Northern Pakistan: More Than Meets the Eye

I was a little ambivalent when my wife suggested that we join a Go Holiday 360 tour to northern Pakistan. Some friends had visited this destination, but many others, including my son, were not encouraging. “Why Pakistan?” was the common question. I suppose they were all concerned about our safety. But as usual, I went along with my wife's wishes.

We gathered at KLIA on the 16th. There were only ten of us, including a tour manager who asked us to call him “Cash”. Our departure was badly delayed at KLIA, but besides receiving some generous meal coupons from Thai Airways, we were also invited by our travel insurance company, Berjaya Sompo, to spend the waiting time at a travel lounge at KLIA.

There was not much time to while away in Bangkok before we transited. By the time we reached Islamabad, it was late into the night. We had to catch a domestic flight at around 7 am, which meant we could only rest for a few hours in our hotel room at the Pearl Continental.

The Journey

Our tour began at Skardu Airport, from where we visited a number of tourist sites in the region before proceeding to Karimabad in the Hunza Valley, travelling along the mighty Indus River. From there, we went to Khunjerab Pass, where the China-Pakistan border checkpoint is located.

After that, it was the Hoper Glacier before we backtracked to Gilgit. From there, we travelled to Besham and then to the Swat Valley before returning to Islamabad for our flight home.

A Side Observation: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

We flew by Pakistan International Airlines to Skardu. The flight was quite uneventful. However, I felt a little sorry when I saw the PIA livery.

PIA was once among Asia's most prestigious airlines, and it played a significant role in the establishment of Emirates Airline in 1985. It is one of the more remarkable stories in Asian aviation history: an airline that helped launch what became a global aviation giant subsequently experienced a prolonged decline of its own.

PIA was founded in 1955. Under Air Marshal Nur Khan, who became its managing director in 1959, it developed a strong international reputation. In 1960, it became one of Asia's earliest operators of commercial jet services, using the Boeing 707. It was also the first airline from a non-communist country to operate scheduled flights to the People's Republic of China.

In 1985, Emirates began operations with two aircraft wet-leased from PIA. A wet lease meant that the aircraft came with operational support, including crews and maintenance arrangements. Emirates' own 2015 anniversary account records that approximately 100 pilots, engineers, maintenance personnel and other staff arrived in Dubai to help prepare for its launch.

However, over several decades, PIA became increasingly burdened by political interference, management instability, excessive staffing, debt and inadequate fleet investment. By December 2025, PIA's difficulties had become so severe that a Pakistani consortium led by the Arif Habib Group acquired a 75% stake for approximately US$482 million as part of a privatisation exercise.

There is a striking irony here: the airline whose aircraft and personnel helped Emirates begin operations in 1985 eventually found itself losing passengers to the very Gulf aviation industry it had helped develop.

The PIA story illustrates something beyond aviation: a country may possess considerable human talent, technical expertise and pioneering institutions, yet lose its competitive advantage through prolonged failures of governance and institutional management.

We spent eleven days touring northern Pakistan. This is not intended to be my travelogue, but rather a collection of impressions I gathered throughout the journey.

Mountains, Mountains and Mountains Everywhere

The northern region was full of towering, snow-capped mountains. The PIA pilot even pointed out K2, the world's second-highest mountain.

Much of the first eight days of our road journey was along gravel roads. We visited Shigar Valley, passing by the Sarfaranga Desert; stopped by Sadpara Lake and the Lower and Upper Kachura Lakes; and travelled to Karimabad in the Hunza Valley along the Indus River.

The border guards at Khunjerab Pass (4,733 metres) were friendly. However, we did not have the opportunity to visit the Chinese checkpoint.

There was no telecommunications signal along much of the way. Traffic was thin, and I wondered what would happen if our coach broke down!

Some 500 dwellings nestled along the gravel road to Hoper Glacier. For a different experience, the local tour collaborator hired jeeps to bring us there. Conditions in the various human settlements were quite basic. But some parts were very scenic, even though vegetation was generally sparse.

 Along the Karakoram Highway, we also got to see a stretch of the Old Silk Road, a point where the Indian and Eurasian continental plates collided some 55 million years ago, and a junction where three mighty mountain ranges meet — the Karakoram, the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush.

The Chinese are also involved in building two major dams and a new highway tunneling through the mountains tunnels for Pakistan.

There were also gemstone and gold mining activities along the way. One of our tour members, Joseph, obviously a gemstone enthusiast himself, had a field day on several occasions! Our tour manager, Cash, became his convert.

Much of the journey was dusty until we entered the SWAT region, where Shangla Pass is located. Vegetation became lush. This region is said to be the Switzerland of the East.

The local tour agency provided us with a Toyota Coaster, which technically could seat 16 passengers. However, several seats had to be used for luggage. It was really not comfortable for long journeys. There wasn't much legroom, but I could understand why they had to use this model. I suppose they had little choice, since the roads were generally too narrow to accommodate larger tour coaches. But for some strange reason, even the fittings in the coach — the seat's handle bar and the pocket for loose-items — were rendered unusable with a redundant jacket.

Buddhism

This was the most unexpected experience of my journey: the efforts of an Islamic country to preserve the ruins of Buddhism.

Buddhism flourished in this part of the world for many centuries, particularly during the Gandhara period, and survived in some areas until around the 14th century.

While in neighbouring Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed two enormous standing Buddha statues carved into a sandstone cliff in the Bamiyan Valley, the Pakistanis, with the assistance of UNESCO, have made considerable efforts to preserve their Buddhist heritage.

In Skardu, we visited the ninth-century Manthal Buddha rock carving and inscriptions, dating from the later phase of Buddhism in the Upper Indus Valley.

We also visited the Swat Museum, where an impressive collection of Gandhara art from the Buddhist period is displayed.

En route to Islamabad, our tour guide also took us to see Buddha carvings and the remains of stupas and monasteries at various sites, including Butkara, Shingardar, Takht-i-Bahi and Taxila.

I also learned about the existence of the White Huns, who were instrumental in the destruction of many Buddhist sites. The people I asked could not tell me much about the White Huns, but I wondered whether they were related to the Xiongnu, who had repeatedly raided China in ancient times.

The Taxila Buddhist Museum was most impressive. It houses many relics, including a tooth said to be that of the Buddha.

In it contains a relic of Buddha's tooth

The Gandhara region, covering much of present-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, was once a major centre of Buddhism. Places such as Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi were flourishing Buddhist centres long before the arrival of Islam.

Buddhism declined gradually as a result of changing political patronage, religious developments, economic shifts and successive invasions. In Sindh, it had largely disappeared by the 13th century.

Islamisation

Islam first reached the territory of present-day Pakistan through Arab traders and early contacts during the seventh century AD. However, it was not until 711–712 AD, in the early eighth century, that Islam gained its first substantial political foothold when Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh.

Nevertheless, the local population did not immediately convert to Islam. Hindus and Buddhists continued to practise their religions for centuries.

From the 11th century onwards, Muslim rulers from Afghanistan and Central Asia extended their influence into Punjab and northern India. At the same time, Muslim traders, scholars and particularly Sufi missionaries helped Islam spread among local populations.

Under the Mughal Empire (1526–1857), Islam became firmly embedded in the political and cultural life of much of the Indian subcontinent. Nevertheless, the population remained religiously diverse, and the spread of Islam varied considerably from region to region.

The important distinction is that while Islam arrived through military conquest and commercial contact, the Islamisation of society was a much slower process, extending over several centuries.

We visited the 14th-century Amburiq Mosque in Baltistan, said to be the first Islamic religious monument in the Shigar Valley, built by Iranian craftsmen.

This is obviously a Shia heartland. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is revered here. It is estimated that Shias constitute about 10–20% of Pakistan's population, although the proportion is much higher in parts of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Ethnicities

Pakistan is a remarkably diverse country ethnically. Although Pakistanis are predominantly Muslim, they belong to several distinct ethnic groups, with different languages, cultures and historical origins.

In the northern region we visited, the population is particularly diverse. The principal communities include:

• Baltis, mainly around Skardu and Baltistan. Their language is of Tibetan origin, and the region has strong historical links with Tibetan culture.
• Burusho, mainly found in Hunza and nearby valleys. They speak Burushaski, a language with no established relationship to other language families.
• Shina-speaking communities, particularly around Gilgit, whose language has Indo-Aryan roots.
• Pashtuns, who are prominent in the northwestern parts of Pakistan, especially around Swat and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They share ethnic and linguistic connections with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan.

This diversity reflects Pakistan's geography. For thousands of years, the region was a meeting ground for peoples from the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, Persia, Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau.

One particularly interesting point: the Baltis of Skardu speak a Tibetan-related language, even though the overwhelming majority are Muslims today. Their language preserves an important part of the region's pre-Islamic cultural heritage. Even some of their buildings reflect this heritage.

For Pakistan as a whole, Punjabis form the largest ethnic group, at approximately 45% of the population. They are closely related culturally and linguistically to Punjabis across the border in India.

Other major groups include Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs and Baloch, besides numerous smaller ethnic communities.

Overall Impressions

Even though the hotels were generally modest, they were quite clean and adequate. Those operated by the Serena chain maintained a very high standard of housekeeping, especially in their dining table and cutlery arrangements. They could put some of our hotels to shame!

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by someone who could speak Hokkien! He turned out to be a Malaysian Indian from Penang!

However, there were one or two hotels which were substandard, particularly in the quality of their bed linen.

The resident guide at Altit Fort in Hunza was a born entertainer. He spoke perfect English and had us in stitches much of the time.

Pakistani food was good, even for my wife, who does not take beef or mutton. However, the Chinese food specially arranged for us before our departure was disappointing.

Nothing particularly concerning was visible on the security front, even though there were many security checkpoints along the Karakoram Highway. In the SWAT region, we were provided with security escorts along the way, even when my wife and I were visiting a local shopping “mall”.

On the whole, Pakistanis are very friendly people. Yes, the region is poor, and there were children who asked us for 100 rupees or so. But they were not insistent.

We also agreed that the children in Pakistan's northern region are very good-looking. Those who are thinking of adopting children might want to visit the region!

End