BALTISTAN - General Information 2000 -

Situated in the valleys of river Indus and its tributaries, the Shyok and Shigar rivers, altogether supplying about 20% fresh water resources to the country, between the Karakorum mountain range and Chinese Sinkiang in the North, and the most Western part of the Himalayas and Kashmir in its South, Indian Ladakh in the East and the Astore-, Gilgit and Hunza-valleys in the West, at an altitude ranging from about 6-9,000 feet in the valleys and rising to over 28,000 feet at the highest peaks, Baltistan with its now two Districts of Skardu in the West and Ghanche in the East, with Skardu and Khaplu as respective District capitals, is a part of FANA (Federally Administered Northern Areas) of Pakistan, which are considered by Pakistan as part of the area under dispute with India.

Bhuddist past, Islamization in the 15th Century by a disciple of Shah Hamdan, ruled til the early 19th Century by local Rajas of Skardu, Shigar, Khaplu & Kharmang, with its zenith under the Maqpon (ruler) Ali Sher Khan Anchan, Raja of Skardu, who extended his rule from Ladakh to Gilgit around 1630, married a Kashmiri Moghul princess. Baltistan came under Kashmiri Dogra rule in the early 19th Century, which lasted til 1948, when a local rebellion starting from Gilgit and extending to Baltistan drove the small Dogra military presence away, and acceded to Pakistan, which placed it under Federal Administration as a part of the territories under dispute with India. Connected by jeepable road & flight to Gilgit & down-country in sixties and by asphalted road for trucks & buses to the Karakorum Highway in 1984. Military conflict with India over the Siachen glacier, with 20,000 feet the highest battleground in the world, since 1984.

Area: 16,000 sqkms
Population: Pop.Census 1951: 125,162; 1981: 223,668
Projection f.2000: 350,000 + 50,000 migrated down-country & abroad)
Settlements: about 260 villages/hamlets & town of Skardu (approx.25,000 pop.)
Household size: approx.10
Languages: Balti (an ancient form of Tibeti, yet without script), Shina, Kashmiri, Urdu
Religion: 70% Shia, 25% Nurbakshi, 4% Sunni

   Pakistan Baltistan
Popul.growth  3% 3%
Birthrate  5%  6%
Deathrate  2% 3%
Literacy F 21%, M 50% F 1%, M 25%
Mortality Infant  97 150
Children <5  137 160
Maternal: 500 800
 Fertility  5.7 10
 Malnourished  30% 50%
 T.B.  20% 40%