Time to give the Kalash community its true identity

Zhoshi is the name of Kalashamun festival. It means spring or blossom. The festival derives its name from spring season because it is celebrated in the month of May every year. The Zhoshi festival is being celebrated from May 13 to 18 this year. 

Kalashamun is the culture of Kalash tribe in Chitral. There are many distortions in the narratives about the names and culture of Kalashamun. Mumuret is the name of Kalash valley which is written Bam-borate, Rukmu is the name of another valley wrongly written and spoken Ramboor and Beriu is the name of the last Kalash valley incorrectly written Birir. Kalashamun is the name of the heterogeneous tribes wrongly known as homogenous.

Kalash is considered a minority community in Pakistan whereas public documents, governments sources and statistics of our National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) do not recognize or mention Kalash as a minority group. The national identity card and passport do not show Kalash as a community. Even the national census reports do not show Kalash as a minority community in the valleys and villages where they live.

The population of Kalash is put in the column marked a “others”. Ironically, we had three rulers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Gen Musharraf who wanted to protect and promote the Kalash minority. These rulers did not construct the 18 km road which leads to Kalash valley. We had many deputy commissioners such as Shakil Durrani, Javed Majeed and Capt Yousuf who boasted to be sincere friends to the Kalash but they did not take up a case to give Kalash the identity of separate minority group in the census document. It is high time that two basic needs of the Kalash are addressed.

First need is identity as a minority in the NADRA records and census documents. Second need is 18 km all weather road. In case there in nobody to take the lead, Pakistan army should take it up as a task.