Call to promote endangered mountain cultures, languages

G-B's cultural heritage, native language Shina, will perish if concrete steps are not taken to conserve it.

GILGIT: The cultural heritage of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), including its native language Shina, will perish if concrete steps are not taken to conserve it.

Shina, Brushasi, Khwar, Wakhi and Balti, spoken in G-B, are among the 3,000 languages identified by Unesco in its red book that are facing extinction in the next 50 years if steps are not taken to preserve them. The general secretary of the Shina Language and Cultural Promotion Society (SLCPS) told on Wednesday that though Shina is widely spoken in G-B, its orthography is not officially recognised. The society aims to make a “breakthrough” in their preservation efforts by launching a recognised orthography of Shina. Ishtiaq Yaad, general secretary of SLCPS, considers this to be their real success. “The orthography of the Shina Language will be launched soon as well as the Mother tongue Literacy Education (MLE) programme, which is meant to promote the writing and speaking of Shina in the region,” he said. Emphasising the need to safeguard the language and the culture of the region Yaad said, “We need to have a museum at least to conserve our precious cultural heritage.”

SLCPS has done extensive research to promote the language that is being spoken not only in G-B but also parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and Chitral, he said. “Under the umbrella of SLCPS, we have so far published 10 books while another three are in the pipeline,” Shakil Ahmad Shakil, president of SLCPS, told .

A number of renowned regional linguists including Abdul Hafiz Shakir, Ghulam Abbas Khan Ghandalo, Naseem, and Salman Khan are part of the 15-member SLCPS team that has coordinates with the Karakoram International University (KIU) .

Last year the university, following the same agenda, had organised an international conference on languages that was attended by world-renowned linguists. Recently, KIU also assured its support to the SLCPS after the society launched the first-ever audio album on Shina Sufi poetry titled “Inner Pain” in Gilgit.

The album, according to Yaad, is a rare initiative undertaken by any individual or body about the often-neglected Shina language. Contrary to the other regional languages of Pakistan, Shina has never been part of the curriculum, though it is spoken in all districts of G-B as well as parts of Chitral and Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

The Forum for Language Initiative Islamabad and USA has been providing technical support to SLCPS . “We have received dozens of trainings arranged by them in the recent past,” Yaad said.

However this might not be enough. Yaad said that if steps towards the preservation of this culture were not taken, chances are that it would eventually disappear.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2010.