Welcome to Hunza

Baltit Fort breaks the monotony of mud-rock houses of Hunzakuts. It is situated on the top of a hill from where it overlooks the whole valley. The fort was built some 600 years ago. It is entirely made of stones, supported by timber beams and plastered over with sun-dried mud. Elders of Hunza tell that a Balti princess was married with the Mir of Hunza. She brought Balti masons and artisans to build this fort as a dowry item. The fort remained the palace and family home of the Mirs until 1960 when a witch came to reside in it. The royal family shifted to a new granite palace. The fort has been well kept. It maintains a museum, library and a nice restaurant. The credit goes to the Agha Khan Trust for Culture.

Baltit Fort is three-storey building with 53 rooms. The main gate opens into a dark hall or corridor on the ground floor. There are guest rooms, kitchens, storerooms, prisons and living rooms attached to this corridor. A wooden staircase goes up through a square opening in the floor above.

The second floor has family apartments, reception rooms, royal court, arms depot and guards' chambers. A balcony presents a fascinating view of the valley. Another ladder takes to the roof. This is the best spot to view the famous peak of Rakaposhi that rises straight out of cultivated fields and reaches 7788 meters in the sky. Behind the fort, the Karakorum rises in a series of needle-sharp peaks. The most famous of them is lady's finger. Locals also call it Bulbuli's peak, after a legendary Hunza princess. The peak is so steep that even snow cannot sustain on its top. Thus, the black peak stands in contrast with its snow covered neighbors.

Altit Fort hovers on a rocky cliff with a 300 meters deep plunge into the Hunza River. The fort resembles Baltit Fort in its construction. The main entrance leads to the ground floor. It has a few storerooms, dark and sinister. A trapdoor leads to basement. Here a former Mir murdered his brothers to capture the throne. The basement was also used to keep prisoners who were later thrown out into the river. The second floor consists of family apartments and royal court, kitchen and bathroom. A staircase leads to the roof. There stands a watchtower with beautifully carved doors and windows. The tower was made in 1503 A.D. To the right of the tower is an ammunition depot and to the left is a small mosque. The fort has mysterious and awful environment.

A similar compound of a fort, watchtower and mosque is situated in Ganesh village. Its history is not known. Another worth visiting site is the sacred rock of Ganesh.

Hunzakuts are photogenic and look very attractive in their traditional dresses. Men wear baggy shalwar and qameez with a typical rolled woolen cap called pattu. A long coat or blanket is worn in winter. Women wear bright clothes: a long shirt over baggy trousers and an embroidered hat, over which they drape a shawl. They do not observe veil and work as equals in fields and homes. Hunzakuts get a little time for entertainment as they spend more time at work. Nevertheless, they celebrate many festivals of harvesting and sowing. They like to sing and dance at weddings. Their local orchestra consists of a big drum, kettle drums and pipes.

Hunzakuts are simple and contented. They still believe in fairies and supernatural powers. Their folk tales and songs are based on accounts of fairies. They are humble and hardworking. Fear, fatigue and crime are not known to them. Christine Osborne relates a very interesting incident to show the simplicity of life in Hunza,

"Out for a stroll, I passed an elderly woman struggling uphill with tins of sloshing water. Instinctively I took them, motioning her to lead as she hopped from rock to rock like a tiny ibex. Her small house stood on a cliff in upper Karimabad. It was clean, but lacked any comforts. She had a roof over her head, but with only a bedroll, a plate and mug, she owned little more than a nomad. Squatting on the dirt floor, she spoke through the usual boy interpreter. She lived alone, never wore shoes. And her age? 'Three hundred and ten', he said in perfectly accented English!"

Though exaggerated, longevity of the Hunzakuts is proverbial. In Hunza, one may come across many old people at the peak of their health. When asked their ages, they will not set it below ninety. One hundred is not a rare figure. However, according to the research of Dr. Muller Stellrecht, tales of people living great ages are not true. Some may survive to live seventy and even ninety years but tales of centenarians are false. Somehow, Hunzakuts are healthy and strong. It is largely due to their vegetarian diet of cereals and fruits. They do suffer from goiter, tuberculosis and bronchitis but mostly meet their natural deaths.

Hunzakuts live in gray mud-rock houses. Most of the houses have two or three stories. The people live in lower storey in winter and upper storey in summer. Usually, they do not keep windows or ventilators but a skylight in the roof. Houses face west with their backs to cold Ultar Glacier. Verandas and roofs are used for drying apricot and maize.

Cattle breeding and farming are popular professions in Hunza. Sheep, goats, yak and horses are domestic animals. Hunzakuts use sheep wool and goat hair to spin a rough cloth. This is used to weave caps and long coats. Traditions are still intact. Men spin goat hair and women only sheep's wool. Despite brief summer, industrious people of Hunza cultivate two crops a year. They work in terraced fields, which rise from the foot of hills to the top. Each terrace is walled with stones. Hunzakuts work long hours in their fields moving from one terrace to the other. One can count as many as thirty terraces in a single field.

Before the British occupation, a reasonable arms industry also existed in Hunza. Skillful craftsmen used to manufacture old muzzle-loading rifles. However, the profession is dying out slowly. Christine Osborne cites General Hamid's interesting description of the old rifles in these words:

"There is nothing like it in the rest of the world…The trigger is fixed somewhere near the end of the butt. When it is pulled, it brings down a big semi-circular hammer. The trigger and hammer are so situated that an inexperienced man using the gun might have his nose caught between the hammer and the butt… The owner of the gun has to carry such additional items required in connection with the firing… a pouch for the gunpowder, pieces of iron or garnets to be used as pellets, a piece of flint, an iron edge tightly secured in a wooden handle, cotton wool for wicks etc… A wick impregnated with a little powder is tied to the cocked hammer of the gun…When the trigger is pulled the dangling wick descends. When it correctly falls into the upper recess containing some powder, spark is produced which, traveling inward into the barrel, fires off the main charge. It will thus be seen that several conditions must get fulfilled before the gun can be made to fire… any bird or animal which allows itself to be shot with this gun deserves death… the animal must be either asleep, deaf…and requested to keep still for a few minutes while the whole process of shooting is gone through."

HUNZA, October 13: Muhammad Ayub of the Zarar company of Special Service Group (SSG) who was martyred in encounter with terrorists during the siege of GHQ Rawalpindi were laid to rest with military honours in his native village Haiderabad Hunza on Tuesday. Ayub was 30 years old and married two years back. He had a one and half year old daughter. His younger brother was also seriously wounded in Swat Operation against the Taliban.

The corpse of the martyred was brought to Karimabad Hunza through an Army helicopter where hundreds of people from all over Hunza along with the representatives of local administration received it.




Addressing to a huge gathering the speakers said that Ayub has added a new chapter in the history of the bravery of the people of Hunza. Colonel Feroz, Station Commander Pakistan Army said that about 30 soldiers from Gilgit-Baltistan have sacrificed their lives during the Swat operation. His heart is with the shaheed's family, he added. Dr. Inamullah Baig while representing the bereaved family thanked Pakistan Army and the Government of Pakistan for providing all possible facilitation to bring the corpse to Hunza. He said the people of Hunza are always at the front line to defend the motherland.



Later senior civil and military officials beside large number of citizens participated in the funeral prayer of the martyrs. The floral wreaths were laid on the grave on the part of Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, President Asif Ali Zardari and regiment.



Talking to media, the father of Shaheed Ayub, Ex Hawaldar Muhammad Ismail said "he is lucky that his son has embraced the noble status of Shahadat while defending the motherland". He said Ayub has followed the footstep of his grandfather who embraced Shahadat 1948. The brother of the shaheed said he will follow the footstep of his elder brother and will soon join his regiment after recovering from the injuries got during Swat Operation. He had also taken part in lal masjid operation.

Lalak Jan Shaahed (Urdu: w1967 - 7 July 1999) was born in Yasin, Ghizer District, in the Northern Areas, Pakistan. After school he joined the Pakistan Army, and reached the rank of Havaldar.

As a junior officer in the Northern Light Infantry, Jan fought against India in the Kargil War of 1999. He volunteered to be deployed on the front lines and drove back a number of attacks by the Indian army.Tiger Hill in the Kargil Sector had been occupied by ~130 men of 12 NLI (Northern Light Infantry) unit of the Pakistan Army. One of these men was Subedar Sikander, the person who was responsible, with ~130 other men, to hold back India's offensive long enough to force the Division at Siachen to retreat. His 2IC (Second in Command) was Havaldar Major Lalak Jan.The ~130 men of 12 NLI were told by Subedar Sikander to change their positions while firing back at the attacking Indian forces. As the men followed the orders, they managed to bluff the Indians into believing that the size of the force was much more than ~100.

On 1st of July, 1999, the 18 Grenadiers Battalion (India) launched a fierce attack on Tiger Hill by virtue of artillery shelling of the occupied bunkers. Subedar Sikandar placed his men in such positions that they managed to repulse the attack without any loss of life on their own part. It is not known how many men were lost by the 18 Grenadiers Battalion.

On the morning of 2 July 1999, amidst the mist, the 18 Grenadiers launched another attack on Tiger Hills. Subedar Sikandar ordered his men to retreat to a secret bunker. Once the men were safe, he ordered Lalak Jan to descend Tiger Hill, and amidst the Indian Artillery shelling plant the landmines in the area in front of the Indians. The impossibility of the task was realized by all, but the Subedar insisted that the army has sent them down to fight, and that they would have to complete this task if they were to make a dent in the Indian offensive. Planting the landmines was the only way for them to damage the Indian armor and artillery, as none of the 130 men of 12 NLI had any heavy weaponry except(RPG-7) . The Subedar insisted that the mist would help Lalak Jan as well, and the Indians would not be expecting it either.

Accepting the daunting task, Lalak Jan descended Tiger Hills am