By Syed Shamsuddin The glaciers of Bagrote, tucked within the breathtaking valley in close proximity to Gilgit, the provincial capital of Gilgit-Baltistan , are among the most striking natural features of this high-mountain landscape. Today, however, they have become equally striking—and deeply disturbing—indicators of a rapidly changing climate. The transformation is particularly poignant for those who witnessed these glaciers in their former grandeur. When still in his teens, this scribe personally witnessed, with his own eyes, some six decades ago, a landscape vastly different from that of today. At the time, the glacier lay barely a stone’s throw from both Bulcheh and Chira , its icy mass reaching astonishingly close to the settled areas. Indeed, at Pacheh in Chira , the advancing glacier had encroached so far upon the route that the track was, at times, rendered completely impassable. This firsthand recollection, preserved in liv...
By Syed Shamsuddin Until the early 1960s, there existed in Gilgit-Baltistan a practice that older generations still recall with remarkable clarity. It was known locally as "Hankah." The word evokes memories not merely of hunting, but of an entire administrative culture inherited from the princely states of Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, Punial, and the Dogra and British administrations that later governed the region. Today, the term has almost disappeared from public memory, surviving only in the recollections of elderly villagers. The Hankah was not an ordinary hunting expedition. It was a carefully organized driven hunt conducted for rulers, governors, political agents, military commanders, or distinguished visitors who wished to enjoy the sport of hunting wild game, particularly the Chukar Partridge ( Alectoris chukar ) , the national bird of Pakistan and one of the most abundant game birds of the rocky mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan....