Kargil district

In 1822, Raja Gulab Singh of the Dogra dynasty was anointed Raja of Jammu by the Sikh emperor Ranjit Singh and in 1834 sent his general Zorawar Singh Kahluria to conquer the territory between Jammu and Tibet. Marching from Kishtwar, Zorawar Singh reached Purig and defeated the Bhotia leader Mangal at Sankoo in August. Kartse, the then capital of Purig, fell into Zorawar Singh's hands, and he built a fort there before advancing towards Leh. Tshed-Pal, the Gyalpo of Leh, was defeated and reinstalled as a subsidiary of the Dogras. Meanwhile, the chief of Sod rebelled and Zorawar Singh returned to reassert his authority. Zanskar subsequently offered submission.[5][6]

The Purigis rebelled repeatedly, instigated by Sikh governor Mihan Singh of Kashmir. They also received support from Ahmed Shah of Baltistan. Zorawar Singh returned in 1839 to quell the rebellion and conquered Baltistan as well.[7][8]

After the conquest, the region of the present Kargil district was organised ino three ilaqas,"[lower-alpha 3] based at Kargil, Dras and Zanskar respectively. They were headed by civil officers called Thanadars.[9] Later, Suru was made into a separate ilaqa.[10]

Following the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Treaty of Amritsar (1846), Gulab Singh was made an independent Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.[11] The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, as it eventually came to be called, was organised into two large provinces, Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh and Skardu were set up as districts of the Jammu province, called wazarats. The three Purig ilaqas were included in the Skardu wazarat.[12] Zanskar continued to be attached to Kishtwar.[13]

In 1901, a major reorganisation of the frontier districts took place. A new Kargil tehsil was created with the three Purig ilaqas (Drass, Kargil and Suru) and, in addition, the Zanskar ilaqa from the Kishtwar district and the Kharmang ilaqa from the erstwhile Skardu district. Kargil, Leh and Skardu now made up a Ladakh wazarat, which was one of the two wazarats of the Frontier districts province.[14][13] Initially, the administration of the wazarat used to spend four months each at Leh, Kargil and Skardu. But shifting the entire staff so often proved onerous, so the shifting was eventually limited to Leh and Skardu.

Survey of India map of the Kargil area with the 1949 line of control marked

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, pitched battles were fought around Kargil, and the entire area including Drass and Zoji La Pass initially coming under the control of Gilgit Scouts. By November 1948, the Indian troops reclaimed all of Kargil and Leh tehsils and portions of the Kharamang ilaqa bordering the Dras river.[15] They remained with India after the ceasefire, forming the Ladakh district of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 the entire Kargil region including key posts was captured by Indian troops under leadership of Col. Chewang Rinchen.[16]

To straighten the line of control in the area, the Indian Army launched night attacks when the ground temperatures sank to below −17 °C and about 15 enemy posts located at height of 16,000 feet and more were captured.[17] After Pakistan forces lost the war and agreed to the Shimla Agreement, Kargil and other strategic areas nearby remained with India.[18] Kargil became a separate district in the Ladakh region during the year 1979 when it was bifurcated from the Leh district.

In the spring of 1999, under a covert plan of then -Army Chief Pervez Musharraf, armed infiltrators from Pakistan, aided by the Pakistani army, occupied vacant high-altitude posts in the Kargil and Drass regions. The result was a limited-scale conflict (Kargil War) between the two nuclear-equipped nations, which ended with India regaining the Kargil region through military power and diplomatic pressure.

In August 2019 the Parliament of India passed an act that contained provisions to make Kargil a district of the new union territory of Ladakh, which was to be formed 31 October 2019.[19]

Kargil district had two assembly constituencies, Zanskar and Kargil under Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.[22] It forms part of the Ladakh parliamentary constituency. Major political parties in the region include National Conference, Congress, PDP, BJP, LUTF (now merged with the BJP) and the erstwhile Kargil Alliance. The present Member of Parliament (MP) for Ladakh is Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of BJP.

Ladakh, a union territory without a legislature, does not have a legislative assembly but is represented in the Parliament.[23]

Santosh Sukhadeve, (IAS) is the current District Development Commissioner Kargil.[24]

Kargil District is administered by an elected body known as the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil. The LAHDC-K was established in 2003.[25]

Of the total population, 77% are Muslims, of which 63% follow Shia Islam. Most of the district's Muslims are found in the north (Kargil town, Drass, and the lower Suru valley). Of the remainder, 17% of the total population practises Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, mostly found in Zanskar with small populations in the upper Suru valley (Rangdum) and around Shergol , Mulbekh and Garkhone. The remaining 8% of the population follows Hinduism and Sikhism, though as many as 95% of them are male.

Much of Kargil population is inhabited by the Purigpa and Balti people of Tibetan origin. They converted from Buddhism to Islam in the 14th century and intermingled with other Aryan people.[29] Muslims mainly inhabit the valley of Drass and speak Shina, a small number community, known as Brokpa, inhabit the Dha-Hanu region and Garkone village along the Indus River. Some Arghons and Shina have also settled in Kargil town.

Shina cultural performance in Kargil

The Purgi dialect of Balti is spoken by 65% while 10 percent speak Shina language in regions like Drass and Batalikis.[31] Urdu is also spoke and understood in kargil.[32]

Balti language has four variants/dialects and Purgi is the southern dialect of Balti language. Balti, is a branch of Archaic Western Tibetan language, is also spoken by the inhabitants of the four districts of (Baltistan) in Pakistan and Turtuk in the Nubra valley of the Leh district as well. The Buddhists of Zanskar speak Zanskari language of the Ladakhi-Balti language group.[33]

Kargil is home to many endangered wildlife species:

• Snow leopard (Panthera uncia)
• Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus langier)
• Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus)
• Asiatic ibex (Capra ibex)
• Ladakh urial (Ovis vignei vignei)
• musk deer (Moschus spp.)
• pikas
• marmots and hares.

Some of the reptiles found in Kargil district are

• Platyceps ladacensis (Ladakh cliff racer)[37]
• Phrynocephalus theobaldi (toad head agama)
• Altiphylax stoliczkai (Balti gecko)
• Paralaudakia himalayana (Himalayan agama)
• Asymblepharus ladacensis (Ladakh ground skink).

Aishwarya Maheshwari of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is quoted as saying, "It is here in Kargil that one of world's most elusive creatures, the snow leopard, roams wild and free. During my research I have learnt about the tremendous decline in wildlife sightings since the 1999 Kargil war, so much so that even the common resident birds had disappeared."[38][39][40]

Besides the endangered species, various birds are commonly seen in summer:

• Black-necked Eurasian magpie
• house sparrow
• hoopoe[41]
• rosefinches
• red-billed choughs
• eastern chiffchaff
• common sandpiper
• European goldfinches.[42]

• 
  The Eurasian magpie, a common sight in Kargil
• 
  A marmot, found in the wild in Ladakh
• 
  Ladakh toad head agama (Phrynocephalus theobaldi) at Kargil campus of the University of Ladakh
• 
  An adult Himalayan Agama (Paralaudakia himalayana) at Ringmospang, Kargil
• 
  An adult Ladakh cliff racer (Platyceps ladacensis), from Gongma Minji, Kargil
• 
  European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) at Ringmospang, Kargil

Kargil is connected to the rest of India by one high-altitude road which is subject to landslides and is impassable in winter due to deep snows. The National Highway 1D connects Kargil to Srinagar. The NH 301 connects Kargil with the remote Zanskar region. Upgradation of this road is going on to reduce the time travel between Kargil and Padum, tehsil headquarters of Zanskar region.[44]

• Nimmu–Padam–Darcha road

This is the third road axis to Leh through Zanskar in Kargil district. It is currently under construction.

Kargil Airport is a non-operational airport used only for defence purposes by the Indian Air Force. Kargil Airport has been included under Central Govt.'s UDAN scheme for commercial operations.[45][46] The nearest operational airport is Leh's Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport which is located 215 kilometres from Kargil.

There is no railway service currently in Ladakh, however, 2 railway routes are proposed- the Bhanupli–Leh line and Srinagar–Kargil–Leh line.[47]