Wail of a Kalash

.. by Imran Nazer

I practice kalash religion and I believe that Kalash tribe is famous all over the world because of its unique culture and traditions . People from all over the world come to visit Kalash valleys, This includes domestic and foreign tourists. Tourism has not left this tribe anywhere. Due to huge increase in tourism, the girls here are not safe. Everywhere they are trying to harass them, even they do not care about their privacy. We all know that people come here only to stare girls and drink alcohol.

Everyone in Kalash wants our religion and culture to be safe. And our religion does not allow us to indulge in alcohol. We do not want tourism that would tarnish our honor and damage our culture. We do not want tourism to increase in Kalash. We have to preserve this culture and its protection is the responsibility of the whole of Pakistan. Kalash tribe should not be used for business. I urge the human right organizations, Government of Pakistan and its affiliates to ensure the protection of this unique culture. If they cannot fully stop tourism over here they may restrict tourism to a certain extent or else it will be a few years later that only the name of this tribe will remain. .. Imran Nazer, Chitral 08 May 2022

.. Source: facebook

2 thoughts on “Wail of a Kalash

  1. The lament is true! In Pakistan there is explosion of population who are uncontrolled, have no entertainment and (male) are sex hungry due to social restrictions. They consider the Kalash valley as an out of the world place where everything is allowed and unrestricted. When they come to the valley they are disappointed as the Kalash have their own ethics and discipline which in many ways are better than the non Kalash. It is even reported that in the past a few cases where professional prostitutes were brought from down country and dressed up as kalash in hotels and ‘business’ was done by such unscrupulous hoteliers. Kalash is an extremely valuable and highly threatened treasure of Pakistan. Immediate steps need to be taken to stop corrupting and mutilation of their culture.

  2. As a German from Black Forest I study and watch the Kalash culture since my first visit in Chitral in 1974.My last visit was in 2001 when I saw the remnants of the first tunneleffort.Shortly afterwards the second tunnelproject began and I predicted exactly what we can see now and what Mr. Baig is also lamenting.I fear the worst. The dependency of the mountainous paradise of Chitral of the outside world is to high,the self sustainability has sufferd,all hope lies as a burden on the shoulders of well educated kids.Not to mention the ecological problems.My heart is bleeding cause its hard to say that the historically poor Kalash society,compared with so many other small villages in the whole region, benefited much but can easily degenerate into a Tourist Hot Spot Human Zoo like many places in China.
    Good Luck,Inch Allah, Ishpata

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