A shawl that is a shroud

The prices of shahtoosh shawls could range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, depending on the embroidery done on it. In the international market, prices can even be up to $20,000. The finer the wool, the higher the price — and the demand.

It is the chiru, the Tibetan antelope — from which the wool for these shawls is extracted — that has paid the highest price in the process. According to recent estimates, on an average 4,000chiru are killed by poachers. Poaching is particularly heavy in the mountainous regions of China where the chiru is found, including parts of Tibet, Western Qingai and Southern Xinjiang. Nomads in the area have been known to use barbaric methods to kill the antelope. The shahtoosh is extracted by shearing or combing the hides of the chiru after it is killed. The wool thus extracted is very fine and exceptionally soft and warm. It is then spun into luxurious shawls.

According to customs officials, some years ago smugglers operated via Hong Kong. Today, however, shahtoosh is brought into this country, either as wool or as finished shawls, primarily via road from Nepal. According to conservationists, the towns of Pithoragarh and Dehradun are established centres of shahtoosh smuggling. Some make their way in through Jammu and Kashmir where the trade is not banned (see box). The fact that the shahtoosh trade is legal in this state has made it the focal point for transactions in these shawls. According tosources, a handful of influential families control the shahtoosh trade in the entire state. Officials in the army and paramilitary forces even point to the growing nexus between shahtoosh smuggling and militant activity in Kashmir, with shawls sometimes being bartered for arms.

Clearly, Delhi is a big centre for the trade. Investigations by Indian Express reveal that despite the ostensible tightening of vigilance, the trade goes on apace. In some areas of the Capital like Janpath and some shops in the Lajpat Nagar area which house Kashmiri handicrafts, the shawls are available — albeit at a heavy price — and only if you happen to be a regular customer. When this reporter visited some shops in Janpath, and asked to see some shawls, the owner laid out an array of them. But the moment he was asked for a shahtoosh shawl, he lost his cool. “We don’t have anything of this kind, if you want to buy something then buy it or leave the place,” he barked.

The modus operandi of the trade is unique. The touts ofthe shop who hang around the area usually bring in a foreign tourist interested in buying the shawl. It is only after the shopkeeper is convinced about the identity of the buyer and his/her sincerity in making a purchase that the shawl is produced from the godown. Sources say that some shops in the posh shopping arcades of five-star hotels in the capital also stock these shawls. Again, proprietors here have to be convinced about the identity of the buyer before the deal can make any progress.

The recent haul of shahtoosh shawls from the Santushti arcade in Delhi only indicate the upmarket nature of the trade. A month ago, customs officials apprehended two Delhi woman from very affluent backgrounds with seven shahtoosh shawls and this May, some 46 shahtoosh shawls were seized from Delhi’s Hauz Khas area.

According to senior officials in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the problem in cracking down on this illegal activity is that these shawls can very easily be concealed — they are generallymixed with other kinds of shawls and smuggled in. “It often gets difficult to distinguish between shahtoosh and other wool, but we take the help of experts if we are in doubt,” says A.K. Pandey, director general, DRI.

Internationally, Italy, France and Britain are known to be some of the bigger markets for the trade in shahtoosh, although the shawls and accessories made of this wool are becoming increasingly popular among the elites of other western countries as well.

Despite the fact that the chiru is listed under the IUCN red list of threatened animals, and is also covered under the appendix 1 of CITES, or the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which prohibits international trade and commercial trade in these species, the illegal trade in shahtoosh has only grown.

Conservationists say that there is a need for a concerted effort to check the smuggling of shahtoosh. Says Ashok Kumar, of the Wildlife Preservation Society of India, “Most of thepoaching is done in China but the Chinese government has expressed its inability to check it because of a lack of infrastructure. The international community therefore should make a concerted effort to help the authorities there in tackling the problem of chiru poaching.”

It’s time that some public awareness on the issue is created internationally so that the demand for the wool dwindles. The trade in ivory, for instance, was discouraged largely because of an effective global campaign against it. But immediately the government must put in place a stringent enforcement mechanism and a specialised unit to check smuggling in shahtoosh. The tardy nature of legal proceedings against shahtoosh traders has not helped either. Perhaps the setting up of special wildlife protection courts to deal with such cases should also be considered. Experts claim that to date there hasn’t been a single conviction in a case involving shatoosh smuggling — an eloquent pointer to the inadequate policing system.

The chiru needsall the help that we can extend to it. Otherwise, there may soon come a time when it won’t be around to need protection any more.

Meanwhile, the case drags on…

The chiru is listed under schedule 1 of India’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Any hunting and trade in any part of the species is banned in India and is punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years and a fine of Rs 5,000 apart from the mandatory confiscation of the product.

The state of J&K is the only state where the trade is legal. However, a writ in the Delhi High Court challenging this is pending. The J&K Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah has gone on record as saying that he will ensure that the trade is not banned as long as he is in power. On a recent hearing of the case, fixed for August 10, the state government’s attorney failed to turn up. The date of the next hearing has been put off till October 5.