IZinePro: added references

2026-03-20T17:57:38Z

added references

>GoingBatty: General fixes and manual cleanup, removed stub tag

2021-06-26T00:38:26Z

General fixes and manual cleanup, removed stub tag

New page

{{Short description|Historic region of Pakistan}}
[[Image:Balawaristan.jpg|thumb|A map of Balawaristan, and its three regions]]'''Balawaristan''' (Urdu: بلاورستان), meaning the 'country of heights', is a name used by the [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] people to refer to their region. The term was coined by the Pakistani political party [[Balawaristan National Front]], founded by [[Nawaz Khan Naji]], in 1989. But it has its roots in the historical names ''Bolor'' or '''Boloristan''', with documented usage in [[China|Chinese]] sources from the 8th century AD.<ref name="anthropos">{{Citation| title=Anthropos, v.79 no.1-6| authors=Osterreichishe Leo-Gesellschaft, Görres-Gesellschaft, Anthropos Institute, Görres-Gesellschaft zur Pflege der Wissenschaften im Katholischen Deutschland, Bonn, Leo-Gesellschaft, Vienna| year=1984| access-date = 2009-01-24| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lil_AAAAMAAJ| quote=A more indigenous label for the same territory is Bolor (or Boloristan); this designation had appeared in Chinese sources already in the 8th century.}}</ref> According to the present day activists, 'Balawaristan' includes [[Chitral District|Chitral]], [[Gilgit District|Gilgit]], [[Skardu]], [[Hunza (princely state)|Hunza]], [[Nagar (princely state)|Nagar]], [[Ishkoman]], [[Punial]] and [[Yasin Valley|Yasin]] (see [[Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan]]). The leader of BNF Nawaz Khan Naji declared that Balawaristan (Gilgit-Baltistan) is not a part of Kashmir region.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Contested status {{!}} Political Economy {{!}} thenews.com.pk|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/567226-contested-status|access-date=2021-04-30|website=www.thenews.com.pk|language=en}}</ref>

==Etymology==
Balors means "highlanders", it is believed to have come from "''Bala''" meaning high or upper. Thus it means land of highlanders.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Minahan|first1=James B.|title=Ethnic groups of South Asia and the Pacific : an encyclopedia|date=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-59884-659-1|page=19}}</ref>

Historically, the Baltistan region was called "Great Bolor" and Dardistan and parts of Brooshal (e.g. Gilgit Valley) were called "Little Bolor."<ref name="qaidiazamuniversity">{{Citation|title=Journal of Central Asia, v.2 no.1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HpxAAAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Centre for the Study of the Civilizations of Central Asia, Quaid-i-Azam University|quote=The eastern half, Great Bolor, could afford to send several embassies to the Chinese court during the first half of the 8th century|access-date=2009-01-29|authors=Centre for the Study of the Civilizations of Central Asia (Pakistan)}}</ref>
Great Boloristan is known to have sent ambassadors to the Chinese court in the 8th century.<ref name="qaidiazamuniversity" /> The Mons, an Indo-Aryan group, made the region as a hub of Buddhism.<ref name="StobdanChandran2008">{{citation|last1=Stobdan|first1=P.|last2=Chandran|first2=D. Suba|title=The Last Colony: Muzaffarabad-Gilgit-Baltistan|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_last_colony/IngMAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Baloristan+buddhist&dq=Baloristan+buddhist&printsec=frontcover|year=2008|publisher=India Research Press with Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu}}</ref>

Chinese historian [[Faxian]] mentioned it as ''Pololo'' or ''Palolo'', Tibetans called it Nang-khod, where Arab historians mentioned it as ''Baloristan'', moreover Theodre Foster in his The London Quarterly Review has stated that to Muslim geographers the name of the region was not known, use of the name in very rare cases is found.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Foster|first1=Theodore|title=The London Quarterly Review|publisher=Leonard Scott.|ref=Volumi 119-120|language=en|date=1866}}</ref> [[Phunchok Stobdan]] says Mughal historian called it Tibet-i-Khurd.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tikoo|first1=Tej K|title=Kashmir: Its Aborigines and Its Exodus|publisher=Lancer LLC}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}
The people of this region though belonging to various ethnicities, have historically been referred to as Balors, which means the highlanders or [[mountain people]], a reference to the high-altitudes prevalent in this area. An alternative theory links the name to a mythic ancient king called Bolor Shah, who had first united the region and from whom local rulers in turn often claimed descent.<ref name="amanullahkhan">{{Citation| title=Gilgit Baltistan, a Disputed Territory Or a Fossil of Intrigues?| first=Amanullah| last=Khan| year=1999| access-date = 2009-01-24| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UBuAAAAMAAJ| quote=... Princes of Gilgit-Baltistan assumed to be descendants of Bolor Shah ...}}</ref><ref name="btfdailytimes">{{Citation| title=Seminar demands independent Bolor state| newspaper=Daily Times| date = 2005-03-03| access-date = 2009-01-24| url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_3-1-2005_pg7_27| quote=Speakers from the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) demanded an independent Bolor state at a seminar ‘Great Bolor State and Kashmir Issue’ at the Rawalpindi Press Club on Sunday.}}</ref>

==Political status movements==
{{Main|Balawaristan National Front}}
In more recent times, the name Balawaristan is found used by Gilgiti political party like [[Balawaristan National Front]] led by Nawaz Khan Naji. The party is seeking to declare [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] a province of [[Pakistan]]. It also wants to give the people of Gilgit Baltistan representation in the Pakistani National Assembly and Senate, and to extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to the region.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ali |first=Manzoor |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/159772/gilgit-baltistan-shocker-nationalist-candidate-wins-ghizer-by-poll/ |title=Gilgit-Baltistan shocker: Nationalist candidate wins Ghizer by-poll – The Express Tribune |publisher=Tribune.com.pk |access-date=2012-05-31|quote=Naji said that the federal government should declare Gilgit-Baltistan a province of Pakistan, give its people representation in the National Assembly and Senate, and extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to the region}}</ref> The party has been represented in the [[Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly]] by a single member, the aforementioned Nawaz Khan Naji, since 2011.<ref name="2009-2">{{cite web|date=29 April 2011|title=Nawaz Khan Naji wins G-B by-elections|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/159111/nawaz-khan-naji-wins-g-b-by-elections|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322172815/http://tribune.com.pk/story/159111/nawaz-khan-naji-wins-g-b-by-elections/|archive-date=22 March 2016|access-date=18 November 2020|website=Nawaz Khan Naji wins G-B by-elections | The Express Tribune|publisher=The Express Tribune|quote="Nawaz Khan Naji from the Balawarastan National Front won the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly by-elections in the L-A 19 constituency of Ghazar on Friday."}}</ref><ref name="2009-3">{{cite web|date=2009–2015|title=GBLA ELECTIONS-2009|url=http://ecgb.gov.pk/download/contested%202009.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118232019/http://ecgb.gov.pk/download/contested%202009.pdf|archive-date=18 November 2020|access-date=18 November 2020|website=contested 2009.pdf|publisher=ELECTION COMMISSION GILGIT -BALTISTAN}}</ref><ref name="Oath">{{cite web|date=6 June 2011|title=Nawaz Khan Naji takes oath of GBLA membership|url=https://pamirtimes.net/2011/06/07/nawaz-khan-naji-takes-oath-of-gbla-membership/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922124710/https://pamirtimes.net/2011/06/07/nawaz-khan-naji-takes-oath-of-gbla-membership/|archive-date=22 September 2019|access-date=18 November 2020|website=Nawaz Khan Naji takes oath of GBLA membership - PAMIR TIMES|publisher=Pamir Times}}</ref>

Some Balawari groups, such as the [[Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement]], have limited their demands to total autonomy and a respect for their distinctiveness.

== Education ==
The Balawaristan National Students Organisation, in April 2008, raised a demand for Balawaristan to be constituted into the fifth province of Pakistan (the other four are [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]], [[Sindh]], [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]).<ref name="bnsodailydawn">{{Citation| title=Provincial status sought for Gilgit, Baltistan| newspaper=Daily Dawn| date = 2008-04-01| access-date = 2009-01-24| url=http://www.dawn.com/2008/05/01/nat12.htm| quote=Historically, geographically and politically, Gilgit-Baltistan deserves to be a province. The people of the region should have the right to send their representatives to the National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan, of which they have been deprived for the last 60 years, said speakers at a seminar organised by the Balawaristan National Students Organisation here.}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bolor-Tagh]]
* [[Baltistan]]
* [[Gilgit Agency]]
* [[Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement]]
* [[Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir]]
* [[Karakoram Province]]
* [[Nagar (princely state)|Nagar]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |first=Navnita Chadha |last=Behera |title=Demystifying Kashmir |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2007 |ISBN=8131708462 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qM6kW9ZRMRkC |ref={{sfnref|Behera, Demystifying Kashmir|2007}}}}
* {{citation |last=Sökefeld |first=Martin |chapter=Secularism and the Kashmir dispute |editor1=Nils Ole Bubandt |editor2=Martijn Van Beek |title=Varieties of Secularism in Asia: Anthropological Explorations of Religion, Politics and the Spiritual |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9tKoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-66864-7 |pages=101–120 |ref={{sfnref|Sökefeld, Secularism and the Kashmir dispute|2012}}}}

{{Regions and administrative territories of Kashmir}}
{{Ethnic nationalism}}
{{Stateless nationalism in Asia}}

{{coord|35|35|N|75|9|E|source:fawiki_type:adm1st_region:PK|display=title}}

[[Category:Disputed territories in Asia]]
[[Category:Politics of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Regions of Gilgit-Baltistan]]
[[Category:History of Gilgit Agency]]
[[Category:History of Gilgit-Baltistan]]

Balawaristan - Revision history

IZinePro: added references

>GoingBatty: General fixes and manual cleanup, removed stub tag