Kohistan, Pakistan

For other uses, see Kohistan.
Kohistan
کوہستان
Region
Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Area
 • Total
11,531 km2 (4,452 sq mi)
Demographics
 • LanguagesKohistani, Torwali, Kalami, Kohistani Shina, Pashto, Urdu
Time zonePakistan Standard Time
Largest cities

Kohistan is a mountainous region located in the northern Pakistan. It consists of Indus Kohistan, Swat Kohistan and Dir Kohistan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with a total area of 11,531 square kilometres (4,452 sq mi).

History

Kohistan is home to a number of Indigenous northwestern Indo-Aryan peoples, collectively known as Kohistanis, who inhabited a larger region than their present extent in the past. The Gibari-speaking Sultans of Swat controlled most of the present-day Swat, Malakand, Dir and Buner regions until the 16th century. Sultanate of Swat was invaded by the Yousafzai Pashtuns under the leadership of Malik Ahmed Baba between 1510 and 1515, who forced most of the Kohistanis to take refuge in the Swat Kohistan.[1]

The Pashtun migration, followed by the Pashtunization of the region, continued in the following centuries. In the early 20th century, Swat emerged as an autonomous state under the Miangul dynasty. Miangul Abdul Wadud undertook several campaigns against the Kohistanis of Shangla, settling Pashtuns there.[2]

Kohistan region was part of Malakand and Hazara Tribal Agencies during the British colonial period. Until 1st May 1934 Indus Kohistan was included in the Gilgit Agency, when its control was transferred to the North Western Frontier Province.[3] However, its area continued to be counted in the total area of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.[4] The Kalam tract was established as an independent tribal agency by the colonial government in 1926 due to the competing claims by the states of Chitral, Dir, and Swat. After the independence, however, the ruler of Swat annexed Kalam into Swat. It remained so until 1954, when it was agreed between the Government of Pakistan and Swat that Kalam would be de-jure part of Pakistan, nevertheless, the Wali of Swat would continue to administer it on the behalf of Pakistani government. Swat Kohistan became part of the newly created Swat District after the formal abolition of princely states in 1971.[5]

Geography

Districts of present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Today, Kohistan refers to the narrow mountainous tract of land, divided among Swat, Dir and Indus Kohistan, where Kohistanis still form a majority. It is bounded by Chitral to the north, Afghanistan to the west, Gilgit Baltistan to the north and north-east and rest of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south. Administratively, eastern Kohistan is divided into the districts of Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts. The western Kohistan is divided into Sharingal and Behrain tehsils in the Upper Dir and Upper Swat districts, respectively.[6]

Demographics

According to the 2023 Census of Pakistan, the Kohistan region had total population of 1,395,190.[7]

Languages

Languages of Kohistan Region (2023)[7]
  1. Kohistani (64.3%)
  2. Shina (4.28%)
  3. Torwali and Gawri[a] (10.1%)
  4. Pashto (17.9%)
  5. Other (3.56%)

The region is rich in linguistic diversity. The 2023 Pakistani census counted the various Kohistani languages under a single label, including Indus Kohistani, Torwali, Gawri, Kohistani Shina, Bateri, and others, thus skewing the census results as many of their speakers call their language simply as Kohistani. The census enumerated Kohistani (64.26%) as major language, followed by Pashto (17.89%), Torwali and Gawri (10.11%), and Shina (4.28%).[7]

From east to west, Shina is spoken on the east bank of Indus while Indus Kohistani is spoken on its west bank. Bateri is spoken in the Batera subdivision of Kolai-Palas. Further west, Torwali is spoken in the Chail valley and the main Swat valley from Bahrain upto Asrait, further north of which Gawri is spoken in the valleys of Kalam, Utror and Usho. Gawri is also spoken in the Panjkora valley (also known as Kumrat valley); the major Gawri speaking towns in Kumrat include Thal, Rajkot, Kalkot, Barikot, Lamuti and Biar.[8] In Swat Gujari is spoken in several villages, including Laikot, Peshmal, Gabral and Badai Serai. It is also dispersed across the region. While Pashto is spoken in the lower reaches of region, including Madyan and Sheringal.[9] In addition, a number of smaller Indo-Aryan languages are spoken across the region, including Kalkoti in Kalkot, Ushojo in Chail valley, and Gowro and Chilisso in eastern Kohistan.[8]

Due to its historical and ethnical relations with the neighbouring Gilgit Baltistan, Kohistan as well as Chitral is claimed by the Gilgit Baltistan nationalists as part of the greater Gilgit Baltistan.[10]

Ethnic groups

The main tribes or ethnic groups in the region are:

Tourism

A waterfall from the Katora Lake in Kumrat Valley, a valley in the Western Kohistan

Kohistan is known for its scenery and contains a large number of alpine valleys, waterfalls and glacier lakes.[14] Some of the most popular tourist attractions of Kohistan region include Kumrat Valley, Kalam Valley, and Katora Lake.[15] The region is transversed by several rivers, including Swat, Panjkora, Indus and Chitral.[16][17]

Notes

  1. ^ In the Behrain Tehsil, where majority of population natively speaks Torwali and Kalami, 141,119 people chose "Other" in the census, as these languages were not optional.

References

  1. ^ Arlinghaus, Joseph Theodore (1988). The Transformation of Afghan Tribal Society: Tribal Expansion, Mughal Imperialism and the Roshaniyya Insurrection, 1450–1600. Duke University. pp. 191–210.
  2. ^ Rome, Sultan-i (2008). Swat State, 1915–1969, From Genesis to Merger: An Analysis of Political, Administrative, Socio-Political, and Economic Development. Karachi: Oxford University Press. pp. 121–125. ISBN 978-0-19-547113-7.
  3. ^ Great Britain Parliament House of Commons (1936). Parliamentary Papers. Vol. 20. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 51. The Indus Kohistan on both banks of the river was transferred on the 1st May 1934 from political control of the Gilgit Agency (Kashmir) to that of the North-West Frontier Administration.
  4. ^ Census of India 1961. Volume VI: Jammu and Kashmir. PART II-A: GENERAL POPULATION TABLES. Published 1964. pp. 3. Quote: "The resultant decrease of 2213 square miles was ascribed partly to an increase of 112 square miles resulting from the survey conducted during 1931-41 of the north boundary of Gilgit (Leased Area) and partly to the decrease of 2,325 square miles caused by the re-alignment of North-west Frontier Province (Gilgit Agency) in 1934 on the transfer to the North-west Frontier Province of Indus-Kohistan. The State Census Commissioner was however advised by the State Government to repeat the figure of 84,471 square miles in the Census Report of 1941 and action was taken by him accordingly."
  5. ^ Nasir, Fateh-Ul-Mulk Ali (July 11, 2020). "Kalam and the three princely states of Swat, Chitral and Dir". WeMountains. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  6. ^ "Kohistan". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  8. ^ a b c Torwali, Zubair (2020). Austin, Peter K. (ed.). "Countering the challenges of globalization faced by endangered languages of North Pakistan". Language Documentation and Description. 17 (0). London: EL Publishing: 44–65. doi:10.25894/ldd96. ISSN 2756-1224.
  9. ^ a b c d Torwali, Zubair (21 February 2025). "What is 'Kohistani'?". The News International. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  10. ^ Dad, Aziz Ali (2016). Baldauf, Ingeborg; Conermann, Stephan; Kreutzmann, Hermann; Nadjmabadi, Shahnaz; Reetz, Dietrich; Schetter, Conrad; Sökefeld, Martin; Bech Hansen, Claus Erik; Hornidge, Anna-Katharina; Mielke, Katja; Nokkala, Nelli (eds.). "Boundaries and Identities: The Case of Gilgit-Baltistan" (PDF). Crossroads Asia Working Papers Series (34). Department of Political and Cultural Change, University of Bonn. ISSN 2192-6034. OCLC 1186074593.
  11. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  12. ^ Torwali, Mujahid (2025). An Ethnolinguistic Analysis and a Sketch Grammar of Torwali Language: An Approach to Support Mother Tongue Education in Swat Valley, Pakistan (Thesis). The University of Sydney. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
  13. ^ Sagar, Muhammad Zaman; Malone, Susan (2025). "Establishing Multilingual Education Programs in Non-Dominant Language Communities". In Premsrirat, Suwilai; Hirsh, David (eds.). Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. p. 2033. ISBN 978-1-80041-974-2.
  14. ^ Bacha, Umar (13 June 2016). "Waterfalls add to beauty of Shangla, Kohistan tourist sites". Dawn.
  15. ^ Jan, Zahid. "Badgoi Top Opens Early for Tourists: An Access Point Between Kumrat and Swat". Tribal News Network. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  16. ^ Torwali, Zubair (June 15, 2014). "Beautiful but marginalised — Swat-Kohistan". The Express Tribune. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  17. ^ "Upper Dir Kohistan Trip". The Silent Traveler. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
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