TANGIR is a small tribal valley in the Diamer district of Northern Areas. Nestled within the ranges of the Hindukush mountains, it offers enthralling beauty with spectacular terrace fields lining both sides of the river. Imposing wooden houses, towering mountains and enchanting side-valleys, Nullahs that contain lush green forests, pristine lakes with floating icebergs and summer pastures.
Tangir is divided into Jaglot and Gabbar areas, which are further, divided into villages each headed by Numberdar or Justero. The majority of the population is divided into four tribes, Shin, Yeshkun, Domes and pakhtuns. The former tribes speak Shina language while the later speak Domaki and Pashto respectively.
Shina is widely spoken in the valley. Apart from the main tribes, considerable number of other groups can be found in different villages that include, Kohistani, Syeds and Kammi, a term that is a well-presented in many Indo-Aryan languages. If we look at the hierarchical positions of the groups, the Shins are considered to be the most distinguished group. The Yeshkuns hold similar to that of the Shins and possess a considerable amount of land. The third group is Kamin who are farmers and mostly poorer than those belonging to two dominant tribes.
The Doms, who speak the Domaki language, hold fourth and lowest position acting as a caste of minstrels or musicians. Sometimes, they perform other less appreciated occupations such as ritual of circumcision. The Syeds are greatly venerated. The Pakhtuns also hold solid social position. Less estimated are the Kohistanis who are notorious for robbery and murder.
Each of the tribe forms endogamous units not too different from castes. The castes and similar units are segmented into lineages known under the name of a male ancestor who supposedly lived seven or eight generations ago. The number of the houses held by his descendants strongly affects the political importance of the group. Each village community has its own council. The members, men of the influence represent their lineage and council is called Jirga with Justero as its head to carry on the village administration.
The actual task of the Jirga is to settle the disputes and see that justice is administrated. After Jirga, the most important institution is of Zaitu that works with Jirga in tandem. He has control over the management of the village level resources. He is also responsible for controlling the harvesting of crops, plucking of fruits, free grazing, fuel wood, forest cutting, alpine pasture management, water management and the maintenance of channels. Zaitu is either paid in cash or kind. Each village has its own pastures and forests that are communally owned. Some of the groups have only use-rights, not ownership-rights that include, Kohistanis, Syeds and Pakhtuns. The royalty of the communal owned natural resources is distributed according to customary law that governs every day behaviour. It is first distributed into Haiti, a cluster of several household or villages and then again distributed into group of 20 people. Women are given half of the total share.
Tangiris subsist on both agriculture and livestock for their livelihood. Tangir is a single cropping valley and depends only on wheat that is a major crop. At the same time, livestock raising constitutes an important segment of the economy. People give too much time to raising livestock. The women cook delicious foods and are distributed in the whole village celebrating their safe return from the pastures.
TANGIR is a small tribal valley in the Diamer district of Northern Areas. Nestled within the ranges of the Hindukush mountains, it offers enthralling beauty with spectacular terrace fields lining both sides of the river. Imposing wooden houses, towering mountains and enchanting side-valleys, Nullahs that contain lush green forests, pristine lakes with floating icebergs and summer pastures.
