Upper Dir District

Infobox Pakistan district
district = Upper Dir District
area =
population =
pop_year =
density =
caption =Location of Dir District (highlighted in yellow) within the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
region = North-West Frontier Province
established =
nazim =
naib_nazim =
seats =
tehsils =
languages =
website =

---

Upper Dir is one the 24 districts of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The district formed after it was split from Dir, an area in North West Frontier Province. This resulted in creation of Upper Dir and Lower Dir. Although Dir has been split administratively, both districts have retained their historical name.

Location

Upper Dir district is 5,280 square kilometres in area and formed part of the former Malakand Division, lying along the Afghanistan border between Chitral and Peshawar.

Almost all of the district lies in the valley of the Panjkora river which rises high in the Hindu Kush at Lat. 35.45 and joins the Swat River near Chakdara, where the district is usually entered, at Lat. 34.40. Apart from the tehsils of Adenzai round Chakdara and Munda in the south-west, Dir is rugged and mountainous with peaks rising to 16,000 feet in the north-east and to 10,000 ft, along the watersheds with Swat to the east and Afghanistan to the west.

It is connected with the Kohistan District via the Badawi Pass.

People

The majority of the population in this area are Yousafzai Pashtuns speaking Pashto.

Administration

The district is administratively subdivided into six tehsils which contain a total of 31 Union Councils: [ [http://www.nrb.gov.pk/zila_membership/zila_membership_2001_nwfp.htm Zila, Tehsil & Town Councils Membership for NWFP - Government of Pakistan] ]

Upper Dir is represented in the provincial assembly by three elected MPAs who represent the following constituencies: [ [http://www.panwfp.gov.pk/index.php/members/bydistrict/en/9/66 Constituencies and MPAs - Website of the Provincial Assembly of the NWFP] ]

Towns

The only motor road to Chitral reaches 10,234 ft at the Lowarai Pass. However, the district headquarters, lies at only 2,700 ft, twice the altitude of Peshawar but much lower than the traditional and eponymous capital of Dir at the foot of the Lowarai. Except for them and a number of rapidly growing bazaar towns along the main roads, the population is rural, scattered in more than 1200 villages over the plains of Adenzai and Munda and the deep narrow valleys of the Panjkora and its tributaries.

Of these the largest are

* Barawal
* Karo
* Nihag
* Toormang
* Usherai

Division of Dir

Dir district was officially split into Upper Dir and Lower Dir in 1996. Until 2000 as funds were not available to provide the accommodation needed at Dir town by government depart­ments at a district headquarters, both districts continued to he administered by a single deputy Commissioner stationed at Timergara.

See also

* Dir town
* Dir (princely state)
* Lower Dir District

References

External links

* [http://www.maplandia.com/pakistan/n-w-f-p/dir/ Dir]