Hazara (Hindko: هزاره, Urdu: ہزارہ) is a region of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It comprises six districts: Abbottabad District, Battagram District, Haripur District, Kohistan District, Mansehra District and now, since 28 January 2011, the new Tor Ghar District. It is dominated mainly by the Hindko-speaking Hindkowan people, who are the native ethnic group of the region and often called the "Hazarewal."
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"The origin of the name Hazāra is obscure." This respected source continues: "It has been identified with Abisāra, the country of Abisares, the chief of the Indian mountaineers at the time of Alexander's invasion.[1]
The name Hazara has also been derived from Urasā, or 'Urasha', an ancient Sanskrit name for this region, according to Prof. Aurel Stein. Some 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 and Prof K. N. Dhar concur with Prof. Stein's identification of modern Hazara with ancient Urasa.[2]
Evidence from the seventh century Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang,[3] in combination with much earlier evidence from the celebrated Indian epic, the Mahabharata,[4] attests that Poonch and Hazara District of Kashmir had formed parts of ancient state of Kamboja, whose rulers followed a republican form of government.[5]
Although the region was called Hazara earlier, it was only made a district of that name, when under the British.
Alexander the Great, after conquering parts of the Northern Punjab, established his rule over a large part of Hazara. In 327 B.C., Alexander handed this area over to Abisaras (Αβισαρης), the Raja of Poonch state.
Hazara remained a part of the Taxila administration during the rule of the Maurya dynasty. Ashoka the Great was the Governor of this area when he was a prince. After the death of his father Bindusara around 272 B.C., Ashoka inherited the throne and ruled this area as well as Gandhara. Today, the Edicts of Ashoka inscribed on three large boulders near Bareri Hill serve as evidence of his rule here. The Mansehra rocks record fourteen of Ashoka's edicts, presenting aspects of the emperor's dharma or righteous law, and represent the earliest irrefutable evidence of writing in South Asia. Dating to middle of the third century BC, they are written from right to left in the Kharosthi script.[6]
Hazara has several places of significance for the Hindus related to the Pandavas.
| “ | 'There are the five Pandavas, the heroes of the Mahabharat favourite objects of worship in the east and sometimes addressed as the Panj Pir. Many are the legends current about these heroes and they are localised at quite a number of places. The Hill of Mokshpuri , just above Dunga Gali has an elevation of 9232 feet. Its name means 'the hill of salvation' and on its summit is a Panduan da Sthan, or place of the Pandavas, where it is said they were visited and tempted by Apsaras who still frequent the place .[7] | ” |
In the 2nd century CE, a mythical king Raja Risalu, son of Raja Salbahan of Sialkot, supposedly brought the area under his control. The local people consider him as a popular folk hero. When a Chinese pilgrim, Hiun-Tsang, visited this area, it was under the control of Raja Durlabhavardhana, the ruler of Kashmir.
The Shahi Dynasties ruled Hazara one after another. Among the Hindu Shahi dynasty rulers, Raja Jayapala is the best known. Mehmood of Ghazni defeated Raja Jayapala during his first campaign. However, there is no historical evidence that Mehmood of Ghazni ever visited or passed through Mansehra. After the fall of the Shahi dynasty, in the 11th century, the Kashmiris took control of this area under the leadership of Kalashan (1063 to 1089). From 1112 to 1120, King Susala ruled this area. In the 12th century, Asalat Khan captured this area but soon after Mohammad of Ghor's death the Kashmiris once again regained control of Hazara.
Amb and its surrounding areas of Hazara have a long history which can be traced to Alexander the Great's invasion of India. Arrian, Alexander's historian, did not indicate the exact location of Embolina, but since it is known that Aoronos was on the right bank of the River Indus, the town chosen to serve as Alexander's base of supplies may with good reason be also looked for there. The mention in Ptolemy's Geography of Embolima as a town of Indo-Scythia situated on the Indus supports this theory.
In 1854 Major James Abbott, the British frontier officer from whom Abbottabad, administrative centre of Hazara, takes its name, discussed his location of Aornos on the Mahaban range south of Buner. He proposed, as M. Court, one of Ranjit Singh's French generals had done before him in 1839, to recognize Embolima in the present village of Amb situated on the right bank of the Indus. It lies about eight miles to the east of Mahaban and is the place from which the later Nawabs of Amb take their title.[8]
During the Mughal rule, the local Turkish chiefs acknowledged Mughal authority. In fact, Hazara (Pakhli) provided the main route to Kashmir and was the most commonly used route for Emperor Akbar to travel to Kashmir. During the last days of Emperor Akbar's rule, the Turkish Chief Sultan Hussain Khan revolted against the Mughals. He claimed that the Mughals were interfering with his internal affairs. After this complaint, he was exiled by the Mughals, but later was pardoned and given back some part of his lands. In 1703, the Turk rule came to end and large number of Karlugh Turks migrated to nearby Kashmir. Today, the tribe has a very small population in Hazara but they are still considered an important caste in the area.
Hazara remained part of the Durrani Afghan kingdom, from the mid-18th to the early 19th centuries. The lower Hazara plain was a separate administrative region attached to the Chacch and Attock areas of Northern Punjab whereas most of upper Hazara was attached to the Durrani 'Subah' or governorship of Kashmir, with the exception of the Tanawal 'Ilaqa' or area, which enjoyed semi-independent status, with the Tanoli leaders accepting token Durrani Rule and paying simple liege homage, at the same time looting the Durrani caravans which passed through Tanawal. The most important Tanoli chief then, Mir Navab Khan, fought the Durranis in a number of small battles and ultimately met his death at the hands of Sardar Azim Khan Durrani in 1818.
Durrani rule had weakened considerably at the beginning of the 19th century. The Sikhs annexed Hazara in two stages. Lower Hazara except Karlal country became tributary to the Sikhs, with the exception of the ongoing struggle against the Sikhs led by the likes of Sardar Muhammad Khan Tarin, Shaheed, Bostan Khan Tarin and others of this tribe .Eventually, Ranjit Singh himself then attacked Hazara and reduced the warring tribes into submission, carrying the Tarin chief Muhammad Khan with him, as a prisoner, while the Karlals fled to the higher mountains for refuge; and the Sikhs were thus able to subdue the entire Lower Hazara . The Upper Hazara suffered a similar fate when the Sikhs took Kashmir from the Barakzai Durranis in 1819, with the exception of the Tanawal area, under the leadership of Mir Painda Khan, who was the tribal chief of the Hindwal section of Tanolis at the time and kept up a staunch rebellion against Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Governors of Hazara, which he continued after most of the resistance had gradually ceased in other parts from about 1819,and his son Mir Jehandad Khan later followed in his footsteps, and when Sikh power was on the decline in 1845 Jehandad Khan blockaded the garrisons of no less than 22 Sikh posts in Upper Tanawal ; and when they surrendered, he spared their lives, as the servants of a fallen Empire. These Tanoli chiefs were the actual founders of Amb (princely state).
After the First Sikh War, under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, the area was governed by Major James Abbott. Abbott managed to secure and pacify the area within a year. During the Second Sikh War Abbott and his men were cut off by the Sikh army from supplies and reinforcements from the rest of the British Army, but were able to maintain their position.[9] James abbott was helped by few well known personalities of that time most prominantly Qazi Abdul Ghafar, a man of immense energy, who rendered valuable service to Major Abbott in the critical years of 1847-49. He was made Tahsildar in Hazara.
By 1849, the British had gained control of all of Hazara. However, the western Pashtun tribes were occasionally rebellious. These tribes included the clans of Allai, Batagram in the Nandhiar valley, and the tribes inhabiting both slopes of the Black Mountain of Hazara.The British sent many expeditions against these tribes to crush several uprisings between 1852 and the 1920s.
The British divided Hazara District into three Tehsils (administrative subdivisions) : Mansehra, Abbottabad, and Haripur and annexed it to the Punjab. In 1901, when the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) was formed, Hazara was separated from Punjab and made a part of NWFP. Throughout their rule in Mansehra, the British met fierce resistance from the local tribes and declared martial law. Meanwhile, the people of Mansehra's many villages largely governed themselves. Many of Mansehra's citizens joined the Khilafat movement and several were imprisoned for this.
From the 1930s onwards, the people of Hazara gradually became active in the freedom movement for an independent Pakistan. The presence of the All-India Muslim League was not widespread in Hazara initially, as only a few individuals were its members prior to 1935-36, most notably Khan Sb Abdul Majid Khan Tarin, OBE, of Talokar (1877–1939), who remained a close friend and associate of Sahibzada Sir Abdul Qayyum Khan, and an early member of the (then) Frontier Legislative Assembly. Even before the All-India Muslim League started its movement for Pakistan in 1937, after the historic Lucknow Session of October that year, the Hazara Muslim League was properly formed and convened at the residence of Noor-Ud-Din Qureshi in Abbottabad in 1936. In this meeting the leaders of the All-India Muslim League, Nawab Bhadur Yar Jang, Mulana Shoukat Ali, Hamid Badayuni and others, came from India. The local people joined the movement in large numbers. In Mansehra in the same year the Muslim League was organised by Ali Gohar Khan and Hakim Abdul Karim, who were elected the first president and general secretary of the tehsil Mansehra Muslim League. During the final phase of the movement for the creation of Pakistan, Capt Sardar Zain Muhammad Khan, OBI, and Syed Jalal Baba defeated their Congress rivals in the elections of 1946 from their respective rural and urban Constituencies, and politically routed the All India Congress from the region. The Muslim League captured all the Hazara District assembly seats except one in the crucial elections of 1946. In the Delhi Convention of Muslim League parliamentarians chaired by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, which finally voted for the division of India and the creation of Pakistan, Capt Sardar Zain Muhammad Khan represented Hazara. These Muslim League Leaders were also able to mobilize the people of this area in favour of the referendum for the creation of Pakistan.
Sometime before the time of Partition/Independence, Nawab Sir Muhammad Farid Khan (KBE) of Amb State developed good relations with Jinnah and Nawabzada Liaqat Ali Khan. His contributions to the Pakistan movement have been acknowledged in letters from Jinnah.[10][11]
During British rule, the region of Hazara had formed part of Punjab province, until the western parts of that province were separated to form the new NWFP. 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 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, NWFP province became part of West Pakistan under the One Unit policy, with the Hazara district forming part of the Peshawar division of West Pakistan.
Kashmir was the first biggest challenge for Pakistan, right after Pakistan's creation; the Maharaja of Kashmir, signed the Instruement of Accession of his state 'Jammu and Kashmir' in favor of India. This was not acceptable to the majority of Muslims in Kasmir. Thus a freedom struggle started right after the independence. From Hazara Nawab Muhammad Farid Khan sent an army of 1500 Amb State soldiers under the leadership of Subedar Major Shah Zaman Khan to take part in the Kashmir Liberation Movement from 1947 to 1948 (Kashmir Conflict). The Amb State force carried its own artillery to the battle. They fought bravely alongside other frontier tribesmen and came under fire by the Indian airforce just three kilometers from Baramulla sector. Around 200 Amb State soldiers lost their lives in the battle. Kashmir Conflict is still under dispute.
On the dissolution of West Pakistan in 1970, 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 Abbottabad District and Batagram District was spun off from Mansehra District.
Hazara remained a District right up to its conversion into a Division in 1976. In October 1976, Mansehra was given the status of a full fledged District, which consisted of Mansehra and Batagram Tehsils. Subsequently in July 1991, Haripur Tehsil was separated from Abbottabad and made into a District. Thus only the old Tehsil of Abbottabad remained, which was declared as Abbottabad District.
In 2000, administrative divisions were abolished and the fourth tier districts were raised to become the new third tier of government in Pakistan.
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 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The river Indus runs through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division. The total area of Hazara is 18,013 km².
Because it lies immediately south of the main Himalaya Range, and is exposed to moist winds from the Arabian Sea, Hazara is the wettest part of Pakistan. At Abbottabad, annual rainfall averages around 1,200 millimetres (47 in) but has been as high as 1,800 millimetres (71 in) , whilst in parts of Mansehra District such as Balakot the mean annual rainfall is as high as 1,750 millimetres (69 in) . Due to its location on the boundary between the monsoonal summer rainfall regime of East Asia and the winter-dominant Mediterranean climate of West Asia, Hazara has an unusual bimodal rainfall regime, with one peak in February or March associated with frontal southwest cloudbands and another monsoonal peak in July and August. The driest months are October to December, though in the wettest parts even these months average around 40 millimetres (1.6 in) .
Due to the high altitude, temperatures in Hazara are cooler than on the plains, though Abbottabad at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) still has maxima around 32°C (90°F) with high humidity in June and July. Further up, temperatures are cooler, often cooler than the Northern Areas valleys due to the cloudiness. In winter, temperatures are cold, with minima in January around 0°C (32°F) and much lower in the high mountains. Snowfalls are not uncommon even at lower levels.
Hazara lies close to the crossroads formed by the river Indus and the Grand Trunk Road. The Karakoram Highway begins at the town of Havelian and goes north through the division towards China via the Northern Areas.
The population of the Hazara region was estimated to be over 4.5 million in 2005. The total area of Hazara is 18013 km²: See table below.
| District | Area (km²) | Population (Millions) |
| Abbottabad | 1802 | 2 |
| Batagram | 1310 | 0.5 |
| Haripur | 1763 | 1 |
| Kohistan | 7581 | 0.8 |
| Mansehra | 5957 | 2.4 |
The area is mostly populated by the Híndko people, who speak the Hindko language as their mother tongue, and by those who speak Pashto. Pashto is spoken in Batagram and Toorghar district, 70% of the population of Mansehra speaks Hindko while most of the remaining speak Pashto. Kohistani are spoken in Kohistan. In all the hilly areas of Abbottabad and Haripur districts most people speak Hinkdo, but Gujjar tribes speaks Gojri and Abbasi tribe speaks Phari(Dhondi Dialect ),Karlals of Galliyat also speak Phari language (Karlali Dialect) In all, according to the 2001 Census of Pakistan, Hazara has an ethno-linguistic majority of Hindko-speakers of around 60% whereas about 40% speak Pashto and other languages (Gojri,Phari etc.
The main tribes in terms of population in Hazara are the Sardar, Gujjar, Malik, Tanoli, Karlal, Turk, Abbasi(Dhunds), Syed(Sadaat), Awan, Swati, Jadoon, Sulemani, Ghakkar(Rajpoots), Maddakhel ,Kohistanis, Tarin (or Tareen), Qureshi, Mishawani, Paracha, Mir, Mughals, Tahirkheli, Kashmiri, Dilazak, shilmani and the Isazai tribe of Kala Dhaka.
Afghan refugees, although predominantly Pashtun (including the Ghilzai and Durrani tribes), and other smaller groups are found throughout Hazara Division. There is also a considerable presence of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakh and Hazara in the area. Pakistan has provided shelter to them for more than three decades. However now intense popular demand exists for repatriation of all Afghan refugees from Hazara and Pakistan. It is hoped that the Govenemnt has extended their stay for a final time up to the end of 2012. The population of Hazara was estimated to be over 4.5 million in 2005.
Hazara has one of the major industrial areas of NWFP, including Telephone Industry of Pakistan (TIP) and the Hattar Industrial Zone. The region includes Tarbela Dam, which is the largest earth filled dam in the world and generates most of the hydro electricity generated in Pakistan. The Karakoram Highway passes through Hazara.
The Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul, Abbottabad, is where all military officers of Pakistan are trained. The region has tea plantations and the best grade tobacco in Pakistan, in Mansehra.
Like the movement of Saraiki speaking people in Punjab, the people of Hazara also raised a voice of the same kind. This movement, founded in 1987, is named "Hazara Qaumi Mahaz" (HQM). The movement which has members across the country recently rose to prominence again with leaders again raising a demand for separate Hazara Province.[12]
In April 2010, it was announced that through an amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan, the name of NWFP would be changed to 'Khyber Pakhtunkhwa' leading to protests across the Hazara region, where Hindko and Gojri speakers are dominant as compared to the Pashto speakers.[13] The announcement of the new name also led to calls from Hazara for a new separate province.[14] Ten persons died, and nearly two hundred were hurt during the rallies and protest all over Hazara region against NWFP and creation of new province Hazara in April, 2010 and a complete wheel-jam and shutter-down strike was again observed in the Hazara on 2 May 2010,in support of this demand. Large public meetings in this regard as well as public protests have been regularly organised by the HQM and 'Tehreek I Hazara' movement, since; but the name of the NWF Province has been duly changed to 'Khyber Pakhtunkwha' and is a 'fait accompli'. The leadership of the Hazara movement, however, have vowed to continue their struggle until the achievement of their aims via peaceful and constitutional means.