Kargil, Ladakh and Kashmir:Role of Urdu and divisive politics

[Hala]

Kargil, Ladakh and Kashmir:
Role of Urdu and divisive politics
By Dr Kunal Ghosh

In India we usually call the Pakistan occupied part of the state of
Jammu and Kashmir PoK. Baltistan is that part of PoK that is
contiguous with the Kargil region of north western Ladkh. In turn the
north-eastern part of Laddakh is contiguous with the western Tibetan
plateau. The status of Baltistan and western Tibetan plateau are
disputed between Pakistan and India and India and China. Baltistan,
Ladakh and western Tibetan plateau are now under the control of three
different countries, but peoples of these three regions are of the
same race and speak the same language. Baltistan was part of Ladakh
district before 1947. Fig 1 shows a map of the state of Jammu and
Kashmir in which these three regions can be seen. The original Laddakh
district is shown by a double line boundary. The approximate map of 25-
year-old Kargil district is shown south of the Line of Control (LOC)
by a single line. The town of Skardu that lies north-west of Kargil
town across the LoC is the capital of Baltistan. Pakistan's tourism
promotion website refers to Baltistan as "Little Tibet" (see Fig 2, a
page from Pakistani tourism website). Fig 3 shows an enlargement of
Pakistan's depiction of PoK and Baltistan within it. Baltis call their
land by a Tibetan name "Baltiyul" which is derived from the original
Tibetan script called 'Balti' that was prevalent in the area before
Islamization (to Shia faith) took place in the 16th century during the
reign of king Ghota-Cho-Senge. Islamization took place late in these
parts, about three centuries later than in Kashmir valley. Thereafter
the Arabic Nasq script was introduced. A Buddhist minority exists even
now in Baltistan of PoK, although very thin on the ground. The part of
Ladakh district that came to India has in its north-western part,
around the town of Kargil, a Muslim majority. As one moves in the
south-easterly direction the Buddhist population increases and in
Zanskar and Leh they become a majority. Buddhists of Ladakh retained
the traditional script called Bodhi (alternatively, Ladakhi) of
Tibetan origin and they call their language Ladakhi. The Nasq (Arabic)
script became popular with Muslims, and since it came to India via
Persia, it is often called Persian script. The language written in
Nasq is called Balti. In a sense the relationship between Nasq-Balti
and Bodhi-Ladakhi is similar to that between Nasq-Urdu and Devnagari-
Hindi.

Initially the sparsely populated Ladakh region consisted of a single
district called 'Ladakh' (as shown in Fig. 1) with its capital at Leh.
When Sheikh Abdullah was brought out of imprisonment and re-instated
as the Chief Minister in the later half of the 1970s, he created a few
new districts and sub-divisions along communal lines in different
parts of the state. A Muslim-majority sub-division called Gool was
carved out of composite Reasi sub-division in Jammu region and Ladakh
district was bifurcated into Muslim-majority Kargil and Buddhist-
majority Leh. Further, Buddhist-majority Zanskar subdivision was
mischievously included in Kargil district instead of in Leh district.
So now there remains no district called Ladakh, which was the original
name. However, the whole composite region is still called Ladakh, as
before, and that has significant legal implications.

Language and script
Between Balti and Ladakhi all verbs and 90 per cent of words are in
common (Kazmi 1996). The following tables from Kazmi (1996) give an
illustrative sample.

These tables serve to illustrate two important features. Firstly, the
languages of Baltistan. of PoK and Ladakh of India are practically
identical and should be classified as two dialects of the same
language. They are given two different names because they are written
in two different scripts. Secondly, they are a world apart from the
north Indian languages such as Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi etc of the Indo-
European family. The centre of Balti is the Skardu town of POK and the
centre of Ladakhi is the Leh town of Laddakh. The Kargil town of
Ladakh lies in between geographically. Hence its language too should
be somewhere in between Balti and Ladakhi. This implies that the
Kargil speech and Leh speech are practically indistinguishable.

Education
Traditionally, the Buddhist Gompas taught one son of every family how
to read the scriptures. Western education was started first by
Moravian Mission in Leh in 1889. The subjects taught were Ladakhi,
Urdu, English, Geography, Nature Study, Arithmetic, Geometry and Bible
Study. It is to be noted that mother tongue Ladakhi and two other
useful languages were included in the curriculum (Wikipedia 2006).

After Independence, the Jammu and Kashmir government started opening
schools that taught the pupils in Urdu medium till age 14 and
thereafter switched to English medium. It is obvious that the Jammu
and Kashmir government made a deliberate policy of dropping the mother
tongue. On the other side of LoC Pakistan government was doing the
same thing by imposing Urdu on the Balti-speaking people of the so-
called 'Little Tibet' of Baltistan (Kazmi 1996). Students' Educational
and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was started in 1988 that
campaigned to shape public opinion for education reform. As a result
of their movement, the mother tongue started replacing Urdu as the
medium since 1993. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
(LAHDC) came into existence in 1995 after the act concerned was passed
in the Legislative Assembly.

Urdu and the Arabic script have had a long spell since 1947, owing to
the language policy of the state government. Hence it is likely that
in Kargil district the script is Arabic (Nasq) in the Muslim-majority
north-western parts and Bodhi in Zanskar, the Buddhist-majority south-
eastern sub-division. The language is either called Balti or Ladakhi,
depending on the script used. Since 2001 a series of steps have been
taken, which spells doom for the language of Kargil, and makes
separation of Kargil from Ladakh and its merger with Kashmir almost
inevitable.

Impending separation
Since 2001 the Indian army has been opening Urdu-medium primary
schools in Kargil to promote literacy, as a part of its Sadbhavana
(meaning goodwill) program (Jha 2001). Evidently this was on advice
from Jammu and Kashmir government, while the Central government was
oblivious and lacked any coherent language policy. It should be noted
that SECMOL's mother-tongue-first policy, which was supported by
LAHDC, had been in place for previous 8 years. Yet the Indian army
followed a policy that ran counter to SECMOL's. Why didn't the army
start schools in Balti medium in Kargil? There is only one answer to
this question. There is an all pervasive language ideology permeating
the Central government, Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Indian
Army. It says, "Urdu is the language of the Muslim".

(The author is a Professor and can be contacted at Aerospace
Engineering, IIT Kanpur; email: ku...@iitk.ac.in)

(To be continued)
Balti Words Ladakhi English
mGo mGo Head
Mik Mig Eye
Laqpa Lagpa Hand/Arm
Khap Khap Needle
Skutpa Skutpa Thread
Karfo Karpo White
Naqpo Nagpo Black
Marpho Marpo Red
Shing Shing Wood/Timber
Chu Chu Water
Khi Khi Dog
Bila Bila Cat
Kha Kha Mouth
Chharpha Chharpha Rain
Khnam Nam Sky
Sa Sa Soil/Earth
bZo Zo Cross of Yak and Cow
Da Da Arrow
Gju Gju Bow
Kangma Kangpa Leg/Foot
Zermong Sermo Nail
Api Api Grand-mother/Old Woman
Ashe Ache Elder Sister
Bang Balang Cow
Byango Chamo Hen/Chicken
Ong Yong Come
Mendoq Metoq Flower
Nang-Khangma Nang-Khangpa House (holds)
Shoq-shoq Shugti Paper
Garba Gra Blacksmith
Shingkhan Shingkan Carpenter
Bras Das Rice
Bakhmo Paghma Bride
Nene Ane Aunt
Khlang Langto Bull/Ox
Stare Stari Axe
Zorba Zora Sickle
Khshol Shol Plough
Baqphe Paghphe (Wheat) Floor.
Skarchen Skarchhen Star (large and bright)
Namkhor Namkhor Cloudy

Balti Verbs Ladakhi Meaning
Zo Zo Eat
Thung Thung Drink
Ong Yong Come
Zer Zer Speak/Say
Ngid tong Nigid tong Sleep (go to)
Lagpa Lagpa Hand/Arm
Khyang Khyorang You

Balti Verbs Ladakhi Meaning
Diring ngima tronmo yod Diring ngima tonmo yod The day/sun is warm
today.
Ringmo thaqpa gnis khyong Ringmo thagpa gnis khyong Bring two long
ropes.
Ra lug kun tshwa kher Ra lug kun tshwa kher Take the goats and
sheep. for grazing
Zgo karkong kun ma phes Zgo karkong kun ma phes Don't open the doors
and ventilators
Kushu chuli yod na zo Kushu chuli yod na zo If there is (some) apple
and appricot eat (it).
Ragi phali yod na khyong Ralgri phali yod na khyong If there is
(any) sword and shield (please) bring them.

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