Nagar Valley

The Nagar Valley (Urdu. نگر) is a valley near Gilgit Valley in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The valley is part of Gilgit District and is administratively subdivided into two tehsils namely Nagar-1 and Nagar-2. The valley is situated at an elevation of 2,438m (7,999 feet). Nagar Khas is the main town and the capital of the former state of Nagar. The Spantik peak (Golden peak) can easily be seen from here. Gulmet is the popular tourist attraction in Nagar because of the spectacular scenery of the surrounding mountains like Rakaposhi at 7,788m (25,561), and Diran. The climate of Nagar remains pleasant from mid-April to the end of September. The maximum temperature in summer during the day is 13°C. The weather becomes very cold during the winter, mainly from October to end of March. The minimum temperature can be -14°C.

History

Nagar was formerly a princely state which had existed for 1200 years. The State of Hunza was previously under the domination of Nagar and collectively called Buroshall and their capital was Capal Dongs. But after the reign of the Miyor Khan his sons divided Buroshall into Nagar and Hunza and declared the river as the border: Muglot became the king of Nagar and Kirkis became the king of Hunza.

The British gained control of Nagar during a battle at place of Nilt (Jangir-e-Laye) between 1889 and 1892. The Nagarkutch fought bravely but was defeated due to lack of weapons. The Tham (Chief) of that time, Azur Khan, was sent in exile to Kashmir. For the British army, three soldiers were rewarded with the Victoria Cross and a mule was also rewarded with the medal for carrying a gun on its back.

The British retained Nagar's status as a principality until their departure in 1947. The people of Nagar and Hunza were ruled by a local Mir for more than 1200 years, which came to an end in 1974. Although never ruled directly by neighbouring Kashmir or the British, Nagar and Hunza were a vassal of Kashmir from the time of Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. The Mirs of both sent an annual tribute to the Kashmir Durbar until 1947, and along with the ruler of Hunza, was considered to be among the most loyal vassals of the Maharaja of Kashmir. In 1968 Syed Yahya Shah, the first educated politician of the valley, demanded civil rights from the Mir of Nagar.^[1] After the change in Pakistani Central Government to a democracy on 25 September 1974 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto dissolved the Princely States of Nagar as well as Hunza and set the prisoners free and gave democratic representation to the Northern Areas Council, now the Northern Areas Legislative Council

Prince Qasim Ali is currently the Crown Prince of Nagar State. He is currently living in Islamabad and controlling the whole operations. His area's of expertise are Human Resource Management.

Geography

Nagar is bordered by the Gilgit Agency to the southwest, China to the north and northeast and Afghanistan to the northwest. The state capital was the town of Nagar Khas (also known as Uyum Nagar, which means "The Mighty Nagar Empire"). The first village of Nagar is Chalt Valley near Guroo, Janglote from Gilgit and the last village of Nagar is Hisper, Biafo Range that links Baltistan with the eastern range.

Rakaposhi and Diran Peaks are situated in Minapin Nagar-2, while Rush Lake (High altitude Wetland), Golden Peak, Hopper Glacier, Spantik, Hisper Glacier, Bowalter Glacier and Barpu white glaciers are in Nagar-1. Askurdas is the centre of Nagar.

Demography

The religion of the Nagar Valley is Islam with 100% Shia Isna Ashree. The literacy rate is over 90% for men and about 59% for women.

According to the 1998 census, the population of the Nagar Valley was 85,000, and according to the 2000 figures Nagar Valley had risen to 100,000. The languages spoken here are Brushashki, Shena and Bedishki (or Dumaki). Sixty percent of the Brusho people live in Nagar. Bedishki is a language spoken by the Bedicho (Doma) tribe of Nagar, it is related to the Gujarati language. It has only one hundred speakers. It is spoken in Chalt (Capital of Nagar). It is the language of famous musicians of Nagar. The late Ustad Muhammad Ali was one of the famous musician of the Bedicho (Doma) family.

Polo

Nagar was famous for its polo team. It is the only team from the Northern Areas who played the polo match in New Delhi on the arrival of the George VI of England and won the trophy there. Until 1972 it was the unbeatable team of the northern areas.

Modern Nagar

The people of modern Nagar are doctors, engineers, army officers, politicians, businessmen. They are in every field of life in Pakistan. The people of Nagar valley are hospitable to visitors.

The whole area of Nagar is declared as a community park to prevent the hunting of many endangered animals such as Marco Polo sheep, brown bears, show tigers etc. The NGOs which are working on the preservation of endangered animals are invited to come to this area because these animals are surviving for their existence.