Gurez
Guráai Gurais | |
|---|---|
Tehsil | |
 View of Habba Khatoon in Gurez | |
  Gurez Location in Jammu and Kashmir  Gurez Gurez (India) | |
| Coordinates: 34°38′00″N 74°50′00″E / 34.6333°N 74.8333°E | |
| Country | India |
| Union Territory | Jammu and Kashmir |
| District | Bandipora |
| Government | |
| • Vidhan Sabha Constituency | Gurez |
| • MLA | Nazir Ahmad Khan Gurezi[2] |
| • Sub-Divisional Magistrate | Dr. Mudasir Ahmad Wani, JKAS[3] |
| Elevation | 2,580 m (8,460 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 37,992[1] |
| Demographics | |
| • Literacy[1] | 59.17% |
| • Sex ratio[1] | 653 ♀/ 1000 ♂ |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi, Dogri, English[4][5] |
| • Spoken | Shina, Kashmiri |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 193503 |
| Vehicle registration | JK-15 |
| Website | bandipore |
Gurez, or Gurais[6] (Guráai in the local Shina language),[7] is a valley located in the high Himalayas, about 86 kilometres (53 mi) from Bandipore and 123 kilometres (76 mi) from Srinagar, to the north of the Kashmir valley. At about 2,400 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level, the valley is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The fauna include the Himalayan brown bear and the snow leopard. The Kishanganga River flows through the valley.[8]
The valley lies near the Line of Control, which separates it from the Astore and Neelum districts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It is very close to the Burzil Pass, which leads into Astore, and the inhabitants are ethnic Dards/Shins. They speak the Shina language and have the same styles of dress and culture as their kinsmen in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan.[9]
Dawar is the central township in the area. The population of the area is estimated to be about 30,000, and is scattered among fifteen villages.
Due to heavy snowfall (around 2 metres (7 ft)) and closure of Razdan Pass in winter, the valley remains cut off for six months of the year.[10]
Gurez is 143 km from Srinagar.
- ^ a b c "Bandipora district census" (PDF). Govt of India Census. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ Rashid, Hakeem Irfan. "Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolved". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ "SDM Office Gurez". Twitter.
- ^ "The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ "Parliament passes JK Official Languages Bill, 2020". Rising Kashmir. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ Spelt گُریز in Kashmiri and گورأى in Shina
- ^ Schmidt, Ruth Laila; Kaul, Vijay Kumar (2008). "A comparative analysis of Shina and Kashmiri vocabularies". Acta Orientalia. 69: 231–303. doi:10.5617/ao.7372. In this orthography áa represent a long a with a high falling pitch.
- ^ Benanav, Michael (17 September 2018). "A Journey to Kashmir's Gurez Valley". The New York Times.
- ^ "Gurez an introduction". 4 January 2008. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009.
- ^ Kumar, Sonali; Kumar, Prasenjeet (27 May 2017). The Outsider's Curse: A Memoir of the First "Outsider" Lady IAS Officer.