Chitral, Chitrali Culture and Identity:

With the swift changes that are taking place within Chitral and its opening to the outside world have generated discussion among Chitrali intellectuals regarding Chitrali culture, identity and potential risks. Many of them are concerned about losing some ‘unique’ aspects of their cultural heritage that they consider to be essential for its preservation. Others are less fearful and would like to see them transformed to survive in a rapidly changing world with growing knowledge and pluralistic global society. Both points of view are genuine and sincere. Recently, a dear friend of mine in a thrillingly interesting way wrote on the subject expressing as to how the Khowar language, the lingua franca of Chitral, was at risk, possibly being lost particularly in Chitrali families living outside Chitral. His example of a visiting child from down country of Chitrali parents demanding for a chew-in-gum saying why he couldn’t have one while the cow he saw was chewing “a gum” was indeed hilarious and powerful at the same time. He also offered several examples of those Chitralis who, despite living outside in their entire career, have successfully preserved the Khowar language in their families, particularly in the second generation. This has been a triggering point for me to engage in writing this short write-up. I kept on asking myself several questions: What is Khowar culture? What does Chitrali culture entail? What is Chitrali cultural identity? How can it be preserved? Permit me to reflect briefly on these questions.

Culture, as I see it, is not a list of things that one can be categorized and numerically pointed out; it is everything that is expressed in the form of collective behavior of people that is fashioned by a common and continued experience in a specific environment. What this means is that people who have a common history of living together share the pains and pleasures of the experience and hold to certain norms that have played historically critical role in managing the experience of living together. The word living together in this context is important because it includes cherishing values as well as challenges and complexities of mutual relationships. So, what does this mean in the context of Chitral? It means the languages that Chitrali speak, the literature that they produce, the values that they uphold, the ethics that they apply in their daily life, the way they treat the natural environment and its fauna, the expressions in the form of art, the vision and the dream that they have for their children and so on.

Indulging in exploring all of the above would require a much extended research and even a brief treatment of them all will exceed the limits of this write-up. What I intend to do is to provide a few examples of the complexities for discussion which, I hope, will generate further well-thought-through and impulsive-emotional-reaction-free opinions on the issues from intellectuals of Chitrali background and from those who have interest in Chitrali culture and its people.

The first example is the language. Chitral is an interesting and arguably unique district of the KP province in the northwest Pakistan for the variety of its languages; at least six dialects are spoken within its geographical boundaries, people speaking any dialect are bilingual except those who speak only Khowar, language of the majority. In the past, neither of the languages had any special status in terms of being a literary language or official court language; all had the same status. Since 1960’s, Khowar has been promoted as a lingua franca of Chitral through creation of alphabets and producing literature in it while other dialects have not received such a favorable treatment. The question then is: Dose extinction of these languages over time bee considered as a loss for Chitrali culture? If so what can be done to preserve them. If not, then, does it mean that extinction of Khowar (hypothetically) also will not have any effect on the Chitrali culture? Again, if culture is dependent on one language, in this case Khowar, what about those segments of the Chitrali population who don’t speak it from early age and learn it only when they began interaction with Khowar speakers. In other words, if a majority’s language is an exclusive Chitrali cultural identity, does it mean that children born in Wakhi speaking Burughil, Farsi speaking Madaklasht, Yadgha speaking Birzeen, Kalasha speaking Bireer, pushtu speaking Arandu, and Damali speaking Damilisar are not Chitrali in cultural terms until they learn Khowar. Furthermore, defining Chitrali culture exclusively in terms of one particular language seems to be problematic from another angle, that is, that a large number of Khowar speaking people live outside its geographical boundaries.

Let me point to another dimension of the issue. There is growing number of Chitralis who are diasporas all over the world, having spouses of non-Chitrali background, their children can speak neither their mothers’ nor fathers’ languages, but only the language of their birth places. They may have all other inherited characteristics of being Chitrali, except that they are not Khowar speaking. Are they different from a Chitrali who has never been away from his or her village in Burughil or Madaklasht and speaks only the language of his or her immediate environment? The diasporas Chitralis and their children and spouses may not speak Khowar in their day-to-day life, but they are introducing Chitral and spreading its cultural values around the world. How do we define them in terms of being Chitrali comparing them with others who may be speaking Khowar and living physically within the defined geographical boundaries of Chitral but engaged in activities that are damaging to the culture, ethics and values of Chitrali people. Drug addiction and drug trafficking or any other anti social and destructive acts or behavior can be an example.

There are no right or wrong answers to the questions posed and complexities referred to in this write-up. Its sole purpose is to begin a serious discussion on Chitrali culture and its worth preserving values. -- Dr Mir Baiz Khan, 01 Aug 2012.

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