The Diamer District ( ur, ), also spelled Diamir District,) is a district in

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

territory of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The headquarters of the district is the town of

Chilas Chilas ( ur, ) is a city and is the divisional capital of Diamer District located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on the Indus River. It is part of the Silk Road connected by the Karakoram Highway and N-90 National Highway, which link it to I ...

. The district is bounded by on the north by the Tangir and the

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a ...

districts, on the east by the

Astore District Astore District ( ur, ) is one of the 14 districts of the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan. Its administrative headquarters are located at Eidgah in the Astore Valley. The Astore District is bounded by Gilgit District to ...

, on the south by the

Mansehra district Mansehra District is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It was established as a district in 1976, prior to which it was a tehsil within the former Hazara District. Two former subdivisions of Mansehra we ...

of Pakistan's

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

and the

Neelum District The district of Neelum (spelt also ''Neelam''; ur, ) is the northernmost of 10 districts located within the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Kashmir. Taking up the larger part of the Neelam Valley, the district has a population of ar ...

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger K ...

, and on the west by the Upper Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...

passes through the Diamer District.

History

Ancient India

Thalpas, located opposite to the Chilas town, bears the most abundant collection of rock-art in Pakistan — the Pakistan-German Archaeological Mission has published about them in six dedicated volumes and traced them to Greco-Buddhist antiquity. Buddhist Stupas and anthropomorphic Buddhas remain the most common subject of rock-carvings in and around Chilas.

Karl Jettmar Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

suggests that Chilas might have had been a Buddhist sanctuary while Harald Hauptmann hypothesizes Thalpas to be the "Talilo" of Chinese sources; however, in absence of excavations, such claims remain in the realm of speculations.

British India

During the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, the area was known as Chilas and regarded as a tribal area, subsidiary to the princely state of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. Its original name was apparently . The region was brought under the control of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1851, and an agent of the Kashmir durbar was stationed there. In 1893, Chilas was taken over by the British-run

Gilgit Agency The Gilgit Agency ( ur, ) was an agency of the British Indian Empire consisting of the subsidiary states of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir at its northern periphery, mainly with the objective of strengthening these territories against ...

. An Assistant Political Agent of the Agency was stationed in the Chilas town. The ''Raja'' was soon deposed and Chilas functioned a 'republican community' under the aegis of ''jirga'', a body of local landowning men.

Pakistan

Prior to 2019, the Darel District and the

Tangir District The Tangir District (Urdu: ) is a district in Gilgit-Baltistan territory of Pakistan. It is located at a distance of 67 km from Chilas. Its population lives mainly in the valley of the Tangir River, a right tributary of the Indus River.

were part of the Diamer District but were subsequently elevated to district status. The ''jirga'' continues to play a significant role in governance.

Demographics

The district is the only Sunni-majority district in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Transportation

Before the

was opened in 1978, the only road from the south to the town of

was a rough track north from

Balakot Balakot (; ur, ; ) is a town in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, but was later rebuilt with the assistance of the Government of Pakistan and Saudi P ...

to the Babusar Pass (via Kaghan, Naran, Besal, and Gittidas) and further north from Babusar Gah to

. The road up to Besal is better than it was previously, and the road from Besal to the Babusar Pass is good, having been recently metaled.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 35, 26, 5.78, N, 73, 56, 31.59, E, display=title Diamer District