Astore District (Urdu: ضلع استور) is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.[1] It is one of the 14 districts of the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan.[2] Its administrative headquarters are located at Eidgah in the Astore Valley. Astore District is bounded by Gilgit District to the north, Roundu District to the northeast, 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.
Astore District
ضلع استور | |
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District of Gilgit−Baltistan administered by Pakistan.[1] | |
Interactive map of Astore district | |
Coordinates (Eidgah, Astore): 35°20′49″N 74°51′22″E / 35.34694°N 74.85611°E | |
Administering country | Pakistan |
Territory | Gilgit-Baltistan |
Division | Diamer |
Headquarters | Eidgah |
Government | |
• Type | District Administration |
• Deputy Commissioner | Muhammad Zulqanain Khan |
• Superintendent of Police | N/A |
• District Health Officer | N/A |
Area | |
• Total | 5,092 km2 (1,966 sq mi) |
Population (1998) | |
• Total | 71,666 |
Number of tehsils | 2 |
The Astore Valley has an area of 5,092 km2 and lies at an altitude of 2,600 metres (8,500 ft). The valley has approximately 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi) of glacier cover.[3] The nearest glacier after entering the valley is the Harcho Glacier,[4] and the most accessible is the Siachen Glacier.[5]
Eidgah 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 143 kilometres (89 mi),[6] 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 128 kilometres (80 mi).[7]
Around 1600, according to the Imperial Gazetteer of India:
Ghāzī Mukhpun, a Persian adventurer, is said to have married a princess of the Skārdu reigning family. The four sons born of this union became Rās of Astor, Kharmang, Rondu, and Skārdu, respectively, and from them are descended the families of the present chiefs of those places. The independence of Astor ceased with the Dogra conquest.[8]
The situation between the two nations was complicated by the 1957–1959 uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule. Refugees poured across the Indian border, and the Indian public was outraged. Any compromise with China on the border issue became impossible. Similarly, China was offended that India had given political asylum to the Dalai Lama when he fled across the border in March 1959. In late 1959, there were shots fired between border patrols operating along both the ill-defined McMahon Line and in the Aksai Chin.
Territorial Dispute: The situation along the Sino-Indian frontier continued to worsen. In late July (1959), an Indian reconnaissance patrol was blocked, "apprehended," and eventually expelled after three weeks in custody at the hands of a larger Chinese force near Khurnak Fort in Aksai Chin. ... Circumstances worsened further in October 1959, when a major class at Kongka Pass in eastern Ladakh led to nine dead and ten captured Indian border personnel, making it by far the most serious Sino-Indian class since India's independence.