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18-473: Broghil is a relatively low pass. It was closed for about three months each winter because of snow, but for much of the rest of the year it was passable even for cart traffic. It is one of the four major mountain passes entering Chitral District ; the others are the Dorah Pass from Badakshan Province of Afghanistan , Shandur Top from Gilgit , and Lowari Top from Upper Dir District . The area of Broghil

36-524: A great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form.” Khowar is spoken by around 800,000 people in Pakistan. Most of the Kho people also use Urdu as a second language. Chitrali folklore lays great emphasis upon supernatural beings, and the area is sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies ( peri ) inhabiting the high mountains. The Barmanou

54-554: A population of about 414,000. The general population is mainly made up of Kho people , who speak Khowar , which is also spoken in parts of Yasin , Gilgit , Dir, and Swat . Chitral is also home to the Kalash tribe, who live in Bumburet and two other remote valleys southwest of Chitral town. A few thousand Nuristani people are also known to live in Chitral. The main language of the region

72-577: A very early location of proto-Khowar in its original abode in Upper Chitral, although from its links with the Gandhari language , it likely came from further south in the first millennium BC, possibly through Swat and Dir. The ethnologists Karl Jettmar and Lennart Edelberg noted, with respect to the Khowar language, that: "Khowar, in many respects [is] the most archaic of all modern Indian languages, retaining

90-454: Is Khowar . There are also smaller communities of speakers of Arabic , Dameli , Gawar-Bati , Gujari(Gojri) , Kalasha , Kyrgyz , Kataviri / Kamviri , Madaklashti , Palula , Sariquli , Wakhi , and Yidgha . Urdu has official status. The city of Chitral is the main city in the district and serves as its capital. It is situated on the west bank of the Chitral River (also known as

108-564: Is NA-1 . The district is represented by two elected MPAs in the provincial assembly , who represent the following constituencies: 36°15′N 72°15′E  /  36.250°N 72.250°E  / 36.250; 72.250 Kho people The Kho ( / k oʊ / , Khowar : کھو ), or Chitrali people , are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Chitral District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan and

126-648: Is a popular local legend, often referred as the indigenous equivalent of the Yeti of the Himalayas. Polo is a popular sport and pastime for the Kho people. Polo traditionally played by the Kho has little rules or organisation. The Shandur Polo Festival is a sports festival held annually from 7 to 9 July in the Shandur Polo Ground. The polo tournament is played between the teams of Gilgit-Baltistan Districts and Chitral District, under freestyle rules. The tournament

144-752: Is held at Shandur Top which is the world highest polo ground at an altitude of 3,700 meters (the pass itself is at 3,800 meters). Traditional Chitrali clothing includes the Shalwar Kameez and the Pakol (Chitrali hat). According to Aziz et al. 2019, the western Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups were observed predominantly and mostly shared in Kho samples with overall frequency of 50%. These include HV8, H19, H57, H24, C and, C4a haplogroups. The South Asian haplogroups and its relevant subgroups including U4, U4c, U6, U5a, and W were also found in Kho samples with overall 37.5% frequency. Another South Asian haplogroup, M30

162-643: Is inhabited by Wakhi and Kyrgyz people . According to the National Geographic Genographic Project, Broghol Pass appears to be the route used by the ancestors of all modern Western Europeans to reach Europe . Modern Europeans carrying the M45 genetic marker crossed Broghol and then turned west; M45 further mutated to become M173 and then M343, which is carried by 70% of the population of England. Chitral District Chitral District ( Khowar : ݯھیترارو ضلع ; Urdu : ضلع چترال )

180-653: Is mountains and glaciers. Chitral is connected to the rest of Pakistan by two major road routes, the Lowari Pass ( elevation. 10,23 ft.) from Dir and Shandur Top (elevation 12,200 ft.) from Gilgit. Both routes used to be closed in winter, but circa 2017 the highway Lowari Tunnel under the Lowari Pass opened to vehicular traffic for at least ten hours per day. A number of other high passes, including Darkot Pass , Thoi Pass , and Zagaran Pass , provide access on foot to Chitral from Gilgit-Baltistan . The district has

198-501: The Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan . They speak an Indo-Aryan language called Khowar . The Kho people are likely descendants of those who migrated to their present location in Chitral from the south. The Kho people spread throughout Chitral from the northern part of the region, specifically from the Mulkhow and Torkhow Valley . According to Morgenstierne ,

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216-417: The 14th century, many of the Kho converted to Islam though some previous customs continue to persist. With respect to Islam, the Kho are primarily Hanafi Sunni Muslims although there exists a substantial population of Ismaili Muslims in the Upper Chitral region. The Khowar language shares a great number of morphological characteristics with neighbouring Iranian languages of Badakhshan , pointing to

234-670: The Kunar River) at the foot of Tirich Mir , which at 7,708 m (25,289 ft) is the highest peak of the Hindu Kush . Until 14 August 1947, it served as the capital of the princely state of Chitral . The district of Chitral is divided into twenty-four union councils and two tehsils : This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of the National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly . Its constituency

252-488: The Princely State. Chitral is counted amongst the highest regions of the world, sweeping from 1,094 metres at Arandu to 7,726 metres at Tirichmir and packing over 40 peaks more than 6,100 metres in height. The terrain of Chitral is very mountainous, and Tirich Mir (25,289 feet), the highest peak of the Hindu Kush , rises in the north of the district. Around 4.8 percent of the land is covered by forest, and 76 percent

270-671: The high mountains. The entire region that now forms the Chitral District was an independent monarchical state until 1895, when the British negotiated a treaty with its hereditary ruler, the Mehtar, under which Chitral became a semi-autonomous princely state within the Indian Empire. Chitral retained this status even after its accession to Pakistan in 1947, finally being made an administrative district of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, disestablishing

288-574: The original abode of the Kho was northern Chitral in the valleys around Mastuj . The Kho started expanding into southern Chitral around the early 14th century under the Rais Mehtars . Later on, the Kho expanded eastwards into the Yasin and Ghizer valleys under the Khushwaqt dynasty in the 17th century. In ancient times the Kho people practised a faith akin to that observed by the Kalash today. In

306-407: The south. It also shared an international border with Afghanistan to the north and west. Afghanistan's narrow strip of Wakhan Corridor separated Chitral from Tajikistan in the north. Chitral shares much of its history and culture with the neighbouring Hindu Kush territories of Gilgit-Baltistan, a region sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies ( peri ) inhabiting

324-631: Was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km , before splitting into Upper and Lower Chitral Districts in 2018. It was the northernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It shared a border with Gilgit-Baltistan to the east and with Swat and Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to

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