Amid the beat of drums: Kalash leader to be laid to rest after three-day wake

As per tradition, Singh will be placed in the Madukzhal after three days of singing, dancing.

CHITRAL: Katar Singh, an elder of the Kalash tribe and prominent leader of Ramboor Valley, passed away in Peshawar on Saturday after battling a long-drawn illness.

Singh was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital after his health issues dragged on for over two months, shared a resident of Ramboor Valley.

He was initially treated using traditional herbal medicines, however, those did not have the desired result on the octogenarian.  Singh was then shifted to a hospital in Peshawar via Lowari Tunnel, a cold and unpleasant journey.

Singh’s hearse was taken to his ancestral village where a large number of people, including Muslims, gathered to condole with the bereaved family and participate in his last rites.

Local traditions include the continuous playing of drums for three days as a sort of condolence for mourners.

Singh was well-known within the Kalash for cattle farming and sustaining a stable economic status. He was the father of Cluster Chairman Burzangi Khan and Sherzada. Pakistan People Party Kalash leader Saifullah Jan was his son-in-law and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf youth leader Wazir Zada his nephew.

According to Saifullah Jan, the family will not bury Katar Singh but will place his body in the Madukzhal (an open yard) after singing and dancing in reverence for three days.

Kalasha stopped placing their dead in the open as is their ancient tradition after a bloody incident in August 2012, when militants from Afghanistan kidnapped and later killed a Kalash tribesman.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2013.