Kargil district

The n district of Kargil (: करगिल ; ) was one of the districts of Wazarat/Province before  the Partition of Ladakh in 1947. The other two districts of Ladakh Wazarat were Skardo and Leh Central Ladakh. Today, is one of the districts of  region in the Indian state of. Kargil lies on the facing  region of. is part of Kargil district along with Suru, Wakha and Dras valleys.

Geography
Kargil district is nestled in the, giving it a cool, climate. s are warm with cool nights, while s are long and cold with temperatures often dropping to −40 °C with recorded temperatures of −60°C in Drass, especially in the tiny town of Drass which is situated 56 km from the Kargil town. The Zanskar is even colder, thus making it a near-uninhabitable place for humans to stay, except for the hardy s. The entire Kargil district is spread over 14,086 km².

A national highway that includes the pass connecting  to, cuts through Kargil. This highway is open for traffic only from June to mid November every year due to heavy snowfall at the Zoji La. Kargil is located 120 miles (204 km) from the capital city of. There is a partially paved road ( the first 40 km or so) leading from Kargil south to which is a distance of nearly 220 km, which is only open from June to September each year. The region has recently been thrown open to tourists with steps being taken to promote the area as a tourist hub by the Indian Government. Recently both India and Pakistan have considered linking the Pakistan town of with Kargil via a bus route to facilitate free movement of Kashmiris in the area.

Demographics
With a population of 140,000 Kargil is the only majority district in. Of total population, 85% are Muslim, of which 73% follow Shia Islam. Most of the district's Muslims are found in, Drass, Wakha and the lower Suru valley. The remainder 14% are followers of and, mostly found in  with small populations in the upper Suru valley (Rangdum) and around Shergol and Mulbekh. Another 1% of the population follow and.

Much of Kargil population is inhabited by the and  people of  origin (converting from Buddhism to Islam in the 16th Century), some of them have intermingled with the Dard, Mon and other Aryan people. The mainly Muslim Dards inhabit the valley of Drass, although a small number of Buddhist, known as , inhabit the region near the  monastery. Of late, immigrants from and Hindus  have came to settle in Kargil.

History
The name Kargil is said to be derived from the words Khar and rKil. Khar means and rKil means center thus a place between castles as the place lay between many s. The competing theory is that Kargil has been derived from the words "Gar" and "Khil". Gar in local language mean ‘Any where’ and Khil means a central place where people could stay.

Kargil remained relatively obscure right until the when the issue of Kashmir became the focal point and resulted in the. There were pitched battles fought around Kargil which saw the entire area including Drass and Zoji La Pass initially coming under Pakistan control before most of it being reclaimed by Indian troops by November 1948. It remained with India after the ceasefire. It again saw some action in the with India managing to wrest back the reminder of the Kargil area twice. The first capture was on May 17,, when skirmishes broke out in , and India retaliated in the Kashmir sector. However, this had to be returned as per treatise. On, the same year Kargil fell to Indian forces, though it was once again returned as part of the. However in the the entire Kargil region including key posts was captured for good by Indian troops. In order to straighten out the line of control in the area, the Indian Army launched night attacks when the ground temperatures sank to below -17º and about 15 enemy posts located at height of 16,000 feet and more were captured. After forces lost the war and agreed to the, Kargil and other strategic areas nearby remained with India. Kargil became a separate district in the Ladakh region during the year 1979 when it was bifurcated from the Leh ditrict.

The area shot into the spotlight in spring of 1999, when under a covert plan hatched by the then, armed infiltrators from Pakistan, aided by the Pakistani army, occupied vacant high posts belonging to India in the Kargil and Drass regions. The result was a limited scale conflict between both nuclear equipped nations that ended with India regaining the Kargil region through military power and diplomatic pressure.