Languages spoken in Northern Pakistan

Of the 14 languages are spoken in Northern Pakistan, at least half indigenous, the others being spoken   by the traders coming in from the surrounding districts. A further completion is the multiplicity of dialects that that tribal populations have evolved in isolated valleys. Balti spoken in Baltistan is archaic Tibetan, the Shina you hear in Gilgit is Dardic in origin, Brushaski in Yasin, central Hunza and Nagir is an original language unrelated to any other language, with different dialects spoken in Yasin and Nagar. In northern Hunza, there are Wakhi spoken people archaic Iranian dialects. South of Gilgit along the Indus, Kohistani, in kaghan the language Hindko to the west of Gilgit you hear Khowar, but the non Muslims of Kalash use their own kalashi and the Gujar. School children are taught in Urdu, and wandering through out Pakistan, Poshtu, Kashmiri and of course English.

 ® ECONOMY OF NORTH PAKISTAN

    Although, farming is the main occupation of the people of Northern Areas of Pakistan, about half of the household one or two men working outside of the agriculture. About 40 percent of these earn a regular wage from factories down the country in Pakistan or in the Gulf countries out of Pakistan, as a number of the army or government or in hotels. Another 35 percent earn day wages as porters or agriculture workers and about a third have a man working in the village as the craftsman, carpenter, builder, weaver, tailor or blacksmith etc.

  There are some small industries in North Pakistan, marble is quaried, antimony and such gems as rubies, emeralds and garnets are mined and Gilgit has factories jam, honey etc. Every village has shopkeepers and other merchants.

  Since the opening of the Karakurom Highway has grown between Gilgit and the rest of Pakistan and China. It is one of the main sources of the development of Northern Areas of Pakistan.