LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN
Administratively, Pakistan is divided into four provinces and two territories. Outside the provinces, there are federally administered tribal land areas. Each province has its own legislative assembly whose members are elected by direct popular vote. The provincial is governor appointed by the president, and the chief minister elected by the legislative assembly. [Source: Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., The Columbia University Press]
Each of the four provinces — Punjab, Sindh,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier Province, NWFP), and Balochistan — has a Chief Minister and provincial assembly. The Northern Areas (with Azad Kashmir) are administered by the federal government but enjoy considerable autonomy. The same was true with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) but that was made part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa relatively recently. The cabinet, National Security Council, and governors serve at the president's discretion. [Source: Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009, Gale]
Pakistan’s four provinces have deep historic roots and linguistic and cultural elements that distinguish and separate them. The provinces, in order of population size, are Punjab (with Lahore), Sindh (with Karachi), Northwest Frontier Province (with Peshawar), and Balochistan (with Quetta). Balochistanis the largest in area. Under the 1973 constitution, provinces have popularly elected provincial assemblies and a governor appointed by the president. The senior administrative officer of each province is the chief secretary. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”: “Each province is divided administratively into divisions headed by commissioners who, like the chief secretary and the secretaries of provincial ministries, are senior members of the Pakistan Civil Service (CSP). Divisions are further subdivided into districts headed (depending on local usage) by deputy commissioners, district officers, or collectors, also members of the CSP, who manage development funds, collect the revenues, supervise the police, adjudicate disputes, administer justice, and interface with the elected councils at the local level which have limited taxing authority, decide on priorities for local development programs, and try certain local legal cases.”
Administrative Divisions of Pakistan
Administrative divisions of Pakistan: four provinces: 1) Balochistan, 2)Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier Province, NWFP), 3) Punjab, 4. Sindh. There are also two Pakistan-administered areas (Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan) and one capital territory (Islamabad Capital Territory). Provinces are divided into commissar’s divisions and they in turn are divided into districts, which are divided into tehsils (townships). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Islamabad Capital Territory, which consists of the capital city of Islamabad, are under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was a former semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with neighboring province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. It consisted of seven tribal agencies (districts) ---- Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan — and six frontier regions.
The Northern Areas — Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan — are administered as a de facto “Union Territory” and are treated as an integral part of Pakistan. The Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region includes Azad Kashmir, a separate and autonomous government that maintains strong ties to Pakistan.
Pakistan has numerous federally administered areas. Provincial boundaries correspond with areas of numerically dominant linguistic groups, and provinces are divided into a total of 26 divisions that are further subdivided into 101 districts. Federally administered areas include the the western third of Jammu and Kashmir, although Kashmir’s status is contested by India. [Source: Library of Congress, February 2005 **]
Local-Level Politics and Administration
The federal Pakistani government has not been a big supporter of village-level democracy. In the 1960s, the government established a “Basic Democracies” policy in which a system of councils from the “circle” level up to the province held an election in each village of one “basic democrat” per 1,000 to 1,500 voters. The councils were controlled by landlords and bureaucrats and did not represent the villagers they were supposed to represent. The result has been a division of political and economic power between the rich and the poor/
The chief executive of a state is the governor who is appointed by the President. Provincial legislatures have never really been given a chance to develop because the country has been under military rule so much of the time. Musharraf tried to give more power to local district governments and set aside posts for women and minorities. Th system was introduced in elections in December 2000 that generally had a low turnout or were boycotted by through efforts by Muslim extremists.
According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”,“The Pakistan-controlled third of the original state of Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two areas. The southern portion, referred to as Azad Kashmir, is administered from Muzaffarabad by an appointed president and council of ministers. The larger portion to the north is known as the Northern Areas and is administered by a Commissioner and an elected council.
“The number of seats in the provincial assemblies was increased in October 2002, and seats were reserved for women and non-Muslims. In the provincial assembly elections held on 10 October, the MMA won a landslide victory in the Northwest Frontier Province. In Punjab, the Quaid-e-Azam faction of the PML took the most seats, with Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party coming in second. The PPP came in first in Sindh, and the MMA came in first in Baluchistan. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
Provincial Governments of Pakistan
Each province has a governor appointed by the president, and provinces also have an elected legislative assembly and a chief minister who is the leader of the legislative assembly’s majority party or coalition. The chief minister is assisted by a council of ministers chosen by the chief minister and formally approved by the governor. Federally administered areas also have their own legislative entities, which have had less autonomy from the federal government than provincial legislatures. However, tribal areas in the west have traditional legal systems that operate independently of the federal government. Various regimes have promoted local-level Basic Democracies so that communities can have input into federal policy, but these entities have suffered from inconsistent federal government support. [Source: Library of Congress, February 2005 **]
Although provinces and federally administered areas have their own political and administrative institutions, federal government agencies are heavily involved in the affairs of these areas. There are some matters over which both federal and provincial governments can make laws and establish departments for their execution. For example, provincial governments administer agricultural and social services, but the federal government legislates on these matters, and federal agencies also are involved in their administration. Moreover, the federal government has the power to dismiss provincial chief ministers and legislatures. After October 1999, when Musharraf came to power in bloodless coup, however, provinces had only governors, with no assemblies or chief ministers. The old system was restored.
Pakistan's four provinces enjoy considerable autonomy. Members of the provincial assemblies are elected by universal adult suffrage. Provincial assemblies also have reserved seats for minorities. Although there is a well-defined division of responsibilities between federal and provincial governments, there are some functions on which both can make laws and establish departments for their execution. Most of the services in areas such as health, education, agriculture, and roads, for example, are provided by the provincial governments. Although the federal government can also legislate in these areas, it only makes national policy and handles international aspects of those services. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
In 1998, 55.6 percent of the population lived in Punjab, 23.0 percent in Sindh, 13.4 percent in the NWFP, 5 percent in Baluchistan, 2.4 percent in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and 0.6 percent in the northern areas and the federal capital of Islamabad. According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”: The provinces are, by and large, based on the 5 major ethnic groups prevalent in Pakistan. Punjabis live mainly in the fertile and most populous region, Punjab, in the center and east of the country. Sindhis live in the south; the Pashtuns share a common ethnic heritage with most Afghanis and live in the west. Baluchis live in the mountainous areas in the southwestern part of the country. Finally, the immigrants from India at the time of the partition and their descendants are called Muhajir (Muhajireen), after the Arabic term for immigrant.” The later don’t have a region of their but have traditionally been very powerful in Karachi. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
Local Government System Initiated by Musharraf
Local level reforms were enacted under Pervez Musharraf, who led Pakistan from 1999 to 2008. Some of these reforms were probably scrapped after he left office. The Local Government Ordinance, 2001 reoriented administrative system to ostensibly allow public participation in decision-making. It was was said the essence of this system was to make the local governments more accountable to citizens but it also aimed to weaken political parties that threatened the Musharraf regime. [Source: National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan |=|]
Aamer Taj and Keith Baker wrote: The military government of Pervez Musharraf reorganized the Pakistani state and devolved power to local government. As part of this reorganization, three hierarchical tiers of local government were created — Districts, Tehsil (or towns), and Union Councils (UC) with the intention of weakening of provincial governments and regional political parties. The responsibilities of each layer of government did not follow a clear hierarchy and significant power was retained by the central government. The Musharraf era reforms were strikingly similar to previous reforms enacted by the military government of Ayub Khan in the 1960s and Zia-ul-Haque in 1979. Following the restoration of democracy in 2008, the task of designing and implementing local government reform was assigned to provinces through the 18th Constitutional amendment in 2010 (see Adeney, 2012). However, the structures created by the Musharraf government have remained at the heart of Pakistani local government. [Source: Aamer Taj, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar; Keith Baker College at Brockport, Brockport, NY,‘Multi-Level Governance and Local Government Reform in Pakistan’ Progress in Development Studies, 2018]
At the top tier, the District, there is a single integrated local government called District Government The district government consists of Zila Nazim and District Administration. The District Administration, which comprises district offices including sub-offices at tehsil level. The Provincial Government departments decentralized to the District Government, are responsible to the Zila Nazim. The new System effectively addresses the specific needs and problems of large cities. |=|]
The middle tier, the Tehsil, has Tehsil Municipal Administration headed by the Tehsil Nazim. The Tehsil Municipal Administration includes the offices and sub-offices of the Urban Local Councils established under the repealed Local Government Ordinance 1979, offices and sub-offices of Local Government & Rural Development, Public Health Engineering and Housing & Physical Planning Departments of Provincial Government. In a City District, a Town Municipal Administration is organized more or less on the same pattern as Tehsil Municipal Administration in a common District. At the lower tier, the Union Administration, which is a body corporate, covers the rural as well as urban areas across the whole district. It consists of Union Nazim, Naib Union Nazim and three Union Secretaries and other ancillary staff. |=|]
The coordination between the three tiers is ensured through the following arrangements: The Zila Council in a common district or in a city district, apart from reserved seats for women, peasants & workers and minorities, consists of Union Nazims of all the unions in the district or the city district. Similarly the Tehsil/Town Council, apart from reserved seats for women, peasants & workers and minorities, consists of Naib Union Nazims of all the unions in the tehsil in a common district or in the town in a city district. This provides vertical linkages between the three tiers of the local governments i.e. the Union, Tehsil, and District. Union Nazim and Naib Union Nazim are elected as joint candidates to the Union Council, which consists of thirteen elected members against general and reserved seats including the Union Nazim and Naib Union Nazim.
Impact of the Musharraf Local Government System
David Rohde wrote in the New York Times: Under the system created in 2001, “each of the country's 79,612 nazims, or "supervisors," receive several thousand dollars in government development funds for their tiny districts, which range from a few thousand to about 30,000 people. Pressured by nazims, government doctors and teachers are now more likely to be at their posts, according to initial studies. Drugs are also available more often in public health clinics. New blood is being drawn into Pakistani politics as well. Qaim Din Khan, the son of a timber salesman, is the first person in his family to enter politics. Asked if he would like to run for Parliament someday, Mr. Khan, the father of seven, grinned and replied, "Yes, why not?" [Source: David Rohde, New York Times, August 23, 2005]
“American officials and Pakistani moderates hope that a more efficient, effective and accountable government will weaken the appeal of militant Islam in Pakistan.... Islamist political parties, which won record support in 2002 national elections, argue that Western democracy has failed in the country. They say only an Islamic government can create the steady jobs, effective policing and quality schools that Pakistanis crave. "In Pakistan, the rich people are getting richer and richer," said Faridullah Karimi, a 24-year-old shopkeeper in Mr. Khan's district. "The poor people, they stay poor."
“The new system is part of a US$650 million Asian Development Bank program to improve local government, schools, the police and courts in Pakistan, the largest program of its kind in the developing world. Known as devolution, or decentralization, the changes are intended to shift power from the central government to local government. Similar efforts have proved successful in Uganda, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Pakistan, the changes include the creation of American-style community school boards and independently elected prosecutors. American officials have advocated similar measures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“International officials credit the country's American-backed military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf, with putting the nazim program into operation and call it a success. But they accuse General Musharraf and the Bush administration of taking a "yes-no" position on broader democratic measures. They say the United States quietly opposes any step that could weaken General Musharraf's ability to crack down on militancy by force. "If it happens to destabilize Pakistan, forget it," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation. "That's the message of the neo-cons: 'It's security, not development, stupid."'
Musharraf’s Local Government System Versus Traditional Patronage
David Rohde wrote in the New York Times: “Across Pakistan, the newly elected nazims replaced a system dating from the British colonial-era, in which bureaucrats controlled by a provincial chief minister, the equivalent of an American governor, ran local governments. [Source: David Rohde, New York Times, August 23, 2005]
“The broad goal of the new system is to engage more Pakistanis in local government. It is also to persuade them to vote for politicians who perform well. For decades in large parts of Pakistan, elections have not been so much referendums on a politician's individual performance as tests of whether they can sufficiently reward the clans, ethnic groups and wealthy families in their political alliance.
“Mr. Khan himself said large numbers of Pakistani voters, particularly in impoverished rural areas, still voted for the candidate backed by their employer or landlord, or the head of their clan, tribe or ethnic group. In some rural areas, nazims are running unopposed, a sign that local landlords still control the process.
“Members of the military, which has ruled Pakistan for much of its history, have cited that pattern as grounds for questioning the legitimacy of any Pakistani election. In private, they say that true democracy cannot exist in a country where 50 percent of the population is illiterate. General Musharraf and his supporters accuse the politicians of looting the country and bringing it near ruin when they ran it in the 1990's. Haji Mohammad Nawaz, a 55-year-old driver of an motorized rickshaw, said the new system injected fresh life into Pakistani politics, but only on one level. "There is more participation at the local level," he said. "But the people sitting at the top, that's not democracy."
Need for Improvements in Local Government in Pakistan
David Rohde wrote in the New York Times: “Mr. Khan's tiny district in the Soldier's Colony neighborhood of this industrial city of more than one million in northern Pakistan illustrates the need for change in the country. Roughly 35,000 people live on 24 acres of land in the district, crammed into a buzzing urban warren of streets, shops and homes. The neighborhood's main thoroughfare, Bokara Road, is a two-lane kaleidoscope of bikes, donkey carts and motorcycles. Sewage runs into open gutters on the street. Garbage is piled on some street corners. Residents say getting clean drinking water is a major concern. In Pakistan, 60 percent of infant deaths are due to preventable water-borne disease like hepatitis, diarrhea and typhoid. Roughly 17 percent of the urban population and 47 percent of the rural population lack access to clean water. [Source: David Rohde, New York Times, August 23, 2005]
“Mr. Khan said that "health" and "sanitation" were two of the buzzwords he would use while campaigning. Across the street from his home, there is a reminder of another problem. A sparkling new private school with Mickey Mouse paintings on its exterior wall is drawing students away from the country's failing public school system in droves. Mr. Khan says he is trying to build a new elementary school for boys in the district. He also hopes to open a vocational center for women where they can learn sewing and embroidery.
“Conditions for women in Pakistan, 70 percent of whom are illiterate, remain dismal in poor and rural areas. Under the new system, one third of the nazim seats are reserved for women or the poor, but many men still reject a role for women in politics. Qari Abdul Bari, a 42-year-old government clerk in Mr. Khan's district, dismissed nazims who were women, calling them "decoration pieces." Discrimination against women feeds another problem, population control, aid workers say. Pakistan has a higher population growth rate its neighbor, India. As a result, increased economic growth achieved by General Musharraf's government fails to meet a surging demand for jobs.
Politics Under the Musharraf Local Government System
David Rohde wrote in the New York Times: “Qaim Din Khan hopes a simple message will win him re-election on Thursday in Pakistan's most hotly contested elections in years. "We installed transformers," he said. "Got streets paved." Mr. Khan's candidacy, approach and ambitions are revolutionary in Pakistan. A burly, straight-talking, 42-year-old car parts salesman with a 10th-grade education, Mr. Khan is one of 218,000 budding Pakistani politicians running in nationwide elections for the coveted new post of "nazim," the rough equivalent of a mayor in the United States. Four years ago, the offices did not exist. Today, they are a bright spot in an otherwise failed Western effort to turn Pakistan into a stable and vibrant democracy. "It's close to democracy, if not true democracy," said Abdul Rashid, a 51-year-old businessman who praised the performance of Mr. Khan and other new nazims. "Our problems are being solved." [Source: David Rohde, New York Times, August 23, 2005]
“Then, they face a choice. They can try to win re-election by using the money for the payoffs and patronage that have dominated Pakistani politics for decades. Or they can try to win by improving the government services their constituents rely on: roads, electrical systems, schools and health clinics.
“During his first term in office, Mr. Khan spent US$3,500 to pave 40 streets and install 10 new electrical transformers. "It's better," he said. "A person has to make his constituents happy by proposing development programs and actually working on them."
“Three men are challenging Mr. Khan in a neighborhood district that has a mere 8,000 voters. Bashir Khan, a rival candidate who is not related to the incumbent, vowed to produce even more services. "Our target is to pave all the streets, provide better sewerage and sanitation facilities and clean drinking water," he said in a telephone interview.
“ While residents of Mr. Khan's district complained about living conditions, they praised the new nazim system and Mr. Khan's accomplishments. In street interviews, residents knew Mr. Khan's name and gave detailed evaluations of his performance. Some complained that he was corrupt, but most reviews were positive.
“Ahmed Nabi, a young man selling papayas and bananas from a street cart, credited Mr. Khan with being innovative. "There was a problem with drinking water," he said, referring to a drought two years ago. "So he brought water tankers."
“Campaigning in his neighborhood, Mr. Khan, like any clever local politician, declined to discuss national politics. He identified himself as an independent.
“At dusk in his neighborhood, Mr. Khan set out about his task — winning re-election — and engaged in a local form of campaigning known as a "corner meeting." He and his family sat with supporters in his open-air "central election office," an empty lot on the neighborhood's main thoroughfare with a dozen plastic chairs and a white banner declaring his candidacy.
“Until midnight, Mr. Khan would sip tea and Pepsi with virtually anyone who cared to stop by. He would ask how people's families were faring, try to identify and solve neighborhood problems and do his best to build support. Up and down the street, his three rivals did the same. "This is true democracy," Mr. Khan explained. "People have easy access to their representatives."
Pashtun Governance
The Pashtuns (Pathans) are an ethnic group that primarily live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier Province, NWFP) in western and southern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan and whose homeland is in the valleys of Hindu Kush. Pashtuns have traditionally been more loyal to their ethnic group and tribe than either Afghanistan or Pakistan. As one 25-year-old Pashtun told the New Yorker, “I have been a Pashtun for 6,000 years, a Muslim for 1,300 years and a Pakistani for 25.” Many Pashtuns want their own nation forged from the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pashtuns have traditionally ruled the Afghanistan government. In Afghanistan, the state itself evolved from the tribal system, and has historically exerted only loose control except in the major cities. In Pakistan, the Pashtuns in areas outside government control pay no rents or taxes to the government. Political power is in the hands of landlords, known as Khans, and tribal leaders, who often exert great power on village councils and municipal boards and local governments. Ordinary people have little power.
The tribes serve as local government and provide social welfare, In the tribal agencies, people only have the right to elect candidates to the national parliament not local assemblies. Tribal leaders are opposed to local elections in part because it threatens their power. According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: A. S. Ahmed has identified two principles of social organization among the Pashtun, nang (honor) and qalang (taxes or rent). In areas where nang prevails traditional values are practiced, there is little social stratification, and there is no Central political authority. In qalang areas landownership, not lineage membership, gives status and social stratification is prevalent, along with political centralization in the hands of an aristocracy. In both contexts mullahs, Sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Mohammed), and occupation groups play their special roles in Pashtun society but stand outside Pashtun genealogy. [Source: Akbar S. Ahmed with Paul Titus “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1996 |~|]
Pashtuns and the Pakistani Government
The central government of Pakistan has generally only exerted only loose control over the Pashtun tribal areas except in the major cities. From the point of view of villagers, the government has generally had little interest in them other than extracting taxes and conscripts. Pashtun have traditionally been uncooperative and hostile to government representatives. Politically, conservative Islamic parties dominate. Pashtoonkhwa Mili Awami (Pashtoon National People’s Party) is group that support an independent “Pashtinstan”
The government has traditionally dealt with tribes in the frontier areas through their councils of elders. The government system for combating tribal crime dates back to the British era. Local officials called agents issue draconian punishments against entire tribes for crimes committed by their members. The agents are regarded as very corrupt.
Pervez Musharraf, the leader of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008, tried to introduce taxation. local elections, and the rule of law to he Tribal Area but was met with sharp resistance. The tribal leaders have members of their tribes in Karachi and Islamabad and can stir up trouble there if their interests are threatened,
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “In Pakistan several different systems prevail that are largely the legacy of British imperial administration. Although most Pashtuns live in Districts where Pakistan's civil and criminal laws prevail, some tribes, such as the Mohmand and Wazirs, are within Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while others, such as those in Malakand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province) or those in Zhob Agency in Balochistan, are within Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA). In FATA and PATA tribal and customary law holds sway. [Source: Akbar S. Ahmed with Paul Titus “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1996]
Baloch Government
The Baloch, also know the Balochi, Baluch or Baluchi, are an ethnic group that live primarily in Balochistan in the sandy plains, deserts and barren mountains of southeast Iran, southwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Baloch tribal structure concentrates power in the hands of local tribal leaders. The British played local rivals against each other in a policy of indirect rule, as they did with the Pashtun tribes to the north — and virtually throughout the subcontinent. In essence, the British offered local autonomy and subsidies to rulers in exchange for access to the border with Afghanistan. In the early 1990s, local leaders maintained this policy to a large extent, continuing to exploit the endemic anarchy, whether local, provincial, or national. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
Baloch society is stratified and has been characterized as "feudal militarism." The significant social tie is that between a leader, the hakim, and his retinue, consisting of pastoralists, agriculturists, lower-level leaders, and lower- level tenant farmers and descendants of former slaves (hizmatkar). Suprafamily groups formed through patrilineal descent are significant mostly for the elite hakim, whose concern for rivalry and politics is not shared by other groups. The basic exchange traditionally underlying this elaborate system was the hakim's offer of booty or property rights in return for support in battle. In more modern times, various favors are generally traded for votes, but the structure of the system — the participation of the lower-level leaders and the hizmatkar through patron-client ties — remains much the same. *
Chiefs in Bugti tribe are called “nawab-sardar”. The Bugti tribe is not very fond of the Pakistani government. During the Afghanistan War one tribesman said, "If were heard the Russians were going to invade Pakistan tomorrow, we would send them a cable saying please do not wait that long. Come today."*
The Mir and Burusho Governance
The Bursusho, also known as Hunzakuts, are dominant ethnic group of the Hunza valley in far northern Pakistan. The Hunza was ruled for 900 years by an autocratic monarch known as the mir. His power was regarded as absolute. He was assisted in his duties by a grand vizier. They were responsible fro meeting out justice and distributing goods. Villages were led by chiefs assisted by sergeant in arms. “Kalifas” appointed by the Mir presided over important events. Social control was maintained mainly through the impositions of fines and the threat of deportation and forced labor.
The Mir often consulted with elder members of the community about daily matters great and small. For many years, the Mir was the only one with a clock. In the old day he used rely on forced labor. When the Mir was in power he often ordered clan members to work his fields instead of their own. The Mir often stayed long periods of time at the Intercontinental hotel in Karachi which some of his subjects visited just so they could embarrass him by shouting insults.
In 1974 the Mir handed over control of the government to the Pakistan government. The present Mir, Ghazanfar Ali Khan II, retains his title and now holds an elected administrative position. By the 1990s, the Pakistani government had provided 80 percent of the household's in the valley with electricity and almost all of them have a clean water supply. At that time 90 percent of all children in the valley attended school and many attended college. The school system was initiated in 1934 by the Aga Khan.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (tourism.gov.pk), Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan (pakistan.gov.pk), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022