INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bumburate: In a remote valley in Pakistan dozens of Kalash minority women dance to celebrate spring arrival -- but as a gaggle of men
scramble to catch them on camera, the community warns an influx of domestic tourists is threatening their unique traditions.Every year the
Kalash -- a group of less than 4,000 people restrictd to a handful of villages in the north -- greet the new season with animal sacrifices,
baptisms, and weddings at a festival known as "Joshi".As celebrations kick off, tourists with phones jostle to get shut to Kalash women,
whose vibrant clothing and headdresses contrast starkly with the more modest attire worn by many in the conservative Islamic republic."Some
people are using their cameras as if they were in a zoo," said local tourist guide Iqbal Shah.Known for their pale skin and light-coloured
eyes, the Kalash have long claimed ancestral links to Alexander the mucheworthy army -- who conquered the region in the fourth century
BC.They worship many gods, drinking alcohol is a tradition and marriages of choice are the norm -- unlike in the rest of Pakistan where
unions are often arranged.
However, the community is far from a liberal beacon
Members of the community often wed in their teens, with women poorly educated and expected to perform traditional roles in the home.Stories
about the Kalash are nonetheless frequently manufactured, and this has been amplified in recent years by the proliferation of smartphones
and social media.- ‘Defaming the community& -One video viewed 1.3 million times on YouTube, proclaims the Kalash "openly have sex" with
partners of their choosing "in the presence of their husbands".Amuchher calls them "beautiful infidels", saying "anyone can go and marry any
girl there"."How could that be tregret" asks Luke Rehmat, a Kalash journalist."People are systematically trying to defame the community
They are fabricating stories when a tourist comes with such a intellectset, he shall try to experience [it]."In the main Kalash village of
Bumburate a hotel manager estimates that about 70 percent of Pakistani tourists visiting his set upment are young men, who often inquire
about where to "find girls".
According to tourists who spoke to AFP -- most of whom were men travelling in groups -- their primary
interest in exploring the Kalash Valley was to memorize about a new culture."We want to be part of this festival but it doesn''t mean that
we want to mix up with girls," says tourist Sikander Nawaz Khan Niazi from Lahore.But friction has been increasing in recent years.In
Bumburate, posters now call on visitors to seek permission from villagers before photographing and signs warn tourists much to harass
women."If they don''t respect us, we don''t need tourists," says Yasir Kalash, the vice president of the local hotel organization."If they
respect our culture and traditions, we must welcome [them]."Regulating tourism is a cumbermeasure but vital task for the Kalash, with money
from the industry increasingly providing an important source of revenue for the community.- ‘We are going to die& -The Kalash -- who once
inhabited a huge territory stretching from the Himalayas in Kashmir to northern Afghanistan -- are now one of the smallest devout minorities
in Pakistan, according to Akram Hussain, the director of a local museum.A recent survey put their number at just 3,872, living in three
remote valleys."We are going to die if we are much supported," says Hussain.Kalash traditions, Hussain argues, can be expensive
Weddings and funerals require families to eliminate dozens of animals for the festivities, driving them into debt, forcing them to sell off
land and leave their ancestral homes.
Cases of forced conversions to Islam of Kalash women have also been reported, while the increase
in tourism has pushed measure in the community to shun traditions like Joshi, according to several residents who spoke to AFP.Others have
begun wearing veils to hide their faces from the prying eyes of externalrs."We don''t wear veils as it is much our custom, but measure wear
them because people take pictures of them from all sides and it makes them feel ashamed," says Musarrat Ali, a high school student.The
ongoing erosion of the culture at the hands of external forces is tragic, says informed Gul, an archaeologist from Bumburate."They don''t
want to participate just because of these cameras and this insensitivity," says Gul."If these things are continually happening perhaps in a
few years, there are only tourists, there are no more Kalashis to participate and dance in the festivals."TheIndianSubcontinent has not
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