Fort Abbas

Fort Abbas
Pholra Fort
Tehsil
Fort Abbas

Location in Pakistan

Coordinates: 29°11′33″N 72°51′13″E / 29.19250°N 72.85361°E
Country Pakistan
Region Punjab
District Bahawalnagar District
Towns 1
Union councils 16
Renamed 1927
Government
 • MNA Ijaz ul Haq
 • MPA Ch.Naeem Anwar
Time zone PST (UTC+5)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC+6)

Fort Abbas (Urdu: فورٹ عبّاس‎), (Punjabi: فورٹ عباس), formerly Pholra, is a town and a tehsil in Bahawalnagar District in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab, Pakistan. It is situated South of Haroonabad, near Faqirwali, on the border of Pakistan and India.

History

Fort Abbas is a historical city and has strategic importance during the Nawab of Bahawalpur's rule. It was known as Pholra until it was renamed in 1927 by Nawab Sir Sadiq, who named it on his eldest son, Muhammad Abbas.

Geography

Fort Abbas is a Tehsil of Bahawalnagar District, in southern Punjab, Pakistan.It is famous for its desert Chulistan. The city is surrounded by forests, deserts and agricultural land. The land of Fort Abbas is highly fertile, but there is a shortage of water, causing much of the fertile land to be left uncultivated. Hackra Canal is the main to provide most of the water to the area. The major crops are wheat, cotton and sugar cane.

Demographics

The language of this city is Punjabi, In City area some people speak Urdu, while few have good understanding of English. Saraiki is also spoken in Desert Areas. The tribes that are in majority are Arain (the descendants of Umayyad Arab soldiers who were in the army of Muhammad Bin Qasim), Syed, Daudpota Abbasi, Jatt and Rajput. Ijaz-ul-Haq the son of General Zia-ul-Haq is Arain and elected from Bahawalnagar district.

Transportation

The city is connected by the roads to other parts of the country. The main roads are from Fort Abbas to Haroon Abad which also leads towards Bahawalnagar, Sahiwal and Lahore. The 2nd road is from Fort Abbas to Chishtian, while third road leads to Bahawal Pur via Yazman.

The Main Transport companies New Chaudry - Naeem Coach - Ideal Coach - Rao Ahtasham Coach - Matyana Movers Daewoo Moon Coach - etc

The railway track was not being used since 2002. The track was used by Pakistan Railway but nowadays the siuation is too worse that even Pakistan Railway cant manage to run any kind of train service.

Banks

Bank Alfalah Limited started business as on September 09, 2013. Other banks are MCB - UBL - ABL - BOP - PPCB - HBL - NBP - KBL - NRSP - ZTBL - National Saving Center - Bank Alflah

Educational Intitutes

Govt. Degree College for Boys, Govt. Degree College for Girls, Govt. Commercial College of Commerce, Govt. Model High School for Boys, Govt. Model High School for Girls, Govt. High School Phoolra,

There are many other Govt primary and Madrisa schools in the city and surroundings

Major private educational institutes are

Islamia College, Sir Syed Science Public School, Rangers Public School, Saad Grammer School,

See also