More on Gilgit

Syllabus of strife

Gilgit has lost its lure for foreign tourists due to unrelenting sectarian violence

By Zarghon Shah

A cheery group of Spanish tourists revels in the grassy lawns of Park Hotel in the thriving city of Gilgit. A group member plays her guitar while others join her soul soothing strings in a chorus blended with sporadic chuckles on an exquisite summer evening.

Out on the busy roads, shops offer a variety of items, from dry fruits to threaded warm apparels and sell-offs from climbers and trekkers -- rucksacks, hiking shoes, ski jackets, caps, hats, tents, ice climbing boots, skiing rods and mountain bikes.

Shopkeepers, receptionists at hotels and restaurants and jeep drivers feel exalted in the joyful presence of foreigners, mostly from Western Europe and Japan, who would roam carefree in bazaars and alleyways in their sleeveless tops and Bermuda shorts.

But it is a sweet story of a brilliant past. The ecstasy is over, sadly. Today, picture-perfect Gilgit -- the city of mystical beauty -- is haunted by endless fear of death, blood and fire. Bazaars, markets, mosques, hotels and streets look haunted with no sign of the town's trademark -- foreign tourists. Menace of sectarian strife has turned the city into a scary place, nipping its tourist promise in the bud. Frantic migrations, closure of businesses and sale of properties are becoming order of the day in Gilgit.

Unofficial estimates suggest that over 30,000 Gilgit residents have fled the city and its suburbs since 2000. These include those dwelling in the area for three generations.

Once flooded with tourists from across the world, hotels like Rupal Inn, Sarena, Gilgit Continental, Canopian Access, Park Hotel, Jamal Hotel, Ramzan Hotel etc are now dwelled by ghosts.

Occupancy at Park Hotel that used to accommodate streaming foreigners even at rooftops has reduced to 50 per cent since June last year. With absolutely no foreign tourist coming to stay, more than half of its 46 rooms stay empty during the summer -- April to August -- the peak tourist season.

"Since June 2004, we have seen our entire bookings getting cancelled constantly," says Mukhtar Hussani, manager of Park Hotel. Foreign tourists prefer visiting Baltistan, Skardu and Hunza, bypassing Gilgit, he adds.

Tayyab Nisar, tourism officer at Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, says the occupancy rate of the PTDC Motel at Chinar Bagh in Gilgit has reduced to 45 per cent.

"Tourists preferably don't stay in Gilgit. They either spend their nights at Chillas or proceed to Hunza," he says. Chinar Bagh motel suffers a loss of over Rs 700,000 during the tourist season, he adds.

Naunehal Shah, the general manager of tour operator Waljis reveals his organisation has suffered a loss of Rs 48 million in 2004 because of uncertain security situation in Gilgit.

"Monthly spending of Waljis in the heads of salary and rent stands at Rs 4 million. We have to pay this money from our own pocket," he says. The company, he says, had to sell several of its vehicles.

Though Waljis has not substantially reduced its 250-strong staff including tour guides hoping for good days to come again, the company had no option but to put many of its employees on reduced salaries.

Shah holds European embassies responsible for Gilgit's tourism troubles. "They are sending harshly negative advisories to their home countries about security situation here that in turn affect tourism considerably."

Early years of sectarian violence that started in 1980 claimed more than 300 lives and enormous destruction of properties in Gilgit city and its suburbs. The recent phase of violence began in June 2004 over the controversial syllabus for Northern Areas' educational institutions.

Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Faisal Saleh Hayat says the issue has deep political link.

"There are elements who want to jeopardise law and order in the guise of religion and sects. We have successfully resolved the syllabus issue that was going on for the last seven to eight years, after holding separate meetings with representatives of all sects -- Shia, Sunni, Ismaili and Noor Bukhshi."

The minister claims that Gilgit city has been purged of all types of weapons through clean up operations that involved door to door search and heavy deployment of paramilitary forces.

The sectarian menace has hit health and education with full ferocity. Schools have remained closed for the last six months with one of the boys' school getting converted into a mini jail.

"The sectarian issue did not exist in mid-1970s when Sunnis and Shias lived like brothers and the former used to join Shia in their mourning processions," recalls Agha Rahat-ul-Hussaini, top Shia scholar of Gilgit and successor to slain leader of the sect, Agha Ziauddin Rizvi.

He squarely blames the government for failing to resolve the issue of syllabus which in his opinion is at the root of recent disturbance in the city. The problem was further aggravated by the assassination of Agha Ziauddin Rizvi on January 8, 2005. The assassination triggered massive protests and chaos that not only swept Northern Areas but also hit Karachi and Lahore. At the heels of Rizvi's murder, violence left 15 people dead and 35 wounded in the entire Northern Areas, where the administration had to clamp a 24-hour shoot-on-sight curfew.

"If the syllabus issue is resolved now, why wasn't it resolved five years back? It was a deliberate fault of the Northern Areas administration which had been sending wrong reports to Islamabad," Rahat observes.

Recalling 1988 violence in which entire communities consisting of 1000 houses and 14 villages were burnt down by invaders from lowland areas including Swat and Kohistan, Agha Rahat says the Shias only reacted in retaliation or self defence.

"We are serious about peace and tranquility in the area but regrettably no one from the government has ever contacted us after Aga Rizvi's death, none of whose assassins have been arrested so far by the authorities," he says. "If our stance is given generous consideration we are ready to fully and sincerely cooperate with the government. No one is more loyal to Pakistan and Islam than the Shias."

His demands include release of nearly 70 Shia youth held at the Jutiyal sub-jail; punishment for those who poisoned detainees from his sect at the Kashrot district jail and above all justice for Agha Rizvi's killers.

Hafiz Hafizur Rehman, a Sunni member of the toothless Northern Areas Legislative Council, says: "The recent upsurge in violence that began with the murder of Agha Ziauddin is reflective of total failure of the Northern Areas administration."

Hafiz, who last Sunday organised a peace rally in the city joined by 15000 people from all the three sects, also criticised Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat for his 'poor' performance during the stand off.

"Since the January 8 incident this year, over 62 people have been killed in Gilgit and its vicinity, but the minister has only once visit the area," he says and adds the government suffered a loss of more than Rs 500 million as a result of the violence.

Questioning the utility of reserves forces in the area, he asks why the government was spending one million rupees a day on the forces when people are being killed nonstop.

"In Northern Areas, specifically Gilgit, the state institutions have failed and non-state actors have gone strong," Hafiz says, wondering as to why religious seminaries are not being regulated in Northern Areas while they are being registered in the rest of Pakistan. He demands initiation of steps to strengthen political and democratic institutions and neutralise religious institutions like in the rest of the country.

Urging the removal of all misunderstandings among the people for prevalence of peace in the area, Hafiz says: "We are moving towards Shia-Sunni peace and tranquility but government ought to implement and ensure our peace accords.

Not only the rift is rendering Gilgit bleeding, the historic Karakoram Highway too is being converted into a freeway of death and destruction. On July 17, a passenger bus owned by Northern Areas Transport Corporation (NATCO), was ambushed by gunmen at Gonar Farm, near Chillas. At least five innocent passengers, including a renowned local trader, Haji Nazar, were shot dead in the ambush.

"Today, traveling from Pindi to Gilgit takes 25 hours, instead of 17, and conveys of 15 to 20 vehicles move form one post to another on the Karakoram Highway. In between the posts its takes more than six hours to travel," says Tayyab Nisar of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation. The Interior Ministry should ensure complete normalcy in the area and then Ministry of Foreign Affairs should ask EU embassies to soften their advisories, he adds.