Cultural Diversity

Swat has been called "the paradise on earth", and many in Pakistan know about the beauty of Swat valley. Swat used to attract high profile guests to its beauty; indeed, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip ofEngland visited Swat in 1962. Queen Elizabeth II restricted herself to Swat only and denied the rest of Pakistan a visit.^{[citation needed]} Similarly, in summer thousands of tourists pour to Swat for relief from the scorching sun in the cities. Every visitor and resident of Swat is well aware of its azure lakes; waterfalls, crystal clear streams, lush green pastures and fields, fruit laden orchards, and the mild cold breeze during summer. What most of the residents and tourists miss is Swat’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity which add to its natural beauty.

In Swat seven languages are spoken. Besides Pashto, the majority language, Torwali, Gujri, Gawri,Qashqari, Ushojo and Badeshi are also spoken in Swat, although Badeshi and Ushojo are now moribund. Gujri is a commonly known language in Pakistan and its speakers are scattered throughout the whole Swat; however, other languages are much less well known. Torwali, Gawri, Qashqari (a variety ofKhowar/Chitrali language), Ushojo and Badeshi are all among the Dardic group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family.

The Torwali community is said to be descended from the original inhabitants of pre-Muslim Swat, before the invasion of Swat in the second millennium. Recent research, and excavation (2012) by the Italian Archeological Mission in Swat, show traces that suggest that the Torwali community was inhabiting Swat even before the Buddhist and Hindu period.^[12] The region between the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas – from Nuristan and Laghman provinces in Afghanistan to the bottom of Himalaya including Indian Kashmirvia the ranges of Karakorum – was the land of Dardic or Darada (a Romanized name for Herodotus’ Dadakai) people, with indigenous worldviews different from the major religions. The Torwali community is now confined to what is known as Kohistan of Swat – the upper narrow but beautiful valley beyond the town of Madyan up to the boundary of Kalam in the north; and to the Chail Valley to the east of Madyan. The speakers are a little over 100,000 people.^{[citation needed]}

Gawri, another Dardic language, is confined to Kalam and Utror valleys with about 60,000 speakers; however, a considerable number of Gawri language speakers also dwell in the Kohistan of Upper Dir generally known as Dir Kohistan.

Qashqari is a variety of Khawar, which is also a Dardic language. Qashqari is spoken by a few thousand people in Kalam and Mitiltan.

Ushojo is now moribund. It is Dardic in origin and resembles the Shina language of Gilgit. It has now a few hundred speakers. Badeshi is now completely extinct; its last two speakers died a couple of years back.^{[citation needed][timeframe?]}

These languages are still not well documented. However, endeavours are carried out by the few researchers and civil society workers in the communities. Preservation, documentation and promotion are now being carried out for the Torwali and Gawri languages.

Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi (IBT) or Institute for Education and Development, a Bahrain based, north Pakistan focused, nonprofit organization has developed a working orthography for Torwali and published a number of other books in Torwali. It has designed a course in Torwali for children and runs a Torwali based multilingual education school for children in Bahrain, the cultural and business hub of the Torwali community. IBT recently launched a Torwali based bilingual education project for adult women in the Torwali community, which is deemed as an effective tool to slow down the language shift in the community.

In addition to this IBT has published a number of books for adult literacy such as:

• Inaan (Rainbow), a collection of Torwali poetry with Urdu translation
• Saath Baach Si Khazan (Treasure of Seven Kings), a collection of Torwali legends and folk stories
• Torwali Alphabet Book
• Torwali Primer
• Torwali reading and listening stories for children

IBT also publishes a quarterly newsletter in Torwali, named Koshein after the Torwali name for theMankiyal Peak, which is visible from almost all parts of Swat. It is managed and led by a team of Torwali youth. Currently, a Jehanzebian^{[clarification needed]}, writer and activist Zubair Torwali, leads IBT with a large team including Aftab Ahmad, Noor Khan, Sajjad Ahmad, Mujahid.

The linguist and researcher Inam Ullah has compiled a Torwali-Urdu dictionary in print and online. Inam Ullah was awarded an honorary PhD degree by the Torwali community at the time of launching of the dictionary in 2008. Inam Ullah is to Torwali as Samuel Johnson is to English. Before him Abdul Hameed Karimi, another Torwali speaker, also tried to preserve Torwali language by writing a Torwali Urdu Bol Chal^{[clarification needed]} book. Before these initiatives research had been carried on the language by foreigners. Among them, Sir Grierson is the most prominent, writing a book named Torwali based on the data collected by Sir Aurel Stein, the well-known orientalist and writer of On Alexander's Track to the Indus: Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India.

There are also a number of commendable initiatives by the youth to preserve and document the Gawri language. The Gawri Community Development Programme is carrying out research and education in Gawri under the guidance of Muhammad Zaman Sagar.

The situation of Ushojo and Badeshi is critical. While Badeshi is no longer alive Ushojo is on the verge of death as no documentation or preservation has occurred.