[forwards4all] The Kalash --The White Tribe of Pakistan

 

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The Kalash --The White Tribe of Pakistan
In the mountains of the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, six thousand or so people live who look and sound very different from their neighbors. They claim to have lived in the area for thousands of years and they look to all intents and purposes, European. Many of the Kalash are blond haired and blue eyed, somewhat of an anomaly in Pakistan! Some believe that that they are descendants of Alexander the Great's army though their true ethnic origins are still unproven. They have a significantly different outlook on life from the Muslims surrounding them they are polytheistic and have a completely different folklore (which has been compared to that of ancient Greece). The Kalash are protected by the government of Pakistan but their future is uncertain particularly if the religion declines in to theocracy. There have been recent Taliban incursions and a Greek aid worker was kidnapped in 2009 (she was returned unharmed four months later after an outcry). However, their relative isolation may well ensure the Kalash survive. They live in Kalasha Desh which translates as the three valleys of the Kalash and that is the limit of their people's range. There are only around five thousand speakers of the language, Kalasha, left which in terms of a language means that it is critically endangered. However, it is thought that the language probably never had more than a few tens of thousands of speakers at any one time. As their numbers are very small the culture of the people who surround them have had an impact. Many of the Kalash in two of the valleys have converted to Islam, probably around fifty percent. They still practice many of the traditional aspects of Kalash life though the non-converts call them sheiks. A third valley, known as Birir, still clings to the traditional way of Kalash life.
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