[Opinion] SAVE HUNZA
Farhat Baig
The brutal killings of Sherullah Baig and his son by men in uniform at Aliabad Hunza few days ago shocked the Hunzukuz worldwide. The bullets were fired on those who have already been suffering since the day the land sliding in Atta abad occurred. These two innocent souls among others were living in temporary shelters and tents feeding themselves and their families, the food provided by NGOs and the Government of China.
The GB and Islamabad government failed to fulfill the promises they made earlier and were unable to accommodate them with a decent living. The lack of coordination between the representatives of the government and the IDPs created confusions among the IDPs that forced them to come out from their temporary shelters and tents and speak about their legal and moral right and demand for their promised rights. If the local Govt had fulfilled its promises well in time then this bloodshed could never happened but unfortunately the misjudgment and unawareness of law by the law enforcing agency resulted chaos and hatred in the whole region. I hope the culprits will be brought to justice in due course as promised by the speaker GB assembly and ministers while addressing the funeral gathering in Hunza and the victims of police terrorism will be compensated as well as the other IDPs will be paid the compensations announced earlier by the government.
In a broader context being 95% literate Hunzukuz we should not believe in conspiracy theories engineered by some individuals or groups claiming that the local or foreign agencies are involved in this sad incident. In my opinion it happened suddenly by the blunder of the local policemen, who failed to realize the consequences and ordered at the spot to open fire without any prior planning or orders to fire on the public gathering. Linking this incident to national or international agencies may backfire on the interests and integrity of the area and its peace loving reputation. We should not send wrong signals to our beloved friends in the East across the border that Hunzukuz can easily be trapped by agencies or foreign agents which may severely damage the trust and faith that has been built in centuries between China and Hunza.
China has high stakes in the region linked to upcoming mega projects in the shape of railway track and pipeline from which we the locals can benefit and improve our standards of livings. But if we spread the rumors of foreign involvement specially west in local matters then definitely one day they may involve forcefully and convert the paradise into tora bora as they did in other regions of the globe. We should not dominate our emotions on our wisdom. No doubt the emotions and anger forced the youth to damage and burn public property like DC, AC and Magistrate offices in Ali abad and Gulmit and rest house in Karimabad which were built on public money and will be built again on local funds which would otherwise be utilized on the construction of schools, colleges and hospitals in the area. According to local News report the Ali abad police station will be built again at a cost of some Rs 6.5 million and I guess total damage would cost at least 50 million which would be paid from the Hunza –Nagar district funds. By burning these administrative building we made the grounds clear and the case strong to move the headquarters to Nagar.
The youth should gather their energy in building visionary leadership and learn lessons from such terrible incidents where they can play better role and be role models for other areas. We the youth of Hunza are severely disperced and only get together when such incidents happen while we should be united under one umbrella either on political or social grounds.
Our youth and elders demonstrated peacefully in front of parliament house in Islamabad with placards and banners and recorded their anger and demanded for swift justice. Our youth in Karachi protested against the brutal killings and demanded for justice without damage and destruction to any public property which is the democratic way of expression and we should adopt the same in future.
We should follow the preaching of our Imam who advised us to be loyal to the country and the government of the time. We may have different ideologies and affiliations to different parties other than the party in government but that does not mean to damage the country for the sake of opposition.
Very Well Thought Kako!! I very much agree with the point of not Pushing the Rumors..
May be the act was a mistake or may be it was a planned attack, but the point is to stand strong against it.
Thnx Aslam for ur comments and agreed with the point to stand united strong…
Farhat
Good work Kako Farhato
Thnx Dear Dado Trangfa
Well, in our entire life, we have never thought that people would killed in Hunza, a place which was once famous for its beauty, peace,and absence of terrorism. Indeed, in the history of Hunza,it has never happened before rather than today. I think Hunza is no more famous because day by day, people create new problem instead of finding any proper solution for issues that has been arised since last year. People are killed if they raise their voice against their rights. We are really shocked when we heard this mysterious news. We feel sorry for both father and his son who were killed eventhough they hadn’t had any mistake. In fact, they are dead now, but its really hard for us and their relatives to endure their pain. We really feel sorry because those bullets also passed through me being Ismaili…
Aaliya
Such incidents bring the nations together and make them stronger.
Thank you Farhat for enlightening us with this impressive piece of writing and positive prognosis.
I completely agree with you that we should not be living on, and planning based on rumors and conspiracy theories.
As you mentioned stakes are high when it comes to China and Chinese investments, and you rightly mentioned the issue of placing the headquarter of this new H/N district. This would require forward-and backward thinking and analysis of the stakeholders, as to who are the victims and beneficiaries of such new dispensations, who is going to lose and gain from such a situation in Hunza, and how can we create a win-win situation for all.
Conspiracy theory or no theory at all, a thorough analysis of the situation is required to protect the interests of the people, and obviously it is the responsibility of all the parties in Hunza, but more so, you are right we should support and also expect good things from the popularly elected government in GB and the ruling party to deliver on their promises and most importantly protect the life, honour and property of the people it rules, as this is their mandate and primary responsibility.
Amin Bhai
Ur in depth analysis of the region always impress me and i followed ur footsteps to write and express my feelings on this sad and terrible incident.
I appreciate ur suggestion to debate these issues from a plate form like a MARAKA as u suggested in ur previous article and bring forward the present and future regional issues and build a case towards win-win situation for all as u said.
Appreciate ur comments.
Farhat
There are so many ways through which we can protect hunza from further disasters that are unity, dignity, and faith. If we adopt these, then we And Hunza will not suffer anymore…
@ Farhat. “we did protest peacfully in front of the pariliment and elsewhere in the country without demaging any public property……” but how about those IDP, were they not protesting peacefully for their rights and were sprayed with bullets and killed, was that not a democratic way of expression. here is something we need to understand. Depriviation and pressing them down more and more using various means of power for the last one year is too much. we talk about demorctatic way of expression in pakistan just look around yourself what we are witnessing is that everyone is exercising power and trying to victimize in the country. if you look in this decade how our country is being ruled, only through militry operatian, terrorism and exercise of power, this is what Goverment have set the tradition and we are being ruled like that.
of course we are peace loving people. our tradition, our moral values, ethics and above all our faith teach us to be tolerent and peace lover.
you are right we should not belive in conspiricies but we need to be remain cautious and alarmed what else is happinig around us. there are some reasons and points on which our institutions, our youth and eldors need to think about and understand it and should have a common guidelines to follow. we are moving through a transition of politically unstable state and government system, where individuals have their own interests rather the mutual.
you are right our youth is well educated but how they can adjust themselves in the current government structure, how they can get benifit of it.
and yes we should remain loyal to the country as we are guided to do it. but if someone has any opposition with the governent system they should do it politically.
Khan
Excellent analysis and ur concenrs are very much valid as well.
kako Amin Beg proposed in his article published recently in PAMIRTIMES to debate the current and future burning issues on a platform he named it as MARAKA where youth, elders, nationalists and civil society can debate and put forward the solutions. We all should appreciate and participate in such debate.
@ All,
Seems the act was a mistake, we know our forces “Police” they are not well trained. whatever has happened is really very wrong and bulshit, but now we need to look forward, and solve the issue within our institutions. We should be united, we shouldn’t damage any public property, we should think twice before damaging any public property, these properties are our own even if they are Govt properties they will be rebuilt on local funds, which would otherwise utilized on education.
We need to remain alarmed by external forces, people around us will laugh at us, we will have to learn from such incidents, we have to make our walls strong , don’t let external forces to come over.
We have complete guidance, we need to follow the guidance of Imam.
Let’s make our home safe, resolve our issues privately without making them public .
Salman Aziz
Thnx Salman for ur comments. agreed that
We have complete guidance, we need to follow the guidance of Imam.
Let’s make our home safe, resolve our issues privately without making them public .
Farhat…..v well Explained the truth…i do agree with u bro…
I think this insurgency occurred due to dirty politics. The intervention of politics just isolate the united and well-disciplined nations. So we should stay away from it. Because there is internal lobby which is trying to bring anarchy in the Hunza-Nagar region in the name ethnicity.
damaging our own assets is nothing but just a stupid and foolish way of expressing frustration and protest. this doesnt represent us as being literate hunzukuch.we need to exercise dialogue with tolerance to come to a solution. burning buildings, vehicles and tyres is not only an act of ruining our own assets but also polluting our hunzo. we hunzukuch need to be mature enough to safeguard our interests.this is not the time just to say this z right that is wrong.we need to act wisely and b patriot to our homeland.how lucky we are that we are getting guidance from our beloved imam but dont bother to follow the true guidance. i agree with ur words sir. great job