KHYBER GOJAL HUNZA

than most of its Gojali neighbors. It is believed that the first settlers migrated about 300 years ago from Gulmit. The Mir of Hunza first ordered for a water channel to be built and then offered the fertile land to the people for development. The famous ‘ darwaza’, which lays south of the village, can be visited. The door itself is gone, but the old stone wall still stands, giving an indication of the old route leading through this area before the KKH was built. Khyber’s original name was Jakemal. The name Khyber stems probably from a comparison between the famous ‘undefeatable’ Khyber Fort from the tales of conqueror Hazarat Ali, and Jakemal’s location and the wall with darwaza. It is relatively obvious that a door ‘with a lock and key’ served to control who passes in and out. The opinions of who installed these doors (there used to be two) are divided. Most people believe that it was the Mir of Hunza who used the narrow, otherwise inaccessible gorge in which Khyber sits as an additional check-post for caravans coming from China. Another theory, however suggests, that another ruler, the Mir , who once ruled a small kingdom between Gulmit and Khyber, installed the doors. It is said, the Mir Quthlogh could hold his territory for a mere five years, before he was toppled by the Mir of Hunza. In the former time the significance of these doors were to protect the area from the far coming enemies. When the time the Kirgiz people were coming down to violate the rolls and regulation of the local settlements, for that purpose the Darwoza were using on the top high cleft to control and reduce these violation. Every evening the door was suppose to close by the local guard and every morning it was going to open for the Caravans and incoming and outgoing communities of the area. Now there are the only elegant story and sign of the doors left, but for the interest of tourist it has the interesting spot to visit.