Dras

Dras
Town
Drass
View of Dras in Kargil district, Ladakh
Nickname:  The Gateway to Ladakh
Dras Location in Ladakh, India Show map of Ladakh Dras Dras (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 34°26′48″N 75°45′31″E / 34.446769°N 75.758629°E / 34.446769; 75.758629
Country	India
Union Territory	Ladakh
District	Dras
Tehsil	Dras[1]
Elevation [2]	3,300 m (10,800 ft)
Population
• Total	21,988 in 2,011
Languages
• Spoken	Ladakhi, Hindi, Purgi, Shina, Balti, Kashmiri
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	194102
Vehicle registration	LA-01
Website	kargil.gov.in

Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: Drās), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, and the headquarters of Drass district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the NH 1 between Zoji La pass and Kargil. A tourist hub for its high-altitude trekking routes and tourist sites, it is often called "The Gateway to Ladakh".^[3] The government's official spelling of the town's name is "Drass".^[4]

Traditionally, Dras is known as Hem-babs, which means "snow land"; the word "Hem" means snow. The average temperature of Dras in winter is -20 degrees Celsius.^[5]

Dras is often called "The Gateway to Ladakh". It is at a height of 10,800 feet (3,300 m)^[2] Dras lies in the centre of the valley of the same name (Dras valley). Dras is 140 km from Srinagar and 63 km from Sonmarg. Kargil town is 58 km from Dras on the national highway NH 1 from Srinagar to Leh.

In the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (1846–1947), Dras was part of the Kargil tehsil of the Ladakh wazarat.^[6]

During the invasion by Pakistan in 1947-48, the reinforced Gilgit Scouts, having gone over to Pakistan, attacked the Kargil area on 10 May 1948. The Indian army, by then in charge of defending Kashmir, sent reinforcements. However, they could not reach Dras in time and Dras fell to the Gilgitis on 6 June 1948. Kargil and Skardu also fell in short order.^[7] In November 1948, the Indian Army launched Operation Bison, supported by tanks, and retook Dras and Kargil. Skardu, however, remained under the control of Pakistan.^[8] The 1949 ceasefire line runs 12 km north of Dras through Point 5353.^[9]

The ceasefire line was renamed the Line of Control in the 1972 Simla Agreement, in which India and Pakistan agreed to respect the line without prejudice to their stated positions.

However, in the early months of 1999, Pakistani soldiers masquerading as mujahideen, infiltrated the area and took control of the peaks overlooking Dras and the highway, in particular Tololing, 4 km from Dras, and Tiger Hill, 8 km from Dras. They directed artillery fire at Dras and the highway, leading to the Kargil War. The Indian army cleared the Tololing and Tiger Hill peaks by July 1999.

Dras is the coldest place in India, experiencing an altitude-influenced Continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Dsb). Winters are cold with average lows around −20 °C (−4 °F), and as low as −23 °C at the height of winter, which lasts from mid-October to mid-May. Summers start in June and go on up till early September, with average temperatures near 23 °C (74 °F) and little precipitation. Annual precipitation is almost entirely concentrated from December to May when Dras gets around 550 millimetres (21.7 in) water equivalent of snowfall. There is a popular claim as well various signs/boards showing Dras being second coldest inhabited place in the world. However, there is no reliable weather data to substantiate the claim.

The major ethnic groups are the Shina people, who speak the Indo-Aryan language Shina, and the Purigpa people, whose language, similar to Balti, belongs to the Tibetic group. The local population is 64% male and 36% female. In total the population of Dras per the 2011 Census is 21988. Out of this, 14731 are males while 7257 are females. This block has 2767 kids in the age bracket of 0–6 years. Among them 1417 are boys and 1350 are girls. The population is almost 100% Muslim and Dras is also unique in whole Ladakh for being the only sub division where a non-Tibetan/Mongolian tribe forms majority as well as being the only subdivision where Sunni Muslims are the majority. The Shina people are almost entirely Sunni making up around 65-75% population while they Purigpai are mostly Shias forming 25-35% of the population.^[11]

Many inhabitants of Dras cultivate primary crops like barley. The locals also raise livestock like cattle and ponies.^[12]

Common foods in the diet of the people include potatoes, barley, lamb, mutton and drinks like tea.^[12]

Dras has been developed as a tourist destination since 1999, following the Kargil War, when visitors came to see the war zone.^[13] The Kargil War Memorial is 7 km from Dras.

• Cheema, Brig Amar (2015), The Crimson Chinar: The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico Military Perspective, Lancer Publishers, pp. 51–, ISBN 978-81-7062-301-4
• Karim, Maj Gen Afsir (2013), Kashmir The Troubled Frontiers, Lancer Publishers LLC, pp. 30–, ISBN 978-1-935501-76-3

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dras.

• Drass travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Dras
• Kargil area Archived 28 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine