[FEATURE]-Hope is the name of Life!

RDs Time

By:Shamsuddin Muhammad

HUNZA, August: The world planet has had undergone many geological, ecological, anthropological change since the time known of its creation. Once a particular region ruined, hope among the rest of the population compelled them to make efforts to resume the sign of life to have love with the life, shun the grief and place a faith for a better tomorrow. This is the case with Hunza in terms of Attaabad land slide, which has suffered such twice fatal catastrophes during a period of one and half century in the same periphery. Forefathers tell us that such a massive land slide had also hit Ghamay Sarat, now known as Salmanabad, an small settlement on a plateau adjacent to Attabad village, in the mid of nineteenth century in this scattered populated region of Gilgit-Baltistan. The then land slide, according to historians blockade the water for many years and reached to Pussu as it flowed back from the blockade. Later, it out burst its banks and ruined the down stream areas till Thakot of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.
There are many special person in our society who give us hope in desperation, grief and unease. of course there is one Mr. Harryman, a special person with unique artistic skills. He has command on Urdu, Brushaski and Shina singing, former the language of Hunza and later a dialect of a large portion of the Gilgit region, simultaneously.Although, very few people give him attention, he never dis-hearts and follow the principle "try again", lest some one hear him. Having a legacy of a traditional family, he is the man of taste and culture. Besides, he leaves no room to portray our cultural heritage which today's youth including me, instead of practicing own and respecting others now are quick adoptive and ready to give least patronage to alien norms and cultures.

Hunza an oasis of peace and order in crime-infested state

Monitoring desk

By:By Kamila Hyat, Gulf News Correspondent
LAHORE, May 03: Pick up any newspaper, whether in Urdu or English or in a regional language in the country, and stories narrating details of crime flash across pages. There is a reason why this fascination is growing. "I cannot think of anyone who hasn't encountered theft or robbery or something else of that kind either directly or indirectly. Street crime, such as the snatching away of mobile phones, is growing too," said Ayaz Haider, a tailor.But even while crime rates soar in most parts of the country, there are places still in existence where violence and crime is almost unknown. The mountainous region of Hunza, tucked away in the north of Pakistan, is one such zone. "It is a beautiful place not just because of the snow-capped peaks and the apricot blossoms, but because the people too are so serene and so content," said Shumaila Hassan, who holidays in Hunza almost each summer. It is possible to learn lessons from the means found by people there to keep their region safe from the wave of crime that has taken grip of so many other parts of the country. Despite poverty, even petty crime is extremely rare in Hunza, and house doors for the most part remain unlocked. This is in stark contrast to the barred, padlocked gates seen elsewhere.

Evidence:-
Few studies have been conducted by sociologists to understand this phenomenon. But the anecdotal evidence that exists, and has been confirmed by visitor after visitor as well as local people, suggests a strong community spirit, combined with a highly organised ‘neighbourhood watch' system aimed at detecting any wrongdoing is the key to this.Even children are involved in the effort and have been used to prevent tourists from littering, marring walls with graffiti or engaging in other anti-social acts commonly seen almost everywhere else.
"We train our children to do what is good for all," Hazir Shah said.
Older citizens recall a time when a similar community spirit existed even in the largest cities. Of course each of these urban centres has changed and grown vastly in size over the decades, making such mutual caring difficult.Indeed with this expansion has come a plethora of problems. The influx of people into cities in search of jobs means there is a constant shift in populations and little chance to gain familiarity with all those who live in a specific locality. But even then, nurturing a sense of community similar to that in Hunza may prove the only way to tackle rampaging crime and all the problems it brings. Gulf News