19th March, 2012 CHITRAL, March 18: The centuries-old conservation system practiced in Chitral for the sustainable

use of pastures is no more in vogue causing imbalance in the ecosystem.Talking to Dawn here, a number of conservation activists said that there were well defined and strict rules and customs regarding the utilisation of pastures and all the flora and fauna present in every village but now it is story of the past. Dr Inayatullah Faizi, a former project manager of IUCN, said that the people in every village used to manage their local resources in a sustainable manner giving equal opportunities to all. He said the villagers used to impose ban on grazing on certain pastures for an extended period of three to five years which provided it with an ample time for recuperation. Mr Faizi said that the hunting of birds and animals in the banned pastures and the forests surrounding it was also prohibited during the period. He said that no person dared violate the sanction and poaching was never heard of in any village as there were strong social sanctions against the violators in the form of social boycott, censure and fine. The cutting of trees and shrubs was also banned in the banned pastures and one was allowed to harvest dried trees from the forest and pastures declared free, he maintained. Hazrat Baig, a senior citizen of Torkhow valley, recalled that the villagers fined the violators by slaughtering his cow, bull or sheep and goat and distributed its meat among the villagers. He said the poaching of markhor and ibex was also discouraged by the community and the hunters were allowed only a certain number of hunting in a season. Once a hunter was banished from the village when he was found shooting a markhor during the breeding season, he said. Recalling the days of 1940s, he said the hunting of partridge and other birds in the pastures was also regulated by the community. Sardar Hussain, chairman of Biyar Conservancy, said over the last two decades, the old system of conservation had become obsolete inflicting loss on the eco-system beyond redemption. He attributed a number of reasons to the debacle of local conservation system which included the population growth, migration of influential people from the villages to the cities, evaporating cohesive force between different segments of the society and disunity among the people. (itrl), river valley in the upper Indus system.

CHITRAL (itrl), river valley in the upper Indus system.

i. Geography. ii. Languages.

i. Geography The Chitral river drains the eastern Hindu Kush in the north and a spur of the Hindu Raj on the south and east. With its deeply incised bed and braided stream channels it constitutes the upper tract of the Kunar (Konar), which debouches into the Kabul river, a tributary of the Indus, just below Jallbd in Afghanistan. The Chitral valley, 300 km long and at its widest no more than 100 km, is one of the more remote valleys of Kohestan (Khestn), a broad strip of territory extending from near Kabul to the plain of Kashmir (see Figure 37). It now constitutes an administrative district (14,850 km2) of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan; it comprises six minor civil divisions (tals), delineated according to tributary valleys: Chitral, Drosh (Drot), Lutkho (Lokuh), Mulkho (Moikho), Turkho (Torikho), and Mastuj (Mastj). The Chitral valley, which is bounded by mountain ranges in which many peaks reach 5,0006,000 m, can be entered only by following the riverbanks upstream or by crossing several high passes. The latter include the Dorah (Drh) from Badan in Afghanistan, the Baroghil (Barl) from the Wn corridor, the Darkot (Darkt) from Yasin (Ysn) and the Shandur (andr; 3,720 m) from Gilgit in Pakistani-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, and the Lowarai (Lowar, 3,118 m), from the neighboring administrative district of Dir (Dr) on the south, all at elevations above 3,000 m. The location of Chitral at the point where Central Asia, Inner Asia, and South Asia meet is reflected in its heterogeneous population. A dozen languages are spoken, reflecting both ancient indigenous elements and later arrivals (see ii, below). A dynasty claiming descent from the Mughal emperor Bbor (932-37/1526-30) ruled there until 1974, when the principality was eliminated by the Pakistani government. Natural environment. Chitral lies along the western edge of the Kohestan geological island, between the Gondwana and Eurasian tectonic plates. Seismic disturbances are frequent, bringing severe destruction and loss of life. Most precipitation falls as snow in the high mountains and is sequestered in glaciers and snowfields, which cover almost the entire northern boundary of the valley, defined by the mountains and high passes along the crest of the Hindu Kush from Tirich Mir (7,706 m), the highest mountain in Chitral, to the Baroghil pass (3,804 m), a total of 10 percent of the territory of Chitral district. The Chiantar glacier at the head of the Yarkhun (Yarn) river is the longest (32 km) in the district; twenty-one others exceed 10 km in length. In these subtropical latitudes strong solar radiation at the highest altitudes creates large areas of jagged firn, known in German as Bsserschnee (lit. penitential snow, referring to the resemblance of the refrozen snow to the conical hoods of penitents). The valley itself is semiarid. Monsoon winds sometimes blow in southern Chitral, but resulting rainfall is negligible; summer rain comes from occasional westerly cyclonic storms and convectional clouds. The primary source of water for irrigation, however, is meltwater from the mountains, especially in the Yarkhun and tributary Turkho river basins. Annual-precipitation records at Drosh (608 mm) and Chitral (448 mm) in the arid lower valley are misleading, as they do not include the water derived from snowfall in the mountains. Recent estimates for the adjacent Karakoram range

suggest that meltwater amounting to 30 dm a year is accumulated in mountains above 6,000 m. The Chitral river reaches its peak flow of 26:1 in July and its lowest point in winter, reflecting seasonal snowmelt. Flowing glaciers generate much rock flour, and the meltwater that pours into the upper Chitral contains a concomitant heavy load of suspended sediment. For irrigation purposes, the river water must be held in tanks, where the sediment settles. Owing to both complex topography and resulting varied exposure, the vegetation pattern of Chitral is also complex. Below the snowline, which lies at about 5,200 m, there are two distinct tree lines; the higher, at 3,400 m, marks the elevation above which constant freezing prevents the growth of trees; the lower, at 1,800 m, is the elevation below which the valley is too arid for large stands of trees. Above the confluence of the Turkho and Yarkhun rivers artemisia steppe prevails, with occasional juniper, though artemisia shrubs are found throughout the vegetation cline. The villagers also grow fodder trees like willow, poplar, and Russian olive, and tamarisk is often found along watercourses. Most of the forests or forest remnants are found in the betterwatered valleys converging on the lower course of the Chitral river. In southern Chitral tree species range from degraded holly-oak forest, often used for fodder, at the lowest elevations; through neozas (Pinus gerardiana),which yield pine nuts for human consumption, deodar cedars (Cedrus deodara) and blue pine (Pinus excelsa); to fir, spruce, and birch. Fruit and nut trees are grown throughout southern Chitral up to 2,800 m, depending upon the exposure. They provide an important component of the local diet, and some, like mulberry and walnut, are vital to human survival during the season of low water. Plant growth is sometimes impeded by strong anabatic winds that in summer blow daily in the lower reaches of the valley close to the Jallbd plain. Only intensive labor can render the local soils suitable for cultivation. Wildlife is still found throughout the valley, though much depleted by human depredation. Chitral is the last refuge of the mountain goat markhor (Capra falconieri); Chitral Gol, the hunting preserve of the former ruler of Chitral, has been converted into a wildlife preserve, where considerable numbers of markhor, Siberian ibex, and the even rarer snow leopard (Felis uncia) survive. Urial and Marco Polo sheep (Ovis vignei and Ovis poli respectively) are no longer found in upper Chitral, though brown bears are still occasionally sighted there. Black bears are known in a few places in the southern valley. Such large and distinctive forest birds as Lady Impeys pheasant inhabit the drier northern reaches of the valley. History. In antiquity there was considerable traffic from Badan through the Dorah pass, across southern Chitral, and through the Lowarai pass to the ancient Buddhist monasteries in Swat. Although little is known of the medieval history of the area, in the 4th/10th century it was subject to the king of Kabul. In the 10th/16th century Chitral became a princely state under the rule of a dynasty of mehtars (lit. elders). Slave trading was the principal source of income for these Kushwaqt rulers of Chitral and neighboring Gizar and Yasin; slaves were supplied particularly to Badan and southern Kashmir. From early in the 13th/19th century and the beginning of the Great Gamethe geopolitical rivalry between the Russians and the British in Central and Inner AsiaChitral was a focal point for Indian imperial attention. Large topographic surveys of the British Indian frontier indicated that no tsarist army could successfully penetrate through the Hindu Kush to the Indus plains with field guns. In 1297/1880, at the conference of Zemma (near Kabul), the British installed Abd-al-Ramn Khan as the first amir (r. 1297-1319/1880-1901) of the modern state of Afghanistan. His active policy of

converting the indigenous population of the central Hindu Kush, that is, Kafiristan (now Nrestn/Nuristan), to Islam brought a virtual halt to traffic up the Konar river. In 1889 Chitral came under the control of Indian imperial forces supplied from Malakand (Malkand) south of the Lowarai pass. Their hegemony was ensured by the establishment of the boundary with Afghanistan (the Durand Line) in 1311-12/1893 (See boundaries iii. boundaries of afghanistan). Roads and mule tracks were constructed by the British both before and after the final demarcation of the border by the Pamir boundary commission in 1895. In the same year two local princes laid siege to the British garrison in the fort at Chitral, which was relieved by imperial troops who crossed the Shandur pass from Gilgit. After the partition of India in 1948 the mehtars continued to rule nominally, under Pakistani control. Since 1974 Chitral has been administered directly by the Pakistani government from the provincial capital at Peshawar. Today access to Chitral district is by gravel road through the Lowarai pass, which is, however, closed by winter snows. A track for vehicles with four-wheel drive links Mastuj district with Gilgit through the Shandur pass. Daily air service is also available between Peshawar and the town of Chitral. Although urban development in the valley is negligible, there are small bzrs in Drosh, Ayun, and Chitral, where the old British fort and cantonment still stand. Population and cultural geography (see Table 40). The present population of Chitral belongs to four language groups (see ii, below). The most ancient stratum, in the southern part of the valley, includes the four Dardic, or, rather, Kohestani, languages. In the early 13th/19th century Sunni clerics began to penetrate Chitral from the south, through the Lowarai pass, and Sunni Muslims still predominate in the population of the southern valley. Ismaili Shiites from Badan were active among the predominantly Buddhist and pagan population in the early Islamic period. Today Ismaili villages are found exclusively in the Turkho and Yarkhun valleys extending down to central Chitral. The inhabitants speak Wakhi, a Persian language related to that of the Tajiks in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic and in the Sarikol area of Tajik Autonomous County of Sinkiang (Xin jiang) Uighur Autonomous Region in the Peoples Republic of China. A similar population inhabits Gujal tal in northern Gilgit. A group of transhumant Gujars occupies the southern mountain slopes. Finally, since the beginning of civil war in neighboring Afghanistan in 1357 ./1978 substantial numbers of refugee Tajiks, Nuristanis, and Pashtuns, including Shiites, have settled in semipermanent camps in Chitral and the neighboring Lutkho and Drosh districts. There are also a few non-Muslims in Chitral, including especially the Kalash Kafirs, numbering only about 3,000; they live in the Berer, Bomboret, and Rumbur valleys along the right bank of the Chitral river contiguous with the Afghanistan border. They are polytheistic and constitute the last remnant of the religious and social group that predominated from Kohestan to Kabul before the coming of Islam. In 1314/1896, under the aegis of Abd-al-Ramn Khan, the Kafirs in the Afghan tributary valleys of the Konarthe Bashgul (Ba Gol), P, Waigul (Wgol), Parun (Prn), and Kantiwo (Kntiw)were forcibly converted to Islam. Missionaries from Deoband (q.v.) in Uttar Pradesh, India, are now actively proselytizing among those who remain in Chitral. Economic life. Agriculture and pastoralism are the principal means of livelihood in Chitral valley. The location of almost all settlement is determined by access to reliable sources of water, either natural streams or artificial leats; in fact, the settlement boundaries are defined and

circumscribed by irrigation works. Agricultural villages are usually located near points of water distribution at the apexes of alluvial fans. When the exposure is favorable double cropping is possible up to 2,200 m. Harvesting of early crops is usually concluded in early May in the southern Chitral valley, which permits sowing and harvesting of another crop before the winter cold. Traditional field crops included rice, wheat, sweet and bitter buckwheat, millet, and broad beans. By 1990, however, much of the land in the south had been shifted to cultivation of corn and in the north, at elevations above the rice-growing area, potatoes. Potato production increased ninefold in the 1980s, as the crop can often be cultivated up to 3,200 m. Rural incomes are further enhanced by opium production and manufacture of hashish from cannabis plants (see bang). Animal husbandry follows the Almwirtschaft (family economy) model, with livestock being moved vertically from permanent quarters to traditional alpine pastures by members of the family. There is no nomadism in Chitral, but in the lower reaches of the valley transhumant Gujars lease pastures from the inhabitants. Goats are most popular, for they provide hides, hair, meat, milk, and especially dung (q.v.). According to ancient mountain custom, only men milk goats, for the goat and its wild relative the ibex are subject to religious taboos that are known throughout the Eurasian mountains. Homespun clothing is produced from sheeps wool. Yaks are found in the upper Yarkhun valley, where they are used as pack animals and for meat. Wild animals once provided a convenient source of meat, but hunting has been curtailed by conservation authorities. In the remote valleys tourism, trekking, and climbing provide additional sources of income for villagers, who act as porters and guides. Ancillary benefits have included information on geology, snow, and ice hydrology. Further extension of tourism is limited by poor transportation networks and facilities and the absence of accommodations.

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S. Nasr-ul-Mulk, The Ismailis or Maulais of the Hindukusch, Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 22, 1935, pp. 641-45. J. F. S. Ottley, A Journey in Western Chitral, Himalayan Journal 8, 1936, pp. 44-52. A. R. Palwal, The Mother Goddess in Kafiristan, M.A. thesis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1972. Idem, The Harvesting Festivals of the Kalash in the Berer Valley, Beitrge zur Sdasienforschung 1, 1974, pp. 93-94. P. Parkes, Alliance and Elopement. Economy, Social Order and Sexual Antagonism among Kalash Kafir of Chitral, Ph.D. Diss., Oxford, 1983. H. W. Pearse, ed., Soldier and Traveller. The Memoirs of Alexander Gardiner, Colonel of Artillery in the Service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, London, 1898. R. H. Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, 1945-65, Dehra Dun, Ind. C. S. Porter, Quaternary Glacial Record in Swat Kohistan, West Pakistan, Geological Society of America Bulletin 81, 1970, pp. 1421-46. J. Pott, Houses in Chitral, Architectural Association Journal 80, 1965, pp. 246-48. C. J. Pudsey et al., Collision Zone between the Kohistan Arc and the Asian Plate in NW Pakistan, Transactions, Royal Society of Edinburgh. Earth Sciences 761, 1985, pp. 463-79. G. S. Robertson, Kafiristan, Geographical Journal 4, 1894, pp. 193-218. Idem, The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush, London, 1896. Idem, Chitral. The Story of a Minor Siege, London, 1898. Idem, Karifistan, Edinburgh, 1914. W. R. Robertson, Official Account of the Chitral Expedition, Calcutta, 1898. R. C. F. Schomberg, The Yarkhun Valley of Upper Chitral, Scottish Geographical Magazine 50, 1934, pp. 209-12. Idem, Between the Oxus and the Indus, London, 1935a. Idem, PassesNorthern Yasin, Alpine Journal 47, 1935b, pp. 316-22. Idem, Some Glaciers of Upper Chitral, Alpine Journal 47, 1935c, pp. 98-102. Idem, Mountains of North-Western Chitral, Alpine Journal 48, 1936, pp. 302-10.

Idem, Kafirs and Glaciers. Travels in Chitral, London, 1938. U. Schweinfurth, Die horizontale and vertikale Verbreitung der Vegetation im Himalaya, Bonner Geographische Abh. 20, 1957, pp. 1-375. R. Senarclens de Grancy and R. Kostka, eds., Grosser Pamir. sterreichisches Forschungsunternehmen 1975 in den Wakhan-Pamir/Afghanistan, Graz, 1975. M. I. Sheikh and S. M. Khan, Forestry and Range Management in Chitral District, Peshawar, 1983. E. Sherson, Townshend of Kut and Chitral, London, 1928. H. Siiger, Shamanism among the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral, Folk 5, 1963, pp. 295-303. P. Snoy, Last Pagans of the Hindu Kush, Natural History 68, 1959, pp. 520-29. Idem, Kalash-Nordwestpakistan (Chitral). Alumauftrieb mit Opfern, Gttingen, 1960. Idem, Die Kafiren. Formen der Wirtschaft and geistigen Kultur, Ph.D. Diss., Giessen, 1962. G. Stacul, Discovery of Protohistoric Cemeteries in the Chitral Valley (W. Pakistan), East and West, N.S. 19, 1969, pp. 92-99. J. Staley, Economy and Society in the High Mountains of Northern Pakistan, Modern Asian Studies 3, 1969, pp. 225-43. Idem, Words for My Brother. Travels between the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas, Karachi, 1982. M. A. Stein, On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks. A Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and North-western China, London, 1933. A. Swinton, The North-West Frontier, 1839-1947, London, 1967. P. M. Sykes, The Right Hon. Sir Mortimer Durand, London, 1905. R. A. K. Tahirkheli, Geology of the Himalaya, Karakorum and Hindukush in Pakistan, Geologic Bulletin (University of Peshawar), 1982. H. C. Thomson, The Chitral Campaign. A Narrative of Events in Chitral, Swat and Bajour, London, 1895. M. Voigt, Kafiristan. Versuch einer Landeskunde aufgrund einer Reise im Jahre 1928, Breslau, 1932.

A. S. Wazir, Notes on Kalash Folklore, Beitrge zur Sdasienforschung 1, 1974, pp. 69-80. Idem, The Roshte, a Tribe of Chitral, in P. Snoy, Ethnologie und Geschichte. Festschrift fr Karl Jettmar, Beitrge zur Sdasienforschung 86, Wiesbaden, 1983, pp. 639-48. P. C. Visser, Zwischen Karakorum and Hindukusch, Leipzig, 1928. H. H. Wilson, The Travels of William Moorcroft and George Trebeck, London, 1841. H. L. Wright, Forestry beyond the IndusThe Chitral Forests, Indian Forester 65/6, 1939. F. E. Younghusband, Chitral, Hunza and the Hindukush, Geographical Journal 5, 1895a, pp. 409-26. Idem, The Relief of Chitral, London, 1895b. Idem, The Heart of a Continent, London, 1896. Idem, Reports of a Mission to the Northern Frontier of Kashmir in 1889, Calcutta, 1890. Idem, Wonders of the Himalaya, London, 1924. (Nigel J. R. Allan)

ii. Languages The former principality of Chitral, especially the southern quarter of the country, is one of the most polyglot regions of the Hindu Kush. Eleven distinct languages are spoken there, some of them in multiple dialects. With the influx of refugees from many different linguistic areas of Afghanistan since 1359 ./1980 the situation has become even more complex. Only four languages have been in use in Chitral for more than a few generations, however: Khowar, Kalasha, Phala, and Gawar-Bati, all members of the northwestern Indo-Aryan (Dardic) group (see dardestn ii. languages). Present knowledge of the linguistic map is based mainly on field research conducted early in this century by Georg Morgenstierne (1932). Khowar. The most important of the Dardic languages spoken in Chitral is Khowar, often called Chitrali by outsiders (other names found in older sources include Amiya and Qqr); it is spoken without very pronounced dialect variation by more than 100,000 people (more than 90 percent of the population), including the former ruling family. Nevertheless, very little was known of this most archaic of all Dardic languages before Morgenstierne began his work in 1924 (Endresen and Kristiansen; Fussman, I, p. 23); most of the texts collected by him and D. L. R. Lorimer are still unpublished. On Kivi, a variety of Khowar spoken in Soviet Wakhan, see Buddruss (forthcoming). The earliest dictionary (OBrien) suffers from having been printed in a script that is insufficiently differentiated phonemically, a problem that also characterizes a more

recent effort (Sloan); both are thus of limited linguistic value. Since 1917 various attempts have been made to write and print Khowar in Arabic script with specially devised diacritics (Buddruss). Kalasha. Kalasha (Kalaa), which is historically closely connected with Khowar, is spoken by 3-4,000 people in the western tributary valleys (Rumbur, Bumburet, Birir, Jinjiret, Urtsun) along the lower Chitral river, with some differences between the dialects in the north and south. During field work conducted in 1929 Morgenstierne collected texts related to the pagan religion of the Kalasha speakers, which dates from pre-Islamic times; he published them, together with a few fragmentary earlier notes and all other available information about the language, in 1973. New materials, especially on syntax, have recently been assembled by Elena Bashir. Kalasha contains numerous loanwords from Khowar, which it also resembles in many points of syntax and general structure. Phala. Phala (Palla, Palola, angarik bt) is spoken by only 800-1,000 people in a few eastern tributary valleys of the lower Chitral river. Morgenstierne, who considered it an archaic offshoot of Shina (a language current in the Gilgit and upper Indus valleys), has provided (1941) the only description, based on work with informants from the villages of Ashret, Purigal, and Biri. Data collected by Richard Strand in 1985 are still unpublished. Gawar-Bati. Gawar-Bati (Naristi, Narsti) is spoken around Arandu (Haranu, Arnawai) in southern Chitral and in several villages on the Afghan side of the frontier; related dialects are also spoken in parts of the Pe valley in Afghanistan. The available information on this language is almost all to be found in a monograph by Morgenstierne (1950), in which a few earlier fragmentary accounts are included. Dameli. Dameli (Dma-ba) is spoken by perhaps seventy families in the isolated Damel (Dmen) valley on the left bank of the Chitral (or Konar) river (Morgenstierne, 1942). Its linguistic position is still doubtful. The vocabulary seems to contain a considerable number of words of a Kafiri (Nrestni) type mixed with Dardic features. Kati. Kati (Bashgali), a genuine Kafiri (Nrestni) language, has been spoken in the Kalash valleys of Chitral for only a few generations. Iranian languages. Four Iranian languages have also been introduced into the Chitral only in comparatively recent times: Wakhi (spoken in upper Yarkhun), Pashto, Madaglashti Persian (spoken in the Shishivalley; Lorimer, 1922), and Yidgha (spoken by about 300 families in several villages in upper Lutkuh). Yidgha is undoubtedly a dialect of Munji (Monjni), which is spoken in Afghanistan, but the date when this group immigrated from Monjn is uncertain (Gryunberg, 1972); the dialect includes a large number of loanwords from Khowar, however. The best description, with a report on the scanty earlier research, was published by Morgenstierne (1938). Gujari. Indian Gujari is spoken in pockets throughout much of the Dardic area, but next to nothing is known about the dialect affiliations of the Gujar shepherds of Chitral.

Official languages. In the former principality of Chitral Persian was the official and administrative language, and local historical works were written in it as well; Persian has now been replaced by Urdu as the official language.

Bibliography: E. Bashir, Topics in Kalasha Syntax. An Areal and Typological Perspective, Ph.D. diss., The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1988. G. Buddruss, Khowar-Texte in arabischer Schrift, Wiesbaden, 1982. Idem, Kommentar zu einem Kivi-Vokabular aus dem sowjetischen Pamir, Studia Iranica (forthcoming). R. T. Endresen and K. Kristiansen, Khowar Studies, in Monumentum Georg Morgenstierne I, Acta Iranica 21, Leiden, 1981. G. Fussman, Atlas linguistique des parlers dardes et kafirs, 2 vols., Paris, 1972. A. L. Gryunberg, Mundzhanski yazyk. Teksty, slovar, grammaticheski ocherk, Leningrad, 1972. D. L. R. Lorimer, The Phonology of the Bakhtiari, Badakhshani, and Madaglashti Dialects of Modern Persian, with Vocabularies, London, 1922. G. Morgenstierne, Report on a Linguistic Mission to North-Western India, Oslo, 1932. Idem, Yidgha-Munji, in Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages II: Iranian Pamir-Languages, Oslo, 1938, pp. 3-282; repr. Oslo, 1973. Idem, Notes on Phala, an Unknown Dardic Language of Chitral, Oslo, 1941. Idem, Notes on Dameli, a Kafir-Dardic Language of Chitral, NTS 12, 1942, pp. 115-98. Idem, Notes on Gawar-Bati, Oslo, 1950. Idem, Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages IV. The Kalasha Language. Texts and Translations, Vocabulary and Grammar, Oslo, 1973. Idem, Languages of Nuristan and Surrounding Region, in K. Jettmar and L. Edelberg, eds., Cultures of the Hindukusch, Wiesbaden, 1974, pp. 1-10. D. J. T. OBrien, ed., Grammar and Vocabulary of the Khowar Dialect, 2nd ed., Lahore, 1896.

M. I. Sloan, Khowar-English Dictionary, Peshawar, 1981. (Georg Buddruss) Figure 37. Map of Chitral. Table 40. Population of Chitral District Sources: Population Census of Pakistan 1961. Census Report of Tribal Areas, Karachi, 1964; A. Latif, 1972 District Census Report. Chitral, Karachi, 1976; A. H. Khan, 1981 District Census Report of Chitral, Islamabad, 1983. (Nigel J. R. Allan, Georg Buddruss) Originally Published: December 15, 1991 Last Updated: October 18, 2011 This article is available in print. Vol. V, Fasc. 5, pp. 487-494 BACK TO TOP

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Wild life in Chitral first Pakistani hunted Ibex at Arkari by G. H. Farooqui January 15, 2010

Hunting trophy by local person is a good practice. DFO wild life.

CHITRAL: Imtiaz Hussain Divisional Forest Officer Wild Life in an exclusive interview to APP told that hunting trophy of Ibex by local person is a good practice. He said that presently a local person belong to Royal Family Shahzada Sai Ali of Gahriat who paid rupees 50000 for hunting of a Ibex and get permit for

trophy hunting Ibex at Arkari valley where there Ibex and other wild life living in a good number he added. He successfully hunted an Ibex whose horn scored 50 inches and this is a record trophy hunting of Ibex in this valley. Shafiqullah Khan Forest Range Officer and local community also supported him. Prince Sail Ali is first Pakistani who get hunting trophy for hunting Ibex at Chitral. He said that there is great concession for local hunter and we want to encourage them because by this way we can easily stop illegal hunting of these precious wild lives. He said that we have Kashmir Mrkhor, Ibex and other wild life and birds. He said we earning million of fund for trophy hunting every year because usually foreigners hunters paying 80000 to 90000 US $ for a Markhor hunting and we distribute 80% of total amount among the local community through village conservation committee who protecting them and only 20% share goes to government exchequer through wild life department. He suggested local hunter to must get legal hunting trophy and exercise this practice, which is not only causing for their satisfaction and entertainment but also beneficial for wild life and this department. We are trying to increase number of hunting trophy to 6 permits a year because we have a number of Kashmir Markhor which attracting foreigners hunter and Ibex in different inhabitants he Imtiaz Hussain disclosed.

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SNOW LEOPARD SPOTTED IN CHITRAL

Link: http://hwww.chitraltimes.com/english12/newseng40.htm SNOW LEOPARD SPOTTED IN CHITRAL By Zahiruddin CHITRAL: Snow-leopard has been spotted in the forests near the villages of Bakamak and Shali from where it moved to the lower altitude of Toshi game reserve due to the accumulation of heavy snow in the highlands. The animal had disappeared from the area and had not been seen anywhere during the last two years and the people had concerns about its complete extinction, an official of wildlife department told Chitraltimes.com. ... The people flocked the place located on Garam Chashma Road along with their children on Wednesday and Thursday to watch the wild cat resting in the hill foot on the other side of the river which is situated at a distance of only twenty minutes drive from the city.

The official of wildlife department said that the animal descends to the lower areas in search of food when the forests and high mountains receive heavy snow and forces the small wild animals including markhor and ibex to the lower areas which are the cherished food of the leopard. The presence of the ferocious wild animal in the area has filled the people of the villages flanking the forests with fear restricting their movement after sunset as it moves to the human settlement in the darkness of night and attacks the domestic livestock. Ejaz Ahmed, a biodiversity specialist, said that the animal has a wide home range which extends to the Nooristan area of Afghanistan along the Hindu Kush range of mountains. He said that the animal had not been spotted in Chitral during the lat two years and it is believed that its natural habitat had been disturbed on our side in the form of overgrazing and other human activities. The animal had once been declared one of the endangered species in the recent past but now the population density has been brought to a safe level which is at 30 to 35 as per estimates of International Snow leopard Trust. Enumerating the reasons of the extending disappearance of the animal from the area, Mr. Ejaz described grazing in the alpine rangeland, human conflicts, climatic change and less snowfall. Mr. Ejaz said that WWF has launched snow leopard project in some villages in Chitral with community based activities which are helpful to create congenial environment and habita for the wild cat. Some elders of Shali and Seen villages recalled that the animal used to attack the human settlements of the villages in the winter season when the area received snow in large scale. One Dinar Shah, in his eighties, Seen village said that the villages used to be guarded by its residents in the night against the animal but now there is no such danger as the village is illuminated by electric bulbs. He said that the animal attacks the men very in very rare cases and it targets only livestock specially goats. He said that the former rulers of Chitral had imposed ban on killing the animal and they only warded it off when attacked their livestock. Some circles feared that the animal is being poached in the area for want of its skin which is in high demand in the national and international market but so far no such case has ever been reported.

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Chitral sees drastic drop in migratory birds

Zahiruddin | Peshawar | From the Newspaper 5th March, 2012

CHITRAL, March 4: The current hunting season of Siberian ducks proved to be a wildgoose chase for the hunters, as negligible number of migratory birds came to Chitral this season compared to past. Talking to this correspondent here, several hunters said that they had not seen such a dull hunting season before, as in most of the outings they did not even shoot a single shot. The hunting season of ducks, quite popular among the locals, starts in February and continue for two months. A number of people have developed a craze for the hunting and spend big money on making artificial ponds and lakes along the river. Akhtar Ali of Torkhow valley said that on average he used to hunt two ducks in the previous seasons, but this year he like most of other hunters in the area was yet to hunt a bird though he had raised an artificial lake and had also reared a pair of hounds. He said that the valley was the starting point of Indus flyway of migratory birds and known for abundance of the migratory ducks due to its proximity to the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan. Mr Ali said that the poaching of ducks in the past remained unchecked and the hunters from other parts of the district also used to throng the area in the season. He said that this could be the reason for dull hunting season. Another hunter from Mastuj, Sher Dulla Khan said that waiting from dawn to dusk in the kiosk along his lake had been fruitless for him this season so far. I have not heard the echo of a single gunshot in other lakes and ponds during this season in the river bed while in the past sounds of firing in all the surrounding area used to be a routine after the dawn, he said. As per data available with World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), about 1.2 million migratory birds used the Indus flyway passing through Chitral and a large chunk of this descended in the valley during the course of long flight.

Ejaz Ahmed, a biodiversity specialist, said that fabulous species of ducks, including Siberian crane, pintail, bar-headed geese, teals and mallards, came to Chitral in this season. Confirming the very low arrivals of the Siberian ducks in the valley, he attributed it to the extension in winter season and the incessant snowfall in the high altitude areas for last two months. He said that the birds diverted their route if they found inclement weather in the flyway and this had most probably happened this year.

Markhor
Perhaps the most important conservation success story of the collaboration between the University of Montana and the NWFP wildlife department has been the story of the flare-horned Markhor (Capra falconeri) (Fig. 1). Markhor are one of the most endangered ungulates in central Asia, listed as Appendix I under CITES primarily because of overhunting and habitat loss. Markhor currently occur in 4-5 subpopulations in Pakistan (Fig. 2) (although current taxonomy is confused), and restoring Markhor populations is an important conservation goal. Schallers (1977) work in the Chitral Gol National Park area for example, showed only 100-150 in the entire park. However, through the 1980s and 1990s, our Pakistani graduate students developed a successful community-based trophy hunting program to help restore Markhor populations in Pakistan, and NWFP was one of the first focus areas. Management plans were focused on community based involvement, management plan, and sufficient monitoring to ensure that a trophy hunting program would be successful. With management plans in hand, the Pakistani government then worked with CITES to obtain special export permits for up to 4 Markhor permits for NWFP of Pakistan. NWFP Wildlife Department auctions off the Markhor licenses every year and the permit fee is received in US dollars. Since the first year in 1998 when 3 permits were allocated, 33 permits

(with an 85% success rate) have been allocated (3-4 / year) for foreign hunters in 4 different hunting areas; Chitral Gol, Tooshi Shasha, Gehrait, and Kaigah. Funding from the trophy hunts are managed through a cooperative agreement between the provincial and federal government with the local village through a village conservation committee that oversees allocation of the funds. Each permit was auctioned for an average of $32,000 USD, and since 1998, has generated $1,057,500 USD in revenues, 79.7% of which ($843,300) went directly to the local community in which the hunt occurred. As a result of this successful community based trophy hunting program, Markhor popupulations have increased in the three conservancy areas that the program is being implemented in. Neighbouring communities reduced poaching and hunting of Markhor, improved grazing on prime Markhor winter ranges through range management of domestic livestock, and decreased conflicts with Markhor. These changes benefitted Markhor populations. For example, since 1989, Markhor populations in Chitral Gol, for example, Mhave increased from ~ 150 to almost 700 (Figure 3). The increase was most rapid following the initiation of the community based trophy hunting program in 1998; since 1998, the population has grown at 12% per year. The nearby Tooshi Sasha conservancy the population increased from 137 to 545 Markhor during the same period, again, as a result of changes to community based conservation activities encouraged because of the success of the funding generated from the Trophy hunting program. Funding from the village conservation funds have been used for sustainable development projects, education, and health care, as well as for funding monitoring and research on the Markhor populations. Benefits have likely extended beyond the Markhor themselves and the surrounding human communities to possibly increase Snow leopard populations. As one of the main prey species for Snow Leopards, increasing Markhor populations have the potential to provide more prey base for Snow leopards in the area. For example, development of a community-based trophy hunting program designed by Pakistani graduate students as part of this program, Markhor have increased, benefitting the human communities living nearby and potentially other species such as snow leopards. For example, in part because of the cooperation of the NWFP wildlife department and Dr. Mumtaz Malik, people across the world saw the first ever footage of snow leopards filmed in Chitral Gol National Park. In some small way, the conservation work of the Pakistani students trained as part of the Wildlife Biology Programs long-standing collaboration with NWFP wildlife department, made this possible.

Report GH Farooqui CHITRAL: Chitral is the only part of the country where seven categories and types of wildlife, natural resources, desert, forest, birds, etc., are available out of a total nine, said Safdar Ali Shah, Conservator Wildlife, in an interview with this correspondent. He said there are different zones of habitats for every precious wildlife in Chitarl like Kashmiri Markhor, snow leopard, ibex, etc. Our national animal, Markhor (especially Kashmiri Markhor), our national tree, deodar, are also in abandance in Chitral. Our national flower, Jasmine is also mostly available in Chitral as well as our national bird, Chokor (partridge) is a part of Chitral wildlife. Thus seven ecological points out of nine exist here. He said some 2,000 to 3,000 Kashmiri Markhor are present in Chitral in which Chitral Goal National Park contains 850 and Toshi and Shahshah 1,250. Markhor are also living at Golain and other areas of Chitral. Responding to a query, he said Pakistan is signatory to the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) and bound to follow its rules and regulations that is why it can't exceed issuing hunting trophy other than permitted by the CITES policy. Mr Shah said transportation and shifting of Kashmiri Markhor was banned to some countries according to CITES rules but later a unanimous resolution was passed to change that rule. He said as per CITES policy, they issue only 12 hunting trophy permits to Pakistan for Markhor, keeping in view the point not to eliminate these species. These hunting permits are issued through the Ministry of Environment and then by the wildlife department. As a very precious kind of snow leopard is living in this region, which was being watched and observed through a satellite collar fixed to the animal, it has eben revealed that the snow leopard in Chitral also traversed about 25 km inside Afghanistan's territory. He said that as per wildlife terminology and principles, one snow leopard lived in 40 square kilometers. He said some 40 to 50 snow leopards were present in Chitral according to that principles, and this is very suitable habitat for them. He said the wildlife department charged fee from tourists when they visit the habitats like in Nairobi, where they charge 100 dollars for one time visit to the wildlife forest. He said wildlife is protected by two ways - N.cito and X-cito. To protect them in existing plan is N-cito conservation and provide them natural protection is x-cito way of conservation. He said that a watcher worked over some 250 square kilometers without any modern equipment and other facilities. Hence we motivate local community by granting them 80% share in hunting trophy for ownership of that habitats of Markhor and to persuade them to protect these wildlife from illegal hunting.