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 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 ...

, in northern Pakistan. Lying east of the city of Skardu, it was the second-largest kingdom in old

Baltistan Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...

of the Yabgo dynasty. It guarded the trade route to Ladakh along the

Shyok River The Shyok River is a tributary of the Indus River that flows through northern Ladakh and enters Gilgit–Baltistan, spanning some . The Shyok River originates at the Rimo Glacier, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. Its alignment is very ...

east of its confluence with the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

. Khaplu is a base for trekking into the Hushe valley which leads to the high peaks of Masherbrum, K6, K7, and Chogolisa. Khaplu has a 700-year-old mosque, Chaqchan, founded by Ameer Kabeer Syed Ali Hamadani (RA). Other tourist sites include Ehlie broq, Hanjor, ThoqsiKhar, Kaldaq, and Shyok River views.

History

According to tradition, Syed Ali Hamdani arrived to Khaplu in the late 14th century and converted the locals to Islam. To this day, mosques and khanqahs attributed to him exist in the region. The first mention of the former small kingdom called Khápula is in Mirza Haidar's (1499–1551) famous work ''Tarikh-i-Rashidi'' (p. 410). The author lists the Khaplu district of Balti(stan). Khaplu was also very well known in the 17th and 18th century due to its close political and family ties with the royal family of the neighbouring country of Ladakh. The first European to visit Khaplu was probably Captain Claude Martin Wade (1794–1861), who mentioned "Chílú" in 1835 in a ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' essay. Subsequently, William Moorcroft and

George Trebeck George Trebeck (1800–1825) was born in Middlesex, England in the year 1800. He moved to Calcutta, West Bengal circa 1815 with his father Charles Trebeck and brother of the same name. George Trebeck, who was trained as a solicitor, was recrui ...

wrote in their 1841 book (Part II, p 264): "Kafalun is a province west of Nobra, on the left bank of the Shayuk." Godfrey Vigne, Godfrey Thomas Vigne has Khaplu 1835-1838, relying in particular on the local mountain fortress, commented that he was still in an intact condition vorfand (Part 2, pp. 317f). Alexander Cunningham (p. 28ff), who did not visit Baltistan, published a brief geographical description of Khaplu and a genealogy of its rulers in 1854. Thomas Thomson travelled in November 1847 and briefly described a place of remarkable beauty for Tibet (p. 210ff). Knight reported on his visit to Khaplu (p. 253): "This fair spot what Kapalu, the richest district in Baltistan, and Regarded as a very Garden of Eden by the Balti people." Jane E. Duncan reached Khaplu in 1904 and stayed there for three weeks. A detailed report on her stay in Khaplu is well worth reading. De Filippi, who reached Khaplu in 1913, characterized the site as follows: "It is, perhaps, the loveliest oasis in all the region." Further information on Khaplu was included in a travel report by Arthur Neve (p. 99f). Recent descriptions can be found in the guidebooks ''Arora'', pp. 211f, ''Lonely Planet'', pp. 306f and ''Beek'', pp. 252ff.

Geography

In contrast to Skardu and Shigar, the territory of Khaplu was not focused on a single large river valley, but was instead spread over the three valleys of Shayok, namely on the territory of the present town of Khaplu, the valley of Thalle River, and the Hushe / Saltoro valley. The area around the mouth of the river in the Thalle Shayok formed the western border of the kingdom. The

flows through Khaplu Town. Today Ganache district, whose administrative centre is located in Khaplu, covers Balghar and Daghoni in addition to the mouth of the Indus in Shayok. It includes the former Kingdom of Kiris as a military bulwark of the West against the incursions of the archenemies Skardu and Shigar the mountain fortresses of Kharku were next to a castle in Balghar and saling been built. In Haldi, in eastern Hushe / Saltoro Tal, was another fortress. The fortress in the town of Khar Thortsi Khaplu was viewed as militarily impregnable and the area's most important defence system.

Tourism

Khaplu has been called many names like "Shyok Valley," "Ghanche" and "Little Tibet." In Khaplu there are many historical places like the beautiful Chaqchan Mosque (700 years old founded by Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, the first Islam preacher in this area). Raja Palace is a beautiful building and the last and best Tibetan-style palace in Pakistan. Khaplu Khanqah is attributed to Mir Mukhtar Akhyar and was built in 1712 AD/1124 AH. Khaplu is the gateway to Masherbrum Peak, K7 (mountain), K-7, K6 (mountain), K-6, Chogolisa for mountaineers and Gondogoro la, Gondogoro Peak, Saraksa Glacier, Gondogoro Glacier, Masherbrum Glacier, Aling Glacier, Machlu Broq, Thaely La, Daholi lake, Kharfaq Lake, Ghangche Lake and Bara Lake for trekkers. Khaplu is a scenic place for hiking like Khaplu Braq, Khaplu Thung and Hanjoor, Kaldaq, Kholi, Ehli. There is rafting on the Shyok River and rock climbing places like Biamari Thoqsikhar and DowoKraming (hot spring).

Architecture

The most important religious monuments in Khaplu are the Khanaq-e-Mullah Noorbakshia Khaplu Bala, great Khanqa prayer hall and the Chaqchan Mosque. The former was built in 1712 by Sayyed Mohammad, a saint of the Islamic Noorbakshia Islam, Nūrbkahshīya sect, whose Astana grave monument is in the immediate vicinity. The Astana grave monument has been restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Pakistan and thereby saved from total disintegration. The Chaqchan Mosque is the largest and most important of the traditional mosques in Baltistan. After Klimburg (p. 155) its establishment as the Amburik Mosque, Amburiq Mosque in Shigar Islamic missionary Sayyed Ali Shah Hamadani is attributed (14th century), which is considered historically as not secured like the Amburiq Mosque.

Transport

Khaplu is only approachable by road. The normal road route into Khaplu is by a link road from the Skardu Valley. There are four or five other road links to Kashmir Ladakh and Yarkant County, Yarqand , China.Baltistan aik nazar, usaf Abadi A famous all-weather Khaplu-Drass road linked Khaplu with Dras, Drass, a city in Ladakh. Since the joining of Gilgit Baltistan with Pakistan, the road has been closed. However, nowadays there are a few Helipad, helipads (helicopter landing pads).

References

Notes

*Shridhar Kaul: ''Ladakh through the Ages, towards a New Identity''. Indus Publishing 1992,
resricted online copy (Google Books)
*Sarina Singh, Lindsay Brown, Paul Clammer, Rodney Cocks, John Mock, Kimberley O'Neil: ''Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway''. Lonely Planet 2008, , p. 292-293
resricted online copy (Google Books)

External links

in th
Tibet-Encyclopaedia
- contains a variety of photos of Khaplu as well
''Fort Khaplu'' auf archnet.orgView of the village at panoramio.comPhotos from Khaplu by Atif Khan Youguvi
{{Ghanche District Populated places in Ghanche District Baltistan