Kargil town

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?Kargil Jammu and Kashmir • India
Kargil
Coordinates: 34°34′N 76°06′E / 34.57, 76.1
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 2,676 m (8,780 ft)
District(s)	Kargil
Population	9,944 (2001)

Coordinates: 34°34′N 76°06′E / 34.57, 76.1

Kargil is a town, which serves as the headquarters of Kargil District in Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is located 60km and 204km from Drass and Srinagar to the west respectively, 234km from Leh to the east, 240km from Padum to the southeast and 1047km to Delhi in the south.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Kargil is located at 34.57° N 76.1° E^[1]. It has an average elevation of 2676 metres (8780 feet), along the banks of Suru river.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^[2], Kargil had a population of 9944. Males constitute 61% of the population and females 39%. Kargil has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and female literacy is 58%. In Kargil, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

People in Kargil are of mixed Dard and Tibetan descent. The inhabitants of Kargil were adherents of Tibetan Buddhism until the 14th-15th centuries when Muslim missionaries began to proselytise to the local people. Today, 90% of Kargil's population are Shia Muslim, 5% Sunni and 5% Tibetan Buddhist. The architecture of older mosques in Kargil combines Tibetan and Iranian styles, while newer mosques architectural styles tend to follow those of modern Iranian and Arabic styles.