Astore District () is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (e), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicised usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (j) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories."; (b) (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; (c) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; (d) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." (e) Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; (f) (g) (h) Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million.), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." (i) Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised 'Line of Control' still separating Pakistani-held Azad ('Free') Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; (j) Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'." Its administrative headquarters are located at Eidgah in the Astore Valley.
Astore District is bounded by Gilgit District to the north, Skardu District to the east, Kharmang District to the southeast, Diamer District to the west, the Neelum District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the southwest, and the Bandipore District of Indian-administered disputed Kashmir region to the south.
Geography
The Astore District largely coincides with the Astore Valley and has an area of 5,411 km2. It lies at an altitude of . The valley has approximately of glacier cover.Sher Muhammad, Lide Tian, Asif Khan, "Early twenty-first century glacier mass losses in the Indus Basin constrained by density assumptions", Journal of Hydrology, Volume 574, 2019, pages 467–475 The nearest glacier after entering the valley is the Harcho Glacier,Muhammad, S., Tian, L., & Nüsser, M. (2019). "No significant mass loss in the glaciers of Astore Basin (North-Western Himalaya), between 1999 and 2016". Journal of Glaciology, 65(250), 270–278. doi:10.1017/jog.2019.5 and the most accessible is the Siachen Glacier.Muhammad, S. and Tian, L. (2016) Changes in the ablation zones of glaciers in the western Himalaya and the Karakoram between 1972 and 2015, Remote Sensing of Environment. Elsevier Inc., 187, pp. 505–512. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2016.10.034. Overall less than 6% of the district is covered by forests, with 43% of land consisting of alpine and winter pastures.
History
Astore was ruled by a branch of Maqpon dynasty of Skardu until 1842, when it was annexed by Col. Nathu Shah for Sikh Empire, later becoming a part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846. Astore is one of the oldest districts in Gilgit-Baltistan, being first established in 1935. After 1947 Gilgit Rebellion it became a part of Pakistan and was made a subdivision of Gilgit Agency. After the administrative reforms in 1972 Northern Areas were established and Astore became a tehsil of newly created Diamer District. It was granted district status in 2004.
Transport
Astore is connected to Gilgit, which is well connected by air with Islamabad and by road with Peshawar, Swat, Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Chitral, and Skardu. There are two ways of access to Eidgah. The first is from Skardu via the Deosai Plateau , but that route cannot be used from November to June due to heavy snowfall. The second route, usable the year round, is from Gilgit via Jaglot .
Notable people
Shama Khalid, Governor of Gilgit Baltistan (2010 – 2010) Khalid Khurshid, Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (2020 – 2023) Yar Muhammad, Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (2024 – present) Shamsul Haq Lone, Member of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly (2020 – 2025)
References