was tasked to look after the remaining four persons until they all had recuperated from their diseases. He was ordered that once, by the grace of God, when they all were healthy and normal they were to make efforts to reclaim and settle this valley and make it irrigable and inhabitable.

After that every horseman and the foot soldier of the rest of the passing army was ordered to contribute a fistful of barley and flour as a contribution from each man respectively, as the rations for the sustenance of these five men, It is said that the amount of barley and flour collected in this manner had lasted for next three years as rations for this group of five men. After this stop over the rest of the army left this place and marched towards Gilgit. Once this army arrived at Gilgit a commander. named as Shah Raees, was detailed and appointed to reclaim and inhabit Gilgit valley. He managed to reclaim Gilgit valley and commenced to rule this valley, It is since this period /era that the family /clan of rulers of Gilgit have been named With the title of “Raeesay”.

However the second version of this tale has been narrated thus; that when Sultan Sikander (King Alexander the great) conquered most of the countries of this side of the world and brought them under his reign, he turned towards his mother land with great pomp and show During this Journey back home when he reached the city of Babal (Babylone) he fell fatally sick. However,. before his death and while on his death bed. he equally allotted (apportioned and granted) his conquered lands among four of his trusted commanders of his army. Among them there was a commander by the name of Bakhtaria and he was the ruler of Tartaristan. After passage of a number of years this very military commander passed through this valley at the head of his army while returning from his campaign. The five above mentioned persons left behind at this place were from this army who had fallen sick and had reclaimed and inhabited this valley after they had fully recovered from their illness.

Yet another version of the "first settlers" of Hunza Valley is narrated by the ancient era oral tradition as follows: That a great revolution (of unspecified nature) occurred in the country of "Tartar" having its capital in a city called Takla Makan. This country was also known/called as "Bakhtaria" by some, and it was Inhabited by various clans and tribes; like Mughuls and Hunns. Because of the above mentioned great revaluation the people of this country were compelled and forced to flee in great numbers. it was during this large scale exodus and forced migration by the people of the Tartaristan/ Bakhtaria (Bactria) that a large group of these fleeing refugees comprising men, women and children along With their entire belongings and domestic animals passed through the present day valley to Hunza, which was during that era called and known as "Hari Yol" or "Ha Ha Yol, meaning the valley of happiness, and merry making. It was from amongst this passing group of fleeing refugees that one Mr. Mughal Titam of Mughal tribe was injured and temporarily disabled to walk as a result of his horse's kicking blows to his leg/thighs. He was therefore unable to proceed further and to undertake a long journey. Hence the leader/commander of the entire group of refugees detailed the four men, namely Messrs Safar, Shaano, Mamoo and Fulolo as the servants and caretakers of Mr. Mughal Titam and left them behind Rest of the migrating refugees group continued its march towards Gilgit Valley and on arrival reclaimed and inhabited this valley. Many of the refugees then dispersed into many other directions and Surrounding valleys.

In short; when Mr. Mughal Titam recuperated and recovered from his injury he and his four companions commenced their work to make this barren valley irrigable and inhabitable. Messrs Shaano, Safar and Mamoo remained in the company of Mughal Titam in Baltit and Mr. Fulolo made his abode in Ganish. It is said that Mughal Titam had a son by the name of Mughal Diram. This Mughal Diram had three sons, their names were; the first was Diram Pun, second Diram Budin, and the third was called Diram Muko. Following is the family tree of one of the first settlers of Hunza Valley (who was the leader):-

Mughul Diram - 1,Diram Pun (Poon) 2. Diram Budin 3. Diram Mukko

By the grace of Almighty there reached a stage and era when the children of all these three brothers grew info a large tribe, This tribe became known as "Diram hupkuyantsze" (DIRAM THAP KUYANTS). The tribe was also called as Diram Harai (DIRAM HARA'Y). This tribe ruled the remaining people of Hunza. However they remained under the sUzarainty of heirs of Shah Raees, the ruler of Gilgit.

The other four persons i.e. Shaano, Safar, Mamoo and Fulolo also had many children and offsprings and over a period of time each of them grew Into a separate whole tribe. The generations of children of Mr. Safar are called as Safar Harai (SAFAR HARA'Y) tribe. The offsprings of Mr. Shaano became known as SHAHNO KUTZS (SANO KUTS). In the present era, they are called Barataling (BARATALlNG). Their abode or village is named Shaano Kushal (SANOKUSHAL).

However Mr. Fulolo's generation did not grow into a large tribe as his subsequent generations had less offsprings Hence as of present time this family consists of a few houses settled in village Ganish However as a tradition every event of importance and festival is inaugurated and initiated from the hands of members of this noble clan even till the present day. This clan or family is called "Fulolokutzs" (FULLOLOKUTS).

Although never ruled directly by neighbouring Kashmir, Hunza was a vassal of Kashmir from the time of Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. The Mirs of Hunza sent an annual tribute to the Kashmir Durbar until 1947, and along with the ruler of Nagar, was considered to be among the most loyal vassals of the Maharaja of Kashmir

FIRST MUSLIM THUM

The ruling family of Hunza is called Ayeshe (heavenly), from the following circumstance. The two states of Hunza and Nager were formerly one, ruled by a branch of the Shahreis, the ruling family of Gilgit, whose seat of government was Nager. Tradition relates that Mayroo Khan, apparently the first Mohommedan Thum of Nager some 200 years after the introduction of the religion of Islam to Gilgit, married a daughter of Trakhan of Gilgit, who bore him twin sons named Moghlot and Girkis. From the former the present ruling family of Nager is descended. The twins are said to have shown hostility to one another from birth. Their father seeing this and unable to settle the question of succession, divided his state between them, giving to Girkis the north, and to Moghlot the south, bank of the river.
THUM
The traditional name for the ruler in Hunza was Thum which is also a respectful appellation used by people of both Hunza and Nager who belong to the caste of Boorish. The Shin use the term Yeshkun for the Boorish. Both Thums are still addressed as Soori, as a title of respect. This appears to be the same [in meaning] as Sri, an appellation of Lakshmi, the Hindoo goddess of wealth, commonly prefixed to the names of Hindoo princes in India, to denote their honour and prosperity. The Thum's wives are styled ghenish which is almost identical with the original Sanscrit word for mother, and their sons are called gushpoor.

GEOGRAPHY

The Hunza is situated at an elevation of 2,438 metres (7,999 feet). For many centuries, Hunza has provided the quickest access to Swat and Gandhara for a person travelling on foot. The route was impassable to baggage animals; only human porters could get through, and then only with permission from the locals.

Hunza was easily defended as the paths were often less than half a metre (about 18") wide. The high mountain paths often crossed bare cliff faces on logs wedged into cracks in the cliff, with stones balanced on top. They were also constantly exposed to regular damage from weather and falling rocks. These were the much feared "hanging passageways" of the early Chinese histories that terrified all, including several famous Chinese Buddhist monks such as Xuanzang.

CLIMATE

The temperature in May is maximum 27 °C (81 °F) and minimum 14 °C (57 °F) and October maximum is 10 °C (50 °F) and 0 °C (32 °F). Hunza's tourist season is from May to October, because in winter the Karakoram Highway is often blocked by the snow.

TRANSPORT

Today, the famous Karakoram Highway crosses Hunza, connecting Pakistan to China via the Khunjerab Pass. Travelling up the valley from the south, Hunza is the land to the left, and the former state of Nagar to the right of the Hunza River. Regular bus and van services operate between Gilgit and Central Hunza (Ganish Village, Aliabad and Karimabad) and also between Gilgit and Sost Gojal. PTDC Office at Gilgit, Sost and Islamabad arranges tours and transport for visitors.


PEOPLE OF HUNZA

As much as the valley is famous for its beauty, the people of Hunza are noted for their friendliness and hospitality. The local languages spoken are Burushaski, Wakhi and Shina, many people understand Urdu. The literacy rate of the Hunza valley is believed to be more than 90%. Virtually every child of the new generation studies up to at least high school level. Many pursue higher studies from prestigious colleges and Universities of Pakistan and abroad.

Most of the people of Hunza are Ismaili Shia Muslims, followers of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, while in Ganish Village more than 90% are Shia Muslims. The Hunza region is home to people of three ethnicities:

* The Lower Hunza area - (from khizerabad to Nasirabad is mainly inhabited by the Shinaki people who are Shina speakers;
* The Central Hunza area - (from Murtazaabad to Ahmed Abad) is mainly inhabited by Burushaski speakers.
* The Upper Hunza area, known as Gojal - (from Shiskat to Khunjerab is mainly populated by Wakhi speakers;

The majority of the people are Ismaili Shia Muslims who are followers of the Aga Khan. The present Aga Khan IV has provided a lot of funding for the area to help with agriculture and the local economy through the Aga Khan Development Network.
Posted by Karim Hunzai at 2:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: History of Great Hunza, Hunza people, Hunza valley, Tham
Monday, July 6, 2009
KADO HUNZA
KADO HUZNA
http://www.kadohunza.org/tnh/index.htm

The Karakoram Area Development Organization is a local community based not-for profit NGO registered with the Registrar Joint Stock Companies Gilgit in 1998, based in Aliabad, Hunza. This organization is the outcome of the perennial institutional needs to address the array of the socio economic problems especially to the concerns of women and disadvantaged groups and members of the society. Some enlightened and development oriented people laid the foundation of this organization in 1995 as Karakoram Handicraft Promotion Society (KHPS) to protect and promote handicrafts at one hand and to empower women and people with special need at another. Today this organization is one of the active, well established, renowned and responsible civil society organizations in Northern Areas of Pakistan. There are around 49 annual general members, 11 Board Directors and one Chairman steering the organization where as there are 35 employs, headed by Chief Executive Officer, running the affairs of management. Projects and main Achievements

Some of the past and present projects and major achievements are as follow.

Completed Projects

1. Karakoram Handicrafts Development Programme (KHDP)

The project was started in 1996 with the financial support of Swiss Agency for International Cooperation and Development (SDC) and the technical support of Aga Khan Cultural Services, Pakistan (AKCS-P). When the project was started, there were three local handicraft products and total sale of these crafts in the Karimabad Tourist market was Rs. 25,000. The project started with five products and worked with 6 women at Secondary Production Unit (SPU) level and 200 women at the Primary Production Unit (PPU) level. The project evolved a model of community-based handicraft productions. At 55 PPUs women produced embroidery pieces and at 4 SPUs embroidery pieces were assembled into finished products. The project has created income-earning opportunities for over 3,000 home based women artisans. A production and marketing support systems (Thread Net Hunza) has been developed providing fair trade through 62 private retailers. The project trained 45 women as supervisors, book keepers, quality controllers, marketing and design specialists

After completion of the funding period from SDC a women entrepreneurial groups was formed to run the business independently. SDC will fund the group for another 3 years. The project was running a carpet center in Gulmit and a fabric center in Ganish. Both are now successfully working as independent women entrepreneurs. Different handicraft products are available at different outlets and you can order online

2. Hunza Arts and Cultural Forum (HACF)

Traditional music, arts and festivals were on the decline due to lack of patronage and insensitiveness towards cultural heritage. In order to transform dying traditions into economic opportunities HACF was established to revive traditional music, musical instruments, folk dance and festivals. The project was initially supported by the Aga Khan Cultural Services, Pakistan and later it received funding from the German Embassy in Pakistan for 6 months. The project established a workshop to manufacture musical instruments and training instrumentalists. The project was started in Mominabad, a village of musicians who are economically and socially deprived community in Hunza and remained in the lowest class during Hunza state time. The music was their hereditary profession.

The project professionalized the music and trained people outside the musicians’ family. As a result of the efforts of the project there is a renewed and increasing interest in learning of traditional music. The project has trained 68 local people in traditional music by engaging local master musicians of the community, 11 people in sword dance and 8 people have been trained in musical instruments making skill. UNESCO had funded training of 27 people in traditional music and 11 people in sword dance.

3. Human and Institutional Development (HID)

The project was funded by SDC. KADO acted as a resource base for local development organizations in Hunza. It has fostered a network of 22 grassroots groups in Hunza working in various fields (social development, economic development, environment and culture) covering all three regions of Hunza. The project built the capacity of these CBOs/LDOs’ in different field including governance, management and accounting and established an LDO Resource Centre.

4. Rain and Snow Disaster Relief Project

The unexpected rainfall/snowfall during the month of January/February and April 2005 caused great damages in most part of the country and the Northern Areas were affected the most. SDC funded a disaster relief project to mitigate the sufferings of the affected people. KADO carried out the implementation of the project in Hunza. Through this programme 28 projects including construction of 11 houses/rooms, repairing of 9 houses/rooms, repairing and reconstruction of 3 cattle sheds, 3 community water channels, one micro-hydel and one school project were successfully completed. The local community, volunteers, scouts and local leaders provided their full co-operation in successful completion of these projects.

Ongoing Projects

1. Hunza Environmental Committee (HEC)

Over the last decade Hunza valley has seen rapid commercialization and increase in tourist inflow. As a result, there has been increased garbage production and environmental pollution. Due to lack of any governmental body to address this deteriorating situation KADO established the first community-based solid waste management system Hunza Environmental committee (HEC). Aga Khan Cultural Services, pakistan (AKCS-P) linked the organization with European Union and NORAD to provide small grants. The project is being managed by a small project staff and a civic group. HEC is attempting to sustain itself by charging service fee from the user groups. Presently, the project provides service to households, hospitals, hotels, shops and other commercial groups from Murtazabad to Altit. Annual awareness campaigns are held on world environment day-5th June, in which all community-based English Medium Schools, AKES Schools, Government Schools and notable citizens participate.

KADO is now working with Northern Areas Administration to declare central Hunza as municipality in order to address the growing needs of the town areas.

2. Rehabilitation Centers

There was no any organization at the community and government level to work for the socio-economic development of the People with Disabilities; the highly disadvantaged group of the society.

a. Sharma Rehabilitation Center

KADO established its first rehabilitation centre for the disabled men in 1996, with funding support from SDC, to provide health and hygiene education, vocational skills and income earning opportunities. Initially the project started providing rehabilitation services to 30 disabled people and later 62 disabled persons benefited from this facility. They have been trained in goat hair rug (a traditional local handicraft) making and rug is being marketed locally as well as to tourist market. Since the productivity of the disabled people is very low and cost of production of the rug is very high and therefore the project cannot be run profitably. At the rehabilitation centre KADO offers productive work, as a means of therapy and developing their self-esteem, to the disabled members of the community. The centre is being run in a rented building. The project has also attempted to diversify the skills of the special people by providing them training in traditional music and forming their music band. Now the band is able to earn additional income by providing its services in various cultural shows.

b. Women Rehabilitation Center (WRC)

KADO has established another rehabilitation centre for disabled women in a rented building in December 2001, with one time grant/support for six months, from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Islamabad. Later the Embassy of Finland provided financial support to the centre for six months and again extended its financial support for another one year (from July 2004 to June 2005) The centre provides health and hygiene education, basic health care and training in vocational and income generating skills such as embroidery, woolen thread making, carpet weaving. Currently the centre provides rehabilitation services to 25 women.

The Ministry of Women’s Development, Social Welfare and Special Education has funded the construction of a Rehabilitation Centre for people with special needs and for it equipment worth Rs. 28 million. The community of Hyderabad Hunza has donated 5 kanals of land (worth 3 million) to KADO for construction of the building and the construction is under progress and it will be completed by the end of the year 2006.

3. Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D)

The purpose of this project is to experiment and demonstrate the use of ICT in promotion of sustainable livelihoods in the remote areas through action research. The project was started in 2001 with the financial support of International Development Research Center (IDRC). The project established ISP (www.kado.net.pk) in Hunza and thus linked Hunza and Nagar valley with Global village. Presently, the project has provided internet connections to about 150 individuals, organizations and other businesses. In order to test the potential of ICT in promoting quality of education in remote villages the project established two E-schools in two different schools in Hunza valley. Two E-Village Resource Center was established in two different villages to test the potential use of ICT in village planning and development. The business incubation component incubated local businesses in order to use ICT for promoting local businesses. The Mountain Institute for Computer Sciences which was established before this project was later merged with ICT project. The institute is providing computer trainings to educated youth.

4. Women IT Centers Project

During 2006 KADO established partnership with Planning and Development Department, Northern Areas to establish 34 Women IT centers through out Northern Areas. In this regard KADO has trained Master Trainers from all over the focus area who will later train women in computer in their respective centers.

5. Gems Cutting and Polishing center

The Northern Areas of Pakistan are rich in different Gems, precious and semi precious stones. So far only raw materials are sold in down markets so the most chunk of profit goes to agents, traders, cutting and finishing people. To bring more revenue to local Hunza economy and also to attract investment in longer run it was mandatory to establish an institute which develops a cadre of technical experts in Gems sector and also paves the way for further product value addition. In this regard KADO set up a Gems Cutting and Polishing Center in Karimabad, Hunza with the financial support of Mr. Nasruddin Ruppani and technical support of Aga Khan Rural Support (AKRSP). Initially, the center is imparting trainings to about 10 females and 3 males and will expand it later based on the outcome.

6. Karakoram Development Resource Center (KDRC)

The SDC funded project aims to develop KADO as a local Business Development Service in Northern Areas. The Center will offer need-based trainings to Government, civil society and private institutions through out Northern Areas. Beside this the project will test the applicability of two innovative projects in Hunza valley. This includes E-Governance and Business incubation.
Posted by Karim Hunzai at 1:26 AM 0 comments
Labels: Gems, Hunza Environmental Committee, kado, KDRC, Rehabilitation, Sharma, WRC
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Tsuneo Hasegawa and Masami Hasegawa