Chitral District

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Chitral District
Location of Chitral District (highlighted in red) within the North West Frontier Province.
Area	14,850 km² km²
Population (2004) • Density	378,000 • 25/km²/km²
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
Established • District Nazim • District Naib Nazim • District Council • Number of Tehsils	1970 • Haji Maghfirat Shah • Sultan Shah • x seats • 6
Main language(s)	Khowar Kalash Pashto
Website	http://www.nwfp.gov.pk/

Chitral is a district in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan that contains the town of Chitral. It has an area of 14,850 km² and a population of about 378,000 people. It has one of the highest mountains of the world, Tirich Mir. It is the largest district in NWFP covering an area of 14,850 area sq. kilometres.

1 Location
2 Terrain
3 Population
4 History
5 Administration
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Location

Chitral District is the most northern district in the North West Frontier Province, to the west and north is Afghanistan - in the north the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of Afghanistan, separates Pakistan from Tajikstan. To the east of Chitral are the Northern Areas and to the south are the districts of Upper Dir and Swat.

[edit] Terrain

The terrain of Chitral is quite mountainous, part of the Pamir Mountains are situated here. Tirich Mir which at 7,708 m or 25,289 ft is the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, rises in the north of the District.

Chitral is connected to the rest of Pakistan by only two road routes, the Lowari Pass (el. 10,230 ft.) from Dir and Shandur Top (el. 12,200 ft.) from Gilgit. Both routes are closed in winter. The Lowari Tunnel is being constructed under the Lowari Pass.

It was reported in 2004 that Afghanistan had agreed to allow access from Pakistan to Chitral though Afghan territory and the Kunar Valley, by passing Lowari Pass.^[1]

Two other passes give access on foot to Chitral, the Broghol Pass and the Dorah Pass, both from Afghanistan. Both are closed in winter.

[edit] Population

The general population is mainly of the Kho tribe, who speak the Khowar language (or Chitrali), which is also spoken in parts of Yasin, Gilgit and Swat. Chitral is also home to the Kalash tribe who reside in three remote valleys southwest of Chitral Town.

The Norwegian Linguist Georg Morgenstierne wrote that Chitral is the area of the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Although Khowar is the predominant language of Chitral, more than ten other languages are spoken here. These include Kalasha-mun, Palula, Dameli, Gawar-Bati, Nuristani, Yidgha, Burushaski, Gujar, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Persian and Pashto. Since many of these languages have no written form, letters are usually written in Urdu or Persian.

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see Chitral (princely state).

Until 1969, Chitral was a princely state.

[edit] Administration

The district of Chitral is divided into six tehsils ^[2]

Chitral
Drosh
Lutkoh
Mastuj
Mulkoh
Turkoh

The district is represented in the provincial assembly by two elected MPAs who represent the following constituencies: ^[3]

PF-89 (Chitral-1)
PF-90 (Chitral-2)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Chitral News

Administrative Divisions of North-West Frontier Province
Capital	Peshawar
Districts	Abbottabad \| Bannu \| Batagram \| Buner \| Charsadda \| Chitral \| Dera Ismail Khan \| Hangu \| Haripur \| Karak \| Kohat \| Kohistan \| Lakki Marwat \| Lower Dir \| Malakand \| Mansehra \| Mardan \| Nowshera \| Peshawar \| Shangla District \| Swabi \| Swat \| Tank \| Upper Dir