Ganokh, () locally called Ganishah, is a village in the

Kharmang District Kharmang District (Urdu:) is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the Kashmir#Dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute i ...

Baltistan Baltistan (); also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet, is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and constitutes a northern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

, Pakistan, close to the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but ser ...

with Indian-administered

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

. It is populated by Brokpas professing

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

Geography

The village of Ganokh consists of two census settlements, Gamba Ganokh and Goma Ganokh. Both lie in the valley of the Ganokh Nala, a tributary of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

. The

(LOC) with Indian-administered Kashmir (

) run south of the valley, about along the Indus, on a ridge line that forms the watershed between the Ganokh Nala and the Ghargurdo and Yaldor Nalas on the other. It continues on to the Chorbat La pass.

Demographics

Ganokh is populated by Brokpas professing

. According to a 2022 news report, it is the only village in Pakistan where the

Brokskat __NOTOC__ Brokskat () or Minaro is an endangered Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Brokpa people in the lower Indus Valley of Ladakh and its surrounding areas. It is the oldest surviving member of the ancient Dardic language. It is cons ...

language is spoken.

History

Historically, Ganokh and the adjacent regions were populated by Brokpa people. Folklore maintains that they arrived there from the

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ) is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

region through the Gavis valley (to the north of the Ganokh valley) and colonised Ganokh, Yaldor, and Hanu before spreading to Dha. Their chieftains wielded significant autonomy in the region, pledging nominal allegiance to the Maqpon rulers of Skardu. However, things changed in the seventeenth century when Jamyang Namgyal of Ladakh faced a conflict with Ali Sher Khan Anchan of Skardu and had to accept Gurgurdho as a boundary between their territories. Consequently, Ganokh was integrated into Baltistan and became influenced by Shia Islam. Nevertheless, the local Brokpas continued to maintain marital relations with their ethnic kin in the Dah Hanu region of Ladakh; cross-border trade also occurred, with the village serving as a tax collection post. Family connections ceased when the latter accepted Buddhism in c. late nineteenth century. In the aftermath of the

First Kashmir War First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(1947–1948), Ganokh fell in Pakistan and became permanently inaccessible for Dah-Hanu Brokpas. During the 1999

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

, the Ganokh valley provided a key infiltration route for Pakistani forces, through which they accessed the Dah-Hanu region. The ensuing shelling and fighting caused much loss of life and property in Ganokh; many had to be evacuated and remain

internally displaced An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. I ...

even two decades after the war.

Notes

References

Bibliography