Who will speak out for kalash tribe of Pakistan? – by Pakistani Meem
Who will speak out for kalash tribe of Pakistan? Are we going to allow this rich culture to disappear from our northern frontiers? Are we going to wipe these kafirs from Pakistan’s religious diversity too?
online petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/secretary-general-of-united-nations-help-preserve-kalash-a-tribe-in-pakistan-for-united-nations-protected-site
Pakistan is a culturally and religiously diverse country and the world’s oldest living civilization, the Kalasha that survived in Chitral,Pakistan for more than 2300 years are in danger at the hands of extremist mullahs that threaten them to either convert or face their wrath.
The Kalasha are a symbol of our cultural as well as religious diversity, tourists, archaeologists and anthropologists from all over the world visit Pakistan to meet these people who are followers of one of the oldest religions in the world and they have been a great source of revenue for Pakistan as well, but they are near extinction, there numbers are dwindling, many have been forcibly converted to Islam and some converted themselves to avoid discrimination, hatred is being fanned against them and the mullahs call them Kaafir.
In 1973 constitution Kalasha was included in scheduled cast in group of Hindu, Sikh and Parsi etc and there was reserved seat for this group at provincial assembly and they were given option to select their representative and the elected members were somehow giving importance to them.
But unfortunately in 2002 the constitution was dissolved and the right of minorities had given to political parties. The minorities elected through this reserved seats system for a decade ignored Kalasha people when they asked them they used to say that we did not take any vote from you and why we give importance to you.
According to estimates only 4000 remain. The NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) has included all religions, but no room left for Kalasha as results Kalasha have no choice left to show their identity as an indigenous ethnic community. The Kalasha people in order to protest against discrimination and exploitation of their rights, boycotted the general elections of 2013.
Efforts are underway to preserve them before they go extinct. Some social activists and NGOS are campaigning to draw the attention of United Nations towards this issue.
source :
1. http://thekalashatimes.wordpress.com/category/kalasha-news/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalash_people
3.http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/multimedia/2013/05/130525_chitral_festival_pics_rh.shtml
The forced religious conversion of the KALASH people is a crime against humanity and a cultural disaster for Pakistan. This rare ethnic group is a precious cultual and ethnic asset of Pakistan and the KALASH people existed in the Chitral Valley before the existence of the nation of Pakistan.