Lowari Top is a pass that connects Chitral with Dir in Pakistan. Lowari Top is a relatively low pass, only 10,230 feet high, which makes it by far the lowest pass to enter Chitral, the rest all being 12,000 to 15,000 feet high. Chitral, or Chitrāl, is the name of a town (35° 53 N; 71° 48 E), valley, river, district, and former princely state in the Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... In computer software, dir has several meanings: Dir is a district of NWFP It is short for directory It is a command in the DOS operating system; see dir (DOS Command) It is also a command in the OpenVMS operating system; see directory (OpenVMS command) In SCUBA diving, DIR commonly...

Lowari Top is closed by snow from late November to late May every year. During this time, jeeps cannot cross so men must travel by foot. This is dangerous, as there are high mountains on each side of Lowari Top, and a deadly avalanche can come at any moment without warning. A Himalayan avalanche. ...

Every winter a few men are killed by avalanche while crossing Lowari Top. Their bodies are buried under the snow and it is only when the Summer comes and the snow melts that their bodies are found and their fate learned. A Himalayan avalanche. ...

Nevertheless, Lowari Top remains popular because it is the shortest route from Chitral to Peshawar. The other way would be down the Kunar River to Jalalabad through hostile Afghan Territory or the much longer route across Shandur Top to Gilgit. Chitral, or Chitrāl, is the name of a town (35° 53 N; 71° 48 E), valley, river, district, and former princely state in the Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Peshawar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Kunar province is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country and on the border with Pakistan. ... Jalalabad (Persian: Jalālābād) is the capital of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, 150 km east of Kabul near the Khyber Pass. ... Gilgit is a region in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, bordering the Chinese region of Xinjiang. ...

Lowari Top crosses the Hindu Raj Mountains, a spur of the higher Hindu Kush. On the Chitral side of Lowari Top are the people of Ashret, who speak the Phalura language and were assigned by the Mitar of Chitral to be the guardians of Lowari Top. The Hindu Kush or Hindukush (هندوکش in Persian) is a mountain range in Afghanistan as well as in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... Phalura, also known as Palola and as Ashretiwar, is spoken by 7,000 to 15,000 people in Ashret and Biori Valleys, in the Chitral District of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ...

On the Dir side reside Gujars, some of whom make their living as porters carrying loads across Lowari Top. Migrants in one of the several migratory waves that brought Indo-Europeans into South-Asia. ... This article discusses human bearers of burdens. ...

In 1954, the King of Chitral was killed when his airplane crashed into Lowari Top. Even today, PIA pilots often turn back because of winds and fear of crossing Lowari Top. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In Polynesian mythology (Maori), Pia is a land of ice where huge fish play in the ocean and it is usually night-time. ...

The word "Top" is interesting. It is believed not to be the English word "top" but to be a word from an ancient language no longer spoken there.

The Lowari Top is one of the four major mountain passes to enter Chitral. The others are the Dorah Pass from Badakshan in Afghanistan, Shandur Top from Gilgit, and Broghol from the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan. Chitral, or Chitrāl, is the name of a town (35° 53 N; 71° 48 E), valley, river, district, and former princely state in the Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Afghanistan and of Tajikistan. ... Gilgit is a region in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, bordering the Chinese region of Xinjiang. ... Broghol is a high mountain pass that crosses the Pamir and connects the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan with Chitral in Pakistan. ... The Wakhan Corridor (also spelt as Vakhan) is a narrow (in some places less than 10 mi. ...

There are constant proposals to dig a tunnel or a ditch through Lowari Top. An attempt was made to dig a tunnel under Lowari Top in 1980 but was abandoned after only a few hundred feet. The current President of Pakistan recently announced a new plan to build a Lowari Tunnel. The President of Pakistan is Pakistans Head of State. ...

Books

• "The Gilgit Game" by John Keay (1985) ISBN 0195774663

• The Kafirs of the Hindukush (1896) Sir George Scott Robertson.

• Khowar English Dictionary (by Mohammad Ismail Sloan, 1981) (published in Pakistan)

Samuel H. Sloan (b. ...

External Links

• Crossing Lowari Top

• President General Pervez Musharraf said on Friday work on the Lowari Tunnel would start in October