The Honesty, Court System and the Social System in Hunza.

The Mir told Renee Taylor that Hunza had no police and no crime. He described Hunza as Perfect Land. This story was also false. The "Durbar" was an open court of ministers lead by the Mir. Each village also had a Durbar led by three judges for the trial of less serious offenses. Hunza had a penal colony at Shimshal Valley where inmates attended to flocks of sheep owned by the Mir. It was a dreadful sentence to be banished to Shimshal. The winters were icy cold and the high winds blew continuously.

To the credit of the Hunza people, the social system made premarital sex a serious taboo. The couple would quickly get married if a girl became pregnant, otherwise couples got married at the same time in December in a great community ceremony. Murder, adultery and homosexuality were much more serious with the death penalty as punishment upon conviction. Therefore, there were no homosexuals or cheating spouses in Hunza and very few murders of fellow Hunzakuts.

A winter feast called the Tumushuling was held following the December Wedding Day. The meal consisted of chapatis (bread), meat, rice and plates of butter. Animals were killed for the winter festival as a special treat and because of the shortage of grain and dried fruit. Only the village chiefs, other prominent men, new bridegrooms and the Mir attended, and a song of the history of Hunza was sung. It lasted for several hours and ended in a food fight with flying pieces of chapatis and gobs of butter.

Hunzakuts were not above murder and theft in past centuries when they continually raided trade caravans traveling through the nearby mountain passes, but that practice was discontinued in the late 1800s.

Honesty was another problem since the social system made dishonesty the best policy. Life in Hunza was highly competitive and unorganized. The people cared only for those in their immediate family. One man could not be trusted to take his neighbor's farm produce to the market in Gilgit. Each farmer had to take his own produce. Since cheating, lying and stealing were the norm, a Hunzakut would lie or tell any fable that would give him an advantage. It is no surprise that many of the people falsely claimed to be over 100 years of age. The crime rate was so bad that John Clark had the shoes stolen off his horse in Mount Ultar Nullah (canyon) by the Mir's own sheepherders, and his personal items were stolen from a locked room in the old palace by one of the Mir's servants who had a key. The village chief stole some of Clark's medicines that were critical for his treating the people. The Mir would do nothing about these incidences. See page 98. The picture is of the Old Palace where John Clark lived and had his school. It was also known as the Fort.

A Hunzakut could not be trusted to pay an agreed amount for a service or material goods to be delivered. Neither could a Hunzakut be trusted to deliver a service or goods if the payment were made in advance. For these reasons the people did not deal much with each other. Most of the dealings were only within family groups where the people were more hesitant to cheat a relative. John Clark assigned one of his students the task of purchasing food from the villagers. The student would only contact his family members and reported that the food item was not available if his family did not have it. He would not seek the food any other place in the village. John Clark gained the trust of the people by his fair and honest dealings. He paid the agreed amount upon completion of the work or delivery of the goods. He also paid well and frequently gave a bonus for good performance.

The unusual practices in the Hunza court or Durbar promoted dishonesty as well. Guilt was not decided by the one who started an incident but by the one throwing the worst insults. The guilty party was fined for minor offenses with half of the fine going to the judges and the other half to the Mir. The innocent party was also expected to pay an equal amount as a gift to the judges. Therefore the guilty and the innocent suffered equally. As a result, few complaints were brought before the authorities.

The Hunza villagers paid taxes to the Mir on their farm produce. They were also required to work part time on the Mir's personal property and projects without pay. Two boys the same age as the Mir's son were assigned as companions to the Crown Prince and were to be servants for life.