Gilgit Agency Gilgit Agency This article is part of the series : Historical regions of Pakistan Capital Gilgit Area 62 , 395 km² Main language ( s ) Urdu , Shina , Balti Established 1889 Abolished 1st July 1970 Historic regions of Pakistan Original Provinces Baluchistan East Bengal Federal Capital Territory North West Frontier Province Sind West Punjab One-Unit Provinces East Pakistan West Pakistan Former States Amb Bahawalpur Chitral Dir Hunza Kalat Khairpur Kharan Las Bela Makran Nagar Phulra Swat Other subdivisions Baluchistan States Union Gilgit Agency Trans-Karakoram Tract Divisions of Pakistan Northern Areas Official Website Gilgit Agency was the name of most of the area of northern Kashmir which formed a de facto dependency of Pakistan from 1947 to 1970 , which was then merged into Northern Areas . The Agency was administered directly from Islamabad separately from the neighbouring state of Azad Kashmir and the princely states of Hunza and Nagar . The area of the Agency comprised the traditional region of Gilgit and most of the region of Baltistan . The Agency also bordered the Sinkiang region of China to the northeast , the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the south , and the North-West Frontier Province to the west . The chief towns of the Agency were Gilgit and Skardu with the small town of Ghyari also holding significance for Shia Muslims as the site of a mosque built by Sayyid Ali Hamadani , a fourteenth century Persian who brought Islam to the region . History The regions of Gilgit and Baltistan were formerly principalities . The name Gilgit-Baltistan is also sometimes used to refer to the Northern Areas . The rulers of Gilgit ( also known as Dardistan ) were styled Raas ruling from the town of Gilgit . The rulers of Baltistan were styled with the Tibetan title of rGyal-po , having been founded as a western Tibetan kingdom in the thirteenth century . The state of Baltistan included the area of Kargil in modern Jammu and Kashmir . The two states , together with their neighbours Hunza and Nagar , became vassals of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the middle of the nineteenth century but maintained considerable autonomy . The two regions were combined as the Gilgit Agency by the British in 1889 . The local rulers continued to appear at the Kashmir Durbars until 1947 . The events of Partition and the subsequent invasion of the Kashmir by Pakistani tribals led to most of the Agency becoming part of Pakistan Administered Kashmir , but the Kargil area remained with India . The Agency was not absorbed into the province of West Pakistan in 1955 but continued to be ruled by Political Agents of the federal government . A small part of the Agency ( the Trans-Karakoram Tract ) was transferred by treaty in 1963 to China with the proviso that the settlement was subject to the final solution of the Kashmir dispute . The dissolution of the province of West Pakistan in 1970 was accompanied by the name of the Agency being changed to the Northern Areas . This was followed in 1974 by the incorporation of the states of Hunza and Nagar which had been de facto dependencies of Pakistan . The entire Northern Areas region is claimed by India as part of the Jammu & Kashmir state . See also Northern Areas Gilgit Baltistan Trans-Karakoram Tract Kashmir External links Northern Areas Official Website Northern Areas Census ( 1998 ) Northern Areas Administration Northern Areas Map Categories : Kashmir | Historical regions of Pakistan | Regions in Northern Areas ( Pakistan ) | Agencies of British India In other languages : Deutsch Gilgit Agency Flag of Pakistan.svg Gilgit Agency Map.gif Gilgit 62 , 395 Urdu , Shina , Balti 1889 1st July 1970 Northern Areas Official Website 