Shangla District

Shangla District (شنګله ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The district's headquarters are located at Alpuri, while the largest city and commercial center is Besham. The district was established in 1995, having previously been a subdivision of Swat District. The total area of the district is 1,586 square kilometers. Shangla comprises three subdivisions, Alpuri, Puran, Chakesar, Martung and Besham tehsils. Shangla is famous for its touring spot, Yakhtangay

Location
The district is bounded in the north by Kohistan District, in the east by Battagram District and Torghar District, in the west by Swat District, and in the south by Buner District.

Administrative Divisions

 * Alpuri
 * Bisham
 * Chakesar
 * Martung
 * Puran

History
Shangla was a sub-division of the Swat district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan until it was granted the status of a separate district in 1995. This was primarily due to the efforts of Haji Badi uz Zaman, a political leader and community figure who was assassinated in 1994, and his son, Afsar ul Mulk.

There are relics of the ancient Greek period at Pirsar, Chakesar and Daut. It is believed that Alexander the Great camped at Pirsar for a few days. There are also relics of the Hindu Shahi in Olandar-Ajmair.

A number of Buddha sculptures are also found in Shangla district which indicate that Shangla was also a part of the previous Buddhist civilization.

The district was hit by the 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake in which more than 18 people were killed.

Geography
Shangla district consists of small valleys and is situated between the hillocks and is surrounded by high mountains full of forests comprising Pindrow Fir, Morinda Spruce, Blue Pine (Kail), Chir Pine and Deodar Cedar trees. The average elevation of the district is 2000 to 3000 meters above sea level. The highest point (3,440 m) is near Kuz Ganrshal in the north of the district. The Shangla District is connected to the Swat District by the Shangla Pass.

Demographics
At the time of the 2017 census the district had 88,386 households and a population of 759,609. Shangla had a sex ratio of 967 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 33.13% - 51.67% for males and 14.50% for females. The entire population was rural. 35.81% of the population was under 10 years of age. 230 (0.03%) people in the district were from religious minorities.

Pashto was the predominant language, spoken by 96.76% of the population. 2.69% of the population spoke languages classified as 'Others', mainly Kohistani languages.

The main tribe of Shangla is Yusufzai, that contribute more than half of the district population, the dense and well populated area of Shangla is Alpuri tehsil (Gwarband) that contributes to more than 253000+ of the district population. Shangla is one of the unique districts of Pakistan that contains more than 80% of forest land. The youngest noble laurate Malala Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was born in Shangla, however, she herself was born in Mingora, Swat.

Education
In November 2022, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan, inaugurated University of Shangla. The university was earlier a campus of University of Swat.

National and provincial assembly
This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-31.

Since 2002: NA-11 (Shangla)
2024 Amir muqam pakistan muslim league N

Provincial Assembly

 * Abdul Munim || Independent ||PK-24 Shangla-II||2024|-
 * Dr Ibad Ullah || PMLN ||PK-30 Shangla-III||2024|-

Animal Diversity
Shangla is highly diverse in terms of animal fauna. Various studies have been carried out for documentation of Animal fauna in Shangla.

Birds A study was carried out by Ahmad et al (2023) and reported 38 birds species from Chakesar Valley.

Insect

In recent research article, new distribution record for Idricerus decrepitus from Chakesar Shangla. It was a provincial record for the said species.

Fish fauna