CHATTAH: He may be more
than a century old, but Hafeezullah still goes to work every
day.
With the aid of a cane, the wizened white-bearded centenarian
tends to his fields in Pakistan’s hauntingly beautiful Neelum
Valley, just as he did when Britain still ruled this part of the
world.
Pakistan was recently named by the United Nations as one of the
worst countries in the world to be for an old person in a report
that cited insecurity and lack of freedom for those over 60.
But a dozen or so centenarians like Hafeezulah living in a
remote region of Kashmir are bucking that trend, putting their
longevity down to their simple mountain lifestyle.
Situated in the Lower Himalayan Range, Neelum Valley is formed
by a 200 kilometre long river and is home to some of the most
spectacular scenery on the planet.
Craggy, snow-peaked mountains, waterfalls and green pastures
surround the village of Chattah where AFP met with around a dozen
men and women claiming to be at least a century old.
Hafeezullah says he is 132, which would make him the oldest
person in the world — although Pakistan’s National Database and
Registration Authority (NADRA) says he is a comparatively more
youthful 107.
A slightly built man with a face as jagged as the mountains
surrounding him, he said a healthy diet of mainly fresh produce and
occasional meat was the reason behind his longevity.
He has lived through the days of British India and witnessed the
partition of India but says the thing he remembers most fondly is
the low cost of living during his youth.
“We used to eat vegetables and pulses. We dumped the dried
vegetables in land during the winter season and then dug them up
and ate them in summer,” he said, referring to the natural system
of freezing produce under snow-covered ground.
He has outlived three wives but his fourth, Issem Jan, dedicates
herself to helping him live as long as possible.
“I do whatever I can for him. I take care of everything for him.
I serve him a lot and God will give me his reward,” the 70-year-old
said as she massaged his legs.
Chattah and nearby villages are 2,000 metres above sea level and
are cut off from the rest of the country for almost six months
because of the snow.
The altitude also increases the production of red blood cells in
the body, and the crisp air is free from the kind of choking
pollution that blights the country’s major cities.
Despite being a favoured tourism spot, Neelum Valley is
relatively untouched by time and traditional farming methods
including the use of bullocks to plough fields and minimal use of
pesticides are still practised.
There are no nearby markets, no fast food, and villagers are for
the most part self-sufficient.
“The farmers still use bulls to plough their fields. This is an
old system of agriculture,” the headman of the village, Abdul
Khaliq, 75, said.
He added that young men and women get up early in the morning,
around 4am, and work till sunset, busying themselves with
farm tasks like chopping wood, carpentry and tending to their
livestock — another factor contributing to their overall good
health.
Mohammad Shapal Khan, a senior NADRA official, said only 60 per
cent of the region’s population had so far been added to federal
data — but each village in the valley has a dozen or so people in
their nineties or hundreds.
In stark contrast, the average life expectancy in Pakistan is 64
for men and 66 for women, according to the World Health
Organisation.
The UN-backed Global Age Watch Index named Pakistan as one of
the three worst places in the world to grow old in and the worst in
terms of so-called “enabling environment” which includes security
and freedom of movement.
Sabat Khan, another elderly local who claims he is 102 although
official records place him at 92, said his idyllic homeland and
lack of ill-health were responsible for his long life.
“It is thanks to God’s blessing that I’m healthy,” he said,
surrounded by a multitude of grandchildren. “I’ve rarely been sick
and now I’m an old man.”
