A Small Contribution on the Life Journey of Late Karim Hayat of Hunza who will be buried at Ghulkin Today!

By Fazal amin Beg
Really unbelievable yet for me to accept that ever young looking, humorous and friendly gentleman, Karimullah Baig of Ghulkin (commonly known as Karim Hayyat), left us all and departed for his eternal abode yesterday on August 25, 2024 when he was only 64 years of his age. It needs to be kept in mind that in the context of Hunza and Gilgit-Baltistan, 64 is still considered so young. It was stunning for laypersons like me to know from the doctors that the disease of tuberculosis (TB) does not only dwell in the lungs but rather it also penetrates and rampages to other vital organs like the brain. Although, this disease had reportedly been diagnosed initially in the lungs of late Karim Hayat, it has also permeated in his kidneys and ultimately has violently entered in his brain. After a couple of months, it thus finally took his material but precious life. His should thus returned towards the spiritual world today on August 25, 2024. May God bless his beautiful soul with eternal rest and peace with its elevation on a highest position! My sincere condolence to all the bereaved family members.
It was the time of Hunza State yet and the year as the landmark point of historical reference when His Highness Shah Karim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV (famously known as Prince Karim Aga Khan, the Spiritual Leader of Shia Ismaili community, visited Gilgit-Baltistan and Hunza). Most of the people of the area thus remember it well and when birth of the people is asked, it was one of the important points of reference. Late Karim Hayat son of Ghayib Shah was thus born in this year in 1960 at Ghulkin, as his older brother Javed Iqbal confirms the year who is based in the United States. It is to be noted that late Karim Hayat was so young, just six years old, when his late mother Lila Moh passed away in 1966. His late father Ghayib Shah thus got his second marriage with Mrs. Bibi Meraj of Reshit (Chipursan valley). Out of late Lila Moh, late Ghayib Shah has five children (three sons and two daughters)including Shab Bahor, Zafar Iqbal, Javed Iqbal, Dawlat Moh and Karim Hayat.Out of his second wife late Bibi Miraj, late Ghayib Shah has four children (the only son and three daughters) including Sultan Ayub, Nasab Sultana, Mujeeb Sultana and Nadia Sultana.
The paternal family of late Karim Hayyat belongs to the Maturkuts clan of Ghulkin. Name of their ancestor was Uyghul Matur behind whom they identify themselves. It is being narrated by the key informants of Maturkuts that their ancestor had migrated either from Tung or Raskam of Sariqol (today’s Tashkurghan county). From Uyghul Matur to Mahmud Bai to late Karim Hayat and his son, it becomes more or less ten generations so far by August 2024.
Well, let us focus now on some important life facets of Late Karim Hayyat. He gets his elementary level education from Ghulkin and Gulmit respectively. He is then taken to Karachi by his older brothers Javed Iqbal and Zafar Iqbal. He gets admission in the Aga Khan School, Garden. Karim Hayat studies here for couples of years and passes his secondary level education. His inquisitive and proactive mind under his caring brothers thus lead him towards college education. He gets through in his F. Sc (pre-medical) and qualifies his undergraduate education program. He thus gets his degree of B. Sc (from University of Karachi. It it noteworthy that Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral had a countable number of students who had studied science subjects up to bachelor level in the 1980s. Late Karim Hayat was thus among those few ones whose academic efforts and results were highly invaluable in different fields, institutions and organizations in public and private sectors.
When Karim Hayyat returns to Gilgit-Baltistan Region in the 1980s, he gets employment with different employers. It was a pharmaceutical company, as Mr. Javed Iqbal informs, where he would serve as a medical representative. In the aftermath, he also served a life insurance company. His efficient and attractive linguistic and communication skill in English and German also led him to join the tourism industry as a lively tourist guide in both cultural and ecotourism fields. He also spent a couple of years in the United Kingdom when he went through and bitterly experienced the tides of socioeconomic backlashes in his life. He revives himself and continues life smoothly for a significant part of his life, adds his cousin-friend Sifatuddin of Ghulkin. Not only so, he also contributed intellectually and in academic domain when he got consultancies from the NGOs like International Conservation Union (IUCN). I witness it clearly as I had facilitated him within my limited capacity, perhaps in 2003. His wonderful study on Ecotourism for IUCN could thus be termed as a baseline for Gojal subdivision of Hunza. It is available on the official website of IUCN with his official name as Karimullah Baig. Getting experiences from the real world in different fields encouraged late Karim Hayyat to also venture for the business and contractual assignment in partnerships. The tourism company he had initiated continues that he has handed over to his sons led by Jamal Nasir in his lifetime.
Late Karim Hayyat had got married with Mrs. Nazia Pari daughter of Muhammad Rafi within his wider family. Out of her, he has four children (three sons and a daughter) named Jamal Nasir, Nargis Karim, Talat Jibran and Mir Murtaza. Except for the last one (as the youngest), all his children have accomplished their university level education. However, Karim Hayyat had also an older daughter named Seema Karim, she at her youngest age got cancer and both the couple had to come across series of hardship. She finally passed away and left a serious emotional damage to her parents. With the course of time, it was in 2022, when his angelic wife Nazia named Pari also encountered cancer. She could not survive in the face of necessary treatment and passed away in her young age when she was 40 plus. This loss of her precious life mate seriously had its strong and negative impact on him as his children are young in addition to the youngest one deserving for special care due to special need to an extent. He had therefore to opt for his second marriage in order to support his children. Late Karim Hayat therefore had his second marriage in Summer 2023. It had become just one year after the second marriage, late Karim Hayyat unfortunately departed from this mortal world.
We need to recognize that late Karim Hayyat had not only his genuine efforts around his livelihood options and family patronization but rather also contributed significantly as a dedicated volunteer within his capacity at different level of his society. It may not be possible for me to cover all but let me highlight some of them. When late Karim Hayyat was at the peak of his youth, he formally joined the Ismaili Scouts as a Rover Scout in 1986. Niyatullah had championed to be the Group Scout Leader (GSL) of this newly initiated civil society organization. Late Karim Hayat served it for more than two decades and joined the Aga Khan Volunteer Corps perhaps from 2008 onward to his last day. At his village level, he served Ghulkin Social and Welfare Organization, especially Nature and Conservation Committee by productively contributing towards the protection of wildlife. At present, late Karim Hayyat was also members of the GLOF Committee to monitor the states of affairs with the closed coordination of the concerned stakeholders. Similarly, he was also the proactive chief of Bakhtkutor Ritual Committee of Ghulkin for which the related people are so much appreciative of his selfless contributions.
Moreover, late Karim Hayyat was also proactive in political domain. Though, he had initially his affiliation with Pakistan People’s Party, at the same time he was also a nationalist of Gilgit-Baltistan. He would always talk and strongly advocate for the genuine rights of the marginalized and oppressed people of the region. Today, he is no more with us in this world but his life experiences in different domains, particularly his consistent struggles around series of hardship and challenges provide real lessons to all that the life journey in this world is always with the tests and trials. He robustly and practically went through all of them but never gave in and finally got success in different context and in different terms. Although, he appeared a bit emotional, he was at the same time so humorous and friendly gentleman. May God bless his spiritual journey and life beyond the time and space.
I am going to close this small write-up on late Karim Hayat with the following Persian stanza of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi:
Har kasi ku dur mon az asl-e khish
Boz juyad ruzgor wasl-e khish
Whoever gets away from his/her root,
Struggles again to get back to its origin.

Acknowledgement: Although, I had my own interactions with late Karim Hayyat for being my second cousin (in degree of generation), my special thanks go to Mr. Javed Iqbal, Mr. Sifatuddin, Mr. Wazir Aman, Mr. Ibrahim Baig and Mr. Niyyatullah for providing some related information in bits and pieces that enabled me to write this small note on the life stories of late Karim Hayyat. I am grateful to Mr. Manzoor Ahmad for his kind facilitation to go through the draft and remove the underlying typoes.