First death anniversary of legendary social worker Maureen Lines today

PESHAWAR: The 17th March 2018 marks the first death anniversary of legendary social worker, author, photographer and environmentalist Maureen Lines (Tamgha-i-Imtiaz) who was a chief authority on Kalasha culture.

She passed away in Peshawar last year, aged 79, and was laid to rest in Gora Qabristan. Born in North London in 1937, travel was almost an addiction for Maureen Lines who lived in Paris, New York, Beirut, and Greece before making Kalash valleys her home in 1980. Her travels included North Africa, Spain, Egypt, the West Bank, Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Western China.

Maureen learned the language of the Kalasha and lived amongst them for decades. She was concerned about preserving their culture and environment and was involved with a number of medical and education projects. She undertook annual visits to UK where she raised funds for the welfare of Kalasha community.

Writing about the Kalash valleys, she recorded, “This veritable Shangri-La, as the valleys are often referred to, has its own problems. For example, little of the questionable benefits of tourism go to the Kalash. In one of the valleys, most of the hotels are owned and run by outsiders, who ventured in some years ago and tricked the Kalash out of their land and trees. Now, with jeeps and Suzukis plying up and down the jeep track, not to mention a van of battery hens, the valley is becoming spoiled. “Another enemy the Kalash have to face is twentieth century materialism in the person of the woodcutter and the landgrabber.” (Herald June 1998).

In early 1990s, the second Hindu Kush Cultural Conference was held in Chitral. Though it was well attended, only one speaker mentioned the environmental problems of the area. She begged the locals and officials to resist deforestation. “If the forests disappear, the Kalash too will follow,” she would often say.

Through her writings Maureen Lines attempted to sensitise readers about the Kalasha and clear up prevailing misinformation. She did not want the Kalasha to be treated like zoo exhibits at the hands of irresponsible hordes of tourists that did not understand or respect their social norms.