Images from three successive journeys to Chitral and the Northern Areas of Pakistan (Shandur, Gilgit, Hunza and Kunjerab in the autums of 1973-75. Each of these journeys had as its stated object the production of documentary films. Stills played a supplemental role, though often becoming the principal record when cine camera were not employed, For years much remained locked in negatve form as they were shot on cinema stock (eastman 5247) whose imperfect processing required too much retouching. Only the advent of advanced digital imaging has made its reproduction possible. As with the images this writing reflects the time, not the current situation.
Chitral (known locally as Kho[w]) as depicted here may in many respects be lost, As late as the early 1970s, it was still a relatively independent entity, isolated from the rest oif Pakistan by high passes closed in winter months. The signs of modernization were just beginning to creep in. Bordering on Afghanistan, and therefore culturally tied, it was, and remains deeply affectedby the fate of its neighbor--especially since 1979. But the coming traumaswere yet to be felt when first stumbling into Chitral in 1973. Then it was as if a beyul, Shangri-la or Shambhalla,, or morte proasically a refuge had been found. Whether this was reality of merely a manifestation of internal needs, was uncertain. What was for sure, howevever, was that in Afghanistan a foreigner rightly feels the ferang, the outsider. While in Chitral, the traveller enjoys a welcome that comes only in a land where travellers were few and treasured for their information and entertainment.
The former kingdom itself is a north-south, 250 mile complex of valleys, walled by the Hindu Kush and Hindu Raj ranges, dominated by Tirich Mir, which at over 25,000 ft. is the highest peak of the Hindu Kush. In the north, two glacier-fed form the Yarkhun and Torikho valleys, joining first as the Mastuj, then Kunar (Chitral), eventually flowing into Afghanistan on the southern border. It is a rugged, arid land that cuts across the world's largest mountain massif, the Great Himalayas, and thus (like its eastern neighbor, Hunza) has served as a route of travel, commerce, cultural exchange and military invasion, to and from the Sub-Continent to Central and Eastern Asia.
This has led to a blending of peoples, from Mogul overlords, Tajik craftsmen, Khow farmers (perhaps the original inhabitants)--the predominant language being Khowar--Pathan merchants, and more recently a sprinkling of bureaucrats from the plains. Once Buddhist, Chitral came to Islam rather late and from the north, Kashgar. While the vast majority is today Muslim, there is still a small pre-islamic tribe called the Kalash, who once served as the rulers slaves, and now form a major tourist attraction.
Additionally included to the images from Chitral are those from an extended journey over the Shandur Pass, traversing the Hindu Raj and on via the Karakoram Highway through Gilgit and Hunza to the Chinese border in the Kunjerab Pass.
During the time of these photographs, travel to and from was tenuous at best, making foreign visitors a rarity. Proximity to border areas required extensive perrmissions and government "minders" only exacerbated by filmmaking. To Chitral,an often-cancelled flight was easiest, albeit not the safest, way to travel from Peshawar when the weather was clear. The only other choices were a harrowing jeep ride up the trribal belt to Dir and across the Lowari Pass (closed in winter), or the long route via the Shandur Pass (also closed in winter).
CHITRAL