The Karakoram Highway has adversely affected the socio-economic prospects of the North
FOR centuries, the ancient Silk Route was one of the few land links connecting Northern Areas with the outside world; the armies of Alexander, the early pilgrim taking Buddhism to China, caravans of spice and silk traders, and mysterious explorers-cum-spies playing out the ‘Great Game’ of imperial rivalry between the Russian and British empires have all trodden this path.
All these people who explored the adventure of this route, along with exotic merchandise brought new idea and influences instrumental in shaping the way people think and see. The process of change in the Northern Areas, which had been extremely slow due to geographic constraints suddenly, speeded up with the conversion of this historical route into Karakoram Highway (KKH) in early 1980s. An unprecedented influx of socio-cultural and economic change followed, which have had dramatic impact on the natural and human environment of the region. Initially, KKH, connecting Pakistan with China spurred feelings of openness, connectivity, hope and business opportunities. However, true potential of the KKH as a mean to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the broader NA society has yet to be realized.
Many people are of the opinion that the KKH besides bringing in loads of Chinese toys and other consumer goods has brought far-reaching impacts on the livelihood of the once self-sufficient mountain communities.
The Highway has not only altered the work pattern but has changed the way people use to look at their subsistence aquiculture, depletion of agriculture and natural resources they fear will lead to further out migration of the indigenous communities.
“If we construct a channel here, which brings twelve kanals of land under cultivation, that thing can stop our people from fleeing the villages; electricity will not stop people here. Similarly, ten trees may stop someone from moving out but a television set or dish on the roof cannot do it, our problem is stomach. I would say that natural resources are something, which can stop us and bread us here, but instead of improving and developing it we are destroying them, the more we will bring destruction to them, the more we are hurting our chances of living here”, says a visibly concern Aga Yahya Shah, 72 from Nagar in the Gilgit district.
To understand his anxiety and insecurity, you will have to sit with him, talk to him and look at the life around him from his lenses. His concern is very basic and understandable, each time the road is blocked by the increasingly unpredictable weather system, panic and despair runs across the region. Tomatoes? Rs200/- per kilo. Onion Rs150/- per kg. Flour? Try the next shop. Milk? Try find a dairy. So on and so forth. That is how it went in the dusty bazaars of Gilgit and Skardu, when the Karakoram Highway (KKH) got blocked for few weeks during May this year. Suddenly, life in the mountains become so unpredictable, insecure and helpless. How often, have we seen images of helicopters transporting stranded women, men and children from the KKH to Gilgit on our TV screens? How often have we came across images of C130 aircraft lifting petrol and diesel for Skardu?
In recent years, a strange mix of earthquakes, storms and untimely rain and snow continue to rock life in the Northern Areas. People are gradually awaking to the fact that they have become much more vulnerable, and dependent on many things; market, weather, aids, assistant, you name it. Difficult it might have been, twenty years back they did not have lots of cash, they had to work hard on their subsistence agriculture, use to grow their own fruits, keep cattle, they were in fact quite oblivious to any external upheavals, always have had sufficient foodstuff available year round. Their health, as the older ones claim, were in much better shape than it is today.
“Before we had pure food, we did not use urea, but traditional manure. Earlier we had apricot kernel oil and local butter. Today people sell these things and buy Dalda and sarsoo oil from market to cook” explains Nafas Khan from Drapuke, Ghizer.
Today they have colour television, many own cars, have hospitals, schools, but are much more vulnerable and dependent. Their health is going down, they do not enjoy the longevity they use to some twenty years back. So where do we stand, are we more rich or more poor? They need someone to turn up and define poverty for them, does it mean figures, data and indices or is there something much more and much deeper to it.
Improved access to the region, growing population, haphazard urbanization, soil erosion and rampant use of agro-chemicals and subsequent depletion of natural resources have been major factors impacting upon the substance agriculture, resultantly, changing the food production and supply system followed by the communities for a long time.
Up till 1970s, people of the region lived a rather secluded life, like other traditional mountain societies they tilled small alluvial slopes and terraced fields to grow food crops, comprised mainly of maize, wheat and barley. Cultivation was mainly carried out in the valley bottoms irrigated by water springs and glaciers melt streams and rivers. Fruit trees constitute important part of the diet, drying vegetable and fruit during summer enabling families to store food for the winter was a common practice. In summers, people in many parts of Gilgit and Baltistan, use to eat only fresh fruit for the lunch, enabling them to save on cereals and also firewood for winter. Though in general, land holding per capita is a meagre one to two kanals or 0.074ha and the about 75 per cent of the agriculture areas falls under single crop area and the remaining 25 per cent in double cropping area which limits the agriculture production. But those were the days of comparative isolation, when the Karakoram Highway was only a pony trek, when development in its multidimensional forms and manifestation had not arrived.
Things have transformed since than, not only has the number of people living in the valleys outstripped food resources, but also, there has been a major shift in the whole gambit of livelihood and lifestyle of the people.
The self-sustain and independent local agro-pastoral economy is no more there, people are paying lesser attention to agriculture as such, they are interested more in getting a job as a teacher, policeman, army, work in an NGO, or run a hotel so that they could earn quick cash. Even if there are few serious farmers left, they are inclined to grow cash crops such as potato, sidelining the traditional wheat and maize, many of the traditional varieties of livestock, crops vegetable and fruits have been replaced by imported species, presumably of high yield. Although in some parts of the region these ‘interventions’ does seems to have worked and people are receiving a good flow of cash by selling their produce to down country. But then, as an old man said “It is right we have a good house, a TV and many other things in our home now. We have some cash as well. But can one eat these things or cash, when you know you will not have food in times of crises?”
Out migration is another major concern. An increasing number of younger people are moving out to bigger cities for a variety of reasons, this too, in some way putting greater stress and workload on older ones and the women folk.
Rapid population growth might be another key factor leading to the current situation where a mere million people despite having plenty of water, land and human resources cannot meet its basic food requirements. Population growth of the areas is hovering around three per cent, which is higher than the national rate of 2.4 per cent meaning in a decade, or so we will see 35 per cent more people living in NA. Given the current rate of food crops depletion there is the likelihood of graver food security problems in the years to come. A slight roadblock or any other eventuality like border conflict can cause a famine like situation. Already the local administration has accorded priority to the upgradation of the agriculture sector, many non-government organizations have also achieved success in select areas.
What is needed here, is a comprehensive and sustainable effort on part of all three stakeholders, Government, NGOs and the communities to rise up and make collective effort to revive the over all agriculture base through an integrated agricultural development programme. All local, national, international and government organizations need to work with the communities to think beyond the traditional frontiers of development and establish mechanisms to safeguard against rampant globalization, climate change and degradation of natural resources.
Meanwhile a more holistic effort is need to improve traditional and emerging allied sectors like water management, reclamation of land, poultry, fisheries, forests, pastures, livestock and fruit culture in the region. A dedicated programme to rehabilitate existing irrigation system and to explore innovative means to irrigate the barren lands along major rivers and streams may provide a sound basis for food security situation.
While doing so, it would be pertinent to keep in mind that food security does not mean availability or otherwise, of foodstuff in quantitative terms, a concerted effort on the part of all concern is required to improve the quality of food available to the people. The current wave of modernization and commercialization prevailing in the region has done more damage than improving the ‘livelihood’ of the communities. Communities instead of consuming the valuable indigenous vegetable and fruits, now are more interested in selling them to earn cash. But cash to buy what? People have already started posing seemingly innocent questions. ‘What will we do with the money, if we do not have atta, ghee and shakkar in the market, medicines in the shops? What will happen when part of the Karakoram Highway will go into Indus again?’.... they ask.
The Karakoram Highway has adversely affected the socio-economic prospects of the North 
