Astore District Explained
| Astore District |
| Native Name Lang: | ur |
| Settlement Type: | District of Gilgit−Baltistan administered by Pakistan. |
| Image Map1: | Kashmir region. LOC 2003626427 - showing sub-regions administered by different countries.jpg |
| Map Caption1: | A map showing Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region |
| Coordinates: | 35.3469°N 74.8561°W |
| Coor Pinpoint: | Eidgah, Astore |
| Subdivision Type: | Administering country |
| Subdivision Name: | Pakistan |
| Subdivision Type1: | Territory |
| Subdivision Name1: | Gilgit-Baltistan |
| Subdivision Type2: | Division |
| Subdivision Name2: | Diamer |
| Area Total Km2: | 5,092 |
| Population As Of: | 1998 |
| Population Total: | 71,666 |
| Seat Type: | Headquarters |
| Seat: | Eidgah |
| Government Type: | District Administration |
| Leader Title: | Deputy Commissioner |
| Leader Name: | Muhammad Zulqanain Khan |
| Leader Title1: | Superintendent of Police |
| Leader Name1: | N/A |
| Leader Title2: | District Health Officer |
| Leader Name2: | N/A |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Number of tehsils |
| Blank Info Sec1: | 2 |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Main language(s) |
| Demographics1 Info1: | Shina |
Astore District (Urdu: {{nq|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 Valley
See main article: Astore Valley. The Astore Valley has an area of 5,092 km2 and lies at an altitude of . The valley has approximately 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]
Accessibility
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,[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 .[7]
History
Around 1600, according to the Imperial Gazetteer of India:
Notes and References
- 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 politicized 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'."
- Web site: GB notifies four more districts, total number of districts now 14. Pakistan Today.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- Web site: Distance from Skardu via Deosai Plains . . 4 August 2019.
- Web site: Distance from Gilgit via Jaglot . . 4 August 2019.
