| Cherat | |
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Cherat
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa |
| District | Nowshera District |
| Elevation | 892 m (2,927 ft) |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+5) |
Cherat is a hill station, immediately above the village of Salehkhana or Saleh Khana in the Nowshera District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Cherat lies 34 miles south east from the city of Peshawar at an elevation of 4,500 feet on the west of the Khattak range, which divides the district of Nowshera from Kohat.[1]Because Cherat is the headquarters of the Special Service Group of Pakistan Army, the area is off limits to the public.
During British rule Cherat was important as a hill cantonment and sanatorium for British troops in what was then the [[Nowshera District|Nowshera Tehsil] of the Peshawar District of British India.[2]
Cherat was first used as a sanitarium for troops in 1861[2] and was used during the hot weather as a health station for the British troops who were quartered in the hot and malarious valley of Peshawar.[1] It was declared a cantonment in 1886. The cantonment commands a view of the whole of the Peshawar valley on one side, and on the other of a portion of the Khwarra valley in Peshawar District, and of Kohat District as far as the Indus. [2]
A hospital, a church, and a few bungalows were built by the British authorities. The station, which has a good water supply, was throughout the summer the headquarters of the Peshawar Division command, and of one of the two British regiments stationed at Peshawar - a detachment of the other British regiment was also sent here.[2]
There were 376 inhabitants according to the March 1901 Census, but in the hot season the garrison sometimes numbered 1,000 men. [2]
The fort is used as a base by the elite Special Services Group and is used for training of the army. As part of joint military events with several nations, Cherat is current hosting an Improving Command Course until 2010.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
