Bilal Hassan travels to Gwadar, Pakistan
To say that Gwadar’s location is idyllic would be an understatement. Affectionately referred to as Ganjen by locals, in Balochi it roughly translates to ‘a place of abundant natural beauty.’
It isn’t hard to see why it gets that moniker; as you land in the city by plane, you are immediately met with the sight of the jagged Koh i Mehdi dramatically rising above the airstrip, and the northern fringe of the city is dominated by the Koh i Batil, a massive flat table-top mountain.
Situated on the Arabian Sea, the city is built on a narrow strip of land that’s flanked on both its eastern and western edges by coastline, locally referred to as Demi Zirr and Paddi Zirr respectively. Dotted along the azure shoreline are a series of colourful fishing vessels manned by single fishermen. It was upon their backs that Gwadar, once a small fishing village, was built (fish biryani is still today a favorite Friday delicacy).
A brief history
Gwadar has a complex history; it first came under Arab Muslim rule in the 7th century, though local Baloch tribes controlled the area thereafter. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Admiral Seydi Ali Reis visited the city and mentioned it briefly in his book Mirat ul Memalik : “The people there were Beluchistani’s and their chief was Malik Djelaleddin, the son of Malik Dinar.”1 Malik Dinar was a Tabi’een (one who knew or met the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) and is often considered one of the first Muslims to visit the Subcontinent – though this is not historically verified.
During this same period, the city came under attack by the Portuguese, who had already captured parts of Oman and India. Under Commander Mir Ismaheel Baloch, the Portuguese were defeated. By the end of the 16th century, Gwadar came under the rule of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and remained in Mughal control for the next two centuries. Then came the Omanis.
In 1783, Taimur Sultan was granted possession of Gwadar. The sultans of Oman ruled the city through appointed governors for the next two centuries. In 1958, through negotiations led by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Feroz Khan Noon and his Viqar Ul Nissa, Gwadar was purchased by Pakistan for a sum of Rs 5.5 billion, mostly paid by the Aga Khan IV.
Omani influence
The legacy of Oman’s rule is evident everywhere; intricately carved bukhoor burners are lit up in shops and restaurants throughout town, and the smell of frankincense lingers in the air. Every other person on the street wears a heavily-embroidered Omani-style topi, the kummah; even the local halwa, a nutty gelatinous sweet treat, is a taste of Muscat. Local surnames are often interchanged between their Urdu and Arabic iterations: “Balochi” and “Balooshi” – the letter چ replaced with ش.
The city’s architecture speaks of its past; decaying fortifications close to the Shahi Bazaar, the main market, betray Omani influence. Walking around Gwadar’s streets, it is easy to forget you are in Pakistan and not a rural corner of the Gulf.
But Oman isn’t the only country that continues to influence on the sociopolitical structure of Gwadar. Iran is barely a hundred kilometres away, and many here have family on the other side of the border. A large segment of the population is fluent in both Persian and Balochi. Petrol, electricity and the snacks sold at the corner shops are all Iranian and are often cheaper and more easily available than Pakistani ones. Grocery stores sell everything from baklava flavored ice cream sandwiches and the beloved yogurt based beverage doogh, to pistachio flavored cakes and Iranian cream cheeses.
And if all that wasn’t enough, there is a new foreign arrival in town. The Gwadar port is being developed in collaboration with China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor aka, CPEC. Chinese influence is increasingly evident, especially in the mega infrastructure projects mushrooming across town.
***
I ended my little sojourn in Gwadar at the city’s jetty. Usually bustling with fishermen going about their work, on a Sunday it transforms into a diving arena for the city’s youth. Armed with GoPros and smartphones the divers try to out-do one another with the most outlandish and viral-worthy dives. Close by, the jetty overlooks the multibillion dollar port being developed in collaboration with the Chinese; it is quite the spectacular setting, a front row seat to the very future of the city.
In an era of nation states and tightly controlled borders, Gwadar’s cultural fluidity feels anachronistic. But one should keep in mind that before European colonists came to the region, carving up land and creating borders, this region, home to Balochi tribes, served as a sort of cultural inter-junction -and arbitrary borders could not eradicate that.
Gwadar is where Arab, Persian, Balochi and Pakistani culture co-exist, creating something that has its own identity. But as this quiet fishing village morphs into a metropolis with the help of the Chinese, it will be interesting to see how that identity evolves.
Footnotes
1 The Travels and Adventures of the Turkish Admiral Sidi Ali Reis – In India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Persia, During the Years 1553-1556, trans A.Vambery, 1899, pg29.
