All about Bashir Ahmad Wafa – whose mission is to protect and conserve the Balti Language and culture in Kargil
There are about 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. Language is one of the most important parts of any culture and it helps people to communicate, build relationships, and create a sense of community. It has the power to build societies, but also tear them down.
Some of the languages are becoming endangered or extinct languages as they are at risk of disappearing if people shift to speaking other languages and have no more native speakers because of globalization, mass migration, cultural replacement, imperialism, neocolonialism and linguicide(language killing).
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The Balti language belongs to the Tibetic language family and is considered a Ladakhi dialect. Balti was written with a version of the Tibetan script from 727 AD, when Baltistan was conquered by Tibetans, until the last quarter of the 14th century, when the Baltis converted to Islam. The origin of the name Balti is unknown but it is said to have existed in the 2nd century BCE .
The Baltis are a distinct community whose ancestors migrated from Baltistan to Kargil and Leh before the Partition. Most Baltis came to Kargil as traders, referred to as hatti-pa (shop keepers) or preachers.
Balti is one such tribe of Ladakh which is distinct from other tribal groups in terms of their art, culture, literature, language, dress pattern, eating habits, having four dialects spoken in different regions. Balti Language is losing its originality as it is heavily influenced by Burushaski, Turkish, Urdu and Persian. With the result, it has deviated from the original Tibetan language.
The Linguistic Census of India showed that in 1981 there were 48,500 Baltis but by 2011 the numbers came down to 13800, 30% less than before. The ethnolinguistic vitality of the minority groups like the Baltis is being affected negatively mainly due to lack of institutional support, remoteness of areas, internal migration and language shift, stereotyping and fear of discrimination, lack of writing scripts and writing material.
Recently, a number of Balti scholars and social activists have attempted to promote the use of the Tibetan Balti or “Yige” alphabet with the aim of helping to preserve indigenous Balti and Ladakhi culture and ethnic identity.
One such passionate Balti gentleman –Bashir Ahmad Wafa, is now working tirelessly to protect his native language from losing its existence. A very tough task as there is not much support and a lot of resistance from the coming generations, who are blinded by development and westernisation.
Bashir, son of Ahmad Hussein, was born in 1965 in Balti Bazaar, Kargil, amidst the Pakistan war going on in Kargil. His ancestors belonged to Pari village, Kharmang area of Gilgit Baltistan.
Balti Bazaar is the oldest Bazaar which is the center of all trading activities. His family belonged to the Shia Muslim community. They had a shop in the market. Bashir was part of a large family where he was one amongst seven siblings. Bashir finished his schooling in Govt School in Kargil and was always good at sports and cultural activities. He was popular as a singer, comedian, entertainer, commentator and took part in scouts. His passion and enthusiasm was supported by his teachers and encouraged him to follow his calling to serve his land and Balti culture.
He took up a job as a library assistant in Govt High school. Along with his job, he continues sharing his talent. He has been voluntarily working as a cultural activist in Kargil and has taken up plenty of social work projects. He is fighting for preservation of his Balti culture and language. Promoting his language and taking it to his people and beyond, became a passion. He wrote poetry in Balti language, did theater and wrote dramas and sports commentary in his language so that he could keep reminding people of its importance. Bashir kept his Balti language alive through his radio broadcasts.
They used to live as a community in those days but things have changed now.Apart from being the oldest trade center of Kargil, Balti Bazaar had been an important meeting center of different religions, and different linguistic groups. Apart from Balti families, there were some Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh families too and they lived in harmony.
Bashir says “what i remember most deeply is that the mosque and the Gurudwara shared a common wall and the Muslim prayer – Azan and the Sikh prayers- Gurbani were recited at the same time. The Hindus and Buddhist also said their prayers at similar times. The atmosphere was filled with positive energy,brotherhood, harmony and peace.”
Growing up in such an inclusive community, Bashir realized all the more how important it is to hold onto his roots and Balti culture.
Around 1980 from the age 15, he started actively participating and performing in religious and social events, marriages etc to keep the ritual alive and over time formed a group, and together, they decided to work to save their culture. This led them to form the Kargil Social and Cultural Organisation in1997. Over time, most of the senior members got busy with other projects and the activities slowed down.
As Bashir ji’s work became more and more impactful in Kargil, he felt there was a serious requirement to focus more deeply in conserving his Balti language and traditions. There were very few Balti people left in his community who were conscious of the fact that soon this culture will become extinct if some serious action is not taken.
Protecting his language became his responsibility and he established another organization for his Balti people called Association of Baltis Himalayas, Ladakh and territories of Indus in 2005. He functioned as its Chairman and constantly organized activities and events focused only to protect his language. He initiated various projects like ” Your own Language, Your own Identity”, which were highly appreciated.
After Kargil was given a separate district status, the local activities increased and Bashir got more deeply involved as there were no other Balti groups active in that region.
Their group became well known in that area and locals appreciated their efforts. The Army and civil authorities encouraged them. Bashir Ahmad was the only commentator in Balti language for events like cricket matches etc and he became a well known personality in Kargil.
Bashir Ahmad and his organization, The Association of Baltis Himalayas, Ladakh and Territories Of Indus, initiated more and more events and festivals where Balti songs, dances, theater and traditional dresses were included. They sourced out rare Balti cultural costumes that had completely disappeared. They searched for original patterns and revived them to be popularly used in social events.
Amongst all villages of Ladakh, Turtuk is one of the most fascinating villages, close to the line of control between India and Pakistan, one of the northernmost villages of India. Geographically, the village is in the Baltistan region, which has been under Pakistani administration, except for five villages of the Turtuk block which are part of India. These villages form the only region in India populated by Balti people. To collect all the Balti people across India, they created a common platform through this Association, where they could register and connect to their genetic heritage. This was a huge task to source out all the Baltis pan India and bring them together as a registered entity.
This region was rich in folk music and dance and this association recorded all the folk songs and dances on videos. The youth were motivated to join and learn. The local govt also gave financial support to buy the instruments etc.
In some regions of Kashmir, to connect with the Baltis there, Bashir Ahmad and his association initiated the Radio channel and broadcasted Balti programs. Many youths also got employment through this initiative. They were actively involved with the establishment of All India Radio in Kargil. They arranged for artists and musicians and recorded old popular songs and ghazals which are still heard with enthusiasm. They even converted them into audio and video recordings which can be saved. This was definitely a very productive method to archive their traditional folk music and songs.
They were one of the first groups who received an opportunity to represent the Balti community in the golden jubilee celebration of Kashmir accession held in Delhi in 1997.
During the 1999 kargil war when the entire city was asked to remain underground in a safe place, it was Bashir’s organization that was the only group that was allowed to photograph with the Indian Army and encourage them.
And what followed was the opportunity to represent the Baltis in Rashtriya Chetna Yatra – from Kargil to Kanta Kumari, conducted by late professor Bhim Singh of Jammu and this allowed them to meet many National leaders like shri Digvijay Singh and share information about their community as well.
They came up with various ideas to keep promoting their Balti culture.
They got a chance to showcase their skill in the national event, Republic Day and Independence Day.
In 2000 AD (KASCO) team got the chance to sit on the tableau of Republic day for the first time, which was a huge opportunity to showcase the Balti culture at Talkatora Delhi and Surajkund festival.
In 2001, Bashir was awarded the district youth award by Nehru Yuva Kendra. He participated in public Awareness campaigns run by various Govt/ non govt organizations like Anti- polio campaign across Kargil in through street theater.
Under the banner of KSCO, they conducted a lot of humanitarian work for which Bashir has been awarded 200 citations and even more commemorative momentos for his commendable contribution to trying to effortlessly preserve the Balti Language and Culture.
Next he formed the Balti Research and Study Centre in Balti Bazar in 2023. This space was created so that like minded people could meet and discuss how to protect their language. Post the Pakistan partition, very few Balti people were left in India. They are found in pockets in Kargil, Ladakh, Jammu Kashmir, Shimla, Nainital, and Dehradun region. These Balti people came to these regions as laborers and then stayed back. They were responsible for construction of many roadways and The Bhakra Nangal dam etc. This is another reason why the Balti language is getting diluted as they got disconnected from their community.
Bashir Ahmad Wafa is tirelessly traveling and visiting these ethnic groups settled in small pockets, trying to connect them to their original roots and families they left behind. It is an extremely difficult task encouraging them to hold onto their culture, now that they are living so far away from their ethnic roots.
Like in Kashmir and Dehradun, Bashir Ahmad and team went house to house, convincing people from Balti community to attend their seminars and motivate the youth to feel proud of their heritage and roots. Bashir ji says that a few decades back, the Balti language was still prominently used by the older generation and they used to perform songs and religious poetry. But when he visited Dehradun after Covid, he was shocked to see that the Balti Language was non-existent. He voluntarily spent 3 months in Dehradun in 2023, just to work with the youth and revive the Balti language through songs and poetry.
The main issue was that there is no original Balti script. So it was difficult to teach the language to the youth. Through their association, they translated the Balti language into Hindi script and this became a huge success as Balti children could now read and understand better. It was difficult to manage all this with no sponsors or financial support yet , his organization managed to hold on to their mission.
The reward comes as recognition and appreciation. The highlight of Bashir Ahmad’s journey was when he got the chance to meet Shri Atal Bihari Bajpayee ji during one of his events.
The universe plays its role by pushing one in the right direction when your intentions are genuine. This was enabled when, as a chairman of his organization, Bashir Ahmad was unanimously elected to represent his community to meet the President Shri Draupadi Murmu in Kargil. She was fascinated by the Balti Culture especially in the Changthan area. The President has committed to help save this endangered language and culture. As a token of appreciation, she honored him with a shawl. And this appreciation gave a huge boost to all their projects.
It is really commendable how one man’s struggle can lead to such fruitful results. We hope he gets all the possible support from his local community, the State and Indian government to achieve his goal to protect his Balti Culture and language in the long run.
Acknowledgement – Thank you Mr Anayat Ali for introducing Mr. Bashir Ahmad Wafa to me and also for being part of this transformative movement in Kargil.
Contact Bashir Ahmad Wafa 9541576066.
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