Jhelum District

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Jhelum
جہلم
 General Information
 Country Pakistan
 Province Punjab
 Coordinates 32°′56″N 73°′44″E / 32.01556, 73.01222Coordinates: 32°′56″N 73°′44″E / 32.01556, 73.01222
 Elevation 120 m (394 ft) AMSL
 Area 3,587 km² (1,385 sq mi)
 Calling code 0544
 Time zone PST (UTC+5)
 No. of Towns 9
 Estimate 107,000 (2006)
 Government
 Nazim (Mayor) syed ali shah {cell}[03318853018]
 No. of Union Councils 53
 No. of NGO's working 8

Jhelum district (Urdu: جہلم) is situated in Punjab province of Pakistan. It had a population of 936,957 of which 31.48% were urban in 1998.[1] The district of Jhelum stretches from the river Jhelum almost to the Indus. Salt is quarried at the Mayo mine in the Salt Range. There are two coal-mines, the only ones worked in the province, from which the North-Western railway obtains part of its supply of coal. The chief centre of the salt trade is Pind Dadan Khan. The district is crossed by the main line of the North-Western railway, and also traversed along the south by a branch line. It is located in the north of the Punjab province, Jhelum district is bordered by Sargodha to its south, Gujrat and the Jhelum River to its south and east, Chakwal to its west, Mirpur to its east, and Rawalpindi to its north.

Contents

[edit] Administration

The district of Jhelum, which covers an area of 3,587 km2[2], is administratively divided into four tehsils: Jhelum, Sohawa, Pind Dadan Khan and Dina, [3] - which are divided into 53 Union Councils[4]. It also contains the cities of Jhelum,

[edit] Climate

Jhelum is hot in summer, and dry and mild in winter. Average annual rainfall is about 900 mm (about 35 inches.)

[edit] Demographics

The population of Jhelum District according to the 1998 census of Pakistan was 936,957 with a population density of 261 people per square kilometre.[5] According the Punjab Education Department’s annual literacy statistics for 2006, Jhelum had a literacy rate of 74% which is the highest in the Punjab.[6] [7]

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The history of the district dates back to the semi-mythical period of the Mahabharata. Hindu tradition represents the Salt Range as the refuge of the five Pandava brethren during the period of their exile, and every salient point in its scenery is connected with some legend of the national heroes. Modern research has fixed the site of the conflict between Alexander and Porus as within Jhelum district, though the exact spot at which the Macedonian king effected the passage of the Jhelum (or Hydespes) has been hotly disputed. After this event, we have little information with regard to the condition of the district until the Muslim conquest brought back literature and history to Upper India. The Janjuas and Jats, who now hold the Salt Range and its northern plateau respectively, appear to have been the earliest inhabitants[8]

The Gakhars, who appear to represent an early wave of conquest from the west, and who still inhabit a large tract in the east of the District; while the Awans, who now cluster in the western plain, are apparently later invaders, the Gakhars were the dominant race during the early Muslim era and they long continued to retain their independence, both in Jhelum itself and in the neighbouring District of Rawalpindi[8].

[edit] Mughal era

During the flourishing period of the Mughal dynasty, the Gakhar chieftains were among the most prosperous and loyal vassals of the house of Babar. But after the collapse of the Delhi empire, Jhelum fell, like its neighbours, under the sway of the Sikhs.[8]

[edit] Sikh era

In 1765 Gujar Singh defeated the last independent Gakhars Chief, Muqarrrab Khan, and reduced the wild mountaineers of the Salt Range and the Murree Hills to subjection. His son succeeded to his dominions until 1810, when it fell to Ranjit Singh. Under the Lahore government the dominant classes of Jhelum suffered much from fiscal actions; and the Janjua, Gakhars, and Awan families gradually lost their landed estates, which passed into the hands of their Jat dependants.[8]

[edit] British era

In 1849. Jhelum passed with the rest of the Sikh territories into the power of the British. Ranjit Singh, however, had so thoroughly subjected the wild mountain tribes who inhabited the District that little difficulty was experienced in reducing it to working order. In 1857 the 14th Native Infantry stationed at Jhelum town mutinied, and made a vigorous defence against a force sent from Rawalpindi to disarm them, but decamped on the night following the action, the main body. being subsequently arrested by the Kashmir authorities, into whose territory they had escaped.

During British rule Jhelum was a district of Rawalpindi Division, and was larger than the current district of Jhelum. On April 1, 1914, the tehsil of Talagang was detached from the District and incorporated with the new District of Attock.

The old Jhelum district (minus Talagang) covered an area of 2,813 square miles (7285 km2) and included Chakwal tehsil - it was bounded by Shahpur and Attock to the west, and by Rawalpindi to the north - the Jhelum River separated it from Kashmir to the north-east and from Gujrat and Shahpur to the south-east and south[8].

[edit] Topography

Location of Jhelum District within Punjab Province.
Location of Jhelum District within Punjab Province.

[edit] Jhelum City

Main article: Jhelum City

The district capital, Jhelum City, is situated on the right bank of the river Jhelum, crossed by a bridge

[edit] River Jhelum

Main article: River Jhelum

The river Jhelum is navigable throughout the district, which forms the south-eastern portion of a rugged Himalayan spur, extending between the Indus and Jhelum to the borders of the Sind Sagar Doab. Its scenery is very picturesque, although not of so wild a character as the mountain region of Rawalpindi to the north, and is lighted up in places by smiling patches of cultivated valley. The backbone of the district is formed by the Salt Range, a treble line of parallel hills running in three long forks from east to west throughout its whole breadth.

The range rises in bold precipices, broken by gorges, clothed with brushwood and traversed by streams which are at first pure, but soon become impregnated with the saline matter over which they pass. Between the line of hills lies a picturesque table-land, in which the beautiful little lake of Kallar Kahar nestles amongst the minor ridges. North of the Salt Range, the country extends upwards in an elevated plateau, diversified by countless ravines and fissures, until it loses itself in tangled masses of Rawalpindi mountains. In this rugged tract cultivation is rare and difficult, the soil being choked with saline matter. At the foot of the Salt Range, however, a small strip of level soil lies along the banks of the Jhelum, and is thickly dotted with prosperous villages.

The drainage of the district is determined by a low central watershed running north and south at right angles to the Salt Range. The waters of the western portion find their way into the Sohan, and finally into the Indus; those of the opposite slope collect themselves into small torrents, and empty themselves into the Jhelum.

[edit] Development Organizations

Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Program[9](CHIP)is working in Sohawa Tehsil since 2004, with its field office in the area CHIP has successfully mobilized community people to get organize into Community Based Organizations, Community Citizen Boards and Women Organizations. Further, CHIP has duly built the capacity of these local entities to take new initiatives. These community level organizations, in collaborative partnerships with CHIP, are working on several development projects. The main focus of these projects is to eliminate illiteracy from villages of Sohawa especially those where government education structure does not exist, make clean drinking water available, provide technical support to the local farmers, raise skill development opportunities for women and sensitize communities to include women in decision making. The local community level organizations developed by CHIP are making successful efforts in implementing development projects by deriving funds from local government bodies.

CHIP has announced Sohawa as its main development area and the organization is assessing further development interventions in villages of Sohawa, presently the main focus of organization is to introduce an 'Inclusive Development Model' which suggest active involvement of people with disabilities in the development process.

[edit] Notable people

[edit] Military

  • Col Haq Nawaz kayani Saheed (Double Sitara-e-Jurat)
  • General Asif Nawaz Janjua (Former Commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army)
  • General Afzal Janjua (Former Director General ISI of Pakistan Army)
  • Lt. General(Retd) Ijaz Azeem
  • Major Akram Shaheed "Nishan-e-Haider"
  • Lieutenant General Muhammad Masood Aslam, Sitara-e-Jurat

[edit] Political


[edit] Business

Fiaz Hussain Qureshi (Hilal travel service GSA for PIA)

[edit] External links

[edit] Organizations

[edit] Education


[edit] Companies

[edit] References

  1. ^ Punjab Population (1988 Census) - Urban Resource Centre
  2. ^ Jhelum District Overview - Punjab Police
  3. ^ Administrative Units of Pakistan
  4. ^ Tehsils & Unions in the District of Jhelum -Government of Pakistan
  5. ^ 1998 Census of Pakistan
  6. ^ Punjab Education Department’s annual literacy statistics for 2006 Daily Times
  7. ^ Literacy rate figures still not updated - Daily Times
  8. ^ a b c d e Jhelum District Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 14, p. 152
  9. ^ Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Program
  10. ^ Wajahat Ijaz. "Their way to parliament passed through Nazim’s office", Pakistan Dawn, October 22, 2002. 
  11. ^ "Iftikhar Ch. urges lawyers to remain steadfast in their struggle to ensure rule of law", Pak Tribune, May 06, 2007.