Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest

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, municipa ...

in the

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km², before splitting into Upper Chitral District and

Lower Chitral District Lower Chitral District ( ps, چترال لر / کوز ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Demographics At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 278,328 ...

in 2018. Part of the Malakand Division, it is the northernmost district of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It shares a border with

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has ...

to the east, with Kunar, Badakshan and Nuristan provinces of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

to the north and west, and with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa districts of

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

and Dir to the south. A narrow strip of Wakhan Corridor separates Chitral from Tajikistan in the north. Shandur (chitral) 20

History

Chitral shares much of its history and culture with the neighboring Hindu Kush territories of Gilgit-Baltistan, a region sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies (''peri'') inhabiting the high mountains. The entire region that now forms the Chitral District was an independent monarchical state until 1895, when the British negotiated a treaty with its hereditary ruler, the Mehtar, under which Chitral became a semi-autonomous

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

within the Indian Empire. Chitral retained this status even after its accession to Pakistan in 1947, finally being made an administrative district of Pakistan in 1969, disestablishing the Princely state.

Topography and access

Chitral is counted amongst the highest regions of the world, sweeping from 1,094 meters at Arandu to 7,726 meters at Tirichmir, and packing over 40 peaks more than 6,100 meters in height. The terrain of Chitral is very mountainous and

Tirich Mir Tirich Mir (also spelled Terich Mir, Terichmir and Turch Mir) is the highest mountain of the Hindu Kush range, and the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas– Karakoram range, at above sea level. It is located in the Chitr ...

(25,289 feet) the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, rises in the north of the district. Around 4.8 per cent of the land is covered by forest and 76 per cent is mountains and glaciers. The green and the yellow

Chitral is connected to the rest of Pakistan by two major road routes, the

Lowari Pass Lowari Pass ( ur, درہ لواری), or Lowari Top, (el. 10,230 ft.) is a high mountain pass that connects Chitral with Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Lowari Top is a relatively low pass, by far the lowest pass to enter Chitral, t ...

(el. 10,230 ft.) from Dir and Shandur Top (elevation 12,200 ft.) from Gilgit. Both routes used to be closed in winter, but circa 2017 the highway

Lowari Tunnel Lowari Tunnel ( ur, , ''Lowari Sarang'') is a vehicular tunnel under the Lowari Pass of the Hindu Kush mountains, between Dir and Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is operated by the National Highway Authority and c ...

under the Lowari Pass opened to vehicular traffic for at least ten hours per day. A number of other high passes, including Darkot Pass,

Thoi Pass Thoi pass ( تھوئی) (el. 16,420 ft.) is a high mountain pass that connects Gazin in Yarkhun River valley in Chitral to Nialthi in the Yasin Valley in Guips-Yasin District in Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic ...

and

Zagaran Pass The Zagaran Pass (el. 16,420 ft.) is a high mountain pass that connects Yarkhun River valley in Chitral District Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14, ...

, provide access on foot to Chitral from Gilgit-Baltistan. * Arandu Pass, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan * Broghol Pass, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan * Dorah Pass, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan * Darkot Pass, on the border between Chitral and Gupis-Yasin District * Shandur Pass, on the border between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan *

, on the border between Chitral and upper Dir *

, highway under Lowari Pass *

, on the border between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan *

, on the border between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan

Demographics

The district has a population of about 414,000. The general population is mainly of the Kho people, who speak the Khowar, which is also spoken in parts of

Yasin Yasin, Yassin, Yassine, Yacine or Yaseen may refer to: People * Yasin (name), an Arabic-based name * Yassin (name), an Arabic-based name * Yassine (name), an Arabic-based name * Yacine (name), an Arabic-based name * Yaşın (name), a Turkish-based ...

, Gilgit, Dir and

. Chitral is also home to the Kalash tribe, who live in Bumburet and two other remote valleys southwest of Chitral town. A few thousand Nuristani people are also known to live in Chitral. The main language of the region is Khowar. There are also smaller communities of speakers of Dameli,

Gawar-Bati Gawar-Bati or Narsati is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Chitral region of northern Pakistan, and across the border in Afghanistan. It is also known as Aranduyiwar in Chitral because it is spoken in Arandu, which is the last village in ...

, Gojri,

Kalasha A kalasha, also spelled kalash or kalasa, also called ghat or ghot ( sa, कलश , Telugu: కలశము Kannada: ಕಳಶ literally "pitcher, pot"), is a metal ( brass, copper, silver or gold) pot with a large base and small mouth, large en ...

, Kyrgyz, Kataviri/ Kamviri, Mdaglashti Dari, Palula, Sariquli, Wakhi, and Yidgha.

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

has official status.

Chitral Town

The town of Chitral is the main town in the district and serves as its capital. It is situated on the west bank of the

Chitral River The Kūnaṛ River ( ps, د کونړ سيند), also known in its upper reaches as the Mastuj ( ps, مستوج سين), Chitral ( khw, کونڑ سين; ur, دریائے کونڑ), or Kama River ( khw, کامې سين), is about long, located ...

(also known as the Kunar River) at the foot of

which at 7,708 m (25,289 ft) is the highest peak of the Hindu Kush. Until 1969, it served as the capital of the princely state of Chitral.

Administration

The district of Chitral is divided into twenty-four union councils and two

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s: * Chitral * Mastuj

National Assembly

This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-32.

Provincial Assembly

The district is represented by two elected MPAs in the

provincial assembly Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Ca ...

who represent the following constituencies: * PK-89 (Chitral-I) * PK-90 (Chitral-II)

References

External links

Municipal Website
{{Coord, 36, 15, N, 72, 15, E, region:PK_type:adm3rd_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title