Pakistan
[Pictory] Who will save the "Gulmit Old House"?
- Cracks have appeared on walls of the historic “Gulmit Old House”, believed to be over 350 years old. The traditional house stands as a symbol of the ancient Wakhi culture, attracting hundreds of national and foreign tourists every year. Due to lack of care the local people have expressed fear that the cracks might widen with time, leading to collapse of the historical building. Reported by: Asghar Khan
em not sure it is my assumption that this is not a house e i used to be a Mosque. u guys better know.
What is AKCSP doing.They should restore this cultural heritage
Why is AKCSP only interested in Lahore and Baltistan?
@Hafiz shah ali:I am sure we all know that AKCSP is not the state to carryout every project in the length and breadth of the country !If I recall,AKCSP has executed a similar project in Gulkin.As far as your later query is concern,AKCSP has for the last two decades continuously worked in Hunza.Projects in Baltistan and Lahore have wider economic and social implications and these projects are inline with His Highness vision to use culture as a development tool.And offcourse, these projects in Baltistan and lahore are started with His consent.However it is important to mention here that communities themselves can save such structure by enhancing its importance and I am sure they can easily do so.It is painfully true that in a prevailing situation where,its very hard to fulfill basic necessities, culture and heritage became a secondary thing and this could be overcome by initiatives by the communities themselves.
Dear Asghar,
The “Old House” is a private property of my family and your family. As per our culture and tradition, such activities are carried out (in consultation with all concerned in the family) within the family through collective work called, “KRYAR” and selection of the right artisan to restore it. Let’s arrange for it after consulting all and with the consent of all in the family.
Our family has already discussed about its renovation and careful restoration prior to your advertisement here. It’s not just rebuilding but restoring it exactly on the same pattern it was built.
AKCSP is in the loop but the family (including yourself) shall see if it can afford to renovate it at its own or with the help of our claun and neighbourers in Gulmit and if any technical assistance was required, we shall let AKCSP know. I and you can only suggest to our elders and other family members on this, the decision would be theirs’ according to our CULTURE and TRADITION of respect and honour to elders.
I HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT YOUR PRIVATE HOUSE but since you have touched this topic on the net here, I can only suggest you in response to your efforts and promotion work, to kindly promote building houses for those who have lost their houses in the recent disaster and others on the same pattern provided that they can afford it. Our assistance should go to those who are really suffering due to the disaster, we need to ask ourselves how much we have contributed towards their restoration so far. If the owner of the old house i.e. my grandfather had the capacity to build such a cultural house, I hope his grandsons have the capacity to restore it as well but right now, we all are worried about the damages caused to our lovely Gulmit, Shishkat, Attabad, Salmanabad, Chaman and Ayeenabad and worried about the houses that got submerged into the lake.
We shouldn’t be discussing personal properties here on the net. We should leave it upon our family to first decide and then fix it or they will consult Cultural Heritages like AKCSP or UNESCO if at all required though this is not a public property.
Best regards,
Mehmood Hunzai
I agree with Mr. Wajahat and like to add that, The Balti people have learnt lessons from the restoration projects of AKCSP and they have restored a number of building by themselves. We need to discuss this within our community and must request AKCSP for technical help, if financial support is not possible, instead of saying what the AKCSP is doing?