Hazara Division
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Hazara Division was one of the administrative subdivisions of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, forming part of the third tier of government, below the federal and provincial levels. Divisions were composed of districts which formed the fourth tier of government, but the local government reform of 2000 abolished the division as an administrative tier, making the district the new third tier of government.
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[edit] History
According to Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 13, p. 76: "The origin of the name Hazara is obscure. It has been identified with Abisara, the country of Abisares, the chief of the Indian mountaineers at the time of Alexander's invasion. Dr. Stein regards it as derived from Urasa, the ancient name of PAKHLI; but a possible derivation is from Hazara-i-Karlugh, or the Karlugh legion, which was settled in this tract by Timur after his invasion of India."
In spite of Imperial Gazetteer's above-quoted views, modern historians and distinguished Indologists including Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukerjee, Dr B. C. Law, Dr J. C. Vidyalankar, Dr M. Witzel, Dr M. R. Singh, prof K. N. Dhar etc concur with Dr Stein's identification of modern Hazara with ancient Sanskrit name Urasa [1].
Mahabharata evidence [2], combined with evidence from 7th c Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang [3] attests that Hazara District of Kashmir had formed part of epic Kamboja and that the Kamboja rulers of this region observed republican system of government [4].
The first quarter of the 18th century was miserable for the Turks because their rule came to an end due to the decay of their vitality and the increasing aggression of the Pukhtoons. The most crucial attack was that of the Swatis under the command of Syed Jalal Baba in 1703 A.D, who was a son-in-law of last Turk ruler,Sultan Mehmud Khurd.During the absence of his father-in-law Syed Jalal Baba invited Swatis to invade Pakhli Sarkar.Being an insider,he provided crucial informations to invading forces and succeeded to overthrow his in-laws through his shrewd conspiracy.Turks had already became weak due to their internal feuds as well. Swatis thus ousted the Turks from upper Hazara Mansehra/Batagram and captured it. By the time Awans Jadoons, Karlal and Tareens captured lower Hazara (Abbottabad and Haripur), the Tanolis had already established their authority over Tanol who later on founded a state named Amb.Descendents of these Turk rulers now live in village Behali of distrct Mansehra and in some other villages of Abbottabad,Haripur and Mansehra.
When Ahmad Shah Durrani expanded his kingdom to far northern, Hazara also came under his control. Durrani considered it wise to rule the area through local tribal chiefs, like Sa'adat Khan Swati of Garhi Habibullah. Saadat Khan was such an authoritative man amongst Swatis, even disputed matters of Jadoons and Tanolis had been sent to him for rectification through jirgas. Two other notable tribal chiefs were Mohammad Khan Tareen and Painda Khan Tanoli. The Durranis ruled ended abruptly in the beginning of the 18th century.
During British rule, the region of Hazara had formed part of the Punjab province, until the western parts of that province were separated to form the new North-West Frontier Province. The areas around Abbottabad and Mansehra became the Hazara District of Peshawar Division, whilst areas to the north of this became the Hazara Tribal Agency and the Kohistan Tribal Agency. Sandwiched between Hazara Tribal Agency and the Hazara district were the small princely states of Amb and Phulra. This system of administration continued until 1950, when these two small states were incorporated into the Hazara district.
From 1955 to 1970, the North-West Frontier Province became part of West Pakistan under the One Unit policy, with the Hazara district forming part of the Peshawar division of West Pakistan. On the dissolution of West Pakistan, the Hazara district and the two tribal agencies were merged to form the new Hazara division with its capital at Abbottabad. The division was initially composed of three districts (Abbottabad, Kohistan and Mansehra) but within a few years, Haripur district was spun off from Abbotabad district and Batagram district was spun off from Mansehra district.
In 2000, administrative divisions were abolished and the fourth tier districts were raised to become the new third tier.
[edit] Geography
The division of Hazara is bounded on the north and east by the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. To the south are the Islamabad Capital Territory and the province of Punjab, whilst to the west lies the rest of the North-West Frontier Province. The river Indus runs through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division.
The capital of Hazara Division was Hazara. The total area of Hazara Division is 18013 km².
[edit] Demographics
Approximately three-quarters of the population speaks Hindko and most of the rest speak Pashto. Small numbers of people speak other languages, but there is considerable bilingualism and multilingualism amongst the population. The districts of Haripur and Abbottabad have higher literacy rates than most districts of the province.
In addition, Afghan refugees, although predominantly Pashtun (including the Ghilzai and Durrani tribes), and other smaller groups found throughout the Division.
The population of Hazara Division was estimated to be over 4.5 million in 2005.
The University of Hazara provides higher education to people of the region.
[edit] Transport
The division of Hazara lay close to the crossroads formed by the river Indus and the Grand Trunk Road. The Karakoram Highway began at the town of Havelian and travelled north through the division towards China via the Northern Areas.
[edit] Districts
The division was composed of five districts at abolition in 2000.
- Abbottabad District had an area of 1802 km² and 1 million population
- Batagram District had an area of 1301 km² and 0.5 million population
- Haripur District had an area of 1763 km² and 0.7 million population
- Kohistan District had an area of 7581 km² and 0.6 million population
- Mansehra District had an area of 5957 km² and 1.4 million population
[edit] References
- ^ See Some Refs: Kalhana's Rajatarangini: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kasmir – 1988, P 267, Kalhana, M. A. Stein; The Historical Background of Pakistan and Its People -1973, P 156, Ahmed Abdulla; Ethnic Settlements in Ancient India: A Study on the Puranic Lists of the Peoples of Bharatavarsa – 1955, P 91, Sashi Bhusan Chaudhuri; Kalhana – 1978, P 57, Somnath Dhar; The Indian Society: A Process of Peoples' Revolutionary Struggle Through the Ages – 1974, P 207, R. P. Saraf; Indian Conquest of the Himalayan Territories: Military Exploits of General Zorawar Singh Dogra – 1978, P 18, Sukh Dev Singh Charak; Maharaja Ranjitdev and the Rise and Fall of Jammu Kingdom, from 1700 A.D. to 1820 A.D. -, 1971 Edition, P 133, Sukh Dev Singh Charak; Studies in Alexander's Campaigns – 1973, P 48, B. C. (Binod Chandra) Sinha; History of India – 1906, P 76, Henry Miers Elliot, Romesh Chunder Dutt, Vincent Arthur Smith, Stanley Lane-Poole, Sir William Wilson Hunter, Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall; Hindu Sahis of Afghanistan and the Punjab - Pge 77, Yogendra Mishra; Who's Who In The Age Of Alexander The Great: Prosopography Of Alexander's Empire – 2006, P xxviii, Waldemar Heckel; The North-west India of the Second Century B.C. – 1974, P 20, Mehta Vasishtha Dev Mohan; Studies in Skanda Purāṇa – 1965, Page 1, A. B. L. Awasthi; The Indian Historical Quarterly – 1963, P 553; History of the Panjab Hill States – 1933, P 671, John Hutchison, Jean Philippe Vogel; Eminent Rulers of Ancient Kashmir: A Detailed History of the Life and Rule of Ten Kings and...1975, M. L. (Manohar Lal) Kapur; The Greek World in the Fourth Century: From the Fall of the Athenian Empire to the Successors of...1997, - P 224, Lawrence A. Tritle; The Panjab, North West Frontier Province and Kashmir – 2003, P 160, James Douie; History of the Panjab Hill States – 1994, P 667, John Hutchison, Jean Philippe Vogel; The Geographical Encyclopaedia of Ancient and Medieval India: Based on Vedic, Puranic, Tantric,..1967, . - P 40, Krishna Datta Bajpai; The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition, Vol. 1 – 1963, P 24, Marco Polo; Glimpses of Kashmiri Culture - P 52, Shri Parmananda Research Institute; An Advanced History of India, - 1956, P 164; Ancient Nepal – 1969, P 21, D. R. Regmi; The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India. – 1971, p 236, Nundo Lal Dey; Kashmir: an historical introduction -1961, P 100, James P. Ferguson; History of Kanauj – 1990, P 84, Rama Shankar Tripathi; Foundations of Indian Culture Pt. 1 & 2 -1991, P 24, Govind Chandra Pande; Kashīr, Being a History of Kashmīr from the Earliest Times to Our Own – 1949, P 238, Ghulām Muhyid Dīn Sūfī, Ghulam Muhyi'd Din Sufi; On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D. – 1904, P 257, Thomas Watters, Vincent Arthur Smith, Thomas William Rhys Davids, Stephen Wootton Bushell; Accounts of India and Kashmir in the Dynastic Histories of the Tʾang Period – 1968, P 24, Hsü Liu, Hsiu Ou-yang; Indological Studies – 1950, P 18, Bimala Churn Law; Harsha and His Times – 1970, P 211, Baijnath Sharma; Memoirs of Zehīr-Ed-Dīn Muhammed Bābur: emperor of Hindustan – 1921, P 201, Babur; Trubner's Oriental Series: Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629), 2001, Samuel Beal - Social Science; Yuan Chawang, pp 256-57 (I), Watters etc etc.
- ^ MBH 7.4.5; 7/91/39-40.
- ^ Watters, Yuan Chawang, Vol I, p 284.
- ^ See refs: Mahabharata 7/91/39-40; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133, 218/220, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukerjee; History of India – 1944, P 94; Narendra Krishna Sinha, Anil Chandra Banerjee; Chilas: The City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar) – 1983, Page 120, Ahmad Hasan Dani; Indological Studies – 1950, P 18, Dr B. C. Law; A Companion to Middle Indo-Aryan Literature – 1977, P 168, Suresh Chandra Banerji; A Companion to Sanskrit Literature: spanning a period of over three thousand years, containing... – 1971, P 486, Sures Chandra Banerji; Asoka - P 31, Dr R. G. Bhandarkar; J.N. Banerjea Volume: A Collection of Articles by His Friends and Pupils, 1960, p 18, University of Calcutta. Dept. of Ancient Indian History and Culture. Alumni Association.
[edit] See also
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| Balochistan | Kalat | Makran | Nasirabad | Quetta | Sibi | Zhob |
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| NWFP | Bannu | Dera Ismail Khan | Hazara | Kohat | Malakand | Mardan | Peshawar |
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| Punjab | Bahawalpur | Dera Ghazi Khan | Faisalabad | Gujranwala | Lahore | Multan | Rawalpindi | Sargodha |
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| Sindh | Hyderabad | Karachi | Larkana | Mirpur Khas | Sukkur |
