Dean Nelson and Emal Khan, Telegraph (London), Sept. 21, 2009
For centuries, the blond-haired, blue-eyed people of the Kalash tribes of North West Pakistan have lived a libertine lifestyle.
The group, believed to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s invading army, were shielded from conservative Islam by the steep slopes of their remote valleys.
While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis.
But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter.
Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum.
They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.
According to local police, it was Professor Larounis’s dedication to preserving Kalasha culture that Taliban commanders in Nuristan, on the Afghan side of the border that made him a target.
Confirmation of the Taliban’s role in his kidnapping came as their leader Mullah Omar urged American and Nato leaders to learn from the history of Alexander the Great’s invasion of Afghanistan and his defeat by Pushtun tribesmen in the 4BC.
He was kidnapped on Sep 8, when five masked Taliban broke into the three storey museum where he was living, killed a policeman guarding the building, tied a teacher to a post and grabbed the professor from his bed.
Ajmeer Kalash, a Kalash teacher who witnessed the incident, said he had saved his own life by pretending to be a Muslim.
“I did not understand their language and they did not understand mine. I tried to make them understand in Urdu language that I’m a teacher at the school.”
He said the men asked for his religion and “I told them that I’m a Muslim by reciting Kalma, though I’m a Kalash.”
“They brought out the Greek national and they opened fire at his police guard. The policeman died on the spot. They took me and the Greek citizen to the forest. There they tied my hands to a tree and left me there and went away,” he said.
Locals said the professor had been visiting the area since 1994 when he first came as a tourist and fell in love with the area’s unique culture and its people’s links to his own in Greece and Macedonia.
Today there are an estimated 3,000 Kalasha left in three remote and steep valleys in Chitral in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. The children wear their hair in orthodox Jewish-style ringlets and sport bright coloured topi hats. The women occasionally have tattooed faces, wear long black robes with coloured embroidery.
The Kalash are known as ‘Black Kafirs’ to local Muslims who regard them, and their women in particular, as immoral. They are scornful of their festivals and rituals, which include a rite of passage in which a prepubescent boy is fattened in the mountains over a summer and then when he returns is allowed to have sex with any woman he chooses.
Married Kalash women are able to elope with other men if the object of their desire accepts a written proposal and agrees to may double her dowry to the abandoned husband—often in cows.
Professor Larounis, who is believed to have been living in the Kalash Valleys with his wife, had generated around two and a half million pounds in aid for 20 projects in the Kalash Valleys, including clean water schemes, and the museum in Broon village in Bumburet.
Since his kidnapping Kalash women have demonstrated for his release, while elders have travelled to Nuristan to try to negotiate with his kidnappers.
Children of Pakistan’s Kalash tribe.
Original article
(Posted on September 22, 2009)
Comments
The claimed descent from Alexander’s soldiers is probably dubious.
Kenelm, this is fascinating, where can I find out more about these people?
Assuming they are descended from AtG, then this doesn’t matter for the Taliban — AtG ran though centuries before the founding of Islam.
It says here that AtG was turned away in territory that is now Afghanistan. Yet another example about how Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Does anybody read history anymore?
The Aryans created India’s caste system as a method of segregation. The conflict between the original inhabitants, probably Dravidians, and the Aryans is recorded in the Rig-Veda, the sacred book of Hinduism.
Cherry-picked pictures of a few fair Kalash children do not Europeans make.
A large scale genetic analysis clearly shows the Kalash as completely distinct from Europeans and clustering with Central/South Asians.
They are relatively depigmented Indo-Afghans and I can care less about these Asiatics.
Another blonde Aryan Kalash is pictured here.
Another wonderfully European, Aryan Kalash is shown here.
It’s no surprise that an organization as ignorant and backwards as the Taliban would reject the gift of Hellenization they received. What doesn’t make sense is why the West has been these past sixty or so years.
What are the chances these people will be granted asylum in the West? Probably slim. They are too white. Like the Afrikaners, they will be sacrificed to the god of political correctness.
Speaking of SA, I have a prediction. When they get done killing the whites, they are going to go after the “coloreds”. They will get asylum.
The notion of the Aryan Invasion of the subcontinent has largely been discredited.
Fascinating pics of the Kalash children. “Pride, Worldwide!”, as they say.
Typically media stupidity and disinformation to pull attention.. First “Descendants of Alexander the Great”, second “believed to be descendants”..
In fact, they have nothing to do with Alexander:
http://tinyurl.com/3csdlq
This is fascinating. I wonder if there are any legit aid agencies taking donations for these people? I have a virus and can’t search for anything right now.
If someone finds something please post.
They look like the Berbers of North Africa.
But, my goodness, I think anyone, of any faith, who reads the Bible would indeed consider them immoral!
“Confirmation of the Taliban’s role in his kidnapping came as their leader Mullah Omar urged American and Nato leaders to learn from the history of Alexander the Great’s invasion of Afghanistan and his defeat by Pushtun tribesmen in the 4BC.”
I assume the date mentioned is really “4th century B.C.”, which would be accurate. However, Alexander the Great did not meet with defeat in Afghanistan by Pushtun tribesmen…or by anyone else in his lifetime. It took him over three years, but Alexander completely subdued ALL the Afghan tribes and left behind armed garrisons to make sure they stayed conquered. Only an ignoramus would make the above argument.
“Not Kalash wrote at 7:13 PM on September 22:
Sorry, that woman is a light skinned Asian-Indian not a European. No more European than a blond Mongolian.
‘Cherry-picked pictures of a few fair Kalash children do not Europeans make.A large scale genetic analysis clearly shows the Kalash as completely distinct from Europeans and clustering with Central/South Asians.They are relatively depigmented Indo-Afghans and I can care less about these Asiatics’
If you understand anything about your own race you would know that blue eyes,and blonde hair come from only one place. Simply looking at them will tell you that they are highly intelligent and of White-European origin.
1-Kenelm Digby is correct. The fair skin, hair, eyes peoples of North West Pakistan are pre-Alexander. They are actually descendents of Adam and Eve which accounts for their fair coloring. All evolutionary humans are of dark eyes and hair. The Adam and Eve descendents migrated out of the Middle East some 33,000 years ago. Most of the descendents went into Western Europe,the ancestors of present day Anglo-Saxons, Germanic, and Nordic peoples. The original Greeks Aryans (went into India) were also of Adam and Eve descendents. Because of the genes from Adam and Eve descendents, technogical and social advancement were quicken. Without those genes, the advance civilization that we all presently enjoy would not exist.
No, it hasn’t. It has been proven by DNA analysis, which shows high levels of the R1a haplogroup in South Asia, following the path of the Aryan conquest from NW to SE.
I believe that Kipling’s story - later a movie - called ‘The Man who would be King’ was set here.
Nice spotting Billy, ‘The Man who would be King’ was set in the same location!
Okay, here is yet another example of media bias. Why no mention of the word “racism” in this article? Ever notice if it’s Muslim against non-Muslim or non-White against White, the word racism is almost never mentioned? I guess most people don’t read between the lines when reading news items, but I carefully analyze not just what the media writes, but HOW they write it. another classic example is referring to blacks as “African Americans” and Whites as just “whites” in the same article. Is it me nit-picking or is this as obvious to everyone else?
1 — Kenelm Digby wrote at 5:15 PM on September 22:
“The claimed descent from Alexander’s soldiers is probably dubious.
> While your first sentence is probably correct, your follow-up regarding Aryans has been proven to be another myth first postulated in the 19th century when many erroneous theories of prehistory and ancient history were formed and made popular. The Stormfront site is not the place for factual history on these subjects, but this claim may be found there. I am guessing that is where you gathered these “facts.”
I have found more photos of the Kalash on the internet and the majority are not blue-eyed blondes.
Here is a cut and paste of the genetic studies done on the Kalash populations so far;
Begin
In a 2005 study of ASPM gene variants, Mekel-Bobrov et al. found that the Kalash people of Pakistan have among the highest rate of the newly-evolved ASPM haplogroup D, at 60% occurrence of the approximately 6,000-year-old allele.[27].
The Kalash also have been shown to exhibit the exceedingly rare 19 allele value at autosomal marker D9S1120 at a frequency higher than the majority of other world populations which do have it.[28]
Firasat et al. (2006) conclude that the Kalash lack typical Greek haplogroups (e.g. haplogroup 21),[29] On the other hand, a study by Qamar et al. (2002) found that even though “no support for a Greek origin of their Y chromosomes was found” in the Kalash, Greek y-chromosome admixture could be as high as 20% to 40%.[30] Considering the apparent absence of haplogroup 21 in the local population, one of the possibilities suggested was because of genetic drift.[30] On the basis of Y chromosome allele frequency, some researchers describe the exact Greek contribution to Kalash as unclear. [31]
Another study with Qasim Ayub, and S. Qasim Mehdi, and led by Quintana-Murci claims that “the western Eurasian presence in the Kalash population reaches a frequency of 100%, the most prevalent [mtDNA] haplogroup being U4, (pre-HV)1, U2e, and J2,” and that they show “no detectable East or South Asian lineages. The outlying genetic position is seen in all analyses. Moreover, although this population is composed of western Eurasian lineages, the most prevalent … are rare or absent in the surrounding populations and usually characterize populations from Eastern Europe, the middle East and the Caucasus… All these observations bear witness to the strong effects of genetic drift of the Kalash population… However, a western Eurasian origin for this population is likely, in view of their maternal lineages, which can ultimately be traced back to the Middle East”. [32]
The estimates by Qamar et al. of Greek admixture has been dismissed by Toomas Kivisild et al. (2003): “some admixture models and programs that exist are not always adequate and realistic estimators of gene flow between populations … this is particularly the case when markers are used that do not have enough restrictive power to determine the source populations … or when there are more than two parental populations. In that case, a simplistic model using two parental populations would show a bias towards overestimating admixture”.[33]
The study came to the conclusion that the Pakistani Kalash population estimate by (Qamar et al. 2002) “is unrealistic and is likely also driven by the low marker resolution that pooled southern and western Asian–specific Y-chromosome haplogroup H together with European-specific haplogroup I, into an uninformative polyphyletic cluster 2”.[33]
A study by Rosenberg et al. (2006) employing genetic testing among the Kalash population concluded that they are, in fact, a distinct (and perhaps aboriginal) population with only minor contributions from outside peoples. In one cluster analysis with (K = 7), the Kalash formed one cluster, the others being Africans, Europeans/Middle Easterners/South Asians, East Asians, Melanesians, and Native Americans. [34]
A genetic study published led by Firasat (2006) on Kalash individuals found high and diverse frequencies of :Haplogroup L3a (22.7%), H1* (20.5%), R1a (18.2%), G (18.2%), J2 (9.1%), R* (6.8%), R1* (2.3%), and L* (2.3%)[35]. Haplogroup L originates from prehistoric South Asia.
In the recent study: “Worldwide Human Relationships Inferred from Genome-Wide Patterns of Variation (2008)”, geneticists using more than 650,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) samples from the Human Genome Diversity Panel, found deep rooted lineages that could be distinguished in the Kalash. The results showed them not only to be distinct, but perfectly clustered within the Central/South Asian populations at (K = 7). The study also showed the Kalash to be a separated group, with having no membership within European populations.[36]
It is jut as likely that some of them are simply the children and grandchildren of the many Hippies that traveled in that region and hung out in the 1970s. Some interviews regarding recent visitors might be interesting. The presence of trace amounts of “Native American” markers in the dna studies gives me some pause. I have known at least a dozen individuals who trekked that region from America alone. This does not count the many Northern European trekkers who have passed through the region. I possess a number of artifacts that I received as presents from a woman who had traveled there in the 1970s herself. They include an intricate necklace and a 19th century vest of the sort men used to wear. I see similar sewing and embroidery in these photos. She, by the way, had the same name as the bride of Alexander and the “king” in the Kipling story of the region, “The Man Who Would be King.” I gathered the information by which I form this postulation from her. It sure sound like a hippie utopia to me!
These people do seem to be maintaining a strong, ancient, pre-Christian cutlure and religion that DOES have some similarity to those practiced in Central and Western Europe. There is an undisturbed polytheistic shamanic religious group that can be found today in Estonia, for example. This is interesting to me.
Note how much this distinguishes them and even seperates them from converts to Islam nearby. This reminds me of how the Jews have kept their own culture alive, at least in some form. I also note with interest that they seem to have been influenced by Judaism. This might be due to the Oriental trade routes (Silk Road) that Jews are known to have dominated in certain periods. There was a well known Jewish settlement in China - Kaifeng.
But more to the point, the way that exclusive religion has served to protect the “purity” of this group has to be noticed and IMO ought to be noted clearly by Amren readers, posters, and race realists. Be clear also, Islam and Christianity share the characteristic of working towards world conversion. By whatever means, peaceful or not, that means absorbing racial and ethnic groups into a larger over-culture, or MULTICULTURALISM.
What ever we think, we ought to be united in supporting the efforts to preserve such a small and endangered racial-ethnic group. We do as much for owls, eagles, and frogs.
Gay Conservative, it is obvious at least to me. According to “conventional wisdom,” non-whites are incapable of racism and discrimination. They are all these perfect saints while we are these horrible monsters. Even when discussing the history of non-white empires controlling parts of Europe, many non-whites and race traitors claim that Europe benefited under such rule. While the Persian, Moorish, Mongol, and Ottoman Empire all subjugated different races, they apparently were benevolent rulers, who treated those they conquered kindly. At least says one of my Persian history professors, who claims that the Persian Empire was so much more enlightened and tolerant than the Greeks. Of course, he doesn’t even consider the possibility that the Persians might have lost the war because their army consisted of many members of different races and nationalities who didn’t feel much loyalty towards the “tolerant” empire. Anyway, that’s my rant.
A large scale genetic analysis clearly shows the Kalash as completely distinct from Europeans and clustering with Central/South Asians.
Wrong… they genetically drifted off by themselves due to separation from other white people and now don’t resemble either Europeans OR South Asians. However, just examine their language; they speak a very archaic Dardic Iranian dialect. That should be a hint right there.
There was a National Geographic article about them years ago. For a long time, I’ve wondered, and worried, about their fate. It seems their good luck has run out and this is very sad. I find their permissive sexual attitudes reminiscent of the old Nordic ways. If memory serves me correctly, their link to Alexander the Great is partly based upon their traditional hats, which strongly resemble those of the ancient Greeks.
Well,the point here is the Greeks did not have blue eyes or blond hair … not the Roman also…
24 — Brendan wrote at 7:10 PM on September 23:
“Wrong… they genetically drifted off by themselves due to separation from other white people and now don’t resemble either Europeans OR South Asians. However, just examine their language; they speak a very archaic Dardic Iranian dialect. That should be a hint right there.”
The sentence you cut and pasted and take exception to was not my own word or opinion, but part of the narrative of the dna studies themselves. What this is saying is that the Kalash are like the Basques, who do not identify with other Europeans genetically. The Basques are considered to be a remnant of the peoples who moved back north after the last Ice Age and have not been affected since. This may be the status of the Kalash. Also, remember the Ainu in Japan and blondes among Australian aboringinals, neither share European genetics. If you have another set of studies to counter this, then please do share them. However, language is not an indicator of genetic origin. I could learn Chinese, but I am not made Chinese in this.
26 — Anonymous wrote at 9:42 PM on September 24:
“Well,the point here is the Greeks did not have blue eyes or blond hair … not the Roman also…
> Well, thanks for the vote, but I wasn’t trying to make the point that ancient Greeks had no blue-eyed blondes among them. Did you know for example that the Acropolis’s giant statue of Athena depicted the Goddess as a blue-eyed blonde? I have always noted that Greek statues depict what today we think of as Northern European facial bone structures. Although today, many Greeks are darker, there are still blondes to be found among them. And there are some other hints that the Greeks were a “northern people” comapared to the later Romans and other Meditteranean peoples.
My theory of hippies passing on genetics to the Kalash might be completely in error and could be easily researched if an effort was made. It was mere projection on my part. Hippies were passing through Nepal and Tibet in those days and this was on that route. It is more likely that they picked up some influences and not the otherway around.
I would have to learn more about the Kalash and if they took in converts, for example. They are pretty strict regarding their own who convert away. It may be that the Native American marker is merely a Mongolian admixer that is also found in Native Americans. More research is needed and too few people are probably interested in such questions.
This is the region of old Kafiristan that Rudyard Kipling used in his story. But the movie was made mostly in Morroco and not anywhere near Kafiristan.
24 — Brendan wrote at 7:10 PM on September 23:
“Wrong… they genetically drifted off by themselves due to separation from other white people and now don’t resemble either Europeans OR South Asians. However, just examine their language; they speak a very archaic Dardic Iranian dialect. That should be a hint right there.”
> I am sorry for so many posts, but if we are to discuss it completely…
Please read the whole paragraph. It is not from me but from the narative of the genetic study. I paste it in again here….
This is the latest and fairly well known world dna study for assessing the origins and movements of ancient peoples sponsored by National Geographic among other scientific organizations. The latest genetic studies are the most important because gains are being made all the time in analysis techniques. Also, this is the largest study by far.
It does not say that the Kalash as Asians as we think of them today. Too often, we are reactive to the notions we have today and forget that many people moved all over before they settled in the places where the earliest histories found them. But the quote you put in your comment is not from this or any part of the studies I pasted in and appear to be your own mistaken conclusion from what is there.
If you saw the chart it would make the issue clearer to you as it did me. The Kalash exist as a unique genetic group set smack in the middle of central asian populations. It doesn’t say that they are central asian in origin. It is just that they relate to no one but themselves.
Another poster suggested that the Greek influenced styles are probably just that, and I agree as I do for the Jewish hair styling. They took on some styles they liked and they stuck. If you live in that part of the world for a while, as I did, you begin to understand how slowly customs and even clothing styles change, or don’t change at all. Sometimes that is good and sometimes it is not. In this case, I think it is marvelous.
The blond and blue eyed kids are the off spring of British soldiers who marched through the area. The “Tommy Atkins” spread their genes where ever they were stationed. End of story, Like the Man Who Would be King but more successful.
herman nelson wrote at 11:25 PM on September 25:
If that were true all of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ceylon would have to be full of blue eyed blonds. The Kalash are most likely unmixed leftovers of the original Aryans.
Re Jaspers comments: FYI yes there are clusters of blonds,reds blue and green eyed people from Palestine to East India. The locals blame it on the Crusaders or Aryans whose traits would have been assimalated a 1000 years ago. I have seen a number of Palestinians with North European features The Middle East was under British occupation from about 1917 until about the mid 1950’s in some areas. Europeans and Americans have been called in on endless “peace keeping missions” for over fifty years.
herman nelson wrote at 11:25 PM on September 25:
No, they are not. The British have mostly R1b, and small numbers of I, R1a. Kalash people are quite very diverse and clearly not European:
by Firasat (2006):
This is my final comment about blond & blue eyed people in East Asia I am not an expert in genetic sciences. I don’t discount their could be genetic anomolies occuring in different lands. With that said don’t underestimate the power of procreation and cohabitation to take place among male and females of different cultures and different countries I do know human nature and this is one basic instinct that can’t be overlooked or diregarded.
