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Upper Dir District (Pashto: پورتنۍ دیر ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع دیر بالا) is a district located in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city of Dir is its district headquarter. Geographically, it is located in the northern part of Pakistan. It borders with the Chitral district on the north, Afghanistan on the northwest, the Swat district on the east, and the Lower Dir district on the south. The District shares a 40 kilometer to 50 kilometer-grlong border with Afghanistan.

History

Kalkot Kumrat valley, Kakad,{Doag Dair}°Upper Dir

Dir was home to various popular civilizations. It has been the place where the Aryans, the Buddhists, and the Mughals survived. Dir was also a home to the Gandhara civilization. It was invaded by Alexander the Great.

In 1898, Muhammad Sharif Khan was declared the Nawab of Dir. He was succeeded by his son Nawab Aurang Zeb Khan in 1904, who ruled until his death in 1925. Subsequently, his son Shah Jehan Khan succeeded him; Shah ruled the state for almost 35 years.[citation needed] At the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Dir was still a princely state, separated from Pakistan. It was no later than 1969 when it was annexed with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.[4] Until 1996, Dir was a unit combined district. However, in 1996, the Dir District was divided into Upper and Lower Dir districts.

Demographics

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1972 251,045—    
1981 362,565+4.17%
1998 575,858+2.76%
2017 947,401+2.65%
2023 1,083,566+2.26%
Sources:[5]

As of the 2023 census, Upper Dir district has 149,536 households and a population of 1,083,566. The district has a sex ratio of 98.36 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 46.77%: 62.76% for males and 31.67% for females. 392,214 (36.24% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 47,842 (4.42%) live in urban areas.[1]

Language

Languages of Upper Dir district (2023)[6]
  1. Pashto (91.0%)
  2. Kohistani (5.11%)
  3. Others (3.87%)

Pashto is the predominant language, spoken by 91.02% of the population. Kohistani languages are spoken by 5.11% of the population, and 3.87% of the population speak ‘Other’ languages.[6]

Religion

according to 2023 census of Pakistan, 2,415 (0.22%) of the people in the district are from religious minorities, mainly Christians.[7]

Administration

Upper Dir District has four Tehsils.[8]

Tehsil Area

(km2)[9]

Pop.

(2023)

Density

(ppl/km2)

(2023)

Literacy rate

(2023)[10]

Union Councils
Barawal Tehsil … … … …
Dir Tehsil 1,012 384,667 380.11 48.26%
Kalkot Tehsil … … … …
Sharingal Tehsil 1,140 210,356 184.52 37.15%

National Assembly

This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-5 (Upper Dir).[11]

Member of National Assembly Party affiliation Year
Molana Asad Ullah Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 2002
Najum-din Khan Pakistan Peoples Party 2008
Sahibzada Sebgat Ullah Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 2018
Jamil Haider PML-N 2013

Provincial Assembly

In the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there are three seats for the Upper Dir district. Its constituency is PK-11, PK-12 and PK-13.

Member of Provincial Assembly Party affiliation Constituency Year
Gul Ibrahim Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-11 Upper Dir -I 2024
Muhammad Yamin Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-12 Upper Dir -II 2024
Muhammad Anwar Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-13 Upper Dir -III 2024

Towns

Except for the town of Dir and a number of rapidly growing towns along the main road, the population is rural. The population of Dur is scattered across more than 1,200 villages in the deep narrow valleys of the Panjkora and its tributaries.

Of these, notable villages include:

Other popular places:[12]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ a b “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 1” (PDF). pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  2. ^ “Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023, KPK” (PDF).
  3. ^ 1998 District Census report of Upper Dir. Census publication. Vol. 104. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
  4. ^ “About Malakand Division”. The Commissioner Of Malakand, The Government Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  5. ^ “Population by administrative units 1951-1998” (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  6. ^ a b “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 11” (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  7. ^ “7th Population and Housing Census – Detailed Results: Table 9” (PDF). pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  8. ^ “District Dir Upper”. Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  9. ^ “Table 1: Area, Population by Sex, Sex Ratio, Population Density, Urban Population, Household Size and Annual Growth Rate, Census-2023, KPK” (PDF).
  10. ^ “Literacy Rate, Enrolment and out of School Population by Sex and Rural/urban, Census-2023, KPK” (PDF).
  11. ^ “Election Commission of Pakistan”. Election Commission of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  12. ^ “Pakistan: North West Frontier Province District, Tehsil and Union code Reference Map – Upper Dir”. Relief Web. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2024.

35°12′15″N 71°52′20″E / 35.20417°N 71.87222°E / 35.20417; 71.87222