Pind Dadan Khan (tehsil)

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Pind Dadan Khan

General Information
Country Pakistan
Province Punjab
District Jhelum
Time zone PST (UTC+5)
No. of Towns 1
Government
No. of Union Councils 16
A village in Pind Dadan Khan
A village in Pind Dadan Khan

Pind Dadan Khan (Urdu/Punjabi: پنڈ دادن خان) is a tehsil, a minor administrative area of Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan[1]. It is headquartered at the town of Pind Dadan Khan located on the bank of River Jhelum, about 28 kilometres from the M2 motorway.

The area is well known for Khewra Salt Mines, Asia's largest salt mine, in use for over 2000 years, and which features an underground mosque. The area has a long history going back to the time of Alexander the Great's invasion (see Punjab (Pakistan)). The small town of Jalalpur Sharif is located in Pind Dadan Khan and is said to be where Alexander the Great's famous horse, Bucephalus is buried.

This pind (from Punjabi word for village), is named after Nawab Dadan Khan, the Muslim Governor of Lahore in the 1700s.

Important personalities from Pind Dadan Khan include Nawabzada Ghzanfar Ali Khan who was one of the ministers from Muslim league in the 1946 cabinet and later was Minister of Health, Food and Agriculture in the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He was later appointed as the minister of refugees and rehabilitation (Dec 1947 onwards).

Another important person was Mr. Mohammad Ramzan Chotana who had the honour making the "Lehaf-i-Kaba" in 1930's. He was and is the only person from Indopak region who had this honour (since the second time when Lehaf-i-Kaba was made during Ayub's era was not accepted by Saudi government). Mr Ramzan Chotana was also awarded several gold medals for his excellent expertise in various technical fields by the British Government.

Contents

[edit] History

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, compiled over a century ago during British rule, describes the tehsil as follows:[2]

“ Pind Dādān Khān Tahsīl.--Southern subdivision and tahsil of Jhelum District, Punjab, lying between 32°27' and 32°50' N. and 72°32' and 73°29' E., with an area of 875 square miles. It is bounded on the south-east by the Jhelum river, and is traversed in its northern portion by the Salt Range. The hills consist of two roughly parallel ranges about 6 miles apart, with a strip of richly cultivated and fairly level uplands between. The southern slopes of the hills are steep and barren. The rest of the tahsil consists of a belt of alluvial plain,a portion of which is much affected by saline deposits. The population in 1901 was 170,130, compared with 173,071 in 1891. It contains the town of PIND DADAN KHAN (population, 13,770), the head-quarters; and 207 villages. The land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to 2.8 lakhs. KATAS and MALOT are places of considerable archaeological interest, the village Of JALALPUR possesses historical importance, and the MAYO MINE at Khewra is one of the chief sources of the supply of salt in India. ”

[edit] Administration

The tehsil is administratively subdivided into 16 Union Councils, these are:[1]

  • Ahmedabad
  • Chak Shadi
  • Daulatpur
  • Dharyala Jalap
  • Golepur
  • Gujjar
  • Haranpur
  • Jalalpur Sharif
  • Kandwal
  • Khewra-I
  • Khewra-Ii
  • Lilla
  • P.D.Khan
  • Pindi Saidpur
  • Sauwal
  • Toba

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Tehsils & Unions in the District of Jhelum - Government of Pakistan
  2. ^ Pind Dādān Khān Tahsīl - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 20, p. 145-146

[edit] External links

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