PAKLINKS BANNER EXCHANGE
Kohistan lies on both banks of the Indus flanked by Swat to the west, Gilgit Agency to the north and Hazara Division to the south and east. It is part of NWFP. It consists almost entirely of rugged mountains, many of them over 4,500 meters (15.000 ft.) high, with fertile and beautiful alpine valleys sandwiched between them, connected to the outside world by a few rough tracks. The picturesque, wild and, before the construction of Karakoram Highway, almost inaccessible region of Kohistan starts 90 miles from Abbottabad at Thakot. It is a small township close to which the traveler along the Karakoram Highway gets the first glimpse of the mighty Indus, which is known as Aba Sein to the Kohistanis
Close to Thakot the traveler changes from the left side of the river to its right over a sleek modern bridge. The Kohistan district of the Frontier province was created in 1976 after the merger of Swat in Pakistan in 1969. Today it is a wild highland comprising 14 high altitude valleys on both sides of the Indus Gorge beyond Thakot. From here the area runs along the riverbank. The new emerging townships are being sham, Jijal, Pattan, Dasu and Sazin all along the KKH. Dasu is its head quarters. The present situation of Kohistan places it sandwiched between Swat and Kaghan, which are the valleys of river Swat, and river Kunhar. On its northwest is Swat, northeast Gilgit and on the south and west the Hazara Division of the Frontier Province. According to the authorities much is not known about the ethnic origin of the Kohistani people.
The area was traditionally always part of Gilgit. Chitral and Swat and Islam came here during the 14th and 15th centuries. It was just before the Mughals came to the sub-continent. There are indications that at one time Buddhism and Hinduism were also practiced in the area along the caravan roads. Up in the valleys local cults formed people's faith.
Kohistan is also known as Yagistan - land of the rebels. It has always remained the sanctuary of fiercely independent people who persistently held back the foreign rule. Sporadic resistance continued during the British rule up to 1890. The last freedom fighter was hanged, by the British in 1934. To stop the forays by the Kohistanis into local areas, the ruler of Swat annexed all territory along the Right Bank of the Indus up to boundary of Gilgit Agency in 1935.
Kohistan is a sparsely populated area and according to 1972 census there were 268,000 Kohistanis. They speak a dialect, which is an admixture of Punjabi, Pushto, Hindko and Shina (Gilgiti), with roots in Sansakrit. As we go up, the Shina content increases. Pushto is however the second language in the tracts adjoining Swat and Mansehra districts. But since the opening of KKH Urdu is becoming popular. In the bazaars of Besham, Pattan and Dasu one can freely converse in Urdu with the shopkeepers. Lower Kohistan, as part of Swat and Mansehra district, is relatively more populated, mostly with Yousufzai Pathans and a sprinkling of Syed families and the Gujars who have apparently spilt over from the neighbouring Kaghan Valley.
In this isolated territory there is some hope yet. A medical dispensary and a primary school set up by the Wali of Swat but these are still too small to be of any significance.