Gurez Valley: Dard tribe’s last sanctuary and their fight for survival

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In the new season of bonhomie, India and Pakistan are fast ironing out their differences on larger political dispute over Kashmir. The 330 MW Kishenganga hydro-electric power project is a little irritant that is being sorted out through a dialogue between technical experts of the two countries. Ironically, the Indo-Pak dispute on this power project is water and thus the debate is limited to the contours of the Indus Water Treaty, a water sharing agreement between the neighbours signed in 1960. There is hardly any mention of the rights of these tribals, whose lives are at the alter of this developmental project. There is no disagreement over the destruction of the captivating Gurez valley, which is also home to endangered snow leopard, hangul deer, barking deer, musk deer, black bear, markhor, ibex and marmot besides several exotic species of flowers and plants. There is no debate over the vast archealogical treasure hidden in this valley that will be permanently inundated by the water of the dam.

The recent archealogical surveys in the neighbouring valleys of Gurez, across the LoC, have “uncovered hundreds of inscriptions in Kharoshthi, Brahmi, Hebrew, and Tibetan that provide insights into the origins of the Kashmiri people and the early history of Buddhism”. The last Council of Buddhism is believed to have been held in Kanzalwan in Gurez. Then the ruins of ancient Sharda University too are buried in Gurez. Sir Walter Lawrence, the British Settlement Commissioner of Kashmir, who visited Gurez in 1894, called this valley “the most beautiful of Kashmir’s Margs, those beautiful stretches of turf which, ringed round with great forests, lie at an elevation of from 7,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea’’. In his famous book, “Valley of Kashmir’’, Lawrence writes that “Gurez is a lovely valley of substantial length lying at an elevation of about 8,000 ft. above sea. The Kishenganga river flows through it, and on either side tower mountain scraps of indescribable grandeur. Perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole of Kashmir is the grove of huge poplars through which the traveler enters the Gurez valley’’. And more than a century later, the awe-striking scenic beauty of Gurez, its forests and wildlife are literally unchanged. My first contact with Gurez valley and the Dard shin people came through the distinctive woolen skull caps which they wore while roaming the market in Bandipore, my home town. Gurez valley’s only physical link with the rest of the world is a 35 mile treacherous hilly road that connects it to Bandipore. This road remains closed for almost six months every year, hidden under mounds of snow. So whenever the winter snow would melt, hordes of Dards would cross the Kanzalwan pass to arrive in Bandipore for shopping and other businesses. They would wait till the road was opened for traffic. Those days only the One-Ton trucks would ply on the Gurez road and Bandipore had a few of them. A few drivers, considered brave on wheels, from Wudar neighbourhood had bought a bunch of discarded army trucks, painted them and decorated them like brides. They would ferry passengers and goods.

Then there were dozens of tales of adventure when villagers would track the mountains to carry salt slabs for their animals, which would go for grazing in the meadows across Kanzalwan every summer. There were no hotels, no guest houses thus the visitors from Gurez would be guests in villages across Bandipore. The Dards would come to our village as well and I still remember a few Shina words that I had picked up during our conversations. Although it is years since that contact has broken, I still recall “Kacha bill (what is the time)’’. And now our future generation will only find about the Dards, their home in the lap of breathtaking Gurez valley and Shina only in the pages of history books. While there is no support to stop the project from anybody, the only silver lining in this tragic story, however, is the resolve of the Dard Shin tribals and their leadership to resist the mass destruction of their only homeland. “The work on this project will start only on our dead bodies. The government cannot decide the fate of our people without consulting us. Nobody has even talked to me about it,” Nazir Gurezi, who represents the Dard Shin constituency of Gurez in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative assembly, told me. “It is not just to build a power project. It is an issue of life and death for our entire tribe and our ancestral homeland. This project will submerge our homes, dislocate us and will come as a death blow to our unique culture, our vanishing Shina language, our heritage.” Gurezi said that the entire tribe is united. But he acknowledges that once India and Pakistan resolve their dispute over the water of Kishanganga, there hardly anything that can prevent the construction of the hydro-power project and the subsequent destruction of their lives and homeland. “We are a miniscule population. We will fight but I know it is a very difficult struggle,’’ he said.

The 330 MW Kishanganga hydro-electric power project, scheduled to be built in Gurez Valley, involves damming of Kishanganga or Neelam river and the proposed 103 metre reservoir will submerge most of the Gurez valley along with its 25 villages, six summer high altitude habitats for shepherds and eight camping sites. The water of Kishanganga river will then be diverted through a 27 kilometre tunnel dug through the mountains to Bandipore where it will join the Wular lake and then Jehlum river. Kishanganga river currently meets Jehlum river at Muzaffarabad. The J&K government had earlier commissioned the project to a Swedish consortium SCANSKA but in 2000 it was handed over to National Hydo-electric Power Corporation (NHPC). As per the plan, the J&K government is to acquire 7,703 Kanals of cultivated land, 7,869 Kanals of non-cultivated land and more than 400 Kanals of forest area. Five years ago, the Sub-divisional magistrate, Sopore, had even issued land acquisition notices to seven villages Badwan, Fakirpora, Wampora, Khandiyal, Mastan Khopri, Markote and Dawar. In fact, the first phase of the would submerge the homes of around 10,000 tribals while the entire 25,000 Dard Shin tribe will lose its homeland till the completion of the project. The government remains very clear about its resolve to build the power project. Their approach is extremely simplistic. They say that the Dard Shin tribe has to make a compromise and dislocate because the power project will bring prosperity. “They (Dards) have to be dislocated. It is essential. We will adjust them somewhere else,” then J&K Power minister Mohammad Sharief Niaz said in very clear terms. When asked about the consequences of the project on this unique tribe, the environmental and other concerns, Niaz said that “if we (government) think in these terms, then we will have to shut down all our projects”. The project will bring prosperity is also highly disputed.

According to the agreement between the J&K government and the NHPC, that will construct the power project, the State will get only 12 per cent free electricity while the rest will be sold by the Corporation. The project might quench the thirst for electricity in New Delhi or Srinagar but the Dards have hardly anything to gain. Though there is no doubt that their loss cannot be compensated by any material gains, the J&K government doesn’t shy from making tall claims. The government says that they have incorporated an “attractive relief and rehabilitation package’’ for the tribe in the project thus there should be no problems. “There is no question of displacement of the tribe without a proper alternative for their rehabilitation,” Basharat Ahmad Dhar, J&K Commissioner Secretary, Power department said. “The Government will look for an alternate site, where a new colony with all the facilities like roads, hospitals, schools will be set up for them. Besides they will get a dislocation allowance and other benefits.”

The Dard shin tribals, however, say that they don’t agree that the government’s rehabilitation package will save them. “They (the government) didn’t even talk to us. I am an elected representative of the people of Gurez and I have no idea what is happening,’’ Nazir Gurezi told me. “We are very clear. We will move the Supreme Court. We will come out on the roads to protest against our mass destruction’’. The subtle realization that they are going to lose their homeland and thus the unique identity, intrinsically tied to Gurez, has terrified the Dards. “Gurez valley is the last sanctuary not only for our people but our language as well. Our tribe will die as soon as we are dislocated and permanently scattered across Kashmir,’’ Abdul Rasheed Mapnoo, a Dard who works in a government department told me categorically. “Gurez valley is the most beautiful part of Kashmir. It’s not just a home to our people but to hundreds of distinct plants, wildlife,’’ he said. “The environment of Gurez, its forest and its water was protected because it is a hidden valley. We had hoped that the government will try to build it as a tourist resort but they are planning its total destruction’’. Mapnoo’s anger and frustration perhaps encompasses the helplessness of this small tribe. “I am planning to go as soon as the road is reopened in June and take lots of pictures. I am sure once we are thrown out there will be no Dards left. We need to keep some memories for posterity,” he said.

(The article first appeared on May 09, 2005 under the headline: Their last battle for survival)