I am a Balti, living in Dehradun since my birth. my forefathers came to Chakrata in the early 1700\'s working for British as masons. They were fantastic architects and masons. The family had contributed in building Shimla, Dalhousie, Mussoorie, Naitital, McLeod ganj, Pithauragarh etc. most of the cut stone and wood work buildings were built by my forefathers! When British left India, The Kingdom of Baltistan was part of Kashmeer and the Cho or Nawab was merely a representative of The then Maharaja Hari Singh.