DIR, an independent state in the North-West Frontier Province of India, lying to the north-east of Swat. It commands the greater part of the route between Chitral and the Peshawar frontier. The trouble between the khan of Dir and Umra Khan of Jandol were factors that led up to the Chitral Campaign of 1895. During that expedition the khan made an agreement with the British Govern ment to keep the road to Chitral open in return for a subsidy. Including the Bashkars, an aboriginal tribe allied to the Torwals and Garhuis, who inhabit Panjkora Kohistan, the population is estimated at about 1 oo,000.