Skardu (, Balti: སྐར་མདོ, ) is a city located in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. DThe application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicised usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories."; (b) (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; (c) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; (d) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute betw een India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." (e) Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognised in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; (f) (subscription required) Quote: "... China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962."; (g) Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. AJK has six districts: Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Bagh, Kodi, Rawalakot, and Poonch. Its capital is the town of Muzaffarabad. AJK has its own institutions, but its political life is heavily controlled by Pakistani authorities, especially the military), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." (h) Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised “Line of Control” still separating Pakistani-held Azad (“Free”) Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; (i) Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'." Skardu serves as the capital of Skardu District and the Baltistan Division. It is situated at an average elevation of nearly above sea level in the Skardu Valley, at the confluence of the Indus and Shigar rivers.
Skardu is an important gateway to the eight-thousanders of the nearby Karakoram mountain range. The Indus River running through the region separates the Karakoram from the Ladakh Range.
Etymology The name "Skardu" is believed to be derived from the Balti word meaning "a lowland between two high places." The two referenced "high places" are Shigar city and the high-altitude Satpara Lake.
The earliest mention of Skardu dates to the first half of the 16th century. Mirza Haidar (1499–1551) described Askardu in his Tarikh-i-Rashidi as a district of Baltistan. The first reference to Skardu in European literature was made by Frenchman François Bernier (1625–1688), who mentioned the city by the name of Eskerdou. Afterwards, Skardu was quickly included into Asian maps produced in Europe, and was first mentioned as Eskerdow in the map Indiae orientalis nec non insularum adiacentium nova descriptio, published by the Dutch engraver Nicolaes Visscher II between 1680 and 1700.
Location
The Skardu Valley is located approximately 180 kilometers off the main Karakoram Highway, linked to it via the Baltistan Highway. At the confluence of the Indus and Shigar Rivers, the valley is wide and long. Active erosion in the nearby Karakoram Mountains has resulted in enormous deposits of sediment throughout the Skardu Valley. Glaciers from the Indus and Shigar valleys broadened the Skardu Valley between 3.2 million years ago up to the Holocene approximately 11,700 years ago as scientists estimate.
History
Early history
The Skardu Valley has been a part of the cultural sphere of Buddhist Tibet since as early as the founding of the Tibetan Empire under Songtsen Gampo in the mid– 7th century CE evidence of past prevalence of tantric Buddhism, in the form of Tibetan inscriptions is found across Baltistan. Given the region's close proximity, Skardu has remained in contact with tribes near Kashgar, in what is now the westernmost Xinjiang province of China.
Medieval history Following the dissolution of Tibetan suzerainty over Baltistan around the 9th–10th century CE, the region came under the control of the Maqpon dynasty; the Maqpon dynasty based in Skardu ruled over Baltistan for around 700 years.
Around the year 1500, Maqpon Bokha was crowned ruler and founded the city of Skardu as his capital. Skardu Fort was established around this time. During his reign, Maqpon Bokha imported craftsmen to Skardu from Kashmir and Chilas to help develop the local economy. While nearby Gilgit fell out of the orbit of Tibetan influence, Baltistan remained connected due to its close proximity to Ladakh, the region against which Skardu and neighbouring Khaplu routinely fought.
In the 14th century, Muslim scholars from Central Asia and Iran crossed Baltistan's mountains to spread Islam. According to Balti traditions, both Hamdani and Nurbakhsh visited the region. The Noorbakhshia Sufi order further propagated the faith in Baltistan, notably due to the missionary efforts of Mir Shams-ud-Din Araqi, and Islam became dominant by the end of the 17th century. With the passage of time, a majority also converted to Shi'a Islam, while a few converted to Sunni Islam. Sikhs traditionally believe that Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, visited Skardu during his second udasi journey between 1510 and 1515.
In the early 16th century, Sultan Said Khan of the Timurid Yarkent Khanate in what is now Xinjiang province of China, raided Baltistan. Given the threat posed by Sultan Said's invasion, Mughal attention was roused, prompting the 1586 conquest of Baltistan by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. The local Maqpon ruler pledged allegiance to him, and from that point onwards, beginning with Ali Sher Khan Anchan, the kings of Skardu were mentioned as rulers of Little Tibet in the historiography of the Mughal Empire.
Ali Sher Khan Anchan became the Maqpon king in 1580. He expanded the borders of the kingdom from Gilgit to Ladakh. When the Raja of Ladakh, Jamyang Namgyal, attacked the Muslim principalities in the district of Purik (Kargil), annihilating the Skardu garrison at Kharbu and putting to sword a number of petty Muslim rulers there, Anchan left with a strong army by way of Marol and, bypassing the Ladakhi army, occupied Leh, the capital of Ladakh. It appears that the Balti conquest of Ladakh took place in about 1594. The Raja of Ladakh was ultimately taken prisoner. Then Ali Sher Khan Anchan went to march on Gilgit with an army, and conquered Astore, Gilgit, Hunza, and Chilas. Mughal forces again intruded into the region during the reign of Shah Jahan in 1634–6 under the forces of Zafar Khan, to settle a dispute over the throne between the successors of Anchan, Adam Khan and his elder brother Abdul Khan. It was only after this point, during the rule of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, that Skardu's ruling family was firmly under Mughal influence. The ability of the Mughal crown to fund expeditions to territories of marginal value, such as Baltistan, was an evidence of the wealth in the Mughal coffers.
Modern history In 1839, Dogra commander Zorawar Singh defeated Balti forces in battles at Wanko Pass and the Thano Kun plains, clearing his path for the invasion of the Skardu Valley. He seized Skardu Fort on behalf of the Dogra dynasty based in Jammu, under the suzerainty of the Sikh Empire at that time. Singh's forces massacred a large number of the garrison's defenders, and publicly tortured Kahlon Rahim Khan of Chigtan in front of a crowd of local Baltis and their chiefs.
Dogra forces failed in their 1841 attempt to conquer Tibet. Following their defeat, Ladakhis rebelled against Dogra rule. Baltis under the leadership of Raja Ahmed Shah soon rebelled against the Dogras as well, so maharaja Gulab Singh dispatched his commander Wazir Lakhpat to recapture Skardu. His forces were able to convince a guard to betray the garrison by leaving a gate unlocked, thereby allowing Dogra forces to recapture the fort and massacre its Balti defenders. The raja of the Baltis was forced to pay an annual tribute to the Dogra maharaja in Jammu, and also to supply the fort's provisions.
Following the Dogra victory, Muhammad Shah was crowned Raja of Skardu in return for his loyalty to the Jammu crown during the rebellion, and was able to exercise some power under the Dogra administration. By 1845, the region was completely subjugated by the Dogra rulers of Jammu. Military commanders held real governing power in the area even after the creation of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846, until 1851, when Kedaru Thanedar was installed as a civilian administrator of Baltistan. During this time, Skardu and Kargil were governed as a single district. Ladakh would later be joined to the district, while Skardu would serve as the winter capital of Ladakh Wazarat, with Leh as the summer capital, up until 1947.
Under the administration of Mehta Mangal between 1875 and 1885, Skardu's Ranbirgarh fort was built as his headquarters and residence, as well as a cantonment and various other government buildings. Sikhs from Punjab were also encouraged by Dogra dynasty to migrate to Skardu and to set up commercial enterprises during this period. The Sikh population prospered, and continued to grow, eventually also settling in nearby Shigar and Khaplu.
1947–48 Indo-Pakistan War
After the Partition of British India, on 22 October 1947, Pakistan launched a tribal invasion of princely state of Jammu and Kashmir after Poonch rebellion and Jammu Muslim massacres, leading to maharaja Hari Singh acceding to India on 26 October. The Gilgit Scouts, under the leadership of Major William Brown and Babar Khan, mutinied on 1 November 1947, bringing the Gilgit Agency under the control of Pakistan.