Hazara History and travel guide

Hazara Introducing

Roughly speaking, Hazara is that part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) east of the Indus; a series of fertile plains and terraced or forested hills rising from north of the Grand Trunk Rd into the Lesser Himalaya. Today’s Hazara Division consists of the Abbottabad and Mansehra districts, and since the 1970s the Kohistan district, reaching west from the Indus into the Hindu Raj mountains.

Southern Hazara was a favourite gateway from the plains into Kashmir for expanding regimes – the Mughals, the Afghan Durranis who defeated local tribes in 1752, and the Sikhs who wrested it away during the period 1818–24. After the First Sikh War (1846), Major James Abbott came here as a British ‘adviser’ to the Sikhs; on the Sikhs’ defeat in the Second Sikh War (1849) he became Hazara Division’s first deputy commissioner. Abbottabad, the divisional headquarters, is named after him.

Some towns still have the remains of old Sikh forts, as well as gurdwaras (Sikh temples) built in the 20th century. The Sikh population only evacuated at Partition. The road to Kashmir was severed at Partition, and now Hazara’s main artery is the KKH, ascending for 160km from Havelian to the Indus River at Thakot.

Hazara History And Geography

  Hazara Division was one of the administrative subdivisions of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, forming part of the third tier of government, below the federal and provincial levels. Divisions were composed of districts which formed the fourth tier of government, but the local government reform of 2000 abolished the division as an administrative tier, making the district the new third tier of government.
History

According to Imperial Gazetteer of India, "The origin of the name Hazara is obscure. It has been identified with Abisara, the country of Abisares, the chief of the Indian mountaineers at the time of Alexander's invasion. Dr. Stein regards it as derived from Urasa, the ancient name of PAKHLI; but a possible derivation is from Hazara-i-Karlugh, or the Karlugh legion, which was settled in this tract by Timur after his invasion of India."

The first quarter of the 18th century was miserable for the Turks because their rule came to an end due to the decay of their vitality and the increasing aggression of the Pukhtoons. The most crucial attack was that of the Swatis under the command of Syed Jalal Baba in 1703 A.D, who was a religious saint of the Pashtuns. He escaped when the Turk sultan tried to assassinate him due to his increasing popularity amongst all of the local tribes. All the tribes were furious at this assassination attempt by the sultan, so they retaliated and ousted the Turks from upper Hazara (Mansehra), Batagram and captured it. By the time Awans Jadoons ,Karlal and Tareens captured lower Hazara (Abbottabad and Haripur), the Tanolis had already established their authority over Tanol who later on founded a state named Amb.

During British rule, the region of Hazara had formed part of the Punjab province, until the western parts of that province were separated to form the new North-West Frontier Province. 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 the 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, the North-West Frontier Province became part of West Pakistan under the One Unit policy, with the Hazara district forming part of the Peshawar division of West Pakistan. On the dissolution of West Pakistan, the 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 Abbotabad district and Batagram district was spun off from Mansehra district.

In 2000, administrative divisions were abolished and the fourth tier districts were raised to become the new third tier.
Geography

The division of 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 the North-West Frontier Province. The river Indus runs through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division.

The capital of Hazara Division was Hazara. The total area of Hazara Division is 18013 km².
Demographics

Approximately three-quarters of the population speaks Hindko and most of the rest speak Pashto. Small numbers of people speak other languages, but there is considerable bilingualism and multilingualism amongst the population. The districts of Haripur and Abbottabad have higher literacy rates than most districts of the province.

The population of Hazara Division was estimated to be over 4.5 million in 2005.

The University of Hazara provides higher education to people of the region.
Transport

The division of Hazara lay close to the crossroads formed by the river Indus and the Grand Trunk Road. The Karakoram Highway began at the town of Havelian and travelled north through the division towards China via the Northern Areas.

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Nearby are rock inscriptions of Indian emperor Asoka (3d cent. B.C.).

Coins of the Greco-Bectrians kings discovered from the Hazara tract suggest that the area was inhabited in first century B.C.

Abbottabad has seen many invasions from outside by the conquering forces of diverse races, tribes and kingdoms.

in the Past the Hindus were living here. They were more in cities compared to to villages. In the Period of the British, Sikhs also came here. Both the Hindus and Sikhs had a strong hold on the trade and influence in the politics. Some of them were in the government.

The current Abbottabad District was originally a Tehsil of Hazara, the Imperial Gazetteer of India described it as follows: Tahsīl of Hazāra District, North-West Frontier Province, lying between 33º49' and 34º 22' N. and 72º55' and 73º 31' E., with an area of 715 square miles. It is bounded on the east by the Jhelum, which divides it from Pūnch and the Punjab District of Rawalpindi; and it comprises part of the mountain valleys drained by the Dor and Harroh rivers, together with the hill country eastward. The hill-sides to the north and north-east are covered with timber forest. The population in 1901 was 194,632, compared with 175,735 in 1891. It contains the towns of Abbottabad (population, 7,764), the Tehsil and District head-quarters, and NAWASHAHR (4,114); and 359 villages.

The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to Rs. 97,000. The district is named after Major James Abbott the first deputy commissioner of Hazara (1849 - 1853).
During British rule Abbottabad became the capital of Hazara District, which was named after and contained the Hazara valley, a small valley in the outermost Himalayas ,between the Indus in the west and Kashmir in the east.

In June 1948, the British Red Cross opened a hospital in Abbottabad to deal with 80-100 patients daily who were being "brought in from the Kashmir fighting areas".

In 1901 the population of the town and cantonment was 7764.
In 1991 the population was 66,000. In 1998, the population of Abbottabad District was 881,000. Many people identify themselves with hereditary nations. Among these are Swatis, Abbasis, Awan, Utmanzai, Jadoons, Karlal, Syed, Tanoli etc

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Privately owned historic house in Abbottabad,NWFP, Pakistan,built 1922, which got repaired after the earthquake, similar government buildings also deserved the same treatment, instead of grand scale demolitions by the NWFP government

Abbottabad, NWFP, Pakistan..height of this heavenly garden is 4100 feet above sea level ...
Abbottabad was founded in 1853 AD by Major ( later General, Sir) James Abbott of Blackheath London, who became first deputy commissioner of Hazara,.. and Hazara gazetteer of 1883 AD declared Abbottabad as the most beautiful hilly town of sub continent..trees from UK and Kashmir were brought to this unmatchable town and avenues and landscapes of Abbottabad had trees of horse chestnuts, Elms, Ash, Pistacia, Chinar (Kashmir maple), himalayan pine, Cedars of Lebanon, fragrant camphors of England, etc...and shrubs and flowers of all kinds including fragrant gardenias etc..Major James Abbott fell in love with the rolling hills and awe inspiring views of Himalayan peaks of this thickly forested little England of East and he wrote following mystical lyrical Love poem in the praise of nature and Abbottabad

Poem "Town Abbottabad" by Major (later General, Sir) James Abbott

I remember the day when I first came here
And smelt the sweet Abbottabad air
The trees and ground covered with snow
Gave us indeed a brilliant white glow
To me place seemed like a dream
And far ran a lonesome stream
The wind hissed as if welcoming us
The pine swayed creating a lot of fuss
And the tiny cuckoo sang it away
A song very melodious and gay
I adored the place from the first sight
And was happy that my coming here was right
And eight good years here passed very soon
And we leave our perhaps on a sunny day
Oh! Abbottabad we are leaving you now
To your natural beauty do I bow
Perhaps your wind's sound will never reach my ear
My gift for you is a tear
I bid you farewell with a heavy heart
Never from my mind will you memories thwart