Gilgit Baltistan elite posing for a picture.
Gilgit Baltistan elite posing for a picture.

KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

Pakistan controlled Gilgit-Baltistan celebrated its maiden ‘Cap Day’ on October 1 and it is going to be a yearly exercise. Aimed at preserving a key item of its identity, the day has focus on tourist attractions, reports from Pakistan said.

All the government officials across belt’s 10- districts on Saturday put on the traditional cap, according to GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman.

The region that suffered severely after militants killed 10 foreigner mountaineers at Nanga Parbat base camp in 2013 is trying its level best to get its tourist traffic. The tourism is linked to the livelihood of its 10,000 people, directly. Last year, it was visited by half a million tourists, slightly more than Kashmir got in 2015.

Shanti-Khoi, as GB calls its cap in local language, is considered the most visible and key element of its dress, an important part of its identity. These soft caps, usually round and flat-topped are mostly white. Made of finest wool, these are decorated with either a tuft of feathers or a flower. The woolen caps are region’s response to manage temperature that goes 25 degree centigrade below freezing point during winters.

So important is the cap that it is part of the official uniforms of the Gilgit Scouts from the days it was headed by Major William Brown. It remained unchanged even as the Scouts are now Northern Light Infantry Regiment.

The men from GB and Chitral and parts of Kohistan sport feathers (plumage) on their hats as part of tradition. But it scared local environmentalists suggesting that massive demand for plumages might trigger massive hunting of birds. Now the people are following the NLI that is using synthetic plumage to prevent ecological imbalance, reports said.

GB is part of the erstwhile J&K state but has a separate chief minister, outside the Pakistan administered Kashmir.

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