The Rondu District ( ur, ), also spelled Roundu District, is one of the 14 districts of Pakistan-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. The district encompasses the entire Roundu Valley, which is the fourth-largest valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, after the

Skardu Valley The Skardu Valley ( ur, ) is located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The valley is about 10 km wide and 40 km long. It is at the confluence of the Shigar River and Indus River. It surrounded by the large Karakoram Range. With the ...

, the

Khaplu Valley Khaplu (Urdu: ) and ( Balti: ཁཔ་ལུ།), also spelt Khapalu, is a city that serves as the administrative capital of the Ghanche District of Gilgit-Baltistan, in northern Pakistan. Lying east of the city of Skardu, it was the second-lar ...

, and the

Shigar Valley The Shigar Valley ( ur, وادی شگر) is a valley in Gilgit Baltistan in northern Pakistan that is watered by the Shigar River, and centred on the town of Shigar. The valley stretches about 170 km from Skardu to Askole and is the gatew ...

The valley is situated in the western part of the

Baltistan Division Baltistan Division ( ur, ) is a first-order administrative division of Pakistan's dependent territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, overlapping with the historic Baltistan. The divisional headquarters of the Baltistan Division is the town of Skardu. Sin ...

and forms the main trade and travel route between the

and the

Gilgit Division The Gilgit Division is a first-order administrative division of Pakistan's dependent territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. The divisional headquarters of the Gilgit Division is the town of Gilgit. Since divisions were restored in 2008, the Gilgit Di ...

. The Rondu District was created out of the

Skardu District The Skardu District ( ur, ) is one of the 10 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan territory of Pakistan. The Skardu District is bounded on the east by the Ghanche District, on the south by the Kharmang District, on the west by the Astore District, on ...

in 2019.

Demographics

The people of the Rondu Valley are predominantly Balti people, who speak the

Balti language Balti (Nastaʿlīq script: , Tibetan script: སྦལ་ཏི།, ) is a Tibetic language natively spoken by the ethnic Balti people in the Baltistan region of Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan, Nubra Valley of the Leh district and in the Kar ...

, but there are a significant number of Shina speaking people, as well. People of the Roundu valley belong to

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

sect of Islam. The district headquarters is the town of Dambudas, which is about 65–70 km from

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

. Although the population of Dambudas is less than that of the Stak, Thorchay, and Tormik valleys, Dambudas is located in the middle of the Rondu Valley, so it currently serves as the district headquarters. The literacy rate of the district is approximately 90%. About 70% of the residents speak Balti, and around 30% speak Shina, but most Shina people are bilingual, due to having living with Balti people for a long time. The Rondu District has very scenic and lush green valleys, such as Bilamik, Talu Broq, Tormik, and Gunji, and has four union councils: Mindi, Stak, Tormik, and Gunji.

References

Baltistan Valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan {{Pakistan-geo-stub