Shergarh, Tanawal is located in Hazara, Pakistan and is one of the Union Councils of Oghi, Mansehra District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[1]
Shergarh is a village of historical importance as it has traditionally been the summer residence of the Nawabs of Amb, which was incorporated in Pakistan in 1972, and is now part of Mansehra district of Hazara division, Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. During the 1960s, when the other residences of the Amb Nawab, i.e. Amb and Darband, were subsumed by the construction of the Tarbela Dam on the River Indus, Shergarh became for a while the main residence until 1971-72.
Most members of the Tanoli tribe reside in the former princely state of Amb whereas a sizeable number also reside in the cities of Abbottabad, Haripur and environs and parts of the rest of Mansehra district.
According to earlier British documents, the people of Tanawal/Amb area are mostly rural and agrarian:
The Tanolis support themselves almost exclusively by agriculture, and their principal food is unleavened bread with buttermilk and butter; but fowls, eggs, fish, and game are also articles of diet. Of those who live in the hills, many are as fair as Italians, with eyes of light hazel or greyish blue, and frequently brown hair and reddish beards. Those who live on the low-lying lands near the Indus are darker. All are stout and active men, and have the reputation of being good soldiers and staunch partisans. They are hardy and simple in their habits, generally free from the vices of thieving and debauchery; but credulous, obstinate, and unforgiving.[2]
In the past, Shergarh enjoyed considerable importance as one of the principal seats of the Nawab of Amb but today, it is a modest-sized village with few amenities. Its most prominent feature is the 'Shergarh Fort', which is where the Nawab used to reside and where the present chief of Tanolis and son of the last Nawab, Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed Khan still resides part of the year, as he is largely based in Islamabad. The village itself is surrounded by rather pleasant, lush green countryside and orchards and is accounted to be a healthy place climatewise.
In recent years, Shergarh and some of its environs were truncated from the Tanawal area (former Amb state) and placed under the jurisdiction of the Oghi tehsil/subdivision of Mansehra district.