The Chitrali or Khow people are an ethnic group of northwestern Pakistan. They are mostly found in the Chitral District

Chitral District

Chitral is a district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan that contains the town of Chitral. It has an area of 14,850 km² and a population of 318,689 at the 1998 Census, which had subsequently risen to about 378,000 people by 2004. It has one of the highest mountains of the world,...

 and speak Chitrali, also known as Khowar.

The main ethnic group, the Khow, speak Khowar

Khowar language

For the ethnic group, see under Chitrali people.Khowar , also known as Chitrali, is a Dardic language spoken by 400,000 people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan , and in parts of Upper Swat...

 (or Chitrali), one of the Dardic languages

Dardic languages

The Dardic languages are a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir...

, which is also spoken in parts of Yasin

Yasin Valley

The Yasin Valley, Tehsil Yasin or Babaye-i-Yasen or Worshigum is a high mountain valley in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the northwest region of Gilgit in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Yasin is separated from the Ishkoman Valley by a high mountain pass...

, Gilgit

Gilgit

Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...

, Ghizer and Swat

Swat (Pakistan)

Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...

.

Chitrali culture is one that pays heavy emphasis on poetry, song and dance. Chitrali people also have a great respect of law and order. This in contrast to the generally lawless traditions of almost all of the neighboring regions. Much of this can be attributed to Chitral being a stable kingdom for most of its history, where the rule of law and the will of the ruler came before tribal concepts such as revenge and isolationism.

With the exception of the Kalash

Kalash

Kalasha or Kalash may refer to:*Kalash people of Chitral, northern Pakistan**Kalasha **Kalash language, also known as Kalasha-mondr**Kalasha Desh, their valleys*Nuristani people of Nuristan, Afghanistan...

 all of the Chitrali people are Muslims, with the majority being Sunni and about thirty percent Ismaili

Ismaili

' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...

. Generally the people living in Southern Chitral and Chitral Town are very conservative because of the influences from Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, whereas the people of the North are more liberal.

Because of Chitral's location at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia the Chitrali people display a wide variety of phenotypes, largely depending upon their ancestral ethnic group and family history. The majority tend to have light skin with dark hair and eyes, but blue eyes and light hair are fairly common.

The traditional dress of the Khow people is the shuqa, a loose woolen robe similar to the Tibetan chuba

Chuba

A chuba is a long sheepskin coat made of thick Tibetan wool worn by many of the nomadic peoples of high altitude in the cold mountains of Tibet....

. Amongst the nobility Uzbek Silk chapan

Chapan

Chapan is a coat worn over clothes, usually during the cold winter months. Usually worn by men, these coats are adorned with intricate threading and come in a variety of colors and patterns. It is worn in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other...

 robes were formerly popular, but are now rarely worn. The khapol or pakol is a Chitrali invention which is now worn throughout Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan.

Links

• Chitrali Khow article at Hindu Kush Trails