Astore District

Astore District
ضلع استور
District of Gilgit−Baltistan administered by Pakistan.
Nanga Parbat as seen from the Rama Valley near Astore District in August 2016
Nanga Parbat as seen from the Rama Valley near Astore District in August 2016
A map showing Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region
A map showing Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region
Interactive map of Astore District
Coordinates (Eidgah, Astore): 35°20′49″N 74°51′22″E / 35.34694°N 74.85611°E / 35.34694; 74.85611
Administering countryPakistan
TerritoryGilgit-Baltistan
DivisionDiamer
First establishment1935
Re-established2004
HeadquartersEidgah
Government
 • TypeDistrict Administration
Area
 • Total
5,411 km2 (2,089 sq mi)
Population
 (2023)
 • Total
111,573
 • Density20.62/km2 (53.40/sq mi)
Number of tehsils2

Astore District (Urdu: ضلع استور) is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. 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

Astore District within Gilgit−Baltistan

The Astore District largely coincides with the Astore Valley and has an area of 5,411 km2. It lies at an altitude of 2,600 m (8,500 ft). The valley has approximately 250 km2 (97 sq mi) of glacier cover. The nearest glacier after entering the valley is the Harcho Glacier, and the most accessible is the Siachen Glacier. 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

A view of the terrain on the way to Astore

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 143 kilometres (89 mi), 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).

Notable people

References

  1. 1 2 3 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) Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 15 August 2019 (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) Pletcher, Kenneth, Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 16 August 2019 (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) "Kashmir", Encyclopedia Americana, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, p. 328, ISBN 978-0-7172-0139-6 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) Osmańczyk, Edmund Jan (2003), Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M, Taylor & Francis, pp. 1191–, ISBN 978-0-415-93922-5 Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China."
    (e) Talbot, Ian (2016), A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, pp. 28–29, ISBN 978-0-300-19694-8 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) Skutsch, Carl (2015) [2007], "China: Border War with India, 1962", in Ciment, James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II (2nd ed.), London and New York: Routledge, p. 573, ISBN 978-0-7656-8005-1, 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.
    (g) Clary, Christopher, The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 109, ISBN 9780197638408, 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.
    (h) Bose, Sumantra (2009), Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press, pp. 294, 291, 293, ISBN 978-0-674-02855-5 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) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 166, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2 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) Snedden, Christopher (2015), Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris, Oxford University Press, p. 10, ISBN 978-1-84904-621-3 Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
  2. 1 2 3 "Gilgit Baltistan at a Glance 2024" (PDF). Planning & Development Department Statistical & Research Cell (SRC), Government of Gilgit-Baltistan. June 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  3. ↑ "GB notifies four more districts, total number of districts now 14". Pakistan Today.
  4. ↑ 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
  5. ↑ 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
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Shah, Imran. "Astore District". Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
  8. ↑ "Distance from Skardu via Deosai Plains". Google Maps. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Distance from Gilgit via Jaglot". Google Maps. Retrieved 4 August 2019.