Righting the Wrongs in Ladakh-Baltistan

By the way, the article should have commenced with, perhaps, ``In July 2005`` and not July 2006.
--V.S.Gopalakrishnan

I consider this to be an extremely well-written article, and for some one like me based in Mumbai it has been very instructive. I have learnt a lot from the interacts too.

I should think that the author has made very sincere proposals based on eminently sound and acceptance-worthy grounds. One hopes that the policy-makers on both sides decide and act fast. The direction is clear but it is only a matter of time. Elements prone to resort to terrorism/violence should abdicate their mentality. If there is peace in the region, the Berlin-Wall will have to come down soon.

--V.S.Gopalakrishnan

Hamid mian

(i mean let`s inter-marry, )

There was a Hollywood movie sometime back where they ask a drunk Presi candidate his solution for the race problem, his reply I believe was ``Lets F*** each other till we are of the colour``

(gilgitis and baltis might be backward and simple, but they are about as partiotic an paki can get without actually going out and killing a hindoo to prove his credentials )

However when a gilgiti and balti does get killed killing Hanuds, his corpse is let to rot on the mountains.

Regards

Ismail Khan Sahib,
Thank you for a very informative article about the Northern Areas. I have always been fascinated by the spectacle of the world`s highest peaks all arranged in a semicircle in a theatrical display of awesome majesty. One day I hope to travel there and see it for myself. Inshallah, your hope of peace in the mountains and glaciers will come true. I do regret the loss of Aksai Chin and Shaksgram to a nation that has no real attachment to the area. When will India and Pakistan appreciate their common heritage and stop losing ground to outsiders?

hamidum2 #21, {``i mean let`s inter-marry, stop speaking silly languages that don`t even have a written script, stop wearing funny clothes, eating funny food and acting like a bunch of primitive natives ......... and it can be done - my family is living proof ......... in one generation we have managed to wipe out all the pathans and punjabis on both sides of the family and have created an army of happy half-breeds that has given up the niswar and the hookah, speak urdu, eat karahi gosht and would not be seen dead in a dhoti or carrying a firearm ..``}

AmaaN Hamid bhayya, tumre pas bahut akal agawat he. Yeh tum har ik Ram, Dhakkan, aur Hari maaN saath shaadi karke sabka ek hi banadeyat ho - yeh to susri bohot hi achchi baat karat ho. Hum tuhaar eee-mail humre sab bhayya or ma sath lagaadeyyo. Hum oooi susray Tahmed4 ki ijjat ki kassam kha ke tumka yakeen dilayet hen ke ab koi susra mai ka lal bihari ka bachcha paan nahi khaaiba aur na diwaar ooper pichkaari marba. Na koi bihari bubwa tahmed pahenwa aur na dhoti. Bus tum bhayya ek aad futloon aur oooi susri salwar bhejdiyyo humre paas. Aur haan woh saali lumbi lumbi achkan na deiyoo, humka grami bahut lagat he - ek aad mulmul ka kurta bas bhejdeyyo. Bahut bahut sukriyaa or Bhabhi Hmong ko humra salaam deidejiyo. Haan Punjabi maaN kahat hen, tumka Rab rakhe. Khuda Hafij.

hamidum2 #21, {``i mean let`s inter-marry, stop speaking silly languages that don`t even have a written script, stop wearing funny clothes, eating funny food and acting like a bunch of primitive natives ......... and it can be done - my family is living proof ......... in one generation we have managed to wipe out all the pathans and punjabis on both sides of the family and have created an army of happy half-breeds that has given up the niswar and the hookah, speak urdu, eat karahi gosht and would not be seen dead in a dhoti or carrying a firearm ..``}

AmaaN Hamid bhayya, tumre pas bahut akal agawat he. Yeh tum har ik Ram, Dhakkan, aur Hari maaN saath shaadi karke sabka ek hi banadeyat ho - yeh to susri bohot hi achchi baat karat ho. Hum tuhaar eee-mail humre sab bhayya or ma sath lagaadeyyo. Hum oooi susray Tahmed4 ki ijjat ki kassam kha ke tumka yakeen dilayet hen ke ab koi susra mai ka lal bihari ka bachcha paan nahi khaaiba aur na diwaar ooper pichkaari marba. Na koi bihari bubwa tahmed pahenwa aur na dhoti. Bus tum bhayya ek aad futloon aur oooi susri salwar bhejdiyyo humre paas. Aur haan woh saali lumbi lumbi achkan na deiyoo, humka grami bahut lagat he - ek aad mulmul ka kurta bas bhejdeyyo. Bahut bahut sukriyaa or Bhabhi Hmong ko humra salaam deidejiyo. Haan Punjabi maaN kahat hen, tumka Rab rakhe. Khuda Hafij.

Re: # 29

Btw mr. hamidm2,
who taught you to dress in pants and use forks, knives and spoons to eat daal and rice? Arabs?

Re: # 27

....... no, i don`t want anyone to force anyone to do anything, i simply want people to stop eating dal/rice with their fingers and running around in dhotis - there is no honor in behaving like a bunch of madrasis ......... a lot of this crap about protecting ethnic cultures and nobel savages was promoted by the the gora sahib to please his mem sahib who loved the natives` simple life and quaint habits ......... ``see darling, they are so innocent, they run around half-naked and yet nobody thinks of sex``......... i say, give the man some decent clothes even if it makes him horny !

Re: # 19

Mr. Gul need to get his fact right.

1. Hunza is predominangitly ismaili, and not sunni
2. I have visited about 40 Balti resteurant in London alone which have been selling Balti food. Many of their printed manues carries a brief histroy and intro about Baltistan and influence of recipe and spice from Tibet, Sichuan, Tajik, Persia and Kashmir on Balti foos. part of it is fact part fiction. The fact is that Balti do have special food, cooked in special utinsil (kwat - a kind of cooker curved out of granite) which makes the cooking and food special.
3. Chilas has majority Sheena (sunni) population, many of them will have to be relocated once the Diamir / Bhasha dam is constructed. Gilgit has a mix (Sheen - Yashkun) population. Religiously it is equaly divided between Shia and Sunni population. Large number of Ismailis also live there. Yes, there is a pathan influence, most of the mochis and smuggler on KKH are pathans, yes they have been instrumental in bringing in charas, opium and klashinkove culture, not to mention the secterian voilance.

4. I have had opportunties to travel in NWFP (including swat) and Balochistan, compares to average individual in those two provinces, Baltis are far more civilized, peaceful and well off, yesterday and today...

Writer:
Why did you leave out the info on massacre of shias in Gilgit in 1988 and the israeli style settlement of sunni tribals in that area orchestrated by Brigadier Musharraf?

So, hamidm you want Pakistan Army to ``sort out`` every single person from oppressed ethnicities and cultures for the lofty ideals of humanism and moderate enlightenment?

#21 agree 100%. There are, as a wise friend of mine said in college when a discussion on ethnicities took place, only two kinds of people in this world - men and women. All other divisions are artificial ones meant to keep together herds of fools.

And sure enough - these herds of fools are too be find all over chowk, toeing their respective government`s propaganda lines...

Societies evolve. Quicker the modernisation, faster the urbanisation and migration of people. If We are to take hamidm2`s suggestion, then are educated Pakistanis prepared to give their urban daughters to illiterates of far flung areas whose whole life revolves around apricots. They serve as food, source of oil for cooking and lighting, moisturiser for body and source of protiens. Lets be practical and as humans, we must protect the identity of small ethnic groups.

As for AlephNull, distortion of one is the reality of the other. No wonder, we will never get along.

Cheerios

#22 heh heh...that is what salim has been proposing for a while..let the wrong culture from the wrong side of the order be diluted-corrected from the wrong path its been on since 1947..(offcourse what i mean is since the british left)..now brits are gone, but make do with slightly more civilized ambersaris.. ;-)

i personally think the quaint emerged cultural identity ought to be preserved.

Re: # 22

... aleph,

.... it is amazing how you indians know of things that most pakis know nothing about ! ........ now, i have travelled extensively in that are and have neve met anyone who calls it balwaristan ( there is baltistan, gilgit, skardu, hunza, chitral, etc , but never balwaristan) ............ are you sure this is not a raw site still trying to get even for the khalistan thing ? ......... ijaz gul is right - gilgitis and baltis might be backward and simple, but they are about as partiotic an paki can get without actually going out and killing a hindoo to prove his credentials .......

ijaz_gul #5

{{The people of Northern Areas never consider themselves as kashmiris and are amongst the staunchest of Pakistanis. Please do not give distorted versions.}}

More ‘distorted versions’ from these ‘staunchest of Pakistanis’:

Balawaristan National Front

......... eliminate all ethnic minorities ...........

........... and by that i don`t mean we should, god forbid, kill them or expel them like they do in gujarat or darfur ........... i mean let`s inter-marry, stop speaking silly languages that don`t even have a written script, stop wearing funny clothes, eating funny food and acting like a bunch of primitive natives ......... and it can be done - my family is living proof ......... in one generation we have managed to wipe out all the pathans and punjabis on both sides of the family and have created an army of happy half-breeds that has given up the niswar and the hookah, speak urdu, eat karahi gosht and would not be seen dead in a dhoti or carrying a firearm .......... and it was not even twenty five years ago that grandpa mansha would sit around under the pipal tree, pulling on the hookah and listening to some fool singing heer .......... while on the other side of the country, granda khanbaba would walk around town with a revolver on his hip and a karakul cap on his head............ he never left home without those two items, now his grandson works for american express .........

......... and it is okay to retain some of your ancestors` bad habits - i still have to have green tea after dinner and prefer lamb over goat and think that people who eat dal are borderline hindoos - but that is about the extent of my pathan pride ......... on the other hand, the only time i give in to my potohari innstincts is when i have to yell at a jackass standing in the middle of the road - it seems that jackasses only understand potohari (sheikh rashid is the only human who understands this horrible language)

......... it is silly for educated pakis to promote primitive ethnic cultures just because it is politically correct ........ we are not doing these people a favors by encouraging their backward ways - we might as well stick them all on a reservation and supply them with feathers and alcohol ............. then on sunday`s we can pile up in our tour busses and go look at them in their cages ..........