2011 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award Winners: Award of Distinction: Altit Fort, Hunza, Pakistan

Altit Fort, Hunza, Pakistan

The restoration of Altit Fort represents yet another step forward in the model of community-based conservation practice that has been evolving in the body of work of the Aga Khan Cultural Service of Pakistan. This prominent landmark, dating back one thousand years, has been restored from an abandoned ruin into a vibrant community centerpiece through a careful step-by-step strategy. Meticulous historical research and scientific investigation informed the conservation work, which successfully tackled a complex array of problems. Today the building has regained its iconic place in the Hunza Valley and now serves as a beacon to inspire future generations.

via http://www.unescobkk.org/fr/culture/wh/unesco-asia-pacific-heritage-awards-for-culture-heritage-conservation/2011-heritage-awards/award-winners/.
Earlier related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/aga-khan-trust-for-culture-receives-2011-unesco-award-for-culture-heritage-conservation/

Aga Khan Trust for Culture Receives 2011 UNESCO Award for Culture Heritage Conservation

Bangkok, 1 September 2011 – The restoration of Altit Fort in Pakistan, an Aga Khan Trust for Culture project undertaken by the Aga Khan Cultural Service, has received an Award of Distinction at the 2011 UNESCO Asian-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

Conservation works for the 900-year-old Altit Fort focused on mending structural defects, stabilising and repairing existing walls, replacing some roofs, treating wood decay and providing appropriate lighting.

via http://www.akdn.org – Photographs

Imamat Day at Gulmit (via PAMIR TIMES)

Images: Asghar Khan, Taken on: July 11, 2010 … Read More

via PAMIR TIMES

Hunza: Imamat Day begins at the Polo Ground in Karimabad

http://twitter.com/HumaImtiaz/statuses/18335492182

Earlier: Imamat Day Celebrations in Hunza, latest photographs by Huma Imtiaz

Salgirah in the times of disaster (via PAMIR TIMES)

PT Report Hunza: Thousands of people in the disaster hit Hunza Valley joined their Ismaili brothers and sisters across the globe in celebrating the 53rd Imamat Day on July 11, a ceremony symbolizing H.H. The Aga Khan’s accession to the throne of Imamat. Grand celebrations were held in Shishkat and Gulmit, two of the worst affected villages of Gojal valley. IDPs of Attabad celebrated Imamat Day at the remaining part of Attabad village. The IDPs ha … Read More

via PAMIR TIMES

Imamat Day Celebrations in Hunza, latest photographs by Huma Imtiaz

With many thanks to Huma Imtiaz who took these latest photographs. She’s a journalist in Pakistan and is currently traveling in Hunza.

http://twitter.com/HumaImtiaz
http://humaimtiaz.wordpress.com/

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People of Northern Areas of Pakistan – Flickr

Some exceptional and recent photographs from Altit Village in Hunza Valley and other parts of the Northern areas of Pakistan.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bag_lady/sets/72157619703830547/

Gulbtur (Batura Valley) Hunza

Gulbtur (Batura Valley) provides beautiful scenery to foreign and local tourists. It attracts people from all over the world to Hunza valley. Thousands of tourists travel Batura every year, because it is one of the famous and 2nd longest glaciers of the wold.

http://gulbtur.wordpress.com/about/

Inside the Baltit Fort Hunza – BBC Urdu

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/04/100427_hunza_baltit_fort_pics.shtml

Courtesy find: Pamirtimes.net

A Mass Wedding in Northern Pakistan

I reread the crumpled wedding invitation for what must be the twelfth time: 10:00 a.m. I look at my watch: 1:00 p.m. Over a thousand guests sit sweating under the tent, waiting for the festivities to begin.

Pakistani weddings tend to run late, and I shouldn’t be surprised that a wedding involving five brides, five grooms and all of their extended family members would start even later than usual.

I don’t know any of the people getting married today; I was invited by a worker from the Aga Khan Development Foundation, the NGO that is putting on this mass marriage shebang.

via A Mass Wedding in Northern Pakistan.

Shaheen Guides and Scouts push cleaning drive « Al Shams

HUNZA, Brashall, April 21: Shia Imami Ismaili Shaheen Scouts and shaheen guides, a subsidiary of Girls guide are on cleaning environment compaign in order to keep planet clean.

via K.B.Shaheen Guides and Scouts push cleaning drive to keep planet clean « Al Shams.

Expat Heather – Travel addict, international educator and freelance writer

There are some interesting photographs and articles available about her travels to Northern parts of Pakistan.  Visit her website and browse around.

Kids in Altit village

http://www.expatheather.com

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/expatheather

Wall of water could engulf Shangri-La – The Independent

A seven-mile lake formed by a massive landslide in north-east Pakistan is threatening to burst its banks and sweep through a valley, wiping out villages and endangering 45,000 people who live downstream.

Engineers are racing to build a channel at the top of the natural dam, formed by a landslide in early January which killed 19 people and blocked the Hunza River.

–snip–

The villagers, mostly Ismaili Muslims whose spiritual leader is the Aga Khan, are losing their homes, orchards and fields as the waters rise. And the lake has not only taken people’s land away, it has also cut off the 25,000 population living in the Gojal region of Hunza from the rest of the country and severed a vital trading route with China.

More: Wall of water could engulf Shangri-La – Asia, World – The Independent.

Spring blossom in Hunza

http://pamirtimes.net/2010/03/30/pictory-spring-blossom-in-hunza/

Ismaili Scouts in Hunza

Further details and video at the source: http://gbtimes.wordpress.com/

All related: /category/scouts-community-activities/

Beauty of Hunza, Gilgit and Baltistan

Education in Hunza, by Dr Shahid Siddiqui

Hunza’s success story shows that difficulties can be overcome if the leadership has political will.

No doubt Hunza, known for its fruit orchards, lofty mountains, panoramic meadows and breathtaking beauty, is a major tourist attraction, but it is equally interesting to explore the educational initiatives that have empowered the local community there and set an example for other areas.

Those who are familiar with the difficult terrain and relatively scarce resources in Hunza would be pleasantly surprised to know that the literacy rate in Hunza is around 77 per cent. This must have been unthinkable when the first primary school was established there in 1913 by the British in India. The single-most important factor that transformed the educational scene in Hunza was the contribution of Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, who convinced the then Mirs of Hunza state to place greater emphasis on education.

More http://shahidksiddiqui.blogspot.com.

Video report on Hunza landsliding situation

In Urdu.

Race to save Pakistan’s ‘Shangri-La’ valley from devastating flash flood

ISLAMABAD // Army engineers are battling against time and the threat of seismic shakes to save a 500km stretch of northern Pakistan from being devastated by a potential flash flood.

The threat has been building since January 4, when a massive landslide temporarily dammed a river in the mountainous area of Hunza, widely believed to be the inspiration for the fictional kingdom of Shangri-La, creating a lake that continues to rise steadily.

The landslide removed 120 metres of mountainside, destroyed the village of Ata-abad, killing 19 residents, isolated 25,000 residents upriver from the landslide-dam, and severed a two-kilometre stretch of the Karakorum Highway, Pakistan’s only land link with China.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100316/FOREIGN/703159836/1103/NEWS

Emergency plan to rescue people affected by Hunza River blockade

Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi Tuesday issued directives to the concerned authorities to immediately prepare an emergency plan to rescue people who are at high risk due to blockade of Hunza River as a result of large-scale landslide.

Speaking at an interactive session held here he asked FWO, NESPAK, NDMA and other authorities to carry out a comprehensive study on perceived impacts of landslide that may cause critical situation for 15,000 people of the area.

The meeting was attended by stakeholders including chief secretary and hoe secretary Gilgit Baltistan, joint secretary of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, additional secretary of the Ministry of Interior, joint secretary KA&GB, representatives of Wapda, ERRA, Agha Khan Development Network, FOCUS, NESPAK, Ministry of Water and Power and Secretary Ministry of Environment Javed Malik, Additional Secretary Kamran Ali Qureshi, D G Environment Javed Ali Khan and other officials of the environment ministry.

via Afridi orders emergency plan to rescue people: thenews.com.pk.

Pakistan « Pat Deavoll

–excerpt–

It was only when we reached the Hunza Valley we began to see other women, in colourful shalwa-kameez, some bare-headed, walking in the streets, either with their husbands or in happy chatting groups. We puzzled over this until Baig explained that Hunza is predominantly populated by Ismailies, who practice the most moderate form of Islam.

“I’m Ismailie myself,” he told us, with a big grin. “We Ismailies are very liberal, and we are very very tolerant of tourists and western woman.”

The Ismaelie constitution is based on an allegiance to Imam Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, he said, and is the most moderate of the forms of Islam. The Aga Khan is particularly interested in eliminating poverty and advancing the status of women. His values have given rise to a tolerance of western ideals amongst the Hunza people that’s remained steady despite the fundamental resurgence. He has established hospitals, universities, communtity centres and irrigation schemes in Hunza and is adored by everyone, Baig no exception.

via Pakistan « Pat Deavoll.

PBDE’s and the Mary Beth Doyle Act: Story of a visit to Hunza

Mary Beth was not a professional scientist, but she was a keen observer. She danced through life. If I could teach anything in science class, it would be how to open your senses to the world. She did just that.

Twenty years ago today, Mary Beth and I arrived in the fabled Hunza Valley, the model for Shangri-La, in northern Pakistan. We stayed in a town on a cliff 4,000 feet above the valley floor, in a hotel that cost about 5 bucks with a view of 4-mile-tall Himalayan peaks.

–snip–

Later, we shared this experience: that evening, Hunza was celebrating an Ismaili Muslim festival. After sundown, people scaled the surrounding mountains and set bonfires. As the peaks faded into the night, the whole valley – dozens of miles long, and thousands of feet deep – came alive with bonfires. The sight left even MB speechless. Unforgettable stuff like this made Pakistan her favorite location of the whole year we spent in Asia.

Read at the source: http://doyle-scienceteach.blogspot.com/2010/01/pbdes-and-mary-beth-doyle-act.html

Hunza, Pakistan

via Katherine Neumann collection on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katherineneumann/sets/72157603984971637/

People decry govt inaction as lake threat rises | Dawn News

HUNZA, Jan 23: It is 23 days since the massive landslide hit Atabad village, blocking the Karakoram Highway (KKH), the only land link between China and Pakistan, bringing to a halt the civic and commercial life in Gojal. With the passage of time, shops, stores, and health units are running out of stocks of food and other daily use items and medicines.

An artificial lake has formed on the Hunza River inundating a number of villages in Gojal. The rise in the level of lake water is endangering thousands of lives upstream and downstream in other parts of Hunza-Nagar and Gilgit districts.

The people while praising government for its quick relief operation and airlifting of food to Gojal are highly critical of the pace of work in releasing the lake water.

“There is a threat of sudden outburst of the lake,” said an official involved in the relief operation and monitoring of the post-disaster situation quoting a latest report prepared by Wapda experts. “The outburst of the lake can generate a wave of 20 to 30 meters high which can wipe out settlements and installations downstream,”

More: http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=24_01_2010_184_001

Attabad Hunza Jamat Khana Pictures after the landslide of Jan 4, 2010

Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Jan 25, 2010

Attabad JamatKhana pic taken after Jan 2010 landslide	Attabad JamatKhana pic taken after Jan 2010 landslide
Attabad JamatKhana pic taken after Jan 2010 landslide	Attabad JamatKhana pic taken after Jan 2010 landslide
Diamond Jubilee School Attabad pic taken after Jan 2010 landslide	Diamond Jubilee School Attabad still survives near the edge of the slided portion of the village
The Upper Attabad Jamat Khana survived at the safe portion of the village whereas the JamatKhana in Lower Attabad buried beneath the debris of the devastating landslides of Jan 04

Related blog posts at Ismailimail and other blogs on WordPress
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/tag/landslide/
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/attabad/
For up-to-date reporting, visit http://pamirtimes.net/