Haripur District Group for North-West Frontier Province

Haripur (Urdu: ہری پور) is both a city and a district in the Hazara region of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Haripur District has the highest Human Development Index of all districts in the NWFP. Haripur District is situated at latitude 33° 44' to 34° 22' and longitude 72° 35' to 73° 15' and about 610 meters above the sea level.

[edit] History

Haripur district is situated in the heart of ancient Gandhara civilization. In 1399, central Asian conqueror Amir Timur, on his way back from his Indian campaign, left a legion of Karlugh Turks in the current Hazara region of Pakistan as the rulers. In 1472 Prince Shahabuddin, a descendant of Amir Timur came to Hazara to lead these Karlugh Turks and formed a state known as Pakhli Sarkar in the area between Hasan Abdal-Attock to Kashmir. Karlugh Turks continued to rule most of Hazara until 1703 but gradually lost their control initially from Hassan Abdal/Attock and then from Haripur, which came the control of the powerful Gakhars. The Turks however kept their grasp over the area that came to be known as Abbottabad (in the mid-nineteenth century) to Kashmir until the collapse of their rule in the 18th century. Now the descendants of these Turk rulers live in several villages of districts Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra. Prominent villages where they live are Bihali Mansehra and Manakrai Haripur. One of the descendant of these Turks was Raja Amanuullah Khan who became Speaker of NWFP assembly in the 1980s.^[1]

The Sikhs annexed Hazara in two stages. Lower Hazara became tributary to the Sikhs as soon as they wrested the Fort of Attock from the Durranis. Upper Hazara suffered a similar fate when the Sikhs took Kashmir from the Barakzais in 1819.^[2] The town of Haripur (meaning Hari's town) was founded in 1822 by Hari Singh Nalwa, the Commander-in-Chief of Ranjit Singh's army along its north-west frontier. On the successful completion of his tenure as the Governor of Kashmir in 1821, Pakhli and Damtaur were bestowed upon Nalwa as a jagir in 1822. As soon as Hari Singh Nalwa received this grant, he built the walled town of Haripur in the heart of the plains of Hazara-i-Karlugh. To the north of Karlugh flowed the river Dor and to its south lay the country of the Gakhars. To its east ran a mountainous range; and to its west stood the Gandhgarh Hills.^[3] The selection of this site by Hari Singh was interesting because some of the most fierce encounters with the tribes inhabiting this region had been fought by the Sikhs in this vicinity.

Hari Singh's name and the presence of his fort of Harkishangarh eventually brought such a feeling of security to the region, that by 1835 a German traveller found mere remnants of the four-yard thick and 16 yards high wall built to initially protect the town.^[4]

Haripur was the sole example of a planned town in this region till the British built Abbottabad many years later. Haripur continued to grow and flourish and eventually became a city and then a District. The first British Deputy Commissioner, James Abbott, painted an exquisite picture of the town of Haripur and its commanding fort of Harkishangarh.^[5]

[edit] Administration

The District of Haripur was a Tehsil of Abbottabad District until 1992 when it was separated from the District of Abbottabad and made into a district in its own right. The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs who represent the following constituencies:^[6]

Haripur District is divided into three tehsils which are subdivided into a total of 44 Union Councils of which 15 are urban Union Councils;

[edit] Haripur

Haripur Tehsil is divided into 37 Union Councils ^[7]

siraj khan Tanoli

[edit] Ghazi

Ghazi Tehsil is divided into 7 Union Councils^[7]

[edit] Khanpur

• Khanpur (newly Announced)

[edit] Contemporary Poets and Writers

• Riaz Saghar^{[citation needed]}
• Yousaf Akhtar^{[citation needed]}
• Tahir Gul^{[citation needed]}
• Qazi Jamil^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Importance

The area is rich in natural resources and contains two important reservoirs: the Tarbela Dam and Khanpur dam. Geographically, it is a gateway between both Hazara and the North-West Frontier Province, and the capital Islamabad.