The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Conversions threaten Pakistan’s ‘Macedonian’ tribe Posted: 20 Oct 2011 01:08 AM PDT  Their claim to descent from the army of Alexander the Great: Fair, with light eyes. The Kalash, who number just about 3,500 in Pakistan's population of 180 million, are spread over three valleys along the border with Afghanistan. For centuries they practised polytheism and animal sacrifice without interference from members of Pakistan's Muslim majority. But now they are under increasing danger from proselytising Muslim militants just across the border, and a hardline interpretation of Islam creeping through mainstream society — as Pook Shireen discovered. After falling unconscious during a car accident, the mid-20s member of the paramilitary Chitral Scouts woke to find that people with him had converted him to Islam. "Some of the Muslim people here try to influence the Kalash or encourage them by reading certain verses to them from the Quran," said his mother, Shingerai Bibi. "The men that were with him read verses of the Quran and then when he woke up they said to him, 'You are a convert now to Islam'. So he converted." The conversion was a shock for his family. But they were lucky compared with other religious minorities under threat from growing religious conservatism that is destabilising Pakistan, a nuclear-armed US ally. In May 2010, more than 80 Ahmadis, a minority who consider themselves Muslims but are regarded by Pakistan as non-Muslim, were killed in attacks on two mosques in Lahore. Then in March this year, the Christian minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, whose job it was to protect groups such as the Kalash, was assassinated outside his home in the capital, Islamabad, in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. Religious tensions The lush green Kalash valleys, which sit below snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush, have been a magnet for tourists, both for the scenery and for the people, who are indigenous to the area. Most are fair and with light eyes, which they say prove their descent from the army of Alexander of Macedonia that passed through the area in the 4th century BC to invade India. The community brews its own wine and women are not veiled. But the co-existence between the Kalash and Muslims has been fading in recent months and the area is suffering from many of the religious tensions marring the rest of Pakistan. The conversions are causing splits among the Kalash — converts become outcasts overnight, described by many as "dead to their families". "When a Kalash converts we don't live with them in our houses anymore," said farmer Asil Khan, sitting on a neighbour's balcony. "Our festivals and our culture are different. They can't take part in the festivals or the way we live." Some in the area are so concerned that they believe segregation is the only way to protect the Kalash. "We should move the Muslims out of the valley to make more room for the Kalash," said Shohor Gul, a Kalash member of the border police who lives in Rumbur valley. "This area should be just for us. We dislike these conversions — it disturbs our culture and our festivals, and it reduces our numbers." The subject of Kalash festivals is raised often in these narrow valleys, where carefully cultivated corn crops cover what flat land exists, and the Kalash community's distinctive wooden houses terrace the valley walls.  Culture clash with encroachment of hardline Islam. Converts to Islam say, though, that these rituals quicken the decision to leave the Kalash. "The main thing wrong in the Kalash culture are these festivals," said 29-year-old convert Rehmat Zar. "When someone dies the body is kept in that house for three days." Muslims usually bury people the day they die. Zar added of the Kalash: "They slaughter up to a hundred goats and the family are mourning — but those around them are celebrating, beating drums, drinking wine and dancing. Why are they celebrating this? That's wrong." Not all Muslims Not all of the area's Muslims feel this way. Qari Barhatullah is the imam at the Jami Masjid in Bumboret valley's Shikanandeh village. He stresses that many of the valley's Muslims value the Kalash's contributions to the area's tourism industry and contends that Kalash festivals run parallel to their own. He admits though that there is tension between the two communities. Unveiled Kalash girls in colourful homemade skirts and head-dresses grow up alongside Muslim women covered by the all-enveloping burqas. The Kalash girls are also free to marry who they choose, in a country where arranged marriages are common. "We do support the Kalash — Islam teaches us respect for other religions — but there are people here, maybe they are not as educated — who don't like the Kalash because of their religion," Barhatullah said. Akram Hussain oversees the Kalasha Dur, a cultural centre devoted to promoting and protecting the Kalash culture, a stunning structure of elegantly crafted carved wooden beams and stone where Kalash children are educated. It also houses a library, clinic and museum, which are open to both the Kalash and Muslim communities. "Some of the Muslims here don't want to educate the Kalash people. They don't want us to have an education," he said. Without more schools that cater exclusively to the Kalash, though, Hussain worries his community and culture will disappear. "There are few Kalash teachers and there aren't schools for older children, so they go to the secondary schools and learn about Islam. The Muslim teachers are brainwashing them. They tell the children that Islam is the only right way and that we are going to hell," he said. A provincial spokesman said the regional government is funding development projects for the Kalash and that Pakistan was committed to protecting their unique heritage. "We have set aside 15 million rupees (RM534,000) over three years for projects such as improving roads, water supply systems and community centres," said Ahmad Hassan. "Whatever the Kalash say they need." Others in the Kalash valleys though say development should cease and insist the adoption of Islam should continue, despite the impact on the Kalash culture. Rehmat Zar, the Kalash convert, says his eventual aim is to convert his entire community to Islam. "I'm trying my best to convert many of the Kalash myself. I'm trying to convert as many as I can," he said. "The people who are trying to preserve the Kalash culture are doing wrong. They are committing a mistake. The Kalash should convert to Islam because this is the real, and last, religion". — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Football played 300 years earlier than thought Posted: 19 Oct 2011 09:46 PM PDT  New evidence indicates an organised form of the game was being played by royalty from as early as the 15th century. — AFP/Relaxnews pic While the first international football match took place between England and Scotland in 1872, new evidence indicates an organised form of the game was being played by royalty from as early as the 15th century. Players used a leather-bound pig's bladder as the ball and were only allowed to use their feet in the sport. Richard McBrearty, curator at the Scottish Football Museum in Glasgow, has also uncovered a manuscript of accounts from King James IV of Scotland indicating he paid two shillings for a bag of "fut ballis" in 1497. "Football was more of an evolution than a 19th-century revolution," said McBrearty, who made his discovery as he re-catalogued old documents held at the National Library of Scotland, told the Times. One record reports a match involving 20 players taking place in front of on Elizabeth I in 1569 in which players kicked a ball around a 50-metre pitch where trees were used as goalposts. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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