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‘Saint’ faces separatist in Pakistan poll
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
* Last Updated: November 13. 2009 1:10AM UAE / November 12. 2009 9:10PM GMT
Pir Karam Ali Shah, who is contesting the election in Gilgit-Baltistan, is the scion of the Bukhari dynasty. Muzammil Pasha for The National
GAKUCH, PAKISTAN // An electoral constituency in a remote, northern extremity of Pakistan has risen to national political prominence as the setting for a contest between a hereditary spiritual leader and a separatist ideologue.
The protagonists, Pir (saint) Karam Ali Shah and Nawaz Naji, are, socially, chalk and cheese.
Mr Shah is the 48th hereditary Pir, or living saint, of a family that traces its roots back to Jalauddin Surkh Bukhari, a charismatic Muslim preacher from Bukhara in modern-day Uzbekistan, who migrated to the subcontinent in the 13th century.
He is buried in the town of Uch in central Pakistan, where his grandson founded the Shiite Suhrawardy school of Sufi mysticism. From there, descendants travelled across the region to preach Islam, with one of them arriving in what is now the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan in the 16th century, via Afghanistan, having on the way joined the Ismail sect, or followers of the Aga Khan.
As a scion of the Bukhari dynasty, the elderly Mr Shah has thousands of murid, followers who have sworn an oath of allegiance, throughout Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders Afghanistan to the west, China to the north, and India to the east.
Subsequently, he has won the three elections contested in the Sher Qila-Chatorkhand constituency since partial democracy was introduced to the region in 1994.
His view of democratic governance thus remains circumspect.
“Politics is good if it is used to serve the people, but the introduction of campaign funding as a means as politicking for votes taints the collective conscience with opportunism, and that will prove fatal for our communities and their culture,” he said in an interview.
Mr Naji, on the other hand, is an ordinary resident of Sher Qila, one of the isolated villages that line the banks of the Gilgit River and its tributaries, as they cascade between the mountains of the mighty Karakorum Range into the Ghizer Valley, some 650km north of Islamabad.
The residents are largely soldiers and subsistence farmers, who for centuries were stuck in a time capsule, dependent on small crops of wheat, maize, apricots and mulberries, and subject to the whims of valley kings.
This situation changed in 1974 when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the then prime minister and founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which leads the present governing coalition, visited Ghizer and abolished monarchic rule.
However, the region did not have direct road access to the Pakistani hinterland to the south until the completion in 1978 of the Karakorum Highway, a 1,300km road built to link the country with China, a key ally.
The road has since proven to be a catalyst of social change in Gilgit-Baltistan, especially in Ismaili-majority valleys such as Ghizer, where the Aga Khan’s rural development and education NGOs have worked to improve residents’ quality of life.
Literacy rates, which top 90 per cent, are the highest in Pakistan, and local incomes have risen as a result of the introduction of higher value crops, including apples, cherries, pears, and grape varieties from France, where the current Aga Khan, Prince Karim, resides.
The emerging generation of Gilgit-Baltistan residents – a heady mix of university graduates, traders and Pakistan army soldiers – aspires to a vastly improved quality of life and is demanding a greater say in the governance of their region.
Gilgit-Baltistan enjoys only partial democracy and is largely ruled from Islamabad because it forms part of the disputed territory of greater Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan claim.
The public’s rising expectations have boosted the campaign of Mr Naji, who has risen to prominence as an eloquent proponent of the region’s distinct ethnic and cultural identities.
He recognises that his arguments in favour of a separate homeland, deeply frowned upon by authorities, have yet to make much of an impression on the electorate.
“Our people have just begun to overcome the primitiveness of isolation. Politics is a new phenomenon that they are struggling to come to terms with, so any ideology will take a long time to take root,” he said.
Residents of the hamlets of Buber and Chatorkhand, where Mr Shah lives, said Mr Naji’s gain had been the Pir’s loss.
“For the last 45 years, we have been supporting the Pir. He didn’t even have to campaign. We would kiss his hands, raise funds from within the village communities, and run his campaign for him,” said Ahmed Nazim, a businessman from the village of Buber.
“But now the mood is different. People want change, and that includes a change of face.”
However, the Pir’s influence as a spiritual leader remains, both within his own Ismaili community, and among the Sunni minority community that peaceably shares the Ghizer Valley, and as the nominated candidate of the PPP, he will certainly be no walkover.
Polls in the Sher Qila-Chatorkhand constituency have been postponed till March because of the death, from a heart attack, of another contestant, and voters there will watch from the sidelines as the results of yesterday’s elections for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly unfold.
‘Saint’ faces separatist in Pakistan poll - The National Newspaper
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I was looking forward to checking out the election results to see who won, until the last para about how polls were postponed because of the death of one of the candidates.
And 90% literacy rates!
If only we could replicate that model across Pakistan - what barriers we could shatter.
The Agha Khan foundation has done tremendous work.
