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Cawmos Purification (On'j'esta) days
ends in Rukmu
By: Luke Remat
BUMBURAT: The main days for purification (On'j'esta) had
ended in Kalash valley Rukmu. According to locals the winter
festival was spectacular but due to sever cold and muddy atmosphere
people faced difficulties. During the festival a young Kalasha girl
name Rajina got married with Japanian young man who was visiting
there frequently during winter festivals. It is pertinent to
mention here that a Japanese Akiko Wada married Kalasha Jamat Khan
a few years back, she is also belongs to Japan.
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Climate Vigil Rally held in Booni Mastuj
Chitraltimes.com Report
MASTUJ: A vigil rally held in Booni Mastuj, northern
Chitral, Pakistan was organized through the facilitation of CAMAT
[Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism]. The objectives of
the placard bearing rally was to showcase solidarity and show
support to the climate change SOS Copenhagen and to highlight the
issues of climate change in the Hindu Kush mountains that has
already posed a serious challenge to the communities living here.
The participants were mostly students of Government High School
Booni and Pamir Public School apart from business community,
political leadership, social workers and people from different walk
of life. The rally walked for a kilometer before concentrating at
the main Booni square where teachers, political leadership and
business community representatives addressed them. It was
maintained that for the last three decades there has been a
considerable degradation to the natural environment is inevitably
linked to global warming. The destruction of the village Sonoghor
and Brep three years ago resulting from glacier bursting and the
devastation of village Washeej from the snow avalanches are the eye
opener in this regard.
The melting glaciers high up in the Eastern Pamir region—which are
vital source of cultivation in the entire northern Pakistan for
centuries—are melting very rapidly. If these natural water
reservoirs get lost, then the people here do not have any other
option except to migrate to other places the way some of the
valuable bird species have already done.
Likewise climate change has also severely threatened the habitat of
the valuable natural biodiversity including some of the rare bird
species like the black throated thrush, finches, magpie, grey tit
and golden eagle that almost disappeared as their ecological needs
were no longer fulfilled in the given ecological system. The
population of wolf and fox has drastically shrunk and they are
about to disappear. The degradation of the substantial vegetative
covering has caused migration to markhor and wild goat that has
disturbed the food chain for the elusive snow forcing him to
migrate to some other habitats. Now one can have very rare glimpses
of the snow leopard in northern Pakistan. It must have migrated to
some other places better suiting his ecological needs.
The speakers at the rally emphasized that students, being young and
energetic agents of positive social change and silent revolution,
have to be focused whilst addressing the issues of natural
environment. Moreover, they recorded their apprehension with regard
to the damages to the natural climate as a matter of real concerns
for the mountainous communities as it is affects their social,
political, communal and economic needs and create a range of health
related issues. If land resources are eroded and natural
biodiversity degraded, then it will surely threatened our own very
existence. It is, therefore, for the protection of natural
environment and forming combined front against global warming must
be the priority no one for the mountainous communities.
At the end of the rally, the following resolution was unanimously
passed with an aim to protect the healthy natural environment of
the Hindu Kush region:
• That today, a vigil climate rally supporting the conference in
Copenhagen firmly pledges to continue efforts for the protection of
natural environment by supporting the cause worldwide. To this end,
the strength of school, places of worships and other social centre
will be harnessed, awareness will be raised and a workable plan
will be prepared at grassroots.
• That developed and industrial nations are appealed to curtail the
emission of carbon into the atmosphere so that the prospect of
global warming would automatically be reduced and its negative
impacts on the remote and less developed mountainous regions would
be minimized.
• That there must be authentic research initiatives on the part of
developed nations to measure the continuing damages to the natural
environment of the mountainous communities in northern Pakistan.
Based on such researches, awareness campaign will be mounted in the
target communities and improved and coordinated strategy aimed at
tackling the menace of global warming would be undertaken.
• That courses on environment must necessarily be included in the
curriculum of schools, both in the government and private sectors
so that they will have proper knowledge and be equipped in handling
the problems of natural environment based on their indigenous
knowledge.
• That to fight against climate change; it is of paramount
importance to put a halt to deforestation in the southern Chitral
and to increase forest everywhere else in the district. Only with
much greenery can we assure the health of our natural environment.
To reduce pressure on the existing forest belt, the rally
maintained, provision of an alternative source of fuel to the
energy starved Hindu Kush region either in respect of natural gas
from Central Asia or by generating electricity from its numerous
rivers and streams could be helpful.
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