For all his life, Makhmar has traversed the land between Afghanistan and Pakistan, moving with the seasons and adapting to the needs of his livestock. He is part of the largest tribe in the Kochi community that has long been associated with livestock grazing, meat, and dairy production. His tribe and dozens of others crisscross the border every year.
But changes in the environment driven by climate change are making the traditional lifestyle Makhmar, 40, and his tribe has followed for ages simply impossible. Ever decreasing rainfall coupled with a persistently increasing population is coming together in the worst way for the Kochi community. The result – shrinking pastures and water shortages – have forced many in his tribe and others to abandon their nomadic life and move to settled areas and cities in Punjab and the Gul Kach area close to South Waziristan.
Marginalised and cut off
Known locally in parts of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the Pawanda and Kadwaal, the Kochi community forms a marginalised grouping in both Afghanistan and Pakistan – having no access to education, health, electricity and other basic facilities. The literacy rate among them is zero and many of their women still lose their lives during childbirth. In case of illnesses, they use traditional remedies and herbs that grow naturally in the region they follow their pastoral lifestyle in.
Each tribe within this community sticks to its ancestral route of semi-annual migration between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Makhmar usually spends his winters in Yarak, an area near Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Soon after the snow begins melting in the mountains, Makhmar and his family start their journey on foot from KP back to Afghanistan.
But his pressing concern this year is how to get back there. Makhmar packs snuff under his lower lip as he talks about the challenges nomadic groups face. Since they do not have their own land, he said Kochis must go where there’s land available. That land is separated by a border that has historically been porous and easy to cross.
Before the Pakistani government built a fence on its western border, Kochis used to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan via Angor Adda close to South Waziristan. They’d travel through Zhob district of Balochistan and spread out near Dera Ismail Khan and the Bhakkar in Punjab's plains. But since the border was reinforced, this journey has gotten harder and Kochis have had to change their route. Starting in 2017, Pakistan has fenced the 2,640-kilometre border it shares with Afghanistan to discourage cross-border militancy, illicit trade and other criminal activity between the two countries. The fencing process was completely last year and had an inadvertent effect on the traditional way of life of nomadic communities.
Forced into sedentary life
Makhmar said there are fewer pastures than there used to be to graze livestock because of environmental changes and water shortages caused by a lack of rainfall and increasing population. Now, when Makhmar and his family find a decent place to graze, they tend to stay. He recently arrived in Balochistan, where he and his family camped out in the hilly area that is part of the Sulaiman Mountain range near the border with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Many other Kochi families have also camped along the highway that connects Balochistan with KP. Zhob, the valley that lies there, is full of lush green pastures, making it a welcoming environment for the Kochis and their animals. Makhmar said there are still some people -- mostly from the Dotani clan -- who’ve continued with their nomadic lifestyle. Some have also settled in the Toi area near Waziristan.
Kochis have traveled on foot using the same caravan routes that their ancestors have used for centuries. But Makhmar fears that if the challenges they are facing remain the same, it might soon be impossible for the Kochis to live this way.
Kafeel Qarban belongs to the Zurmat Paktia tribe in Afghanistan but has now settled in Kuchlak, near Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. He recalls memories from the time when his family used to migrate between Pakistan and Afghanistan as bittersweet. Back then, they lacked even the most basic facilities like drinking water. Now that they’ve settled in one place, his family more easily has its needs met.
Qarban said the older generation from his community was illiterate, lacking access to education because they were always moving. But since members of his tribe have started to settle in the city, the younger generation is now able to get educated. Qarban has completed his master’s degree in philosophy.
Resourceful economic contributors
Salmeen Khpalwak, an environmentalist in Balochistan, said Afghan Kochis have always been known for being smart, traditional, and romantic people, who he calls the beauty of the earth. 'They are dependent upon livestock and have an important contribution in the local economy,” he said.
He describes Kochi tribes as resourceful contributors to the rural economy -- trading wool, meat, and dairy products for the things they need to survive wherever they set up camp. Still, he said their resourceful ways aren’t always enough to help them get by and many in the community lack access to basic services from the government. They can not access clean drinking water, medical treatment, or education, he said. “As a result, many of women and children lost their lives during migration.”
Zareen, an Afghan herder from Urgun province in Afghanistan said traveling is the destiny of his people. Their ancient route was through Warsak but now that way is completely blocked, so he and his fellow travelers were forced to take a more difficult route through Balochistan.
During the journey, Zareen said he ran out of food and many cattle died on the way or were unable to walk. “The deserted mountains had neither water nor grass,” he said. Challenges wrought by the barren landscape were only exacerbated by border guards who’ve become stricter. Zareen said he and other nomads are not allowed to cross the Pakistan-Afghan border freely, they may be forced to spend their summers in Pakistan.
Bashir Ahmad, Tehsildar of Kakar Khurasan in Qamardin Karez close to the Afghan border, said the Frontier Corps (FC) in Balochistan are responsible for the entry and exit of Afghan nomads. However, sometimes other officials at checkpoints near the border area also check the documents of Kochis coming into Pakistan. After the border on this side was fenced, Ahmad said entry for nomadic herders is more restricted. Nomads now enter Pakistan through the Loi Bund border crossing near Muslim Bagh.
There is no official policy from the provincial and federal governments regarding the entry of Afghan Kochis into Pakistan, but Professor Mir Hassan Khan Attal, the translator of Balochistan Gazetteers, said there should be. He suggests Pakistan and Afghanistan jointly come up with a plan to get these groups settled wherever possible. If tribes can not live in cities, he said their traditional route between Pakistan and Afghanistan should remain open.
He said the history of this population deserves recognition and facilitation so that they can come and go freely as they have for centuries. While the ecological changes they’re facing may be hard to reverse, he said the man-made borders can be adjusted. They have the right to live and the government should provide them an environment they deserve.”
Who are the Kochis?
The word Kochi is a Dari word that translates to ‘those who go on migrations’. A generic term, it has been used both in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, as well as by foreigners, to describe the nomadic communities that have moved across the lands of modern day Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. Comprised mostly of Pashtuns from southern and eastern Afghanistan, Kochis are a social grouping rather than an ethnic one, although some researchers say they have acquired some characteristics of a distinct ethnic group.
Simple, physically strong and dressed in traditional clothes, the Kochis speak rustic dialect of Pashto language and follow an isolated lifestyle and set of traditions. They are always on the move, traveling on foot between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, following the historical caravan routes during their semi-annual migrations. Accompanied by their herds of cattle and carrying items of daily use, the Kochis travel on foot using the same route as their ancestors did for centuries from Khusrasaan (Afghanistan) and Damaan (Pakistan).
Soon after the snow on the top of mountains melts, they start returning to the pastures to feed their cattle. They tie their waists, fold up the dresses, take down their tents and start their hundreds of kilometers journey. The Kochis have no other option rather than living in tents, spending freezing cold, sizzling heat, rainfall and blowing winds.
During their journey, the Kochis are accompanied by fierce dogs with dock (cut) tails which protect their caravans. Growing wistful children and the elderly Kochis travel thousands of kilometers on camels and donkeys as the kids are tied on camels and donkeys with ropes so that they do not fall on the way.
The Kochi’s main source of income is livestock. All their basic needs — such as milk, cheese, yoghurt, ghee, meat and wool — come from their goats and sheep. To obtain other basic necessities, they sell sheep or goats in the local markets. They contribute immensely to the local market in terms of dairy items, meat and wool during their semi-annual migration.
The journey of the Kochis begins before sunrise in the morning. The tent is folded and all items are tied with ropes and placed on camels and donkeys. After spending winter in Southern Punjab the Kochis travel via Balochistan to Afghanistan or the Afghan bordering areas. On the way, the people become happy to see them and they try to take pictures of Kochis but the Kochis are very conservative people, although their women do not cover their faces like other ordinary Pashtoon women do, but they do not allow someone to take their women pictures at any cost.
Even the young Kochi women do not use the veil to cover their faces as usually the Pakhtoon women traditionally do. The women are often busy contributing to the community — fetching water, making dairy products and cooking food. They spend their free time embroidering traditional designs on clothes and weaving rugs. The newly-wed bride can easily be spotted as she wears brightly colored dress which is heavily embroidered and decorated with traditional mirrors and sequins that clinks as she moves.
Professor Mir Hassan Attal says before the partition of sub-continent these people used to go to even Mumbai and Calcutta, but after the partition these people were confined to only Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although the Kochis use different routes, a large group of Kochis used to come to Dera Ismail Khan via the Gomal River. The Kochis then spread from there to Central and Southern Punjab. As far the literary work on Kochis is concerned, he guesses that the most beautiful and effective work on the Kochis done in the British era because the British wanted to bring these people under the tax net.