The Hunza Apricot Pit, Vitamin B-17 and the Cancer Cure Myth

The Hunza people did grow apricots and eat the apricot kernel of the apricot pit. The apricot kernel does indeed contain vitamin B-17, and the people may have had a low incidence of cancer, but the apricot had nothing to do with the cancer rate in the Hunza people. Vitamin B-17 has never been shown to prevent or cure cancer. The dead Hunzakuts were never examined by anyone to verify the cause of death. It was never proven that they had a low incidence of cancer.


Team HunzaHistory

The Hunza Glacial Milk and the Cesium Cancer Cure Myth

Many people jump to the conclusion that the water diverted from glacial runoff was the source of special healing and life extending properties. The gardens were watered with mineral rich glacier water carried by an aqueduct system for a distance of 50 miles (80 m) from the Ultar Glacier on the 25,550 foot (7789 m) high Mount Rakaposhi. 

The wooden aqueduct trough was hung from the sheer cliffs by steel nails hammered into the rock walls. Rocks beneath the glacier were ground into a fine powder or silt by the pressure and weight to give the water a slight milky color, thus it was described as "Glacial Milk." Click on the picture to see an enlargement.

There are those who claim the Hunza water is rich in cesium and potassium thereby making it rich with caustically (alkaline) active metals that prevent and cure cancer. Some modern doctors are giving cesium therapy treatments to cure cancer, but cesium does not cure cancer.

The glacier water used to flood the garden plots did provide many minerals or trace metals. The minerals were in the ground rock and not in the colloidal form as many claim. The following link gives a chemical composition of the glacial milk of Hunza. It may or may not be correct. Most of the other information on the following link is false.


Team HunzaHistory

The Original Hunza Winter Diet.

The Hunza people sun dried fruit in the summer and stored grain for winter consumption. They also had some meat. They consumed all parts of the animals, not just the flesh. They ate the animal's brain, lungs, heart, liver, tripe, flesh and everything else except the hide, wind-pipe and genitalia. They cleaned bones to a polish and broke them to eat the marrow. The fat was highly favored for cooking, and a stew was made by boiling meat and grains.Mountain Karakoram as seen from Aliabad village. Click on the picture to see an enlargement.The Yaks, goats and sheep were bred each year for the meat and to keep the milk production flowing. The females were kept for breeding and milk production until reaching a non productive age when they were also slaughtered for food. Any lame animal was slaughtered to prevent the loss of meat. The food supply was critical and springtime starvation was always a concern for hungry children.

The Hunzakuts had a major flaw in their method of raising animals. They kept equal numbers of male and female, which reduced the productivity. If a Hunza farmer had six sheep he would have three ewes and three rams. The ewes would have three lambs each spring. The production could have been increased to five lambs each spring if they had kept five ewes and one ram. The rams also ate more fodder but produced no milk. The same was true for goats. This faulty farming practice reduced the amount milk, meat and number of offspring each year.During the winter a major part of the diet consisted of milk, buttermilk, yogurt, butter and cheese. The diet was a high-fat diet throughout the year contrary to false claims that their diet was low-fat. The milk was more than 50 percent fat on a calorie basis and nothing was wasted.



Team HunzaHistory

The Original Hunza Summer Diet of Hunza People

The British General and soldiers arrived in the summer during the 1870s as did everyone who traveling to Hunza. This was the harvest season for the grains, fruits and vegetables from the gardens, and much of the food was consumed raw. Because fuel for cooking was saved to be used in winter for boiling meat and providing some heat for the stone dwellings, very little meat was consumed in summer and vegetable were eaten raw.

Curious visitors who followed the British soldiers to Hunza Valley years later naturally arrived in summeralso, and the summer diet of the people led visitors to assume they were mainly vegetarian and ate very little meat. This was typical of the summer harvest season. Many primitive cultures including cavemen lived in a similar manner, gorging themselves on available fruit during the short season and eating mostly meat for the rest of the year. The people of Hunza differed in that they never had an abundance of anything except rocks. They did not have enough animals to provide abundant meat during the winter because of the lack of fodder. They did not want to kill female animals that were milk producers unless the animal was old or lame.The Hunzakuts are said to have cultivated plants included barley, millet, wheat, buckwheat, turnips, carrots, dried beans, peas, pumpkins, melons, onions, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, apricots, mulberries, walnuts, almonds, apples, plums, peaches, cherries, pears and pomegranates. John Clark did not find green beans, wax beans, beets, endive, lettuce, radishes, turnips, spinach, yellow pear tomatoes, Brussel sprouts or parsley. Cherry tomatoes and potatoes are thought to have been brought in by the British. The long list of currently grown plant varieties should not be a consideration when discussing the longevity of the Hunzakuts and their past diet.

Apricot trees were very popular, and the fruit was eaten raw in season and sun dried for winter. The pits were cracked to obtain the kernel that was crushed to obtain the oil for cooking and lamps. The hard shell was kept for a fire fuel. The kernel and oil could be eaten from the variety of apricots with a sweet kernel, but the bitter kernel variety had an oil containing poisonous prussic acid. Click the picture to see an enlargement.The apricot trees were allowed to grow very large in order to obtain the maximum yield. Picking the maximum amount of fruit was more important than the difficulty in picking. The children would scamper to the higher branches to pick or shake off the fruit. Planting new trees required several years of growth before any fruit was produced. The special garden silt or glacial milk did not contribute to the age or size of the trees as is commonly claimed. Our modern orchards are not managed that way because we have abundant space and picking is expensive. Our trees are cut when the size makes them difficult to harvest, not because they fail to live as long as those in Hunza.

Mulberries, which resemble blackberries in size and shape, are a favorite fruit. When fully ripe, their flavor is sweet-sour but somewhat bland. The variety grown in Hunza was most likely a golden color.A large variety of indigenous wildlife including markhors sheep, Marco Polo sheep, geese, ducks, pheasants and partridge provided the early Hunza hunters with meat in addition to their sheep, goats and domesticated Yaks. Chickens were also raised for meat and eggs until sometime in the 1950s when they were banned by the Mir.The Queen and her children traveled on Yaks while the King and other men rode horses. The Yak is a strong wild animal which they domesticated for for traveling in the mountains as a beast of burden pack animal. In addition to Yaks, which provided milk and meat, the Hunzakuts also had goats, sheep, cows and horses. However, there were very few cows or horses in Hunza in 1950 because they consumed a lot of fodder compared to goats and sheep. The Yaks, goats and sheep were herded in the summer to areas just below the snow line for feeding on sparse grasses and plants. They were milked by the herders who made butter that was delivered back to the people in the villages below. The herders had plenty of milk to drink that valley people lacked. The Yaks were also milked. Cows and horses could not be herded to the higher elevation because the vegetation there was simply to sparse.The picture is of the Cathedral Peaks as viewed from the village of Ghulmit 23 miles (37 km) upriver from Baltit near the northern end of Hunza. Summer grains are seen growing in the foreground. The Mir's main Palace was in Baltit, but since firewood was more abundant in Ghulmit, he chose this location for his winter residence. Click the picture to see an enlargement.

A great celebration was held to commemorate the barley harvest, the first harvest of the early summer to break the spring starvation period. The barley was ground, mixed with water and fried to make a pancake style bread called chapatis, and hot stones were used for cooking the bread prior to the availability of steel plate or cast iron griddles. The bread recipe would change to whatever grain was available. Wheat was harvested later in the summer. The Hunza bread recipe found in books and on websites is nothing whatsoever like the various breads of the Hunzakuts. The primitive Hunzakuts ground grains between two rocks much like the North American Indians. They had constructed a water wheel powered stone grinder by the time John Clark had arrived, but many people still ground the grain by hand.To their credit, the Hunzakuts did developed a double-crop farming method. Barley was the first crop harvested, then replaced by millet. Wheat was harvested later in the summer followed by winter buckwheat. The double-crop planting method was done to make the maximum use of the valuable land, not because grains matured faster in Hunza as often claimed.In summer meat was conserved for very special occasions and festivals. Livestock were much too valuable to be killed indiscriminately, so animals became a major source of food only during the cold winter when other foods ran out.

Team HunzaHistory

The Original Hunza People

The Original Hunza People:

The story of Hunza is thought to have begun with Alexander III or Alexander the Great (July 356 BC to June 10, 323 BC), son of King Philip of Macedon (Ancient Macedonia west of Greece). Alexander was a brilliant warrior, more capable than his father. After his father's murder, Alexander set out toward the east to conquer neighboring kingdoms. He conquered Greece in short fashion and continued toward Persia where he eventually burned the capital and the national library in a great defeat of the Persians.Three generals in Alexander's army are said to have married Persian women. The generals betrayed Alexander by giving the Persians his plans. When Alexander heard of the betrayal he sought to take revenge, but the generals, wives and a band of many soldiers fled. The valley of Hunza is thought to have been their valley of refuge because of its remote and secure location.It is likely that the Hunza valley was already sparsely inhabited when the Macedon generals arrived. Certainly these tough fighting warriors made quick work of slaughtering the ancient inhabitants of Hunza. Though this is purely speculation, it is highly probable. The desolate rocky valley could not have supported the Macedonians unless some farms had been slowly built by others over the preceding centuries.

Hunza became an independent kingdom with a monarchy. The King used the title of Mir. The British disrupted the ruling organization of the Hunza people."The Mir, or ruler, of Hunza believed his tiny kingdom to be the equal of China, and likened himself to Alexander the Great from whom he claimed descent. When the British turned up in the 1870s he took them for petitioners seeking to make Queen Victoria his vassal. Not wishing to waste time arguing, the colonial officials had him deposed, replacing him with an amenable brother whom the Mir had carelessly neglected to murder on his way to the throne."

A Kind of Kingdom in Paradise:

The British reported a population of about 8,000 people who were in good health and lived long lives, although their ages could not be verified since the Hunza people had no written records. The people were relatively healthy, especially when compared to the citizens in England where obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease ravaged the British due of their high carbohydrate diet of grains, bread, sugar, honey, fruit and potatoes. The Hunza people were slender, healthy and athletic in comparison to relatives of the British solders at home in England who were fat and sickly.The Hunza tribesmen are shown in the picture. Click the picture to see an enlargement.The Hunzakuts had lighter skin than the neighboring tribes and appeared to be of Caucasian origin. John Clark reported in 1950 seeing children with black, brown and blond hair and an occasional redhead. They probably chose the Hunza River Valley because of its sheer isolation, but the men took wives from neighboring peoples. Hunza women were said to have been beautiful. This is highly probably since the Persian women taken as captives were likely the best looking. The Hunza people were land poor since there was never enough space to provide plenty. Shortage was always present and people lived in fear of the springtime starvation when food ran desperately low.

Hunza had no soil as such. The river and glacial silt that formed the terraced gardens was simply ground rock. All of the animal manure was spread on the gardens to fertilize the crops and trees. The people defecated directly on the garden, and the soil was deficient in lime and phosphates causing the trees and plants to suffer. The garden yield was considerably less than in the United States and elsewhere where good soil is available. The nitrate fertilizer from animal and human excrement was quickly flushed from the silt by the weekly flooding with glacial water.

The Hunzakuts called this "the land of just enough." The truth is Hunza was always a land of never enough, and everything was in short supply including the usable land which was limited to five acres (20,000 sq. m) per family. Animals were limited because of the lack of grazing pastures in the lower valley. The goats, sheep and Yaks were moved to the higher mountains in summer in search of the sparse vegetation. The herdsmen had an excess of milk while the people in the valley suffered a shortage. This is the reason summer visitors to Hunza see a people eating a low-fat, near-vegetarian diet. The winter diet was vastly different.

Team HunzaHistory

A Theoratical Journey To Batura Sar (7795m)

Batura Sar:

Batura Sar, also referred to as Batura I, is the 25th highest mountain on earth[1] and the 12th highest in Pakistan. It is the highest peak of the Batura Muztagh, which is the westernmost subrange of the Karakoram range. It forms the apex of the Batura Wall, which is a continuously high part of the backbone of the Batura Muztagh.

Alternate forms of the name of this peak are Batura, Batura I, and Batura I East. The height is also sometimes listed as 7785m, and the Western top of Batura I is of very similar height (often given as 7794m).

Location:

Batura Sar and the Batura Wall lie near the middle of the Batura Muztagh, which is the only part of the Karakoram which is west of the Hunza River. The river curves around the southwest, west, and northwest sides of the Batura Muztagh. In turn, the Hunza Valley lies in the Gilgit District of the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Notable Features:

In addition to being one of the highest mountains in the world, Batura Sar is also the second most prominent peak in the Karakoram range. Since it lies at the northwest end of the Karakoram, there is no higher peak north or west of it in the world.
The Batura Wall is notable for being a long (approximately 10 km) and imposing ridge over 7000m. Batura is a very ridgelike peak, not a pointed spire.
Although it is just slightly higher (according to the usual figures) than nearby Rakaposhi, it is not nearly as famous, since it is set back much further from the Hunza Valley.

History:

Climbing began in the Batura Muztagh later than in other parts of the Karakoram, and despite Batura Sar's height, it has seen little climbing activity.A climber named Matthias Rebitsch is recorded (by Neate) as having been in the icefall area (this is presumably the Batura First Ice Flow on the north side of the peak) in 1954. The peak was attempted in 1959 by three British and two German climbers, but they all died, probably in an avalanche. Some of the climbers may have gotten near the summit.The first ascent of the peak was in 1976 by the Göppingen Karakoram-Himalaya Expedition, led by Dr. Alexander Schlee. They placed their base camp on the Baltar Glacier, below the South Face of the peak, on May 21. Hubert Bleicher and Herbert Oberhofer reached the summit on June 30.

The first ascent route climbed first from the Eastern Baltar Glacier up and over Batokshi Peak (called "Saddle Peak" by the first expedition) to Batokshi Pass (called the "Batura Saddle"). It then climbed diagonally up and northeast to East Ridge, and thence to the summit. The route used five camps above base camp.

The second ascent of the peak was in 1983 by an Austrian group, who climbed a new route, to the left of the first ascent route.The Himalayan Index lists an ascent in 1984, but this is contradicted by Neate's book, so the status of this is unclear.The year 1988 saw the third or fourth ascent of Batura Sar, by another Polish-German expedition, led by Piotr Mlotecki. They used the first ascent route; however they failed in an additional goal of reaching Batura I West.

The Himalayan Index lists five other failed attempts on the peak; these include a winter attempt by an Austrian group in 1981. However there seems to have been little or no activity on the north side of the mountain since the 1950s.

Climbing:

The first ascent route is outlined above. The first ascent party reported ice up to 50 degrees, but they do not record the use of any extensive fixed ropes. They noted the weather and repeated storms as the primary difficulty.

References:

1.High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks by Jill Neate, ISBN 0-89886-238-8

2.Batura Mustagh (sketch map and pamphlet) by Jerzy Wala, 1988.
3.Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram by Jerzy Wala, 1990. Published by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research.

 Team HunzaHistory

About Hunza Peak.... 6270m

Hunza Peak lies in the westernmost subrange of the Karakoram range along with the Ladyfinger Peak (Bublimating). It lies on the southwest ridge of the Ultar Sar massif, the most southeasterly of the major groups of the Batura Muztagh. The whole massif rises precipitously above the Hunza Valley to the southeast.




Bublimating, while having little prominence above the saddle with nearby Hunza Peak, is particularly notable for being a sharp, relatively snowless rock spire among snow peaks.

FLYING OVER HUNZA PEAK :





This peak has at least two known routes, both climbed in 1991. Both routes where done in alpine style, the first by a Swedish expedition and the second by a British team, which included Caradog Jones and Mick Fowler.

Team HunzaHistory

Strike in Aliabad Hunza : Residents demand one more seat in legislative assembly

People of Hunza-Nagar observed complete strike and held a big rally at Aliabad here on Thursday for acceptance of their demand of another seat for Hunza in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.


Civic and business life came to a grinding halt and transport remained off the road throughout Hunza, Nagar and Gojal. Thousands of protesters blocked Karakorum Highway (KKH) for about eight hours. The call for the shutter-down and wheel jam strike was given by the All-Parties Hunza Action Committee formed recently to spearhead the struggle for two seats in the legislative assembly.

 








Hunza, with a population of over 61,000 and an area of 10,100 square kilometres is the largest constituency in Gilgit-Baltistan which has one seat in the legislative assembly.







Addressing the rally, leaders of the political parties highlighted the geo-strategic importance of Hunza and said that the valley which is known for its beauty and considered the popular tourist destination in the world is the gateway to China and Central Asian states. The government is earning billions of rupees as revenue from this area.







The people of Hunza have played a leading role in the liberation war of Gilgit-Baltistan and other wars but successive governments have failed to acknowledge their sacrifices, and deprived the people of their basic rights, they said.







They said Hunza was given a single seat in the Advisory Council in 1974 after abolishing the princely state by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while some tehsils in Gilgit-Baltistan with less than 30,000 population had been given two seats.







They also condemned Gen Ziaul Haq for abolishing the Additional District status which was given in 1974 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.







Ghulam Muhammad, senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party Gilgit-Baltistan expressed his confidence on the youth for their struggle. He, however, came down heavily on chief Executive and other elected representatives of Hunza for failing to resolve the longstanding issue of additional seat.







Atiqa Ghazanfar, member NALA urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to visit Hunza to take stock of the grievances of the people.







Chief of Labour Party Boloristan Advocate Ehsan Ali said that all successive governments have ignored and done injustices to the people of Hunza. He said the share of people of Hunza in government departments and local administration is negligible. He said the youth were now united to fight against all injustices and violation of merit.







Mir Baz, another senior PPP leader, criticised the ruling elite of Hunza for their apathy towards the problems of the people and urged the people not to vote for those candidates and leaders who are responsible for this situation and elect educated and young leadership in the legislative assembly.







Sultan Madad of Boloristan Research Forum said the rulers have deprived the people of Gilgit-Baltistan of their democratic and constitutional rights.







Sheikh Abid urged the people to continue their struggle for the cause and said that the action committee would make future strategy to continue protests till the demand is met.







Sheikh Musa Karimi said that Hunza is a model educated and peaceful society thanks to the efforts of civil society organisations but the government has always discriminated against the region. He condemned the assertions of Kashmiri leaders over the Gilgit-Baltistan.







Baba Jan, chief organiser of Progressive Youth Front warned of the government of the consequences if the demand of the people of Hunza was not met.Fida Karim, president of Hunza chapter of PPP, assured all out support to the action committee in their just struggle for the rights of the people. He said PPP would not compromise on principles and will also opt for the election boycott.
Noor Muhammad, general secretary of the action committee, said that the people of Hunza were facing discriminations in public sector jobs and projects.Karim Sher, Former District Councillor condemned the role of some leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-N and Jamiat Ulema Islam-F for creating hurdles in creation of six new seats in legislative assembly.Ali Qurban, Iman Shah, Haider Tai, Sher Khan, Ghulam Murtaza, Ikram Najmi, Irfan Karim and others also spoke the rally.
In the end, the participants marched from College Chowk to Aliabad Police Station and chanted slogan against the government and local administration for discrimination.

Team HunzaHappenings

Elections in Northern Areas on Nov 12th 2009

Pakistan has decided to hold party elections for the legislative assembly of the Northern Areas on November 12, 2009.




According to official sources, the Chief Election Commissioner of the Northern Areas has ordered the commissioner to start preparing the election lists for all seven districts.



The assembly completes its five-year tenure after being elected on October 12, 2004. The government has also decided to take some measures in accordance with the Governance Amendment Order before the elections.



According to the new amendments, the Senate will be formed along with a council and the prime minister of Pakistan would be given the post of chairman of the council. The chief executive would be the chief minister. The new amendment order, which has to be approved by the Federal Cabinet, would also include amendments to end the post of governor in the Northern Areas and to change the name to Gilgit Baltistan.

Gilgit Baltistan borderS Swat, Dir, Chitral and Kohistan districts of NWFP. Gilgit Baltistan is a constitutional part of Pakistan, but Pakistan has administrative control of it and officially calls it the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Team HunzaHappenings

Changes In History of Northern Areas

That the announcement of the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order in northern areas by PM Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has been received with a mixed reaction should be no surprise. The cross-section of historical legacy with political imperatives provides the basis for the present controversy around the strategically important region that has common border with Afghanistan and Xinjiang region of China in the north of the country. However, seen in the context of long-standing struggle of the people of Gilgit and Balochistan for their fundamental, political and legal rights, the up gradation of the status of the northern areas under the Order is a new milestone in the history of the region, for which Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) can rightly claim credit. For, since the first PPP government led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took the initiative almost four decades ago to constitute northern areas out of Gilgit Agency, Baltistan District and the states of Hunza and Nagar, no government paid any attention towards redressing the grievances of the people of these areas.

The region officially known as Northern Areas of Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan will have an area of 27971 square miles and a population of approximately 1,000,000. The region was a part of princely State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) before 1947. This is the reason why the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir refer these areas as part of J&K for the purpose of determining its future through a plebiscite. But the people of Gilgit and Baltistan had never accepted the forcible occupation of their land by pre-partition Dogra rulers. In 1947, through a popular revolt against Maharaja Hari Singh, they got themselves liberated from the yoke of Dogra rule. The Mirs of Hunza and Nagar and other chieftains of the areas requested Pakistan to assume direct responsibility for the administration and security of the Agency. Pakistan agreed to their request, pending the settlement of the future of J&K, under the provisions of the Interim Constitution of Pakistan (1947-54), which allowed any "other area" with the consent of the federation to be included in Pakistan. Since then the people of Gilgit and Baltistan have been demanding a status for their region equal to other provinces of Pakistan. The successive governments of Pakistan, however, did not pay any heed to the popular aspirations of the people of these areas, who were groaning under the oppressive laws and regulations enacted and enforced during the colonial era. When a mass popular movement against the autocratic regime of Ayub swept the whole of Pakistan in 1968-69 and demanded the restoration of democracy, the people of Gilgit and Baltistan also organised a movement for their rights and voiced their demands for an end to the centuries old system of feudal slavery. This is to be noted that General Yahya Khan, who took over from Ayub Khan accepted East Pakistan's demand for one-man-one vote as the basis of 1970 elections and also agreed to the dismemberment of One Unit granting provincial status to Balochistan, but did nothing either for FATA or the northern areas, although both of these regions, like other parts of Pakistan, direly needed political reforms. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto assumed power in 1972, the initiation of development works in FATA and introduction of political reforms in the northern areas were among the earliest measures taken by the first PPP government in response to the aspirations of the people of Pakistan expressed during the mass popular movement of 1968-69. Mr Bhutto was keenly interested in altering centuries old status quo in these areas and in order to bring it about he established personal rapport with the people by visiting these areas a number of times and by directly speaking to the people through public rallies

Team HunzaHistory