Zubair Torwali is the co-founder and executive director at IBT, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization in Swat Pakistan. He attended the University of Peshawar, Peshawar and studied English literature and language and then joined a number of institutes to study linguistics and anthropology. He has published widely in various areas of linguistics, language revitalization, peace and security issues, cultural studies, education and literacy. He has a particular interest in anthropology and linguistics. His prior books…
Negotiating pluralism and promoting a culture of continued dialogues between all the communities, civil society and between the state and its citizens essential for prosperous and peaceful Pakistan: speakers at a seminar in Kalam Swat reiterated
On Graveyards in Dardistan By Uwe Topper Introductory Note The following account of special art and traditions conserved at graveyards of the Indus-Kohistan region had been written to be published in ‘Aspects of Tribal Life in South Asia, vol. II’ editors Rupert R. Moser and Mohan K. Gautam at the University of Berne/Switzerland in 1980. Few literature after 1974 was included (until Jettmar 1977/8), so it is rather a momentous record without reference to modern anthropological research. It brings information of 1967 when the…
Lost Tajiks or the forgotten Dards of Pakistan? By Barmazid and Xazureh The subject of the history of Swat and areas of north-western Pakistan have rarely been given serious academic attention, in spite of representing a linguistically and culturally unique aspect of modern Pakistan. Too often, personal folktales and myths shroud this region, with the lineage of the Swati people being traced as far as Greek Macedonia or Arabia. One article published on the Friday Times by Arif Hasan Akhundzada, however, provides a place of…
