Muzaffarabad District

The total population of the district according to the 2017 Census its population stands at 650,370.[1]

The major language of the district is generally considered to be a variety of Pahari. Though occasionally referred to in the literature as Chibhali [2] or Poonchi,[3] it is locally known as Hindko.[4] Its speakers tend to identify more with the Hindko spoken to the west,[5] even though perceiving their speech to be only slightly different from the varieties of Bagh District and of the core Pahari areas further south in Murree.[6] The local dialect has a higher percentage of shared basic vocabulary with the central group of Pahari dialects (83–88%), than with the Hindko of nearby Mansehra and Abbottabad (73–79%).[7]

Another language spoken in the district is Gujari. The local dialect is closely related to the Gujari varieties spoken in Hazara (83–88% similarity in basic vocabulary) and the rest of Azad Kashmir (79–86%).[8] Kashmiri is spoken in the city of Muzaffarabad. It is distinct from, although still intelligible with, the Kashmiri of the Neelam Valley to the north.[9] Other languages spoken include Urdu, Shina and Balti.

The district of Muzaffarabad is administratively subdivided into three tehsils, which are sub-divided into 51 Union Councils[10]

• Muzaffarabad Tehsil
• Patehka (Nasirabad)
• Garhi Dupatta
• Tithwal Tehsil

According to Pakistan District Education Ranking 2017, a report released by Alif Ailaan, Muzaffarabad is ranked at number 6 nationally with an education score of 73.85.

However when it comes to infrastructure, Muzaffarabad ranks at 105, with school infrastructure score of 34.29. There is a serious lack of electricity, drinking water and boundary wall with scores of 11.7, 27.93 and 40.09 respectively. Infrastructure wise , the schools are not conducive to study as they lack some of the basic facilities which should be present in a school.

72% of the schools are primary and only 28% are above primary. Therefore, students graduating out of primary schools do not have sufficient post primary schools to attend. This leads to a steady decrease in enrollment over the classes, especially for girls. The issues on TaleemDo app for the area also relates to the complaint of unsatisfactory infrastructure and a lack of furniture in the buildings used for schooling.

• Abbasi, Muhammad Gulfraz (2010). "Is It a Language Worth Researching?". Language in India. 10 (7).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Akhtar, Raja Nasim; Rehman, Khawaja A. (2007). "The Languages of the Neelam Valley". Kashmir Journal of Language Research. 10 (1): 65–84. ISSN 1028-6640.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Grierson, George A. (1919). Linguistic Survey of India. Volume VIII , Part 1, Indo-Aryan family. North-western group. Specimens of Sindhī and Lahndā. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hallberg, Calinda E.; O'Leary, Clare F. (1992). "Dialect Variation and Multilingualism among Gujars of Pakistan". In O'Leary, Clare F.; Rensch, Calvin R.; Hallberg, Calinda E. (eds.). Hindko and Gujari. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 91–196. ISBN 969-8023-13-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Lothers, Michael; Lothers, Laura (2010). Pahari and Pothwari: a sociolinguistic survey (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. 2010-012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Information and Pictures of Muzaffarabad and Adjacent areas