Khukha
| Khukha | |
|---|---|
| Town and union council | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Region | Jhelum |
| District | Jhelum District |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+5) |
Khukha is a big village in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a Union Council, an administrative subdivision, of Jhelum Tehsil[1] and is a "model" village. It is located at 33°0'0N 73°33'0E with an altitude of 259 metres (853 feet)[2] and lies 7 km west of Dina, 5 km north of Rohtas and 10 km north east of Tilla Jogian. Many people from here have emigrated to all over the world. Approximately 500 live in the UK.
The historical Grand Trunk Road (before the British made the tarmac road) runs from north to south on the west side of the village leading to Rohtas and then onto Jhelum. There is a Bavali (deep water well) made by the Mughals on this route about 1 km to the north west of the village. There is now a new water supply which uses a new bore-hole (located near Baba Sher Shah's darbar) from where water is pumped to the new water tank (located near the jamia masjid) and water is supplied to almost the entire village.
There is a religious school named Jamia Shamsia Zia Ul Quran in the village.[3]
There have been many people who have gone abroad from Khukha.
The first to go and live abroad was Haji Chaudhary Mohammed Sarwar (son of Chaudhary Ali Mohammed) who went to the UK in 1954 and died there in 1989. He is survived by his son Al-Haj Chaudhary Mohammed Yaqoob, BSc(Hons), FCA (Eng & Wales), FCA (Pak), Cert PFS. He is the first from Khukha to graduate in the UK and many have followed in his footsteps since. M Yaqoob, FCA worked for the ICAEW (UK) for over 20 years and is now Audit Director for an international accountancy network responsible for audit support and quality globally. Since January 2012, he has been a member of the Transnational Auditors Committee (TAC) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) based in New York, USA. The TAC oversees the work of the Forum of Firms (FoF) which has a very significant role in development of international standards of auditing and reporting and he attends all FoF meetings. He is probably the most internationally travelled person from Khukha having visited over 40 countries to date. He may also be the most educated person from Khukha, now many more of the new generation have followed in his footsteps and have high status jobs in the UK. For example his son (Mohammed Atif Yaqoob, ACA) and nephew (Mohammed Naveed Arshad, CIMA) are also qualified accountants with excellent jobs in the city of London. Chaudhary Mohammed Yaqoob and his brother Chaudhary Mohammed Arshad also played for PAK SHAHEEN CRICKET CLUB, Bolton, UK.
The first person to immigrate to America from Khukha, was Mohammed Azam Choudhry. He worked at Mangla Dam Hospital (currently known as WAPDA Hospital) from 1964 as a stenographer. He helped many of his friends, and family from Khukha by recruiting them as labourers for the dam. He went to the US (Brooklyn,NYC) in 1974 with his wife and four children. They also lived in Queens, NYC. He worked at Sakura Bank on Park Ave, NYC. Since then, there are over 45 family members who have immigrated to the USA, and growing from Khukha. He died in October 2009, and taken back to Khukha, buried at the family burial plots, by his wishes. He is survived by his wife, two sons,two daughters, and 9 grandchildren, all residing in New Jersey, USA.
The book about the Khukha history was compiled by Ch Muhammad Ayoub Norway and published by Anjum Sultans Shahbaz. The village has ancient mound speaking about the old times and its digging is still needed to unveil the past.
