Late Muhammad Zia of Gulmit, Northern Pakistan: Wakhi Society in Hunza, Socioeconomic and Political Conditions

By Fazal Amin Beg

 

This small contribution is in terms of an important and in-depth audio interview like a podcast  of a key informant in the Northern Pakistan that revolves around some aspects of his life accounts in addition to digging his experiential knowledge on the sociocultural, economic and political conditions and conditionalities  within a specified time and space when the Hunza State existed till 1974. The key informant was late Muhammad Zia of Gulmit, headquarters of Gojal Sub-division of Hunza District of Gilgit-Baltistan Region. The seating with him I had made on June 7, 2014 in the house of his second son Nazir Ahmad Bulbul, a famous Wakhi poet and dedicated volunteer of Hunza and Principal  of Al-Amyn Model School in Gulmit.

Late Muhammad Zia son of Yuks̃hmol  was born in his hometown in Gulmit perhaps in 1930 as he describes after a certain calculation because there was no tradition of writing dates of birht except for those who were on highly important religio-political positions and provided there were literate people available in the society. He belonged to the wider family of Bacar (batsar)  of Chorshambi  Kũtor (clan) within Sumuyu  tribe, a sub-tribe of Barcha Tribe of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Late Yuks̃hmol, a highly knowledgeable person of his time in the area,had got his first marriage with late Mrs. Durdona Begum daughter of Abdul Karim of Gulmit. Out of her he got two children named Late Muhammad Zia and late Gohar Nisah.His second marriage was with Mrs. Jahon Begum    daughter of Dawlat Baig of Sost(a renowned personality of his time). Out of his second wife, he got three sons: Mr. Mutabiat Shah, late Saeedullah Baig and late Amirullah Baig. Late Muhammad Zia himself had married with late  Dur Numoh daughter of Arbob Gulbast of Gulmit. they got five sons and a daughter named  Nasib Numah , Sher Ahmad Jan, Nazir Ahmad Bulbul, Dr. Amir Ahmad, late Ghulam Rahim and Ahmad Karim.

After a brief introduction, of late Muhammad Zia and his immediate family, let’s now revert to the content of the enriched discussion. Late Muhammad Zia moves on with sharing information on his consanguine and affine family members, lineage and the like.he narrates and relates   his patrilineal descent, clan and tribe in a detailed manner when for example we take either of his sons as the Ego:  For example, Sher Ahmad Jon or Nazir Ahmad Bulbul son of Muhammad Zia son of Yuks̃hmol son of Muhammad Zio son of Muhammad Razo son of Yuks̃hmol son of Allowuddin son of Shahobuddin son of Abdul Ali son of Andalib son of Bacar son of Fal  son of Andalib … … … Chorshambi … … Sumuyu … … … Barcha … … Khoja Arab.

We need to appreciate and recognize that up to the level late Muhammad Zia goes behind in his lineage information is so wonderful. He graciously accepts that he cannot correctly rmember all of them as there was no written tradition and all such indigenous knowledge, especially regarding geneaology got transmitted through oral tradition. Using oral memorization as an instrument, the kinship system as a whole including the lineage, clan and tribal affiliations are witnessed to have been transferred to the progenies and coming generations with the help of key informants in different immediate and wider families within different tribal entities of the whole region.Up to Bacar (Batsar) or Fal, late Muhammad Zia is certain to a grater extent and above them, issues of linking names of the ancestors with the referential ancestors like Chorshambi or in such ways to accurately affine the heads of other branched ancestors within Chorshambi is highly challenging. This also holds true of other tribes or clans of Gulmit and other settlemetns of Gilgit-Baltistan as well as as Badakhshan where I have been struggling to look for some sampled population of clans and tribes. Moving further behind to link the clans within Chorshambi tribe to the Sumuyu or upward to Barcha and Khoja Arab is thus not possible in an academic pursuit and ambition, though politically it is easy to integrate the distant past affiliations together.

Well, Late Muhammad Zia then shares some of his childhood memories and the prevailing socioeconomic condition of the people around. He then talks about the school initiative of Diamond Jubilee Project of His Higheness Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan in Gulmit in which he himself was a teenage student of Grade 1 when he was 16 years old. He also talks about his classmates here and the teacher from Central Hunza named Momin Hayat. As he was a young boy, it was also important to contribute to the income of his family and therefore he had to accompany his family with transhumance  mission on the pastureland of Bildihel to the south of Gulmit. He also talks about the pasturelands of Ghawũs̃h, Burundubar, Avgarc Baltbar and Bũt̃ur (Batura)   where people of Gulmit go for the survival missions.

In addition, Late Muhammad Zia also recollects his thoughts and talks about the famous Wakhi revolt of Gojal in 1940 against Hunza State under the leadership of Grandpa Adob Khon of Passu. He tries to analyze the factors produced by different positionholders. In addition,he also nicely contributes towards the discrimations  and injustices with the people of upper part by the rulers of Hunza State.

It is important to note that Late Muhammad Zia has also been a hunter as he had began it when he was in his teenage perhaps 13 or 14 years old.  He talks about his ibex hunting and especially focuses   on the precautionary  measures to be taken before, during and after hunting. He also mentions about some famous hunters of Gulmit who were senior to him. Elaborating on the subject matter,  he also shares further indigenous knowledge in hunting such  as calculating the  age of the ibexes determined on their horns, selection of a targeted ibex,interesting stories behind bad happenings (if wrong target is made in ibex hunting),some important events or stories behind hunting, Biodiversity protected areas of Hunza State such as Avdegar of Passu and the like. He also compares the tastes of the meat of an ibex with a yak and alsothe rationale behind the name of his father as Yuks̃hmol (ibex wealth)

Late Muhammad Zia has also been as an expert skilled labor like carpenter and mason as well as hunter, horticulturalist, volunteer, bone-setter, sound narrator of some aspects of indigenous knowledge, singer and the like.  He also describes about some skilled labors of Gulmit, the social classes likezharzhon (upper class), darqan (middle class) and borwar (lower class) . his enriched podcast thus ends with description of the names and types of some horses based on their colors.

After five years of this enriched interview,  late Muhammad Zia passed away on August 5, 2019 when he was 89 year old. His physical condition was so good, eyesight normal and no issue in walking. In the context of Hunza, there are many instances of people who do work physically and contribute yet productively despite the fact their young family members try to restricthem to take rest in the given situation for being elderly.Nonetheless, the elderly people would feel suffocation to stay at a place and do nothing.However,    the death of late Muhammad Zia proved highly tragic.   Down to the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in Gulmit (Chamangul), he has a forestland above Hunza River.reportedly,  he had gone there to oversee and examine the status of the landscape in terms of watering and grass improvement. He has walked down and reached near the river bed. At this point, he has reportedly and unfortunately stumbled and fallen in the ferocious Hunza River  when the summer water normally roars like a monster. Alas! The river thus made him disappeared forever. For many days and weeks, serious searches were made so to get his corpse, at least, but all in vain.

Although, late Muhammad Zia is no more with us in this world and all of us have to leave this world one day or the other, his good deeds and his voice and knowledge hsaring is alive today. May God, the Almighty, bless his soul with eternal rest and peace.

 

Acknowledgement: I am especially grateful to late brother Muhammad Zia for his compassion and generosity  to share his experiential and enriched knowledge with me on different occasions. My thanks to his renowned son Nazir Ahmad Bulbul for hosting and facilitating the seating with his late father in his house. I am also indebted to my respected older brother Ghulam Amin Beg and family for the time to time facilitation regarding my academic pursuits. Finally, thanks to Sarfaraz Ahmad son of Sher Ahmad Jan son of Muhammad Zia for making correction of the names after going through the write-up.

 

Note: I have published the detailed  discussion as a Wakhi podcast  on K̃hikwor Adabiyot-e Gulshan YouTube Channel. It could therefore be accessed and watched/listened on the following link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UseHhw69i0A