SEWING MACHINE DISTRIBUTION AMONG POSITION HOLDERS
Savayra Foundation UK held a ceremony at Bewal Centre today i.e. on 29th December 2011.The Project Director,Mrs.Nusrat Mubashar distributed sewing machines among the position holder students of all Savayra Centres.The ceremony ended with the high spirits and new hopes of the prize winner students, and determination of the teachers and students alike to work harder in future.
Gilgit is the capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Gilgit City forms a tehsil of Gilgit, within Gilgit District. Its ancient name was Sargin, later to be known as Gilit, and it is still called Gilit or Sargin-Gilit by local people. In the Burushaski language, it is named Geelt and in Wakhi and Khowar it is called Gilt. Ghallata is considered its name in ancient Sanskrit literature. Gilgit City is one of the two major hubs in the Northern Areas for mountaineering expeditions to the Karakoram and other the peaks in the Himalayas, the other hub being Skardu.
Gilgit was an important city on the Silk Road, along which Buddhism was spread from South Asia to the rest of Asia.
The Dards and Chinas appear in many of the old Pauranic lists of peoples who lived in the region, with the former also mentioned in Ptolemy's accounts of the region. Two famous travellers, Faxian and Xuanzang, traversed Gilgit according to their accounts.
| “ | The former rulers had the title of Ra, and there is reason to suppose that they were at one time Pagans, but for the last five centuries and a half they have been Moslems. The names of the Pagan Ras have been lost, with the exception of the last of their number, Shri Buddutt. Tradition relates that he was killed by a Mohammedan adventurer, who married his daughter and founded a new dynasty, since called Trakhàn, from a celebrated Ra named Trakhan, who reigned about the commencement of the fourteenth century. The previous rulers—of whom Shri Buddutt was the last—were called Shahreis. | ” |
Gilgit was ruled for centuries by the local Trakhàn Dynasty, which ended about 1810 with the death of Raja Abas, the last Trakhàn Raja.
A Dance at Gilgit by G. W. Leitner, 1893
The rulers of Hunza and Nager also claim origin with the Trakhàn dynasty. They claim descent from a heroic Kayani Prince of Persia, Azur Jamshid (also known as Shamsher), who secretly married the daughter of the king Shri Badat. She conspired with him to overthrow her cannibal father. Sri Badat's faith is theorised as Hindu by some and Buddhist by others. However, considering the region's Buddhist heritage, with the most recent influence being Islam, the most likely preceding influence of the region is Buddhism. Though the titular Sri and the name Badat denotes a Hindu origin of this ruler.
Prince Azur Jamshid succeeded in overthrowing King Badat who was known as Adam Khor (literally man-eater), often demanding a child a day from his subjects, his demise is still celebrated to this very day by locals in traditional annual celebrations In the beginning of the new year, where a Juniper procession walks along the river, in memory of chasing the cannibal king Sri Badat away.
Azur Jamshid abdicated after 16 years of rule in favour of his wife Nur Bakht Khatùn until their son and heir Garg, grew of age and assumed the title of Raja and ruled, for 55 years. The dynasty flourished under the name of the Kayani dynasty until 1421 when Raja Torra Khan assumed rulership. He ruled as a memorable king until 1475. He distinguished his family line from his step brother Shah Rais Khan (who fled to the king of Badakshan and with who's help he gained Chitral from Raja Torra Khan), as the now-known dynastic name of Trakhàn. The descendants of Shah Rais Khan were known as the Ra'issiya Dynasty.
| “ | The period of greatest prosperity was probably under the Shin Ras, whose rule seems to have been peaceable and settled. The whole population, from the Ra to the poorest subject lived by agriculture. According to tradition, Shri Buddutt's rule extended over Chitral, Yassin, Tangir, Darel, Chilas, Gor, Astor, Hunza, Nagar and Haramosh all of which were held by tributary princes of the same family. | ” |
The area had been a flourishing tract but prosperity was destroyed by warfare over the next fifty years, and by the great flood of 1841 in which the river Indus was blocked by a landslip below the Hatu Pir and the valley was turned into a lake. After the death of Abas, Sulaiman Shah, raja of Yasin, conquered Gilgit. Then, Azad Khan, raja of Punial, killed Sulaiman Shah, taking Gilgit; then Tair Shah, raja of Buroshall (Nagar), took Gilgit and killed Azad Khan. Tair Shah's son Shah Sakandar inherited, only to be killed by Gaur Rahman, raja of Yasin of the Khushwakhte Dynasty, when he took Gilgit. Then in 1842, Shah Sakandar's brother, Karim Khan, expelled Gaur Rahman with the support of a Sikh army from Kashmir. The Sikh general, Nathu Shah, left garrison troops and Karim Khan ruled until Gilgit was ceded to Gulab Singh of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 by the Treaty of Amritsar, and Dogra troops replaced the Sikh in Gilgit.
Nathu Shah and Karim Khan both transferred their allegiance to Gulab Singh, continuing local administration. When Hunza attacked in 1848, both of them were killed. Gilgit fell to the Hunza and their Yasin and Punial allies, but was soon reconquered by Gulab Singh's Dogra troops. With the support of Gaur Rahman, Gilgit's inhabitants drove their new rulers out in an uprising in 1852. Gaur Rahman then ruled Gilgit until his death in 1860, just before new Dogra forces from Ranbir Singh, son of Gulab Singh, captured the fort and town. In 1870s Chitral was threatened by Afghans Maharaja Ranbir Singh was firm in protecting Chitral from Afghans the Mehtar of Chitral ask for help, In 1876 Chitral accepted the authority of Jammu Clan and in reverse get the protection from the Dogras who have in the past took part in many victories over Afghans during the time of Gulab Singh Dogra.
In 1877, in order to guard against the advance of Russia, the British Government, acting as the suzerain power of Kashmir, established the Gilgit Agency. The Agency was re-established under control of the British Resident in Jammu and Kashmir. It comprised the Gilgit Wazarat; the State of Hunza and Nagar; the Punial Jagir; the Governorships of Yasin, Kuh-Ghizr and Ishkoman, and Chilas.
The Tajiks of Xinjiang sometimes enslaved the Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza.
In 1935, the British demanded Jammu and Kashmir to lease them Gilgit town plus most of the Gilgit Agency and the hill-states Hunza, Nagar, Yasin and Ishkoman for 60 years. Maharaja Hari Singh had no choice but to acquiesce. The leased region was then treated as part of British India, administered by a Political Agent at Gilgit responsible to Delhi, first through the Resident in Jammu and Kashmir and later a British Agent in Peshawar.
Jammu and Kashmir State no longer kept troops in Gilgit and a mercenary force, the Gilgit Scouts, was recruited with British officers and paid for by Delhi. In April 1947, Delhi decided to formally retrocede the leased areas to Hari Singh’s Jammu and Kashmir State as of August 15, 1947. The transfer was to formally take place on August 1.
Gilgit Scouts progressed with Pakistani troops from north through High Himalayas and contributed in attacking of Skardu in summer 1948, pushing further towards Ladakh area.
After Pakistani advances of early 1948, Indian troops gathered momentum in late 1948. Finally, the newly formed India asked UN intervention, and a ceasefire was agreed on December 31, 1948. This conflict left Pakistan with roughly two-fifths of Kashmir along with Gilgit and Baltistan, leaving three-fifths of Kashmir along with Jammu and Leh to India.
Gilgit experiences a desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). Weather conditions for Gilgit are dominated by its geographical location, a valley in a mountainous area, southwest of Karakoram range. The prevalent season of Gilgit is winter, occupying the valley eight to nine months a year.
Gilgit lacks significant rainfall, averaging in 120 to 240 millimetres (4.7 to 9.4 in) annually, as monsoon breaks against the southern range of Himalayas. Irrigation for land cultivation is obtained from the rivers, abundant with melting snow water from higher altitudes.
The summer season is brief and hot. The piercing sunrays may raise the temperature up to 40 °C (104 °F), yet it is always cool in the shade. As a result of this extremity in the weather, landslides and avalanches are frequent in the area.
The Gilgit manuscripts were nominated in 2006 to be included on the UNESCO Memory of the World register, but without success. The Gilgit manuscripts are among the oldest manuscripts in the world, and the oldest manuscript collection surviving in Pakistan and India, having major significance in the areas of Buddhist studies and the evolution of Asian and Sanskrit literature. The manuscripts are believed to have been written in the 5th to 6th Century AD, though some more manuscripts were discovered in the succeeding centuries, which were also classified as Gilgit manuscripts.
This corpus of manuscripts was discovered in 1931 in Gilgit, containing many Buddhist texts such as four sutras from the Buddhist canon, including the famous Lotus Sutra. The manuscripts were written on birch bark in the Buddhist form of Sanskrit in the Sharada script. The Gilgit manuscripts cover a wide range of themes such as iconometry, folk tales, philosophy, medicine and several related areas of life and general knowledge.
Jeeps' are the best way to travel up in the North West Frontier.
Gilgit city is one of the two major hubs for all mountaineering expeditions in Gilgit-Baltistan. Almost all tourists headed for treks in Karakoram or Himalaya Ranges arrive at Gilgit first. Many tourists choose to travel to Gilgit by air, since the road travel between Islamabad and Gilgit, by the Karakoram Highway, takes nearly 14–24 hours, whereas the air travel takes a mere 45–50 minutes
There are several tourist attractions relatively close to Gilgit: Naltar Valley with Naltar Peak, Hunza Valley, Nagar Valley, Ferry Meadows in Raikot, Shigar town, Skardu city, Haramosh Peak in Karakoram Range, Bagrot-Haramosh Valley, Deosai National Park, Astore Valley, Rama Lake, Juglot town, Phunder village, Yasin Valley and Kargah Valley.
Overview of the Karakoram Highway
Gilgit lies about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) off the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The KKH connects it to Chilas, Dasu, Besham, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Islamabad in the south. In the North it is connected to Karimabad (Hunza) and Sust in the Northern Areas and to the Chinese cities of Tashkurgan, Upal and Kashgar in Xinjiang.
There are various transports companies i.e. Silk Route Transport Pvt, Masherbrum Transport Pvt and Northern Areas Transport Corporation (NATCO), from these NATCO offers most coverage. It offers passenger road service between Islamabad, Gilgit, Sust and Tashkurgan, and road service between Kashgar and Gilgit (via Tashkurgan and Sust) started in the summer of 2006. However, the border crossing between China and Pakistan at Khunjerab Pass—the highest border of the world—is open only between May 1 and October 15 of every year. During winter, the roads are blocked by snow. Even during the monsoon season in summer, the roads are often blocked due to landslides. The best time to travel on Karakoram Highway is spring or early summer.
Tuberculosis, endocrinal disorders with mainly iodine deficiency disorders, iron deficiency, and diarrheal diseases are more common. Sewage system has yet to be fully established, electricity and water supply are still faulty. These factors make a hindrance in developing a strong health care system.
Muzaffarabad is the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located in Muzaffarabad District on the banks of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the west, by the Kupwara and Baramulla districts of the Indian side of the Line of Control in the east, and the Neelum District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the north. According to the 1998 Census, the population of the district was 725,000, and according to a 1999 projection, the population had risen to almost 741,000. The district comprises three tehsils, and the city of Muzaffarabad serves as the cultural, legislative and financial capital of what is presently known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The residents of Muzaffarabad are a highly literate and business orientated class maintaining close ties with the financial capitals of Northern Pakistan, primarily Rawalpindi and the NWFP. Muzaffarabad is a prime destination for further and higher education for the youth of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and also produces the elite class of Azad Jammu and Kashmir such as doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Rawalpindi is also a prime destination for further education and training.
Muzaffarabad is a centre of business once connected to Srinagar (Kashmir valley) and other north cities of which the culture can be seen to have had an effect. It must be noted that the entrance to the Kashmir valley faces northwards and passes westwardly through Neelum and down towards Muzaffarabad, where trade had flourished prior to the Kashmir dispute.
Muzaffarabad is situated at the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The city is 138 kilometres from Rawalpindi and Islamabad and about 76 kilometres from Abbottabad. Cradled by lofty mountains, Muzaffarabad reflects a blend of various cultures and languages. The main language is a form of Hindko and Pahari. The Neelum river plays a dominant role in the microclimate of Muzaffarabad which joins Jehlum River near Domail.
The closest railway stations are Rawalpindi in Pakistan and Baramulla in India. Jammu and Kashmir (India-Administered) Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that he intended to extend the Kashmir rail line to Muzaffarabad, to facilitate movement of people and goods much easier across the LoC.
The original name of Muzaffarabad was Udabhanda.
| “ | Hieun tsang, the celebrated Buddhist pilgrim who is said to have visited the valley in 633 A.D mentions Pan-nu-tso i.e. modern day Punch, Ho-lo-she-pu-to i.e. modern day Rajauri. He entered | ” |
It is interesting to note that many places in Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the line of control still maintain Hindu names.
Udabhanda was the capital of the Shahi dynasty. The Shahi (Devanagari शाही), also called Shahiya, dynasties ruled portions of the Kabul Valley (in eastern Afghanistan) and the old province of Gandhara (northern Pakistan and Kashmir) from the decline of the Kushan Empire in third century to the early ninth century. The kingdom was known as Kabul-shahan or Ratbel-shahan from (565 - 670 CE) when they had their capitals in Kapisa and Kabul, and later Udabhandapura (also known as Hund) for its new capital. The term Shahi is the title of the rulers, likely related to the Kushan form Shao or Persian form Shah and refers to a series of 60 rulers probably descended from the Kushans or Turks (Turshkas). They are split into two eras the Buddhist Turk-Shahis and the later Hindu-Shahis, with the changeover occurring sometime around 870.
The name "Muzaffarabad" (meaning Muzaffar's Town) comes from the name of Sultan khan Muzaffar Khan (a Muslim ruler of Khandan-e-Bomba). After the 1948-49 war, Muzaffarabad was made the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
On October 8, 2005, the city was struck by an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter Scale.
The city was the site of the epicentre of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which occurred on October 8, 2005 and had a magnitude of 7.6. The disaster destroyed 50% of the buildings in the city (including most of the official buildings) and is estimated to have killed up to 80,000 people in the Pakistani-controlled areas of Kashmir, alone.
As of 8 November, the Pakistani government's official death toll was 87,350. Some estimates put the death toll over 100,000.
Humanitarian aid reaches the devastated far-flung areas of Pakistan's Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA).
Pakistani Soldiers carry tents away from a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter that was there on October 19. The United States took part in the multinational effort to provide humanitarian assistance and support to Pakistan and Afghanistan following the devastating October 8 earthquake.
Heavy snowfall in the region around the epicentre, shown here in a January 6, 2006 NASA satellite image, hampered the relief efforts which began shortly after the earthquake struck.
Sangam Hotel in Muzaffarabad that was destroyed in the earthquake.
There are two historical forts on opposite sides of the Neelum River, known as the Red Fort and the Black Fort.
The construction of the Red Fort was finally completed in 1646 by Sultan Muzaffar Khan, the founder of Muzaffarabad city. After the Mughalstook over Kashmir, the fort lost its importance. The Mughals were more interested in Kabul, Bukhara, and Badakhshan. During the period ofDurrani rule, however, the fort again once again assumed its importance.
Maharaja Gulab Singh and Rambir Singh, the Dogra rulers, reconstructed and extended the fort for their political and military operations. Towards the middle of 1947, the Dogra forces were forced to leave due to happenings of 1947 in the princely state of J&K.
The architecture of the fort shows that great experts in design and structure participated in its construction. It is surrounded on three sides by the Neelum River, formally known as the Kishenganga River. The northern part of the fort had terraces with steps leading to the bank of the river. The eastern side was well protected from the hazards of flood waters, but some parts on the north side have suffered damage. There used to be an inn at the entrance to the fort, but only traces of that structure remain now.
| § § § Mosque Assembly Secretariat § Kh. Khurshid Tomb § | § Subri (Langarpura) § § Allama Iqbal bridge § § Jallalabad Mosque | § President's house § Pearl continental Hotel § Nelum Hotel § Sungum Hotel |
| § Pirchinassi § § | § § Chickar § Garhi Dopatta | § Nakkah § Bugna Kairabad § Darakoti, Nakar Fatot |
| § Buttdara § Buttal (Battal) § Nulha § Bandi § Devlian § Patika | § Sangri Mera § Dhmanchulh § Danna § Athmaqam § Sarra | § Ranjatta § Sri Janha § Kurhee § kherha § Khumanh § Lawat § Leswa § Sharda § Kel § Ashkot § Jura bandi |
The district is administratively subdivided into three tehsils.
§ Tehseel Muzaffarabad
§ Tehseel Athmakam
§ tehseel Ponch
