Preserving the Kalash

It is no exaggeration to say that every religious and ethno-religious minority in Pakistan is under threat. Some face extinction, and top of the list for most anthropologists that study the ebb and flow of humankind are the Kalash. Their origins are disputed but some cling to the idea that they are the descendants of the army of Alexander the Great — DNA testing has long disproved the notion — but whatever they may be they are not going to be around much longer at the current rate of depletion. The Kalash and other minorities now have a champion in parliament, the first Kalash to be elected to the federal governing body.

Wazirzada comes from the Rumbur valley, one of three where the Kalash cling on and he is on a PTI ticket having joined the party in 2009. He is a social worker attached to a local NGO and a graduate of Peshawar University. He faces an uphill task in terms of preserving his own legacy. The Kalash are an animist group and under a constant pressure to convert which a steady trickle do, making it ever-harder to sustain the indigenous population as deaths and external migration also eat at the numbers. Tourism has provided a small and seasonal income for the Kalash but even that has its downside as visitors, especially visitors from other parts of Pakistan, can be abusive of local hospitality. There are about 4,000 Kalash left.

Ring-fencing their culture is almost impossible and successive governments have paid little more than lip service to their preservation. At least Wazirzada has an opportunity now to maintain an above the horizon profile for the Kalash as well as other minorities, and he has declared himself willing to do so. If ever the minorities need a champion it is now. Our cultural diversity is shrinking before our eyes to the indifference of the majority. The Kalash do not just need to be preserved they need to be rescued. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2018.

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