The Rondu District ( ur, ), also spelled Roundu District, is one of the 14 districts of Pakistan-administered territory 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 ...

. The district encompasses the entire Roundu Valley, which is the fourth-largest valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, after the Skardu Valley, 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 valley is situated in the western part of the Baltistan Division and forms the main trade and travel route between the Baltistan Division 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 K ...

, 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, mos ...

sect of Islam. The district headquarters is the town of

Dambudas Dambudas (Urdu: دمبداس) is the capital city of Roundu District 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 ent ...

, 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

is less than that of the Stak, Thorchay, and Tormik valleys,

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