Diamer District (Urdu:ضلع دیامر), also spelledDiamir District, is a district of Pakistan-administered territory ofGilgit–Baltistan in the disputedKashmir region.[1] The headquarters of the district is the town ofChilas.
Thalpan, 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.[4][a] Buddhist Stupas and anthropomorphic Buddhas remain the most common subject of rock-carvings in and around Chilas.[5]
Karl Jettmar suggests that Chilas might have had been a Buddhist sanctuary whileHarald Hauptmann hypothesizes Thalpan to be the "Talilo" of Chinese sources; however, in absence of excavations, such claims remain in the realm of speculations.[5]
During theBritish Raj, the area was known as Chilas and regarded as a tribal area, a subsidiary of the princely state ofJammu and Kashmir.[6][7] Its original name was apparentlyShiltās.[8]
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.[9] In 1893, Chilas was taken over by the British-runGilgit Agency.[10] An Assistant Political Agent of the Agency was stationed in Chilas town.[11][12] TheRaja was soon deposed and Chilas functioned as a 'republican community' under the aegis ofjirga, a body of local landowning men.[13][14]
Districts of Gilgit–Baltistan
Prior to 2019, the Darel District and the Tangir District were part of the Diamer District. They were subsequently elevated to district status.[15] Thejirga continues to play a significant role in governance.[14]
Before the Karakoram Highway was opened in 1978, the only road from the south to the town ofGilgit was a rough track north fromBalakot to theBabusar Pass (viaKaghan,Naran,Besal, andGittidas) and further north fromBabusar Gah toChilas. The road up toBesal is better than it was previously, and the road from Besal to the Babusar Pass is good, having been recently metaled.
^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 partly 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'."
^Shah, Imran."Diamer District".Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan. RetrievedApril 9, 2025.
^Zahir, Muhammad. "Discovery and Contextualization of a Possible Buddhist Monastic Complex at Thalpan, District Diamer, Gilgit-Baltistan Province, Pakistan".Gandhāran Studies.13:37–59.
![A map showing Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKashmir_region._LOC_2003626427_-_showing_sub-regions_administered_by_different_countries.jpg)
