Chitral

Chitral was the seat of a mountain state whose rulers, the mehtars of the Kator dynasty, held the upper Chitral valley for centuries, with the princely capital beside the river where the fort still stands. The valley sat on routes between Central Asia, Afghanistan and Kashmir, and its rulers balanced larger powers around them while collecting tribute from the side valleys. Islam spread through the region relatively late, and pockets of the older religion survived in the Kalash valleys, where they remain.

In 1895 a succession dispute left a British force of some 400 men besieged in the fort until it was relieved by two expeditions, a small one from Gilgit and a larger one from Peshawar. The episode, known as the Chitral Expedition, made the valley famous in Britain and brought it under British influence as a princely state, with a road and a political agency attached to it. The state kept its own ruler until it was merged into Pakistan in 1969, after which Chitral became a district of the North-West Frontier Province, later Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

For most of the 20th century the town was cut off by snow for several months each year, reachable only by air or by the Shandur Pass. The Lowari tunnel, begun in 1975 and finally inaugurated in 2017, ended that isolation and made year-round road travel possible. Floods in 2015 and again in later years washed away bridges, roads and irrigation channels, and the district was divided into Upper and Lower Chitral in 2018.

Chitral is not Pashtun country. The language of the town is Khowar, and Chitralis see themselves as distinct from the Pashto-speaking districts to the south: quieter in manner, proud of their musical tradition and of a reputation for courtesy towards strangers. Several smaller languages are spoken in the side valleys, and the Kalasha language survives in three of them.

Polo is the passion of the valley, played in a free-tackling mountain form with few rules, six to a side and a band of drums and the surnai, a shrill reed pipe, playing beside the pitch. Every summer villages field teams, and the Shandur Pass, high to the east, hosts a tournament between Chitral and Gilgit that has become nationally known. Chitrali music uses the sitar, a local long-necked lute quite unlike the Indian instrument, and songs and sung poetry in Khowar are performed at weddings and gatherings.

The pakol, the rolled woollen cap, is the everyday headgear and a marker of identity well beyond Chitral. The Kalasha community in the valleys nearby keeps a separate religion, with wooden temples, ancestor effigies and seasonal festivals that draw visitors from across Pakistan. Relations between the communities are generally settled, and Chitralis of both faiths tend to describe the valley's tolerance as part of its character.

About 57,000 people live in Chitral town, the largest settlement in a district of scattered villages spread along the river and its tributaries. Livelihoods come from irrigated farming on terraces — wheat, maize, potatoes, apricots, apples and walnuts — from livestock taken to high pasture in summer, from government and army employment, and from remittances sent by Chitralis working in Peshawar, Karachi and the Gulf. Tourism from elsewhere in Pakistan has grown and supports jeep drivers, guest houses and guides.

The day is short in winter, when snow and long nights slow everything, and busy in summer, when the bazaar fills from mid-morning and jeeps come down from the side valleys loaded with people and produce. Shops close for Friday prayers. Households heat with wood, and firewood collection is a constant task.

The district's difficulties are physical as much as economic. Roads and bridges are regularly destroyed by floods and landslides, glacier lake outbursts threaten some valleys, electricity from small hydropower plants is intermittent, and hospitals are far away for anyone in the upper valleys. Depopulation of the remoter villages towards the towns and the plains continues, and young people leave for education and work.

Chitrali cooking is plain mountain food built on wheat, dairy and what the orchards give: honey, cheese and fruit are staples of the local diet. Ghalmandi, layered flatbreads with a filling of cottage cheese, coriander and chives under melted butter and walnut oil, is the dish most associated with the valley, and a range of breads is baked daily, among them the sweet rishiki eaten with honey and cottage cheese. Kalli, a soup of hand-cut whole-wheat noodles with minced meat, belongs to the older household repertoire.

Dairy matters more here than in the plains: butter is clarified and kept, cheeses are made in the summer pastures, and yoghurt accompanies most meals. Meat is usually mutton or goat, eaten sparingly and often boiled rather than fried, with soups and broths common in winter. Trout from the Chitral River and its clear tributaries is the treat of the summer season, fried or grilled whole. Kabuli pulao and karahi appear in the bazaar restaurants, brought in from the wider Pashtun and Afghan tradition.

The orchards supply the sweet side of the diet: apricots, mulberries, apples, grapes and walnuts are eaten fresh in season and dried for the winter, and apricot kernels are pressed for oil. Tea is drunk constantly — sweet milk tea in the bazaar, and in some households a salted tea of the kind found across the high valleys of the Hindu Kush and Karakoram.