Society & Heritage

Society & Heritage 

Gilgit-Baltistan is home to various enhanced societies, ethnic gatherings, dialects and different foundations. It is home to individuals fitting in with all locales of Gilgit-Baltistan and in addition from different urban communities of Pakistan and on board. This large number of societies is a direct result of the vital area of Gilgit. Being the home office of the Gilgit-Baltistan as; a large portion of the key business locales are spotted in Gilgit. 

Shina is the fundamental dialect spoken by a large portion of the first pioneers however the new comers have different foundations of dialects and societies. Other key dialects spoken in Gilgit are: 

Brushaski, 

Wakhi, 

Khowar, 

Balt. 

Urdu and English are the authority dialects spoke - while different dialects include: Pushto and Punjabi. In view of different societies the example of living, lodging, sustenance style and over life style has turned into a mixture having different colors. 

Individuals: 

In view of the multicultural and multi lingual viewpoints: individuals likewise have an excellent blend of lifestyles and mentality. These extent from the ordinary individuals having a tendency to protect the customs and society to the present day individuals by one means or another affected by different societies, media and instruction. That makes a pluralistic culture having an extent of individuals with different foundations and living together with peace and serenity. 

Religion: 

Lion's share of the occupants are Muslims having a place with two separate groups of understandings i.e. Sunnies, Shias and Ismailies. A little number of Christians additionally live in Gilgit. For religious practices Sunnies go to Masjid, Shias go to Imam Bara and Ismailies go to Jamat Khana. 

Celebrations: 

There are essentially two sorts of celebrations i.e. religious and social. Religious celebrations include: Eid-e-Ghadir, Edi-ul Fitr and Eid Miladunnabi (the conception commemoration of Prophet Muhammad-Peace be upon Him). There are some other vital occasions particular to distinctive groups of elucidation which are praised with complete peace and crew. 

Social occasions include: 

Navroz, 

Jashn-e-Baharan, 

Social celebrations., 

Shandoor Polo Festival, 

Babusar Polo Festival, 

Harvest time celebration 

These are most amazing open doors for individuals to get together and impart their abilities and aptitudes. 

Music and Dances: 

The renowned trio band music is played in this district as in the greater part of alternate areas. On the beat of this noisy music, men affection to move in their ordinary way. There are a few varieties in verses from locale to area. 

Move: 

The populace of Gilgit-Baltistan as have some extraordinary and exceptionally lovely moves in diverse parts. Emulating moves are basic throughout the celebrations, conventional occasions and functions .

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Demographics, Demographics,Religion

Demographics

At the last enumeration (1998), the number of inhabitants in Gilgit–baltistan was 870,347. More or less 14% of the populace was urban. The evaluated populace Gilgit–baltistan in 2013 is in excess of 2 million. The number of inhabitants in Gilgit–baltistan comprises of numerous different semantic, ethnic, and religious factions, due to some degree to the numerous confined valleys differentiated by a percentage of the world's most astounding mountains. The ethnic gatherings incorporate Shins, Yashkuns, Kashmiris, Kashgaris, Pathans, and Kohistanis. The number of inhabitants in Gilgit–baltistan is Muslim. The larger part of populace is Shia Imamia took after by Shia Ismaili fiqh. Countless from Gilgit–baltistan are occupant in different parts of Pakistan. They number around one million, of which no less than 400,000 are occupant in Karachi. The litearcy rate of Gilgit–baltistan is more or less 72%.

Demographics

Urdu is the most widely used language of the district, saw by most inhabitants.[citation needed] The Shina dialect (with a few vernaculars, for example, Asturjaa, Kharuchaa, and Chilasi) is the dominant part dialect of the populace, spoken mostly in Gilgit, Astore, all around Diamir, and in a few parts of Ghizer, Hunza-Nagar and in the Baltistan region. The Balti lingo, a sub-tongue of Ladakhi and a piece of the Tibetan dialect gathering, is spoken by the whole populace of Baltistan. Minor dialects spoken in the locale incorporate Wakhi, spoken in upper Hunza, and in a few towns in Ghizer, while Khowar is the key dialect of Ghizer. Burushaski is the second biggest dialect spoken in Gilgit including Hunza, Nagar, Yasin (where Khowar is additionally spoken), in a few parts of Gilgit, and in a few towns of Punial. An alternate fascinating dialect is Domaaki, spoken by musical performer groups in the locale. A little minority of individuals likewise talk Pashto.

Gilgit–baltistan has not many speakers of Kashmiri. On the other hand, speakers of other Dardic dialects, for example, Shina and Khowar are available in the locale. 

Religion

The number of inhabitants in Gilgit–baltistan are Muslims. Shia, Sunni, Ismailis and sunni deobandi and Sufia Imamia Nurbakhshia .

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Transport Of Gilgit-Baltistan

Transport Of Gilgit-Baltistan

Before 1978, Transport of Gilgit–Baltistan was cut off from the rest of the Pakistan and the world due to the harsh terrain and the lack of accessible roads. All of the roads to the south opened toward the Pakistan-administered state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and to the southeast toward the present-day Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. During the summer, people could walk across the mountain passes to travel to Rawalpindi. The fastest way to travel was by air, but air travel was accessible only to a few privileged local people and to Pakistani military and civilian officials. Then, with the assistance of the Chinese government, Pakistan began construction of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), which was completed in 1978.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) connects Islamabad to Gilgit and Skardu, which are the two major hubs for mountaineering expeditions in Gilgit–Baltistan. The journey from Rawalpindi/Islamabad to Gilgit takes approximately 20 to 24 hours. Landslides on the Karakoram Highway are very common. Transport of Gilgit-Baltistan connects Gilgit to Taxkorgan, Kaxgar in China via Sost (the customs and health-inspection post on the Gilgit–Baltistan side) and the Khunjerab Pass, the highest paved international border crossing in the world at 4,693 metres (15,397 feet).

Northern Areas Transport Corporation (NATCO) offers bus and jeep transport service to the two hubs and several other popular destinations, lakes, and glaciers in the area.

The Karakoram Highway In March 2006, the respective governments announced that, commencing on June 1, 2006, a thrice-weekly bus service would begin across the boundary from Gilgit to Kaxgar, China, and road-widening work would begin on 600 kilometres of the Karakoram Highway. There would also be one daily bus in each direction between the Sost and Taxkorgan border areas of the two political entities.[38]

Pakistan International Transport of Gilgit-Baltistanand Islamabad International Airport. The flying time was approximately 50 minutes, and the flight was one of the most scenic in the world, as its route passed over Nanga Parbat, a mountain whose peak is higher than the aircraft's cruising altitude. However, the Fokker F27 aircraft was retired after a crash at Multan in 2006. Currently, flights are being operated by PIA to Gilgit on the brand-new ATR42-500 aircraft, which was purchased in 2006. With the new plane, the cancellation of flights is much less frequent. PIA also offers regular flights of a Boeing 737 between Skardu and Islamabad. All flights are subject to weather clearance; in winter, flights are often delayed by several days.

A railway through the region has been proposed; see Khunjerab Railway for details.

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Sports of Gilgit-Baltistan

Sports of Gilgit-Baltistan

Polo is the favorite game of the people of Gilgit, Ghizar  Skardu, Ghanche, Chilas, Astore, Hunza, Nagar, and the surrounding areas.[citation needed] Every year, many tourists visit to enjoy polo in Gilgit–Baltistan. "Polo" is a Persian word which means "ball."

Other games such as Football Volleyball  cricket, tuksori of Nagar, gulli danda, kabbadi, and are also played.

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Economy and Resources

Economy and Resources
See also: Education in Gilgit–Baltistan
The economy of the region is primarily based on a traditional route of trade through the historic "Silk Road." The China Trade Organization was the leading economic forum through which most of barter trade activity made a phenomenal change in the general economic outlook of the area, which, being the remotest region under Pakistani control, was neglected for over a quarter of a century. That forum led the people of the area to actively invest and learn modern trade know-how from its Chinese neighbor Xinjiang. The participation of all ethnic groups and the active force behind this activity, the legendary economist of the area Ashraf Khan, brought a great change in the region. Later, the establishment of a chamber of commerce and the Sost dry port(in Gojal Hunza) are milestones. The rest of the economy is shouldered by mainly agriculture and tourism. Agricultural products are wheat, corn (maize), barley, and fruits. Tourism is mostly in trekking and mountaineering, and this industry is growing in importance.


In early September 2009, Pakistan signed an agreement with the People's Republic of China for a major energy project in Gilgit–Baltistan which includes the construction of a 7,000-megawatt dam at Bunji in the Astore District. Exiled activists of the region, Mumtaz Khan and Senge Hasnan Sering have since asked India to take a more proactive stance and save the region from exploitation.

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Geographical Climate of Gilgit-Baltistan

 Geographical Climate of Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit–Baltistan borders Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province to the west, a small portion of the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan to the north, China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the northeast, the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the southeast, and the Pakistani-administered state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the south.

Gilgit–baltistan is home to five of the "eight-thousandths" and to more than fifty crests over 7,000 meters. Gilgit and Skardu are the two principle centers for campaigns to those mountains. The area is home to a percentage of the world's most elevated mountain ranges. The primary extents are the Karakoram and the western Himalayas. The Pamir mountains are to the north, and the Hindu Kush misleads the west.[29] Amongst the most astounding mountains are K2 (Mount Godwin-Austen) and Nanga Parbat, the last being a standout amongst the most dreaded mountains on the planet. 
Three of the world's longest ice sheets outside the polar areas are found in Gilgit–baltistan: the Biafo Glacier, the Baltoro Glacier, and the Batura Glacier. There are, also, a few high-elevation lakes in Gilgit–baltistan.

Sheosar Lake in the Deosai Plains, Astore 

Satpara Tso Lake in Skardu, Baltistan 

Katzura Tso Lake in Skardu, Baltistan 

Zharba Tso Lake in Shigar, Baltistan 

Phoroq Tso Lake in Skardu, Baltistan 

Lake Kharfak in Gangche, Baltistan 

Byarsa Tso Lake in Gultari, Astore 

Borith Lake in Gojal, upper Hunza, Gilgit 

Lake of kromber lake in Ghizar Ishkomen

Lake of Phander in Ghizar Gupis

Lake of khalti in Ghizar Gupis 

Rama Lake close Astore 

Surge Lake close Nagar, Gilgit 

Kromber Lake at Kromber Pass Ishkoman Valley, Ghizer District 

Barodaroksh lake in Bar Valley, Nagar 

Ghorashi lake in Ghandus Valley, Kharmang 

The Deosai Plains, are spotted over the tree line and constitute the second-most astounding level on the planet at 4,115 meters (14,500 feet)after Tibet. The level lies east of Astore, south of Skardu and west of Ladakh. The region was proclaimed as a national stop in 1993. The Deosai Plains blanket a territory of just about 5,000 square kilometers. For over a large portion of the year (between September and May), Deosai is snow-bound and cut off from rest of Astore and Baltistan in winters. The town of Deosai lies near Chilum chokki and is associated with the Kargil locale of Ladakh through an all-climate way. 

There are more than 50,000 bits of rock craft (petroglyphs) and engravings up and down the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit–baltistan, aggregated at ten significant destinations between Hunza and Shatial. The carvings were left by different intruders, dealers, and pioneers who passed along the exchange course, and also by locals. The soonest go once again to between 5000 and 1000 BCE, demonstrating single creatures

 triangular men and chasing scenes in which the creatures are bigger than the seekers. These carvings were pecked into the rock with stone devices and are secured with a thick patina that demonstrates their age. The ethnologist Karl Jettmar has sorted out the historical backdrop of the range from different engravings and recorded his discoveries in Rock Carvings and Inscriptions in the Northern Areas of Pakistan and the later discharged Between Gandhara and the Silk Roads – Rock Carvings Along the Karakoram Highway.[31] Many of these carvings and engravings will be immersed and/or annihilated when the arranged Basha-Diamir dam is fabricated and the Karakoram Highway.

Climate

The atmosphere of Gilgit–baltistan changes from locale to district, encompassing mountain reaches makes sharp varieties in climate. The eastern part has the sodden zone of the western Himalayas, however going to Karakoram and Hindu Kush, the atmosphere dries considerably.

There are towns like Gilgit and Chilas that are extremely hot throughout the day in summer yet cool around evening time and valleys like Astore, Khaplu, Yasin, Hunza, and Nagar, Ghizar where the temperatures are chilly even in summer.

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Administrative Divisions

Administrative Divisions

Administrative Divisions 

Gilgit–baltistan is officially partitioned into two divisions which, thusly, are separated into nine districts,[27] comprising of the four Baltistandistricts of Skardu, Shigar, Kharmang, and Ghanche, and the five districts of Gilgit, Ghizer, Diamer, Astore, and Hunza-Nagar. The foremost regulatory focuses are the towns of Gilgit and Skard

Division	District	Area (km²)	Capital	Divisional Capital
Baltistan	Ghanche	9,400	Khaplu	Skardu
	Skardu	8,000	Skardu
	Shigar	8,500	Shigar
	Kharmang	5,500	Tolti
Gilgit	Gilgit	16,300	Gilgit	Gilgit
	Diamer	10,936	Chilas
	Ghizer	9,635	Gahkuch
	Astore	8,657	Eidgah
	Hunza-Nagar	20,057	Aliabad
Total		72,496	Gilgit

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