Lok Virsa to hoste Wakhi Festival, from 9-13 December

The National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) plans to hold Wakhi Cultural Festival at its complex from December 9-13. The festival is being organised in collaboration with Gojal Educational and Cultural Association, Gilgit-Baltistan, under the joint institutional cooperation between Pakistan and Norway. The festival marks various dimensions of the Wakhi culture, traditions, customs, folklore, folk dances and more importantly historical dynamics of Wakhi culture and heritage in this region. Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid told ‘The News’ that the festival would feature artisans-at-work exhibition, folkloric performances, folk dance performances, traditional cuisine and a seminar on Wakhi culture and language. He said that Lok Virsa has taken various initiatives for the preservation of cultural heritage to support and encourage artisans, folk artists and musicians through a network of regional cultural associations, societies and community-based organizations. Following historical background, Wakhi people have lived in the mountainous regions of Northern Pakistan, which is also known as the junction of cultural transition. Global media onslaught and interventions have endangered the unique culture, folklore and language of Wakhi people. The Wakhi Pamiri people live in four different countries of this geographical region. In Gilgit-Baltistan, these people are settled in Gojal, Ishkoman, Darkut and Broghil. They also live in many parts of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and China. Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=211574

Valley of festivals

Gulmit and its outskirts abound with old architecture and rich heritage

Gulmit is the vibrant capital of Gojal, a valley located 35 kilometers from Karimabad in Hunza. The word 'gulmit' means 'a land of flowers' in Wakhi, one of the local languages.

Every year, Gulmit sees a number of festivals between the months of March and August, such as Kitdit (spring festival), Tagm (sowing festival), Chinir (harvest festival), and Garshot (transhumance). These festivals are celebrated in almost every village of Gojal. Shimshal Valley, in Gojal tehsil, boasts its own unique festival called Woolio (the yak race).

Gulmit has six mohallas namely Kamaris, Odbher, Dalgirm, Central Gulmit, Lakhsh and Goz. It is a valley of towering peaks, awe-inspiring glaciers and captivating lakes and even a few historical buildings. One enters the valley through the majestic Passu peaks -- also known as Passu cones -- which dwarf the village.

The beautiful old house located in the heart of Gulmit is said to have been built by the Mir of Hunza. According to Ibadat Shah, one of the notables of Gulmit, the Mirs of Hunza would stay in the house on their visit to the valley. The house is believed to be two centuries old.

The elaborate carving on the pillars and the doors of the old house speaks volumes of the aesthetics of the builder. Several buildings in the valley are noted for their wooden carvings. Presently, the house serves as a carpet-weaving centre for the Wakhi women.

Bai Nazar Maktab enjoys a historic significance by virtue of it being a school of religious education. According to Afzal Khan, one of the owners of the Silk Route Lodge in Gulmit, the Maktab imparted education in different languages.

The house of one Qirghis Bai is the oldest in the Ghulkin village. Bai is said to have been the first Wakhi settler in the village. The carvings in this house are even better than those of the old house which lies unoccupied and is occasionally used for religious festivals.

The fabled and formidable Ondra Fort, perched atop the hill and overlooking the Kamaris mohalla of Gulmit, is also in shambles.

Only some ramparts have been able to withstand the vagaries of weather. Sadoon Shah, former Nambardar, says that the fort was built in the 15th century in order to defend the village against invaders. The fort remains a foreigner tourist's favourite destination.

From Ondra, one can have a panoramic view of Ainabad, Shishkat, Ghulkin and the Gulmit villages. On the way to Ondra Fort, one comes across the shrine of Shah Chiragah in Kamaris' village, said to be several hundred years old. The Ismailis of Gulmit, Ghulkin, Ainabad, Shishkat, Hussani, Passu and Khyber villages frequently visit the shrine.

Shah Talib's shrine is located by the roadside in Hussani village. It is very popular in Gulmit and the nearby villages. The legend has it that Shah Talib came from Afghanistan some eight centuries ago and settled near the present village of Hussani. The Wakhis frequently visit the shrines for prayers and offerings.

Apart from its shrines, Gulmit's two lakes -- Borith and Passu -- are worth a visit. One can have the majestic view of the Ultar peak from the Borith lake which is also an important sanctuary for the migrating wildfowl. The lake can be reached by jeep from Hussani village or one can go trekking from Ghulkin village. Trekking takes at least three hours from the place.

On the way to the Borith lake, the Ghulkin glacier presents a spectacular view. In the evening, one finds people sitting there and enjoying the natural beauty where only tranquility and serenity prevail. There is also a tea corner at the lake for the visitors. Apart from tourists, the hut is always crowded with people of Borith village.

[Analysis] State, Religion and Culture in Gilgit-Baltistan

Critical minds alone can take us forward: Dr Hoodbhoy

ISLAMABAD, June 3: Pakistan needs an education system that develops humanism, enlightenment and critical thinking in its children and not jingoism, according to physicist and peace activist Dr Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy.

Education is not about getting degrees or jobs but about creating a tolerant, caring, progressive and forward-looking society, he said in a lecture on “Education and emerging challenges” at the Pakistan Academy of Letters organised by the Gojal Educational and Cultural Association (GECA).    

“The education our children are acquiring today breeds hatred and violence,” he said, citing last week’s ethnic clashes on the campus of Quaid-i-Azam University. Such irrationality was not unexpected when children are taught about differences between Hindus and Muslims and the wars fought between India and Pakistan from very young age.         

Dr Hoodbhoy said the foremost objective of education was to produce a good human being, who appreciates others’ rights and values and takes a scientific approach to decide about right and wrong. But the trend in Pakistan had been on the reverse. 

  “Students were more enlightened and liberal 30 years ago. Today 60 per cent of the girl students in Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) come in burqa and another 10 per cent in hijab,” said Dr Hoodbhoy who is Professor of Nuclear Physics and Chairman of the Physics Department, Quaid-i-Azam University. He has been a faculty member at the QAU since 1973.  

The author of `Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality’ which has been translated into five languages, Dr Hoodbhoy said: “We should think about it, and find out the causes as the situation is getting worse in NWFP where girls can’t dare to go out bare faced and their schools are being bombed and closed”.       

He called for giving priority to primary education and criticised the low education budget – two per cent of GDP. “If we want to improve the situation we should cut the defence and non-development budget and devise a secular education system,” he said. 

“Secularism does not mean abandoning religion,” he stressed. “In Europe there exist many religions but their followers live as equal citizens. There is no other way to take a nation forward than path of secularism and scientific thinking.”  

While the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been given big money, it was being spent on “producing degree holders in bulk and not scientific minds”.  

About plagiarism, Dr Hoodbhoy said that plagiarism has exploded for the first time thanks to the internet. He cited many cases of plagiarism which is rampant in public universities. Some cases were detected recently which he described sheer dishonesty. A substantial amount is lost on ghost schools. Some 8,000 such schools had been discovered in Punjab alone.  

“While the modern concept treats education as a problem-solving tool, our system encourages only cramming without comprehension or application of mind. Knowledge is a living thing which increases with the passage of time. We seek Tehsil-i-Ilm (acquisition of knowledge) and not Takhleeq-i-Ilm (creation of knowledge),” he observed.

Examinations just test the memory of a student and not his comprehension.

The lecture generated a lively question-answer session.

In response to the questions Dr Hoodbhoy said people need to know their natural resources and how to exploit them. For that education should be need-based. Technical and vocational schools should be set up to impart skills and training to the local people according to the geographical condition of the area.

In the context of Gilgit-Baltistan it would mean learning how to harness the region’s abundant water resources to produce electricity and set up industries.

He congratulated the Gojal Educational and Cultural Association team for organising the programme and the association that, he hoped, would provide a platform to the people of Hunza-Gojal to discuss various issues. He assured the GECA of his help in promoting education and cultural harmony in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Earlier in his introductory remarks senior journalist from Gilgit-Baltstan Farman Ali highlighted the problems and challenges being faced by the students and youth from Hunza-Gojal during their studies in urban centres of the country. They stream down the plains from North due to non-availability of educational facilities in their areas and face a host of psychological, social and economic problems.

He said our educational priorities have totally changed due to the media onslaught and globalisation agenda that have reduced education to a market commodity, to produce career-oriented individualistic apolitical, obedient workers for the multinational corporations and NGOs rather than serving social purposes or creating thinkers, intellectuals.

According to him the divide between private and public education systems has reinforced class differences between the rich and the poor disturbing the social harmony.

The government has failed to fulfil its responsibilities and created space for sellers of education. Knowledge today has been made a commodity which can be bought and sold and possessed and as such produced individualism and selfishness.

He recalled the relationship between Dr Eqbal Ahmed, one of the greatest scholars and thinkers of the 20th century, and Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy and how they met first at MIT, and became friends. Dr Eqbal Ahmed, who died in 1999, wanted to establish a university in Islamabad after the name of Ibne  Khaldun, one of the greatest scholars and liberal thinkers of the Muslim world. Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy has taken upon himself the gigantic task and vows to continue Dr Eqbla’s mission.  

Mr Farman Ali paid tribute to Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy for his unflinching commitment to the cause of promotion of education, science, peace and against extremism and prejudices in Pakistan. For which he received the prestigious Faiz Ahmed Faiz Award in 1990. In recognition of his contribution towards the cause of popularising science in Pakistan, he got UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize. His TV serials and film The Bell Tolls for Planet Earth won honourable mention at the Paris Film Festival.

Dr Hoodbhoy, who got his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978, is a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, the University of Maryland, and Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre. He also occasionally lectures at various American and European research institutions. He received the Baker Award for Electronics in 1968 and the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics in 1984. He has authored over 18 scientific research papers in international journals.

Prof Hoodbhoy is also a prominent environmental and social activist and regularly writes and speaks on wide range of issues from social, cultural, environment, science to education and nuclear disarmament in international and national newspapers including Dawn.

Mr Farman also thanked Iftikhar Arif, renowned poet and Chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters for allowing the GECA to hold the lecture programme in the premises of PAL.

Prominent among those who attended the lecture were Mohammad Darjat, Gul Baig, Baig Ali, Mohammad Jabbar, Yasmin Ali, Fazal Amin Baig, Ghulam Shah, Sher Karim, Ayub Malik and many others.

In the last Mrs Nabat Mehrban thanked the guest for sparing time and gracing the function. Ejaz Ahmed Chairman GECA organising committee presented traditional topi (cap) to the guest. Sultan Ahmed conducted the programme. A large number of students, especially girl students, studying in different universities and colleges of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Mansehra attended the lecture programme.Courtesy: Dawn/Pamirtimes

Cultural values and post-modernism

Globalization is now a reality of our daily lives, a topic that features regularly in academic discourse, a matter of concern and close watchfulness in the backward hilly societies. With the rapid revolution in information and communication technology, the world has shrunk to ‘the global village’. Human society, particularly mountain societies are faced with many challenges of what has come to be called as the post-modern world in which not only human living conditions are changing but long-cherished values and traditions are under stress of global trends. A kind of leveling of cultural differences is in process that is bringing a dull monotony in dress, food and living styles.

To traditional societies like ours, of greater concern is the moral issue as values change imperceptibly and the sharp border between good and bad dissipates and becomes fuzzy. Above all what worries most is possibility of the moral issue losing its relevance in social conduct. While cultures are blending and acquiring a kind of uniformity, the issues and challenges are numerous especially for our society where we have not yet developed the social and political awareness to be wary of where are emerging situations leading to. 

Our youths at their most adaptable period of life are at the crossroads of the cultural trends that through media exposure, fast travel and growing inter mingling of people from various parts of the globe dominate the current scenario. They are most vulnerable to such influences and since the future of society and continuation of traditions is dependent upon their way of life, it should be of urgent concern to all that they receive proper guidance in choosing and rejecting trends that are supportive or harmful to our valued traditions.

Ours is a cultural heritage having its distinct value systems and norms rooted in our past. It is not however that our culture is exclusivist or isolationist. We believe in respect for elders and brotherhood of mankind and so are open in our approach to others. But our identity is dear to us and we are keen to preserve it. For instance the influences flowing from the west present the picture of a society that is highly selfish and individualistic. In comparison we see the individual as part of the society.

Ours is a culture of social and filial responsibility. Parents look after their children till they become independent and form their own families. But in their old age it is the children who take care of all needs of their parents. Brothers feel responsible for their sisters and so on and so forth. This sense of filial responsibility is a dear value of our social existence. We cannot allow this hallowed tradition to be destroyed under any pretext of modernity or individualism.  

So the question is that of balancing between traditional culture and modern trends under the influence of globalization in the post-modern age. Progress has to be made and we have to march with the world. But this should not mean the dilution of our national personality which is of course nothing but the product of our values, how we think and behave and what our duties are as relatives and members of the society. We have to discuss these matters with the young people and know their thoughts about progress and change. Society is never static but the dynamics of change should have its parameters. But the best censors come from within that tell the youth what is to be accepted and what left alone. The youth will follow the elders if they see no hypocrisy or double standards in their lives and if they see them behave according to what they expect from the young.  The doors of progress and change cannot be shut on the youth but progress should not mean materialism and change should not mean the loss of our identity.

 Courtesy: Dawn/Pamirtimes

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