Dr. Etee Bahadur
The reference to Baltistan as a region has been found in the ancient first epic of King Gesar (Ling Gesar). Ptolemy’s also mentions a Byaltlae people. The ancient rock cut-inscriptions is evidence of an ancient thriving civilization in Baltistan.
Ladakh and Baltistan
The Dards refer to Balti as Balor, the Arabs call it Baloristan and the Tibetans, Nang-Kod, it was Tibet-i-Khurd or Little Tibet in the medieval literature. The Bon and the Balti people were the Tibetans and the Dardic people who were influenced culturally by Tibetan Buddhism. Baltistan was one of the six regions of undivided Jammu and Kashmir.
Baltistan is bordered by Gilgit in the north, Ladakh in the east, it has the Kashmir valley to its south and Tibet in the north. There is Tibetan influence in Baltistan and the people of Baltistan are seen to be proud of their roots. The Tibetans ruled over Baltistan in the ninth and tenth centuries, Ibrahim Shah founded the Makpon dynasty in the thirteenth century and it was in the fifteenth century when Mir Shamsuddin Iraqi spread the Nur-Bakshia of Kubrawiya Sufi order in Baltistan. It is said that in the sixteenth and the seventeenth century the Persian Shia clerics (Persian Twelver Shias) moved into Baltistan, as most of Baltistan we know had practiced Nur-Baksh since the fifteenth century.
Towards the end of the fifteenth century the boundary between Baltistan and Ladakh was under the control of Ali Sher Khan Anchan, the then ruler of the Balti state. Ali Sher Khan Anchan is now a symbol of modern day Balti identity. The Mughal rule which would continue till 1753 saw Baltistan acquire a lot of change, as artisans (cobblers, jewelers, masons, stone-cutters ) from other parts of India settled in Skardu during this time. Soon control over Kashmir passed on to the Afghans and then to the Sikhs, and the Dogras of Jammu.
It was till 1947 that the political history of both of these areas, Ladakh and Baltistan were fused together, the Ladakh Wazarat being divided into Leh, Kargil and Skardo districts, Leh being the capital of Ladakh. Maharaja Hari Singh nominated four members from the Ladkah Wazarat, they were two Buddhist representatives and from the Leh district and two from the Kargil district. However it was in 1948 that the Partition of Ladakh Wazarat happened which lead to the separation of Ladakh and Baltistan and Baltistan was annexed to the Northern areas of Jammu and Kashmir which was under the Pakisatn’s occupation.
The dispute over the territory has divided Balti’s and Ladakhi’s on both sides of the LoC affecting the economic-development and the culture of the region. Ladakh and Balitstan were part of the same administrative set-up till 1947, the Partition of the Indian subcontinent. It was in 1974 that the Northern Areas was created to detach Baltistan and Gilgit from the rest of Jammu and Kashmir. The Northern Areas would otherwise technically comprise of the former Gilgit agency ( Chilas, Hunzas, Nagar, Koh Ghizar and the tribal areas of Gilgit Agency). An understanding of the current political conflict in Kashmir would reveal the political status of Baltistan and that the Baltis are mere spectator the in the entire electoral process The Government of Pakistani has also terminated the State Subject Rule (SSR) which was enforced by the Dogra regime to protect socio-economic rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir in 1960’s in Baltistan. https://www.business-standard.com/ article/politics/laws-in-pok-gilgit-baltistan-don-t-represent-rights-of-people-kashmiri-leaders-116051800128_1.html . This has also lead to a change in the regional demography of the region.
Ladakh and Baltistan had remained under the Central Tibetan Dynasty for a very long time. Centuries old Tibetan influence has shaped the Balti culture. The culture and identity of Baltistan of the Balti people who lived together as the people of Baltistan and Ladakh under one set up under the state of Jammu and Kashmir will slowly get erased from the memory of the local people. The Balti dialect is still spoken by the people living in the valleys of Baltistan like the Skardu, Rongdu, Shigur Khapulu , Kharmarg and Guttari. Balti is also spoken in India in places in Kargil and in pockets where the Baltis in India live, these are the villages of Turtuk , Tyakshi, Thang, Pharol, Chalungkha. These villages were to integrate with Ladakh after the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971, and a point to note here is that the people of the village of Turtuk speak Balti. There are many scholars who work on different facets of the Balti identity, Mohamad Hasnai also known as Singe Tsering popularizes the Balti language and literature and restoration of the Balti monuments also being another aspect of the efforts.
The Baltis would like to further their relations with Ladakh as they have a similar culture and language. Tibetans gave their language and culture to Baltistan but it was Baltistan which was from Buddhism would travel from to Central Asia, Tibet and China. There is a yearning among the Tibetan origins Baltis to revive their old national roots they have made attempts to revive the traditional ritulas like Me-Phang, fire-ritual, a move to preserve and protect Skardu’s ancient monuments rock carvings and other related heritage. A section of the scholars would prevent their Tibetan language from the growing influence of Urdu and Punjabi, and to revive the Tibetan script again is a way to preserve their culture.
The people of Ladakh are therefore seen to share several non-religious affinities with the Baltistan, this being their language, music, dress, food, the Bon customs and most importantly the folk tradition and culture of folktales like the King Gesar (Ling Gesar), infact the programmes broadcasted on radio in Leh and Kargil are listened to at Baltistan and are pretty much popular. There are many organizations as well which work on the issues of development of the area of Gilgit-Baltistan, as it was in 2009 that the Government of Pakistan announced the creation of Gilgit-Baltistan, a provincial autonomous region with Gilgit as its capital and as Skardu and its largest city.
Ethnicity still remains as one of the powerful cultural factors and it has also been the source of many conflicts in the world.
Each county embodies its own distinctive culture and society so if a tourist was to visit India he /she would understand the culture of Indian subcontinent, its political and cultural legacies and also how that would impact the contemporary Indian society and culture. He/she would choose to understand the cultural space of the people who inhabit the area and hold an hope to understand the dynamics of the culture and identity of the people who have had to cross-borders maybe permanently they might be immigarants, they could be refugees or exiles or an Internally Displaced People (IDP’s).
Gillgit-Balitstan is divided into three divisions which are then divivded into ten districts including Gilgit , Skardu , Diamer, Ghizer , Hunza , Nagar, Ghanche, Astore , Khaarmang and Shigat. Gligit-Baltistan is the home to various languages ethnicities sectarian and tribal identities. The major Ethnic groups being the Baltis, Shinas, Yashkuns , Moghlas Kashmiris , Pathans , Ladakhis, and the Turkis., not surprising then that they speak different dialects and would belong to different sects as well.
Inter-sectarian relations however have changed and sectarianism has hit Baltistan ina major way in the last few decades. Senge H. Sering writes that Bomb blasts are becoming a common method of sectarian killing. He mentions of a bomb blast in 2009 May in Baltistan and in Gilgit in July. The fact that 300 more terrorists were expelled from Gilgit in October 2008 would mean that Taliban does have a presence in Gigit-Baltistan. This sort of Talibanization of Gilgit-Baltistan would thereby mean more Shia casualties and more influx of the Taliban in the region this would certainly lead to change in the demographic profile of area.
Further tourism and economic activity in the border areas has further been reduced after the closure of the Indo-Pakistan border. Thousands of families of Ladakh and Baltistan and Pakistan are not able to meet their families who are on the other side of the border. Sectarianism, also we have seen has hit Baltistan in a major way. M. A.Kaiser in his book Shohda-e-Gilgit Baltistan (Martyrs of Gilgit-Baltistan, 2005 ) has given details of Shia genocide and martyrs of Gilgit-Baltistan massacred in 1988 , 1992, 1999 ,2004, 2005. Geo-politically as well we know that this is a sensitive area and the opening up of the Karakoram highway (KKH) which links Pakistan with China will certainly take the strategic relations of the two countries of Pakistan and China to another level with investments in Gilgit-Baltistan to expand the Karakoram Corridor.
(The author teaches Development Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia)
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