16 AUGUST 1986, Page 17

Modern Yagistan

-Sir: Yag (Letters, 19 July) is Hindustani for 'rebel'. In the middle of the last century the populations of the Tangir and Darel valleys fought a bitter campaign against the Estab- lishment in Gilgit in the area of the Upper Indus. Their land was then known as Yagistan.

Would Paul Johnson (The press, 5 July) consider launching a campaign to rename Islington? I understand that the name Yagistan is no longer required in the Gilgit Agency, and it seems wholly appropriate for a borough which wages war against the heterosexual establishment.

L. Torday 1 Dene Grange,

23 Lindisfarne Road, Newcastle upon Tyne