Daud Khattak, a correspondent with RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, visited one Kalash village to witness some of their unique traditions, in life and death, and the scale of threats they face.
With The ‘Fairy People’ Of Pakistan
High in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains, scattered villages hold one of the world’s most imperiled religious minorities, the Kalash.
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A satellite dish on a Kalash home. One local complained to Khattak about the lure of television, saying that during festivals many young Kalash stay at home, huddled around their TVs.
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A lightbulb in a Kalash village installed with the help of an NGO working in the region. Khattak said that although there is poverty among the Kalash, “the people have very limited needs, they are not using cars, the food is eggs and milk etc., so they are pretty OK.”
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Abandoned graves in a Kalash village. Khattak said the bodies of dead Kalash used to be placed inside these boxes and left in the open, still dressed in their valuable finery. But nighttime thieving raids forced the Kalash to devise a unique new form of burial.
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Most Kalash are now buried beneath their upturned bed after their valuable possessions are burned.