Upper Dir District (, ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

located in the Malakand Division of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province of Pakistan. The city of Dir is its district headquarter. Geographically, it is located in the northern part of Pakistan. It borders with the Chitral district on the north,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

on the northwest, the

Swat district Swat District (), also known as the Swat Valley, is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a populati ...

on the east, and the Lower Dir district on the south. It shares 40 to 50 kilometers border with Afghanistan.

History

Dir was home to various popular civilizations. It has been the place where the Aryans, the Buddhists, and the Mughals survived. It was also a home to the Gandhara civilization. It was invaded by Alexander The Great. In the sixteenth century, it was invaded by the Yousafzai tribe of the

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

. In 1898, Yousafzai Pashtun Muhammad Sharif Khan was declared the Nawab of Dir. He was succeeded by his son Nawab Aurang Zeb Khan in 1904, who ruled until his death in 1925. Subsequently, his son Shah Jehan Khan succeeded him and ruled the state for almost 35 years. At the time of the independence of Pakistan, in 1947, Dir was still a princely state, separated from Pakistan. It was no later than 1969, when it was annexed with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Till 1996, Dir was a unit combined district. But in 1996, the Dir District was divided into Upper and Lower Dir districts.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Upper Dir district has 149,536 households and a population of 1,083,566. The district has a sex ratio of 98.36 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 46.77%: 62.76% for males and 31.67% for females. 392,214 (36.24% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 47,842 (4.42%) live in urban areas. 2,415 (0.22%) of the people in the district are from religious minorities, mainly Christians.

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

is the predominant language, spoken by 91.02% of the population.

Kohistani languages The Kohistani languages are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 20 ...

are spoken by 5.11% of the population, and 3.87% of the population speak 'Other' languages.

Tribes

The people groups of the district are various

Pashtun tribes The Pashtun tribes (), are tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who speak the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, the social code of conduct for Pashtuns. They are found primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan a ...

of Afghan origin among other clans that settled in the region. These include the following tribes * Tarkani * Yusufzai * Shinwari * Akakhel * Utmankhel * Ghilzai * Swati * Tareen

Administration

Upper Dir District has four Tehsils.

National Assembly

This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-5 (Upper Dir).

Provincial Assembly

In the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there are three seats for the Upper Dir district. Its constituency is PK-11, PK-12 and PK-13.

Towns

Except for the town of Dir and a number of rapidly growing towns along the main road, the population is rural, scattered in more than 1200 villages in the deep narrow valleys of the Panjkora and its tributaries. Of these, notable villages are * Khas Dir * Panakot * Roghano Darra-Jelar * Usheri * Sundrawal * Hattan * Barawal Bandai * Qashqaray * Qulandai * Benr * Nusrat * Ben Shahi * Sunai * Surbat * Kair * Pataw (Patao) * Kalkot * Patrak * Sheringal * Doog Dara * Barawal * Chumra * Gandigar * Katan * Doryal * Toormang * Darorra * Ganori * Shalkani * Wari * Kakad * Chaper * Chukiatan

Division of Dir

Popular places * Qashqaray * Panakot * Kumrat Valley * Kalkot * Sheringal * Bibyawar, Malakabad * Doog Dara * Ushirai Dara * Shahi Koto *((Doryal kozkaly)) * Nehag Dara * Barawal * Ganori * Gandigar * Nowra * Lowari Top * Seratai * sawni *Doryall * Guli Bagh Karo * kakad * Roghano Darra * Wari City

Notable people

* Dr Zia Ul Haq (born 1980), university Vice Chancellor

References

{{Coord, 35, 12, 15, N, 71, 52, 20, E, region:PK-NW_type:adm2nd_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa