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.
A Royal Command
Whenever an influential officer planned a hunting excursion, advance information would be conveyed to the local administrative officials—Patwaris, Numberdars, village headmen, or representatives of the ruling Mir or Raja.
The selected village was usually one where Chukars were known to inhabit the surrounding cliffs and dry mountain slopes in considerable numbers.
The order was simple.
The villagers were required to assemble early in the morning.
No one questioned the instruction.
During the eras of the local rulers, followed by the Dogra administration and later the British Political Agency, such compulsory public service formed part of the broader system of state obligations. Similar obligations existed under the institution of begar, whereby villagers were compelled to provide labour, porters, guides, and transport for officials and visiting sportsmen.
How the Hankah Was Conducted
The hunting party would first occupy a favourable position overlooking a ravine, hillside, or mountain pass.
Meanwhile dozens—and sometimes even hundreds—of villagers spread themselves across a wide area behind the birds.
At an agreed signal, the villagers advanced in a broad line.
They shouted loudly.
Some clapped their hands.
Others struck stones together or waved cloths and branches.
The objective was not to kill the birds but to create sufficient disturbance to force the entire flock to take flight toward the waiting hunters.
As the frightened Chukars rose suddenly into the air, the distinguished guest fired with a shotgun into the flying flock.
The villagers later collected the fallen birds and presented them to the hunter.
The entire event was therefore less a test of hunting skill than an organized demonstration made possible by the compulsory participation of local communities.
A Tradition Older than the British
Although many associate such hunting expeditions with the British Political Agency established after 1889, the institution itself appears to be considerably older.
The rulers of Hunza, Nagar, Punial, Yasin and neighbouring principalities had long organized communal hunting expeditions for themselves and honoured guests.
The British inherited many existing administrative customs rather than creating them anew.
Colonial hunting literature repeatedly describes the dependence of British sportsmen upon local guides, porters and villagers for locating and driving game in the mountains of Gilgit and Baltistan. Numerous accounts also record the resentment felt by villagers who were compelled to provide these services.
The Meaning of "Hankah"
The exact linguistic origin of the word remains uncertain.
Across the Indian subcontinent, particularly in old hunting literature, the related word "Hanka" referred to a beat or driven hunt, in which men advanced in line to drive animals toward waiting hunters.
The Gilgit-Baltistan pronunciation gradually evolved into Hankah, preserving the same essential meaning.
Among Shina-speaking communities, no standardized published Shina equivalent has yet been identified. It is possible that individual valleys once used their own indigenous expressions, but these have largely disappeared from common usage. This remains an important subject for linguistic fieldwork among elderly Shina speakers and custodians of oral tradition.
A Social Obligation Rather than Recreation
For the visiting officer, the Hankah represented sport and prestige.
For the villagers, however, it was a compulsory communal obligation.
Attendance was generally expected.
Refusal was rarely an option.
The event therefore reflected the hierarchical relationship between the rulers and the ruled.
Yet many elderly residents remember these occasions without bitterness. The Hankah often became a village gathering where neighbours worked collectively, exchanged news, and later shared stories of remarkable shots or unusually large flocks of Chukars.
The End of an Era
Following the administrative reforms of the 1960s and particularly after the abolition of the princely states in the early 1970s, the institution of compulsory village participation gradually disappeared.
Simultaneously, wildlife conservation laws became progressively stricter.
Today, indiscriminate hunting of Chukars and other wildlife is prohibited except under regulated legal frameworks. Modern wildlife management in Gilgit-Baltistan emphasizes scientific conservation and community-based protection rather than ceremonial hunting expeditions.
A Subject Worth Preserving
The story of the Hankah deserves documentation before it disappears entirely with the passing of the generation that witnessed it.
It represents far more than a hunting technique. It illustrates the functioning of traditional administration, the authority exercised by rulers and political officers, the communal obligations of mountain villages, and the changing relationship between humans and wildlife over more than a century.
Future historians and linguists would perform a valuable service by interviewing elderly Shina speakers in Gilgit, Astore, Diamer, Punial, and adjacent valleys to determine whether an original Shina name for this practice survives in oral memory. Such research may reveal forgotten vocabulary that has never entered written literature.
In preserving the memory of the Hankah, Gilgit-Baltistan preserves an important chapter of its administrative, cultural, and environmental history—one that links the age of the Mirs and Rajas, the British Political Agency, and the early decades of Pakistan with the living traditions of its mountain communities.
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