TheGilgit District (Urdu:ضلع گلگت) is one of the 14 districts of Pakistan-administered territory ofGilgit-Baltistan in the disputedKashmir region.[1] The headquarters of the district is the town ofGilgit. At the 1998 census, the Gilgit District had a population of 243,324. The district includesGilgit (the capital city), theBagrot Valley,Juglot,Danyore, Sultanabad,Naltar Peak, and theNomal Valley. The highest peak in the district isDistaghil Sar 7,885 metres (25,869 ft), which is theseventh-highest peak in Pakistan and 19th highest in the world.
There are many tributaries of the main rivers, some of which are the Ghujerab River, theHispar River, the Naltar River, the Shimshal River, and the Yaheen River.
In the 1941 census, the Gilgit District (then a tehsil) had a population of 22,495, distributed in 46 villages divided further into 12 subdivisions. Roughly 50% of the population followedShia Islam and 49% other forms of Islam (Sunni).[4] According to scholar Martin Sökefeld, the Sunni missionaries came from the south, Shia from the east and Ismaili from the north.[5]
According to the Alif Ailaan Pakistan District Education Rankings of 2015, the Gilgit District was ranked 35th out of 148 districts of Pakistan in terms of education. In terms of facilities and infrastructure, the district was ranked 67 out of 148.[6]
^ab The application of the term "administered" to the various regions ofKashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by thetertiary sources (a) through (d), reflectingdue weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a)Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved15 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories."; (b)Pletcher, Kenneth,Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved16 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; (c)"Kashmir",Encyclopedia Americana, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, p. 328,ISBN978-0-7172-0139-6 C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; (d)Osmańczyk, Edmund Jan (2003),Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M, Taylor & Francis, pp. 1191–,ISBN978-0-415-93922-5 Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute betw een India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." (e)Talbot, Ian (2016),A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, pp. 28–29,ISBN978-0-300-19694-8 Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; (f)Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved15 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "... China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962."; (g)Bose, Sumantra (2009),Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press, pp. 294, 291, 293,ISBN978-0-674-02855-5 Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. AJK has six districts: Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Bagh, Kodi, Rawalakot, and Poonch. Its capital is the town of Muzaffarabad. AJK has its own institutions, but its political life is heavily controlled by Pakistani authorities, especially the military), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." (h)Fisher, Michael H. (2018),An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 166,ISBN978-1-107-11162-2 Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised “Line of Control” still separating Pakistani-held Azad (“Free”) Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; (i)Snedden, Christopher (2015),Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris, Oxford University Press, p. 10,ISBN978-1-84904-621-3 Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
![A map showing Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.m.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKashmir_region._LOC_2003626427_-_showing_sub-regions_administered_by_different_countries.jpg)
