I WAS on a four-wheeler, going through a dirt road that zigzagged from Ziarat to Chaotair, a valley famous for its scenic natural beauty. I was accompanied by one of my students, Samad, a resident of the area.
I, like others who visit the valley in summer, found it thrilling and exciting. Surrounded by thick juniper and pine trees, Chaotair is different from other valleys of the country because of its scenic beauty, wildlife and the cultural norms adopted by the people. The change in weather also brings about a change in the valley and the life of the people there. From a cool and pleasant ambiance in summers, things take a turn for the nasty in winters which can be pretty harsh. Strong chilly winds, known as Russi or Siberian wind, makes life almost intolerable.
The valley is commonly known among the inhabitants as “a land of junipers, orchards, sheep, wolves and snow”. When a grey-haired resident was asked why it was known as such, he answered: “The area is surrounded by thick juniper trees. The apple and cheery orchards grow along the valley, and majority of the population keep sheep for a livelihood. The area is teeming with wolves, and we see heavy snowfall every year.”
A naib-tehsildar of the area added: “The valley does not have any heating facilities, and a large area is without electricity.”
The Chaotair valley starts about seven kilometres in the east of Ziarat towards Loralai. Though Chaotair is a small village, the whole valley is named after it. The valley is around 20 kilometres long, with a thick belt of four to seven kilometres on either sides of the road. Its altitude ranges from 7,000 to 10,000 feet. A small guest house at Chaotair village, established by the British government in 1927, is the only official and reasonably equipped place to stay in. There are a number of stories and scandals linked to it.
The road passing through the Chaotair valley is not metalled, although work in it has begun. “The main reason why not many people have travelled to the Chaotair is the poor state of roads in the area. And the scarcity of motels or hotels also does not help much,” said a person from the tourism department in Ziarat. To him, only a few of those who visited Ziarat in the past years have ventured on to Chaotair.
According to Mr Nawab Tareen, a former MPA from Balochistan who was planning to establish a motel a few kilometres from Ziarat, tourism in Chaotair valley is difficult to promote due to the sorry state of roads. This, basically, is a problem that common all over Balochistan. Chaotair’s distance is not more than 400km from Multan, however, the condition of the road is such that people are reluctant to drive on them.
The Chaotair valley, like the rest of Balochistan, is sparsely populated. The total population of the area, according to the 1981 census, was not more than 20,000. Only a few people who own land in cultivable terrain and have grown orchards, may be well-off financially. But majority of them live in poverty and the major source of livelihood for them is either sheep-raising or farming. The literacy rate is very low, particularly for the females. The percentage of female education in the area is below one per cent. People live in mud houses close to each other and as the area is hilly, the villages are not large.
According to a sociologist: “They live in groups as they have been doing so for centuries. Most of the villagers are closely related to each other.” The whole population of the valley is Pashto-speaking. Nonetheless, their accent is different from those the other Pathans.
The people of Chaotair still live a semi-nomadic life, as a large number of the population migrate in winters to plain areas of Sibi and Loralai divisions. “The winters are very cold and windy. Life becomes more miserable without heating and electricity arrangements. We migrate to warm areas not only as an escape from winters, but in search for pasture, too,” declared a resident of Chaotair valley. According to him, few people are left behind in the valley during the winters. Their duties include guarding the houses, looking after the orchards/farms, and shovelling snow off the roofs in winters. “They are usually young persons left behind in winters for these duties,” he added. “A young person is tough enough to bear such responsibilities in the harsh weather.”
Snow storms, common in January, bring heavy snow to the whole valley. Communication is disrupted and people are confined to their houses for weeks. According to the father of Samad, two years ago it snowed heavily. He would wake each night a number of times to shovel the snow off the roof, lest it collapsed under its weight. This often happens in winters. The only source of food left for a person under these circumstances is dried lamb meat and green tea. Wood stored in the summer provides the main source of heating.
“They may include the dry branches of juniper,” said a conservator of forests. For him, the ongoing debate regarding the conservation of the juniper is due to the fact that the people of the valley have been using juniper trees for heating arrangements over the ages. “The wood is highly inflammable. Therefore, people find it convenient in winter to cut its branches and burn them for heating and cooking.” According to him, there is almost no check on this by the forest department watchmen as the extreme weather retards their mobility. Consequently, the juniper forest covering the valley, the second largest in the world, has been reduced greatly in size during the last four decades. The destruction of the forests has alarmed the conservation agencies. The government introduced free and subsidized gas cylinders system to people living inside the forests. “The idea has been successful,” said Mr Hamad Aga, then the District Magistrate of Ziarat.
The period from May to October is ideal for camping, although the weather is bearable up to the mid of November. “Camping is not common in the Chaotair region due to the fact that visitors do not travel beyond Ziarat into the valley,” said Sadiqullah, the District Administration Officer of Ziarat. “In majority of the cases, campers are university/college students.”
Camping is possible in the lower terrain of the valley near the spring water or the mountain bed. However, camping on the mountain bed is inconvenient for mobility, and there may be a shortage of water. Some persons have even slipped down the mountain side, wounding themselves. The crime rate in the valley is very low. “People live peacefully, and seldom report a crime,” said a Levy officer from Ziarat. “They settle small grievances and law-breaking cases amongst themselves without turning to the law for help.”
The Chaotair valley is one of the beautiful valleys in the country, although little is known to the public about it. Having a long-stretching valley bed, covered by thick juniper forest, and surrounded by high mountain peaks, it can attract tourists if it is properly developed.
I WAS on a four-wheeler, going through a dirt road that zigzagged from Ziarat to Chaotair, a valley famous for its scenic natural beauty. I was accompanied by one of my students, Samad, a resident of the area.
