| Hoti | |
|---|---|
| — Union council — | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa |
| District | Mardan |
Hoti (Urdu: ہوتی ) in Pukhto pronounced as Oothay is a Union council in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[1] The town is located 34°12'0N° 72°4'0E with an altitude of 284 metres (935 feet)[2] and lies just west of Peshawar - the capital of the province and is inhabited by the Kamalzai Pashtuns, a sub-tribe of the mandanh.
The people of this area speak Pukhto only and adhere strongly to the Pukhtoon traditions of hospitality and loyalty.
Although the MPs are democratically elected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the old feudal system is still strong in Hoti. The head of the leading feudal family is Mohammad Ali Khan Hoti, ex-education minister of Pakistan. They are a well educated family and Mohammad Ali's grandson, Jaffar Khan, was the first Muslim President of the Cambridge Union.
The main source of livelihood for the Hoti people is agriculture and they process and export sugarcane to the rest of the country.
The Hoti area is divided by the Kulpani river. The Nawab of Hoti lives on the Mardan side whereas the Hoti areas across the Kulpani river is still developing. The major cash crops of the area are Tobacco and Sugarcane. Virginia tobacco is mostly utilized by the local cigarette manufacturers while the major yield of sugarcane is consumed by the Premier Sugar Mill (established in 1954 by Aishwar Das). As an old tradition some of the sugarcane is use locally to make jaggery (Gur in local Pukhto).
Hoti is inhabited by Kamalzai Pukhtoons,there are also some non Pakhtoons living in Hoti. All the Pukhtoons living in Hoti can also be referred as Hotikhels, as those of Mardan are referred as Mardankhels. Other people living in this area include the Syeds, Shahibzadas, Khashmiryan Malazi Bajauri etc.
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