Jump to content

History of Gilgit-Baltistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gilgit-Baltistan is an administrative territory of Pakistan that borders the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the northwest, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China to the north, and the Indian-administered region of Jammu and Kashmir to the south and south-east.

The early recorded history of the region is linked with Western Tibet. The region appears to have been part of the Tibetan Empire, with Buddhism flourishing in the region by 5th century. Later, Buddhist Patola Shahis ruled the region. However, by the 13th century, the region came under Islamic influence, notably under the Maqpon Kings of Baltistan and Trakhan dynasty of Gilgit. This resulted in local ethnic groups, Shina, Burusho and Kho converting to Islam in almost their entirety and the separation of the Balti people from the Buddhist Ladakhi neighbours. The Baltis increasingly converted from Buddhism to Islam, resulting in increased interaction and conflict with their Kashmiri Muslim neighbours.[1] Muslim rule in the area ended with the expansion of the Sikh Empire followed by the Dogra dynasty. After the defeat of the Sikhs in the Anglo-Sikh wars, most of the region was ruled by the Dogras under British paramountcy. The region became part of the newly formed state of Pakistan after the Gilgit rebellion in the first Kashmir war.[2]

Sources

[edit]

Ancient history

[edit]

According to ancient historical sources, during the 6th century BCE (around 600 BCE), the Indian subcontinent was divided into sixteen major states known as the Sixteen Mahajanapadas. Among them, Kamboja was one of the most prominent and influential kingdoms. Kamboja is mentioned in ancient texts such as the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Mahabharata and Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī.

A number of historians and researchers have associated ancient Kamboja with the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, Chitral, Pamir, and the Hindu Kush. According to this historical interpretation, the Mahajanapada of Kamboja represented the earliest organized state in this wider region and is regarded as one of the foundations of early political organization in the northern mountainous areas.

Historical studies describe Rajouri (present-day Jammu and Kashmir) as the capital of ancient Kamboja, while its sphere of influence is believed by some scholars to have extended toward the Hindu Kush, Pamir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Chitral. Within this historical landscape, the ancient rock carvings and inscriptions of Darel and Chilas are considered important evidence of the region’s ancient civilization, trade networks, and human activity.

In the ancient history of present-day Pakistan, Kamboja and Gandhara are recognized as two significant historical kingdoms that played an important role in the political, military, and cultural development of the region.

References

Aṅguttara Nikāya (Pāli Canon)

Mahabharata

Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī

Ahmad Hasan Dani, History of Northern Areas of Pakistan

H. W. Bellew, An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan (1891)

Frederic Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875)

According to Prof. Ahmad Hasan Dani, whose archaeological research focused extensively on the Northern Areas, Chilas was an important center of ancient Kamboja. In his studies of the Chilas rock inscriptions, he identified the Kharosthi form "Kaboa", relating it to the Sanskrit Kamboja, highlighting the historical importance of Chilas within the Kamboja cultural sphere. Dr. László Koppány Csáji, drawing upon Chinese historical records, states that the ancient name of Hunza was Kamboja, linking the region to the wider historical and cultural landscape of the Kamboja people. Similarly, studies published Bharati of Banaras Hindu University associate the mountainous belt of Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, and the Pamir Highlands with the ancient geographical region of Kamboja, indicating that these northern highlands formed part of the broader Kamboja world in early historical traditions. Taken together, these literary, archaeological, and historical references present Kamboja as one of the most significant ancient regions of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Kashmir, and Pamir, with Chilas recognized as one of its important historical centers. References Anguttara Nikāya – Sixteen Mahajanapadas (c. 600 BCE). Ahmad Hasan Dani, Chilas: The City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar). Dr. László Koppány Csáji, studies based on Chinese historical records. Bharati , Banaras Hindu University.

Medieval history

[edit]

No extant manuscripts pertaining to the history of the region from premodern times have been located. A Persian chronicle, Shigarnama, dates to the 17th century and is one of the few sources on the history of the region written prior to the advent of British colonial rule.

Ḥashmatullah Khan's Mukhtaṣar Tarikh-e Jammun va Kashmir (1939) and Rajah Shah Rais Khan's Tarikh-e-Gilgit (unpublished manuscript; 1941, later edited, translated and published by A. H. Dani in 1987) remain the chief sources.[3] H. Khan was a Dogra official, who oversaw the administration of Gilgit-Baltistan and drafted a gazetteer of the entire region, borrowing from official documents, local clerics, epic literature, oral folklore, and ruins, etc.[4] Notwithstanding the briefness, his chronologies are internally inconsistent[4] and Dani advises caution in using the material.[3] Despite, it has become an authoritative reference for local historians.[5] Shah Rais Khan was a descendant of the Trakhan family and compiled what was essentially a family history.[3] Dani found it to be heavily biased towards the Trakhans and severely contemptuous of neighboring powers.[3] Other important sources are 19th-century Tarikh-i-Chitral and Shahnamah-i-Chitral, which primarily deal with the Kator dynasty of neighbouring Chitral, but also the areas which came under its sway such as Yasin, Punial, Ghizer and Ishkoman.

Early history

[edit]

There are more than 50,000 pieces of rock art (petroglyphs) and inscriptions all along the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit Baltistan, concentrated at ten major sites between Hunza Nagar and Shatial. The carvings were left by various invaders, traders, and pilgrims who passed along the trade route, as well as by locals. The earliest date back to between 5000 and 1000 BCE, showing single animals, triangular men and hunting scenes in which the animals are larger than the hunters. These carvings were pecked into the rock with stone tools and are covered with a thick patina that proves their age.

The ethnologist Karl Jettmar has pieced together the history of the area from various inscriptions and recorded his findings in Rock Carvings and Inscriptions in the Northern Areas of Pakistan[6] and the later released Between Gandhara and the Silk Roads: Rock Carvings Along the Karakoram Highway.[7]

Rock carvings
Manthal Buddha Rock in outskirts of Skardu city
Photograph of Kargah Buddha
The Hanzal stupa dates from the Buddhist era
"The ancient Stupa – rock carvings of Buddha, everywhere in the region is a pointer to the firm hold of the Buddhist rules for such a long time."[8]

The rock carvings found in various places in Gilgit-Baltistan, especially those found in the Passu village of hunza Nagar, suggest a human presence since 2000 BC.[9] It is believed that the Burusho people were the indigenous of the region and were pushed higher into the mountains by the movements of the Indo-Aryans, who traveled southward sometime around 1800 BCE.[10] Within the next few centuries of human settlement on the Tibetan Plateau, this region became inhabited by Tibetans, who preceded the Balti people of Baltistan. Today Baltistan bears similarity to Ladakh physically and culturally (although not in religion). Dards are found mainly in the western areas. These people are the Shina-speaking peoples of Gilgit, Chilas, Astore and Diamir, while in Hunza Nagar and the upper regions, speakers of Burushaski and Khowar (another Dardic language) predominate. The Dards find mention in the works of Herodotus,[note 1] Nearchus, Megasthenes, Pliny,[note 2] Ptolemy,[note 3] and the geographical lists of the Puranas.[11] In the 1st century, the people of these regions were followers of the Bon religion while in the 2nd century, they followed Buddhism.

Medieval history

[edit]

Patola Shahis

[edit]
Enthroned Buddha with inscription, Gilgit Kingdom, circa 600 CE.[12]
Map of Tibetan Empire citing the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan as part of its kingdom in 780–790 CE

Between 399 and 414, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian visited Gilgit-Baltistan,[13] while in the 6th century Somana Patola (greater Gilgit-Chilas) was ruled by an unknown king. Between 627 and 645, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang travelled through this region on his pilgrimage to India.

According to Chinese records from the Tang dynasty, between the 600s and the 700s, the region was governed by a Buddhist dynasty referred to as Bolü (Chinese: 勃律; pinyin: bólǜ), also transliterated as Palola, Patola, Balur.[14] They are believed to be the Patola Sāhi dynasty mentioned in a Brahmi inscription,[15] and are devout adherents of Vajrayana Buddhism.[16] At the time, Little Palola (Chinese: 小勃律) was used to refer to Gilgit, while Great Palola (Chinese: 大勃律) was used to refer to Baltistan. However, the records do not consistently disambiguate the two.

In mid-600s, Gilgit came under Chinese suzerainty after the fall of Western Turkic Khaganate due to Tang military campaigns in the region. In the late 600s CE, the rising Tibetan Empire wrestled control of the region from the Chinese. However, faced with growing influence of the Umayyad Caliphate and then the Abbasid Caliphate to the west, the Tibetans were forced to ally themselves with the Islamic caliphates. The region was then contested by Chinese and Tibetan forces, and their respective vassal states, until the mid-700s.[17] Rulers of Gilgit formed an alliance with the Tang Chinese and held back the Arabs with their help.[18]

Between 644 and 655, Navasurendrāditya-nandin became king of Palola Sāhi dynasty in Gilgit.[19] Numerous Sanskrit inscriptions, including the Danyor Rock Inscriptions, were discovered to be from his reign.[20] In the late 600s and early 700s, Jayamaṅgalavikramāditya-nandin was king of Gilgit.[19]

According to Chinese court records, in 717 and 719 respectively, delegations of a ruler of Great Palola (Baltistan) named Su-fu-she-li-ji-li-ni (Chinese: 蘇弗舍利支離泥; pinyin: sūfúshèlìzhīlíní) reached the Chinese imperial court.[21][22] By at least 719/720, Ladakh (Mard) became part of the Tibetan Empire. By that time, Buddhism was practiced in Baltistan, and Sanskrit was the written language. Buddhism became firmly established in the region. Great monasteries were established, with education in Sanskrit language regarding Indian religions and philosophy. Trade expanded between Ladakh in India and Gilgit-Baltistan. The rulers of Leh in Ladakh, India became increasingly influential in Balti culture and customs, and the chiefs of the region became vassals to the Ladakhis and Tibetan paramountcy.[23]

In 720, the delegation of Surendrāditya (Chinese: 蘇麟陀逸之; pinyin: sūlíntuóyìzhī) reached the Chinese imperial court. He was referred to by the Chinese records as the king of Great Palola; however, it is unknown if Baltistan was under Gilgit rule at the time.[24] The Chinese emperor also granted the ruler of Cashmere, Chandrāpīḍa ("Tchen-fo-lo-pi-li"), the title of "King of Cashmere". By 721/722, Baltistan had come under the influence of the Tibetan Empire.[25]

In 721–722, Tibetan army attempted but failed to capture Gilgit or Bruzha (Yasin valley). By this time, according to Chinese records, the king of Little Palola was Mo-ching-mang (Chinese: 沒謹忙; pinyin: méijǐnmáng). He had visited Tang court requesting military assistance against the Tibetans.[24] Between 723 and 728, the Korean Buddhist pilgrim Hyecho passed through this area. In 737/738, Tibetan troops under the leadership of Minister Bel Kyesang Dongtsab of Emperor Me Agtsom took control of Little Palola. By 747, the Chinese army under the leadership of the ethnic-Korean commander Gao Xianzhi had recaptured Little Palola.[26]

Great Palola was subsequently captured by the Chinese army in 753 under the military Governor Feng Changqing. However, by 755, due to the An Lushan rebellion, the Tang Chinese forces withdrew and was no longer able to exert influence in Central Asia and in the regions around Gilgit-Baltistan.[27] The control of the region was left to the Tibetan Empire. They referred to the region as Bruzha, a toponym that is consistent with the ethnonym "Burusho" used today. Tibetan control of the region lasted until late-800s CE.[28]

Gilgit

[edit]

Ahmad Hasan Dani notes local tradition to mention a Trakhan dynasty succeeding to the Patola Shahis, and ruling uninterruptedly until the 19th century for over a millennium.[29] He put forward a tentative reconstruction of the dynasty, deriving from H. Khan and Rais Khan's histories of the region.[29] Historical evidence — coins, inscriptions etc. — corroborating the narrative was absent during Dani's time and those which have been since discovered, reject the presence of any such dynasty.[3][30]

List of Trakhan rulers

[edit]
Ruler Reign Lineage and notes
Shri Badat 760s–780 Local Buddhist king before Azur Jamshid. Probably of Turkic origin.[29]
Azur Jamshid 780–796 Kayani prince of Persia who is said to have fled here after the Arab conquest of Persia. Existence disputed[29]
Nur Bakht Khatun ?–? Daughter of Shri Badat, wife of Azur Jamshid [29]
Kark (or Gark) ?–? Son of Azur Jamshid. Ruled 55 years [29]
Rajah Sau Malik ?–?
Rajah Shah Malik ?–? Son of Rajah Sau Malik. Also known as Glit Kalika (or Malik), i.e. Malik of Gilgit [29]
Deng Malik ?–? Son of Glit Kalika (Rajah Shah Malik) [29]
Khusraw Khan ?–997 Son of Deng Malik. Married a princess from Badakhshan. The presence of a Badakhshani princess must have led to the strengthening of northern influence in the royal house of Gilgit through this Turkic family which came from the north, by the end of the tenth century.[29]
Rajah Haydar Khan 997–1057 Had a struggle for reign with his cousin Shah Hatam (or Shah Tham) who governed the Nager and Hunza valleys. Shah Hatam was defeated and fled to Baltistan[29]
Nur Khan 1057–1127 Son of Rajah Haydar Khan[29]
Shah Mirza 1127–1205 Son of Nur Khan[29]
Tartora Khan 1205–1236 Son of Shah Mirza. Poisoned by his queen who is a commander of Darel valley.[29]
the Dareli queen (name unknown) 1236–1241 Tried to kill her stepson Torra but failed.[29]
Torra Khan 1241–1275 Formed the name Trakhan for the dynasty which is known Kayanıs before.[29]
Shah Ra’is Khan 1275 Shah Ra’is Khan refuged to Badakhshani ruler Tajdar-i Moghul. Tajdar-i Moghul invaded Gilgit, dethroned Torra Khan and placed Shah Ra’is Khan to the throne. This was the beginning of the Ra’isiyya dynasty.[29]
Sau Malik II 1276–1345 Son of Torra Khan[29]
Chilis Khan 1345–1359 Married Malika Hashim Begam, a daughter of Shah Ra’is Khan[29]
Rajah Firdaws Khan 1359–1397 He had the Qilca-yi Firdawsiyya built in Gilgit.[29]
Khusraw Khan II 1397–1422 He added a tower to his father’s fort at Gilgit, which was known as KhusrawKhan-i Shikar.[29]
Rajah Malik Shah 1422–1449 Son of Khusraw Khan II[29]
Torra Khan II 1449–1479 Son of Rajah Malik Shah[29]
a quick succession of rulers 1479–?
Shah Ra’is Azam ?–1561
? 1561–1821 Trakhan dynasty lasted with a series of unknown local rulers until 1821

Baltistan

[edit]
Skardu Fort was seat of power of Maqpon Dynasty

In the 14th century, Sufi Muslim preachers from Persia and Central Asia introduced Islam in Baltistan. Famous amongst them was Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani who came via Kashmir[31] while in the Gilgit region Islam entered in the same century through Turkic Tarkhan rulers. Gilgit-Baltistan was ruled by many local rulers, amongst whom the Maqpon dynasty of Skardu and the Rajas of Hunza are well-known. The Maqpons of Skardu unified Baltistan with Chitral and Ladakh, especially in the era of Ali Sher Khan Anchan[32] who had friendly relations with the Mughal court.[33] Anchan reign brought prosperity and entertained art, sport, and variety in architecture. He introduced polo to the Gilgit region and from Chitral, he sent a group of musicians to Delhi to learn Indian music; the Mughal architecture influenced the architecture of the region as well.[34] Later Anchan in his successors Abdal Khan had great influence though in the popular literature of Baltistan he is still alive as a dark figure by the nickname "Mizos" "man-eater". The last Maqpons Raja, Ahmed Shah, ruled all of Baltistan between 1811 and 1840. The areas of Gilgit, Chitral and Hunza had already become independent of the Maqpons.

Hunza

[edit]

Hunza was a principality established in 1200s by a scion of the Trakhan dynasty of Gilgit. It later became a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1892 to August 1947, for three months was unaligned, and then from November 1947 until 1974 was a princely state of Pakistan.

Altit Fort was state capital of Hunza Kingdom.

Nagar

[edit]

Nagar was another principality ruled by a cadet branch of Trakhan dynasty of Gilgit. The British gained control of Nagar during the Anglo-Brusho war, locally known as Jangir-e-Lae. Jangir-e-Lae was fought between the people of Nagar state and the troops of the British Raj at Nilt from 1 to 23 December 1891.This valley is situated along the Karakoram Highway, as one travels northward from the city of Gilgit.

Modern history

[edit]

Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir

[edit]

It took a long time for the Maharajahs Ghulab Singh and Ranbir Singh to extend their writ over Gilgit, Hunza and Nagar, and not until 1870 did they assert their authority over Gilgit town. The grip of the Jammu and Kashmir government over this area was tenuous. One of the first British officials to visit the region was G. T. Vinge. The region was practically independent of British influence. However, Vinge secured the confidence of the local duke of Baltistan, and received valuable antiquity and manuscripts during his mission.[35]

The British Indian government undertook administrative reforms in 1885 and created Gilgit Agency in 1889 as a way for the British to secure the region as a buffer from the Russians. As a result of Great Game, with British fear of Russian activities in Chinese Sinkiang increasing, in 1935 the Gilgit Agency was expanded by the Maharajah Hari Singh leasing the Gilgit Wazarat to the government of India for a period of sixty years and for an amount of 75,000 rupees. This gave the British political agent complete control of defence, communications and foreign relations as the Kashmiri state retained civil administration and the British retained control of defence and foreign affairs.[36]

After World War II British influence started declining. British gave the princely states under subsidiary alliance with British Raj choice to join either of the two newly established states, India and Pakistan, or to remain independent. In 1947, Mountbatten decided to terminate the lease of Gilgit by Kashmir to the British. Scholar Yaqoob Khan Bangash opines that the motive for this is unclear.[36]

The people of Gilgit considered themselves to be ethnically different from the Kashmiris and resented being under Kashmir state rule. Major William Brown, the Maharaja's commander of the Gilgit Scouts, believed that the British handover of Gilgit to Kashmir was a huge mistake.[36]

Brown recounts that when he met the scouts ''they indirectly made it clear how they despised and hated Kashmir and everything connected with it, how happy and content they had been under the British rule, and how they considered they had been betrayed by the British in the unconditional handing over of their country to Kashmir''.[36]

1947 Gilgit revolt

[edit]

On 26 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, faced with an invasion by Pakistani tribal fighters, signed the Instrument of Accession, joining India. Gilgit's population did not favour the princely state's accession to India.[36] Muzzaffar Bangash, the raja orderly in Chilas, told Major Brown that the whole of Gilgit Agency was pro-Pakistan. They would accept Kashmir being independent but accession to "Hindustan" (India) was unacceptable.[36] According to Scholar Yaqoob Khan Bangash:

"By the middle of 1947 news of communal tensions had reached Gilgit and in a place where Hindu Dogras were despised for their heavy-handedness during the conflicts to subdue Gilgit, stories of Muslims being slaughtered by Hindus and Sikhs in the Punjab inflamed passions against the small minorities of Hindus and Sikhs in Gilgit."[36]

Major Brown, sensing the discontent of the people of Gilgit Agency, Brown mutinied on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the Governor Ghansara Singh. The bloodless coup d'etat was planned by Brown to the last detail under the code name Datta Khel.[37][38] Brown is also credited with saving the Hindu population in Gilgit from being harmed. According to scholar Brian Cloughley, Brown acted to prevent bloodshed and took some personal risk in doing so.[39]

On the morning of 2 November 1947, after the Pakistan flag had been raised in the lines of Gilgit Scouts. Then provisional government (Aburi Hakoomat) was established with Shah Rais Khan as president, Mirza Hassan khan as commander-in-chief and Major Brown as the chief military advisor. However, Brown had already telegraphed the chief minister of NWFP, Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, asking Pakistan to take over the administration. The Pakistani Political Agent, Khan Mohammad Alam Khan, arrived on 16 November and took over the administration of Gilgit.[37][38] On 18 November 1947, the provisional government requested to see the Political Agent asserting that he should take all decisions in consultation with them. They demanded that both British officers be relieved of their duties and local officers should be appointed in their place. Brown narrates:[36]

Alam replied, "you are a crowd of fools led astray by a madman. I shall not tolerate this nonsense for one instance...And when the Indian Army starts invading you there will be no use screaming to Pakistan for help, because you won't get it."... The provisional government faded away after this encounter with Alam Khan, clearly reflecting the flimsy and opportunistic nature of its basis and support.[38]

The provisional government lasted 16 days. The provisional government lacked sway over the population. The Gilgit rebellion did not have civilian involvement and was solely the work of military leaders, not all of whom had been in favor of joining Pakistan, at least in the short term. Dani mentions that although there was lack of public participation in the rebellion, pro-Pakistan sentiments were intense in the civilian population and their anti-Kashmiri sentiments were also clear.[36] Scholar Yaqoob Khan Bangash states that the people of Gilgit as well as those of Chilas, Koh Ghizr, Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial, Hunza and Nagar joined Pakistan by choice.[36]

After taking control of Gilgit, the Gilgit Scouts (a paramilitary force comprising trained Muslim locals but commanded by British officers) along with Azad irregulars moved towards Baltistan and Ladakh and captured Skardu by August 1948 under colonel Mata ul-Mulk. They successfully blocked the Indian reinforcements and subsequently captured Dras and Kargill as well, cutting off the Indian communications to Leh in Ladakh. The Indian forces mounted an offensive in Autumn 1948 and recaptured all of Kargil district. Baltistan region, however, came under rebels' control.[40][41]

On 1 January 1948, India took the issue of Jammu and Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council. In April 1948, the Council passed a resolution calling for Pakistan to withdraw from all of Jammu and Kashmir and then India was to reduce its forces to the minimum level, following which a plebiscite would be held to ascertain the people's wishes.[42] However, no withdrawal was ever carried out, India insisting that Pakistan had to withdraw first and Pakistan contending that there was no guarantee that India would withdraw afterwards.[43] Gilgit-Baltistan and a western portion of the state called Azad Jammu and Kashmir) have remained under the control of Pakistan since then.[44] Sudheendra Kulkarni, who served as an aide to India's former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, states that in all the discussions held by Indian leadership including Vallabhbhai Patel regarding plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, hardly ever talked about holding plebiscite in Gilgit Baltistan.[45]

The decision of Gilgit to join Pakistan on November 2, along with the accession by the Mirs of Hunza and Nagar to Pakistan the following day was not challenged by any Indian leaders like Vallabhbhai Patel or Jawaharlal Nehru.[46] V. P. Menon in his book states that 'accession of Gilgit to India would have provoked adverse reactions in Gilgit and certain areas contiguous to Pakistan.'[46]

Narendra Singh Sarila, former aide de camp to Lord Louis Mountbatten and former ambassador to France, states in his book that "Lord Mountbatten was eager to have the Kashmir dispute resolved before he resigned from the governor-generalship in June 1948. At his request, V. P. Menon and Sir N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, drew up a plan for partition of the state, complete with maps (which left Gilgit to Pakistan). On 23 July 1948, V.P. Menon told the chargé d'affaires of the US embassy in Delhi that the Indian government will accept settlement based on accession of Mirpur, Poonch, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit to Pakistan."[45][47]

After independence

[edit]

The Pakistani parts of Kashmir to the north and west of the cease-fire line established at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, or the Line of Control as it later came to be called, were divided into the Northern Areas (72,971 km2) in the north and the Pakistani state of Azad Kashmir (13,297 km2) in the south. During 1947 to 1970 Government of Pakistan established Gilgit Agency and Baltistan Agency. In 1970, Northern Areas Council was established by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Gilgit Baltistan was directly administered by federal government as FANA (Federally Administered Northern Areas). In 1963, Pakistan gave up claim on Shaksgam Valley in return of China ceding Shimshal Valley in the Sino-Pakistan Agreement, pending settlement of the dispute over Kashmir. This area is also known as the Trans-Karakoram Tract. The name "Northern Areas" was first used by the United Nations to refer to the northern areas of Kashmir.[citation needed]

The Northern Light Infantry of the region participated in the 1999 Kargil conflict. Over five hundred soldiers were believed to have been killed and buried in the Northern Areas in that action.[48] Lalak Jan, a soldier from Yasin Valley, was awarded Pakistan's most prestigious medal, the Nishan-e-Haider, for his courageous actions during the Kargil conflict. In the same year, the 1999 Supreme Court judgement by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for determination of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan declared the people of Northern Areas as Pakistani citizens with all fundamental rights.[49]

Self-governing status and present-day Gilgit Baltistan

[edit]

On 29 August 2009, the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009, was passed by the Pakistani cabinet and signed by the President of Pakistan. The order granted self-rule to the people of the former Northern Areas, now renamed Gilgit Baltistan, by creating, among other things, an elected legislative assembly.[50][51] According to Antia Mato Bouzas, the 2009 Governance Order was the Pakistani government's compromise between its official stand on Kashmir and the demands of a territory where the majority of people may have pro-Pakistan sentiments.[52] Gilgit Baltistan United Movement while rejecting the new package demanded an independent and autonomous legislative assembly for Gilgit-Baltistan with the installation of local authoritative government as per the UNCIP resolutions.[53]

Gilgit-Baltistan presently consists of ten districts,[54] has a population of over 1.7 million, and an area of around 28,000 square miles (73,000 km2). It shares borders with China, Afghanistan, and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan are Pakistani nationals, having Pakistani passports and identity cards, although the territory is not represented in the Parliament of Pakistan. A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan was told in November 2018 that the Federal Government had appointed a high-level committee to examine the constitutional reforms of Gilgit-Baltistan.[55]

Historical demographics

[edit]
Religious groups in Gilgit–Baltistan (Jammu & Kashmir Princely State era)
Religious
group		 1891[56] 1901[57] 1911[58] 1921[59] 1931[60] 1941[61][note 4]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 110,161 86.68% 58,779 96.54% 77,189 98.45% 88,643 98.82% 94,940 98.44% 234,727 99.69%
Tribal 16,615 13.07% N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a 0 0% 2 0%
Buddhism 239 0.19% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Hinduism 77 0.06% 2,001 3.29% 1,112 1.42% 948 1.06% 1,361 1.41% 570 0.24%
Christianity 2 0% 28 0.05% 22 0.03% 16 0.02% 49 0.05% 28 0.01%
Sikhism 0 0% 74 0.12% 81 0.1% 90 0.1% 93 0.1% 121 0.1%
Jainism 0 0% 1 0% 0 0% 0 0% 3 0% 0 0%
Zoroastrianism 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Judaism N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a 0 0%
Others 0 0% 2 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Total population 127,094 100% 60,885 100% 78,404 100% 89,697 100% 96,446 100% 235,448 100%
Note1: 1891 figure taken from census data using the total population of Skardu District and Gilgit District in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir that ultimately would be administered by Pakistan, in the contemporary administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan.

Note2: 1901 figure taken from census data using the total population of Gilgit District in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir that ultimately would be administered by Pakistan, in the contemporary administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan.

Note3: 1911–1931 figures taken from census data by combining the total population of Gilgit District and the Frontier Ilaqas in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir that ultimately would be administered by Pakistan, in the contemporary administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan.

Note4: 1941 figure taken from census data by combining the total population of one district (Astore), one agency (Gilgit), one tehsil (Baltistan in Ladakh Wazarat) and one partial tehsil (31 villages in Kargil in Ladakh Wazarat) in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir that ultimately would be administered by Pakistan, in the contemporary administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan.

References

[edit]
Footnotes
  1. ↑ He twice mentions a people called Dadikai, first along with the Gandarioi, and again in the catalogue of king Xerxes's army invading Greece. Herodotus also mentions the gold-digging ants of Central Asia.
  2. ↑ In the 1st century, Pliny repeats that the Dards were great producers of gold.
  3. ↑ Ptolemy situates the Daradrai on the upper reaches of the Indus
  4. ↑ The figures for total population in 1941:[62]
    Gilgit Agency: 76,526
    Gilgit Leased Area: 22,495
    Astore District: 17,026
    Skardu Tehsil: 106,271
    Kargil area which came under Pakistani control: 13,130
Sources
  • Schofield, Victoria (2003) [First published in 2000], Kashmir in Conflict, London and New York: I. B. Taurus & Co, ISBN 1860648983
  • Antia Mato Bouzas (2012) Mixed Legacies in Contested Borderlands: Skardu and the Kashmir Dispute, Geopolitics, 17:4, 867–886, DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2012.660577
Citations
  1. ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. p. 183. ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9.
  2. ↑ "India lodges protest with Islamabad over Pakistan court's order on Gilgit-Baltistan | News - Times of India Videos". The Times of India.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dani, Ahmad Hasan (1991). History of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Historical Studies (Pakistan) (2 ed.). Islamabad: National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research. p. 163. ISBN 978-969-415-016-1.
  4. 1 2 Bredi, Daniela (2016). "History Writing in Urdu: Hashmatu'l-Lah Khan, Kacho Sikandar Khan Sikandar, and the History of the Kargil District" (PDF). The Annual of Urdu Studies. 26.
  5. ↑ Bray, John (2013). "Readings on Islam in Ladakh: Local, Regional, and International Perspectives". Himalaya. 32 (1): 14–15.
  6. ↑ "Rock Carvings and Inscriptions along the Karakorum Highway (Pakistan) - - a brief introduction". Archived from the original on 2011-08-10.
  7. ↑ "Between gandhara and the silk roads". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.
  8. ↑ "Episode 1: A Window to Gilgit-Baltistan".
  9. ↑ By Ian Hibbert (2015-11-17). Alpamayo to Everest: It's Not About the Summit. Lulu Publishing Services. ISBN 9781483440736.
  10. ↑ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 139. ISBN 9781438119137.
  11. ↑ Petech, Luciano (1977). The Kingdom of Ladakh c. 950–1842 A.D. Istituto Italiano per il media ed Estremo Oriente.
  12. ↑ "Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org.
  13. ↑ By Rafi U. Samad (2011). The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat ... Algora. ISBN 9780875868592.
  14. ↑ Sen, Tansen (2015). Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of India–China Relations, 600–1400. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442254732. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  15. ↑ Schmidt, Ruth Laila; Kohistani, Razwal (2008). A Grammar of the Shina Language of Indus Kohistan. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3447056762. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  16. ↑ Twist, Rebecca L. (2007). Patronage, Devotion and Politics: A Buddhological Study of the Patola Sahi Dynasty's Visual Record. Ohio State University. ISBN 9783639151718. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  17. ↑ Stein, Mark Aurel (1907). Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan. Vol. 1. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. pp. 4–18.
  18. ↑ Bradnock, Robert W. (1994). South Asian Handbook. Trade & Travel Publications. p. 1168.
  19. 1 2 Neelis, Jason (2011). Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks. p. 177. ISBN 9789004181595. Retrieved 2018-02-21. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  20. ↑ Stein, Aurel (2011). "Archæological Notes form the Hindukush Region". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 76 (1–2): 5–24. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00098713. ISSN 0035-869X. S2CID 163127705. Sri-Nava-Surendraditya-Nandideva
  21. ↑ "Baltistan". tibetan incyclopedia.
  22. ↑ 董誥. "卷0039#冊勃律國王文" . 全唐文  [Complete collection of Tang prose] (in Chinese). Vol. 0039 – via Wikisource.
  23. ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9.
  24. 1 2 "卷221下" . 新唐書  [New Book of Tang] (in Chinese). Vol. 221 – via Wikisource.
  25. ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Part 1. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120607699.
  26. ↑ Grousset, René (1952). The Rise and Splendour of the Chinese Empire. p. 160.
  27. ↑ By Angela Falco Howard (2006). Chinese Sculpture. Yale University Press. p. 313. ISBN 978-0300100655.
  28. ↑ Mock, John (October 2013). "A Tibetan Toponym from Afghanistan" (PDF). Revue d'Études Tibétaines (27): 5–9. ISSN 1768-2959. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. January 1998. p. 216. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1.
  30. ↑ Vohra, Rohit. Early History of Ladakh: Mythic Lore and Fabulation in ed: Henry Osmaston, Philip Denwood (1995) Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5: Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth, Motilal Banarsidass, p. 231
  31. ↑ Osmaston, Henry; Denwood, Philip (1995). Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5: Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth ... Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 9788120814042.
  32. ↑ P. Stobdan (April 2008). The last colony: Muzaffarabad-Gilgit-Baltistan. India Research Press with Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu. ISBN 9788183860673.
  33. ↑ International Council on Archives, National Archives of Pakistan (1990). Guide to the Sources of Asian History: National archives, Provincial archives, District archives. National Archives of Pakistan. ISBN 9789698156022.
  34. ↑ Philippe Fabry, Yousuf Shahid (1995). Wandering with the Indus. Ferozsons. ISBN 9789690102249.
  35. ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120607699.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bangash, Yaqoob Khan (2010). "Three Forgotten Accessions: Gilgit, Hunza and Nagar". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 38 (1): 117–143. doi:10.1080/03086530903538269. ISSN 0308-6534. S2CID 159652497.
  37. 1 2 Schofield 2003, pp. 63–64.
  38. 1 2 3 Bangash 2010, p. 133.
  39. ↑ Brian Cloughley (5 January 2016). A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781631440397.
  40. ↑ Schofield 2003, p. 66.
  41. ↑ Bajwa, Farooq (2013), From Kutch to Tashkent: The Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, Hurst Publishers, pp. 22–24, ISBN 978-1-84904-230-7
  42. ↑ Bose, Tapan K. (2004). Raṇabīra Samāddāra (ed.). Peace Studies: An Introduction To the Concept, Scope, and Themes. Sage. p. 324. ISBN 978-0761996606.
  43. ↑ Varshney, Ashutosh (1992), "Three Compromised Nationalisms: Why Kashmir has been a Problem" (PDF), in Raju G. C. Thomas (ed.), Perspectives on Kashmir: the roots of conflict in South Asia, Westview Press, p. 212, ISBN 978-0-8133-8343-9
  44. ↑ Warikoo, Kulbhushan (2008). Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 78. ISBN 978-0415468398.
  45. 1 2 Sudheendra Kulkarni (23 September 2020). "Ladakh LAC on the Boil, India Must Avoid Stirring Gilgit Baltistan Cauldron With Pakistan". The Wire.
  46. 1 2 Sudheendra Kulkarni (23 September 2020). "How and Why Gilgit Baltistan Defied Maharaja Hari Singh and Joined Pakistan". The Wire.
  47. ↑ "The Chargé in India (Donovan) to the Secretary of State". Office of the Historian. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  48. ↑ Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Special Report on Kargil", The Herald (Pakistan)
  49. ↑ Ehsan Mehmood Khan in Constitutional Status of Gilgit-Baltistan: An Issue of Human Security
  50. ↑ "The Gilgit–Baltistan bungle". The News International. 2009-09-10. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  51. ↑ Gilgit-Baltistan package termed an eyewash, Dawn, 2009-08-30
  52. ↑ Antia Mato Bouzas (2012) Mixed Legacies in Contested Borderlands: Skardu and the Kashmir Dispute, Geopolitics, 17:4, 874, DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2012.660577
  53. ↑ "Gilgit–Baltistan: GBUM Calls for Self-Rule Under UN Resolutions". UNPO. 2009-09-09. Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  54. ↑ Dividing governance: Three new districts notified in G-B, The Express Tribune, 5 February 2017.
  55. ↑ Dawn 16 November 2018
  56. ↑ Ram, Bhag; India (1891). "Census of India, 1891. Volume XXVIII, The Kashmir state : the report on the census and imperial and supplementary tables". p. 213. JSTOR saoa.crl.25352828. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  57. ↑ "Census of India 1901. Vol. 23A, Kashmir. Pt. 2, Tables". 1901. p. 20. JSTOR saoa.crl.25366883. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  58. ↑ "Census of India 1911. Vol. 20, Kashmir. Pt. 2, Tables". 1911. p. 17. JSTOR saoa.crl.25394111. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  59. ↑ "Census of India 1921. Vol. 22, Kashmir. Pt. 2, Tables". 1921. p. 15. JSTOR saoa.crl.25430177. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  60. ↑ "Census of India 1931. Vol. 24, Jammu & Kashmir State. Pt. 2, Imperial & state tables". 1931. p. 267. JSTOR saoa.crl.25797120. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  61. ↑ India Census Commissioner (1941). "Census of India, 1941. Vol. 22, Jammu & Kashmir". pp. 337–352. JSTOR saoa.crl.28215644. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  62. ↑ Jammu and Kashmir Census 1961, part II-A, pp. 100, 104
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Gilgit-Baltistan&oldid=1364239966"