High in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains, scattered villages hold one of the world’s most imperiled religious minorities, the Kalash. Daud Khattak, a correspondent with RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, visited one Kalash village to witness some of their unique traditions, in life and death, and the scale of threats they face.
With The 'Fairy People' Of Pakistan
The road to the Kalash villages winds through a mountain range known as the “Hindu Killer,” where snow leopards can occasionally be glimpsed, and radical Islam poses a lurking threat to tourists and locals alike.
The Kalash are a fair-skinned, bright-eyed ethnic minority, with some of them claiming to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s invading warriors. (Photo by Tariq Sulemani, Creative Commons).
Kalash friends chatting inside a village. The Kalash religion is a complex mix of ancient customs, and includes a belief in fairies who flit through the high mountain peaks before settling onto the alpine meadows in autumn.
While Kalash men dress in a style almost indistinguishable from Muslims of the region, the clothes of the women and girls jingle with shells and gems that they weave into their clothing.
A woman selling Kalash clothing. After slowly declining in numbers, recent years have shown a slight increase in the population of the Kalash to around 4,000, but their culture faces pressure from many fronts.
Kalash schoolkids cluster in front of the camera. The Kalash are part of a wider ethnic group that once stretched into neighboring Afghanistan.
Kalash houses near the frontier with Afghanistan. Across the border, the related Nuristani minority were converted to Islam in the 19th century. (Photo by Shutterstock).
Kalash schoolgirls during morning assembly. Kalash children learn in mixed schools alongside the Muslim children of the surrounding villages. RFE/RL’s Khattak said he watched Kalash children being taught Islamic scripture during lessons. There are currently no separate schools for Kalash children.
A satellite dish on a Kalash home. One local complained to Khattak about the lure of television, saying that during festivals many young Kalash stay at home, huddled around their TVs.
A lightbulb in a Kalash village installed with the help of an NGO working in the region. Khattak said that although there is poverty among the Kalash, “the people have very limited needs, they are not using cars, the food is eggs and milk etc., so they are pretty OK.”
Abandoned graves in a Kalash village. Khattak said the bodies of dead Kalash used to be placed inside these boxes and left in the open, still dressed in their valuable finery. But nighttime thieving raids forced the Kalash to devise a unique new form of burial.
Most Kalash are now buried beneath their upturned bed after their valuable possessions are burned.
Many Kalash villages have a shack known as a Bashalini (pictured) where menstruating women are banished until the end of their period. The building is also where women go to give birth.
Local Muslim men inside a teahouse near the Kalash villages. Khattak said the future appears shaky for Kalash culture, particularly with the issue of Islamic schooling, and terrorism.
A little Kalash girl peers out of her house. In 2013, the Pakistani Taliban vowed the Kalash would be “eliminated, along with their protectors, the Western agents, if they do not embrace Islam." (Photo by Shutterstock).