The aim of this magazine is to connect the communities of Hindu Kush, Himalaya, Karakorum and Pamir by providing them a common accessible platform for production and dissemination of knowledge.
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Indigenous Torwali people’s resistance to harmful hydropower in Swat Pakistan
Indigenous Torwali people’s resistance to harmful hydropower in Swat Pakistan By Zubair Torwali “We are a nation.” For most people, this phrase is an abstract political expression. For us—the Torwali people of upper Swat—it is a lived…
The Bahrain Declaration against Madyan Hydropower Project
Madyan Hydropower Project in its current form and without Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is not acceptable to the Indigenous Torwali people—Declares the traditional council/Jirga of the Torwali people in Bahrain Swat.
The Journey of Resistance by the Save River Swat Movement (Darya-e Swat Bachau Tehreek) against the…
The Journey of Resistance by the Save River Swat Movement (Darya-e Swat Bachau Tehreek) against the Madyan Hydropower Project Zubair Torwali (These remarks were presented at the jirga held in Bahrain on 21 November 2025 under the auspices…
Customary practices among Indigenous Torwali community of Swat
Customary practices among Indigenous Torwali community of Swat By Usman Torwali In the lap of Hindukush, nestled in the picturesque landscape of tall wavering alpine trees, snow-caped mountains, pastures, cascading tributaries to the…
A page of Torwali history
Torwali Notes! Compare this picture with present-day Bahrain! This is a photograph of Bahrain from the 1980s. All the houses are made of natural materials — stone, wood, and mud. If you look at today’s Bahrain in Swat, it seems like a city…
Not Just a dress: Appropriation of Pakistan’s Minority Cultures
From online platforms like Etsy to textile markets in Peshawar, traditional garments from Hazara, Kohistan, and the Swat Valley's indigenous Torwali and Gawri communities have become targets of rampant cultural appropriation.
Murkum: A Deity of Nature
Only by becoming part of the nature, the natural beings reveal and speak to the humans. To see the creatures of sacred nature, including ibex, the hunter has to purify his eyes and soul. Eyes are the reflection of soul. If eyes are…
Mystery of the Hidden Valley: A Trek to Kandia Pass
For the past three years, I have been drawn back to a place of wild beauty and untamed serenity—the basecamp of Batin Peak. Nestled deep within the mountains, this rugged paradise feels like a hidden world untouched by time, where nature…
Somewhere in a Remote Wilderness: English Version of the Rahim Sabir’s Torwali song
Somewhere in a remote wilderness we would discover a hermitage With your crimson lips you would whisper sweetnesses I would gather splinters you would kindle the fire My hands would go numb you would wipe my fingers This moment could…
The Witch and the Wise man: A Torwali folk tale (امِنی امن)
Torwali is an indigenous language spoken in the Bahrain and Chail valleys in the upper reaches of the Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With fewer than 150,000 native speakers, the Torwali language is considered endangered. Speakers of the…
