Swabi
(Redirected from Swabi District)
The history and culture of Swabi is very rich. The late historian Roshan Khan Baba from this region wrote about the history of this great tribe in his book 'History of the Yousafzai Tribe'. A drive to Swabi from Jehangira or Mardan is scenic and a beautiful experience. Lush green fields and shady trees line the road on either side.
Swabi is proud of its illustrious sons like Nawab Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum founder of Islamia College Peshawar) and the brave martyr of the Kargil war Captain Karnal Sher Khan recipient of the highest military award of Pakistan Nishan-e-Haider. The people of Swabi are well educated, skilled, hard working and enterprising. Many of them are expatriates working all over the globe for their living.
Tobacco is a popular cash crop of Swabi along with vegetables, wheat, sugar cane and maize.Its climate is ideally suited for citrus in particular while many other fruits like watermelon, peaches and apricots are also grown there. Swabi is also rich with mineral resources founded in the Maneri village and its white marble is very popular throughout the country.
Swabi is home to the largest earth filled dam of the world, the Tarbela Dam. It also boasts one of the most prestigious institution of Pakistan, the GIK institute of Engineering Sciences and technology located in village Topi.
A six lane motorway connecting Islamabad with Peshawar passes through Swabi District with an access interchange at Lahor.
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Rani Ghat is another start of the Gandhara archaeological site located further deep in the mountainous area. Rani Ghat is the famous historical palace on the top of mountain used by the that time Rani (queen). She was famous for buying the fresh air coming from Swabi side. She paid to the villagers for clean air -- they were not allowed to pollute it by blowing the crops in the air for cleaning purpose. The ruins are still a famous place for visitors. Being as a part of origin of Budhist Gandhara Civilization it has also attracted re-construction funds from Japanese research institutes. This area used to be a fairy-land for foreigners and many, including Japanese, came here for studies in the ancient times to learn Buddhism.
Maneri is one of the most educated villages of the Swabai district and has a high literacy rate. There is no field of education in which people from this village are not involved.
The district is represented in the provincial assembly by six elected MPAs who represent the following constituencies: [1]
- PF-31 (Swabi-1)
- PF-32 (Swabi-2)
- PF-33 (Swabi-3)
- PF-34 (Swabi-4)
- PF-35 (Swabi-5)
- PF-36 (Swabi-6)
Before partition, Hindus also lived here and most of the businesses were owned by them, both Muslims and Hindus lived peacefully. Specially there were more Hindus in Bamkhel before partition. After partition, the vast majority of Hindus left for India.
Today almost the whole population is Pakhtun and belongs to the Yousafzai tribe of Pakhtuns. However even today Hindus and Sikhs are found in some areas of Swabi.
Chota Lahor (historical Lahor) is the biggest town of the Swabi district. It is composed of two union councils and naturally divided in half by a stream.
Archaeologically, Lahor was the original Lahor and the Lahore city of Panjab was raised after this one. Hund was called Hind and Lahor was the capital of Hind.
The museum of Peshawar is decorated with the historical utensils and ornaments of Lahor. The famous poets of Pashtu Mir Nawas Khan, Bakhshir, Norbaz Haji, belonged to this locality.
The traditional local play "tatti" is only played in Lahor at the arrival of spring. The people of Lahor are historically very rich, belong to the famous tribes of Afghan Yousafzai, they are well educated, patriotic and nationalistic as well.
The great love story of Yousaf Khan and Sher Bano also belongs to Swabi. Visitors come to Shera Ghund (the village) and climb the mountain to visit the tomb of Yousaf Khan. Dagi. In every way of life the people of Dagi perform their roles. Here live highly qualified people -- most of them are officers in the Government departments.
One the most educated and peaceful districts of NWFP, Swabi has many important villages. Among them are Ismailla, Lahor Sheikh Jana, Kala,Bandey Ubo, Tutalai Dagi, Kernal Sher Kalay, Salim Khan, Spin Kani (spin kanray/white stones), Kotha, Topi, Maini, Tarakai, Kalabat, Hund, Shewa, Tordher, Maneri, Zaida, Panjpir, Marghuz, Baja, Bamkhel, Yar Hussain(the biggest of Swabi), Dagi (Dagai)Zarobi and Batakara. The people of Swabi have their own name in hospitality. Most of the people of Swabi work abroad especially UAE and rest of the Middle east. There are many religious scholars in Swabi. Link Road in Swabi is a popular bazaar for buying clothes, cosmetics, furniture, etc. Topi is also one of the best markets of Swabi. Yar Hussain (including surrounding villages of Dagi and Dobian etc) is the biggest market of tobacco in the Asia. The most beautiful and rich town of Sawabi (Swabi) is Nawankilli (now called Karnel Sher Killi). This town has the highest incomes and the most developed infrastructure. The people here live like people in cities. Dagi some times called (Yarhussain Dagi) has the most educated people of the district. Which has produced top class engineers and doctors of the area.
The Afghan Refugee Camp was established more than 20 years ago when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and five million Afghanis fled to Pakistan for shelter. This was the biggest camp in the country. Most of the refugees speaking the same language and culture had little problem settling down. But the huge flow of arms (confiscated from Soviet soldiers during the war), together with the rise in drug smuggling from Afghanistan and theft had became great challenges for the local population. The local people wished to have peace in Afghanistan so that refugees could leave as soon as possible. This camp is also called Sawabi Camp. The very hospitable people of Sawabi have graciously accepted this camp's presence for more than two decades.
Makha (Shooting) is the traditional game of Swabi, in which different villages take part. Makha is kind of shooting using a bow and arrow with a relatively large stick and instead of a tip, it has a flat dish-shaped head called Tobray, The target is hit by arrow with the help of bow. Kabadi is also a famous game in Swabi.
Swabi is home to dozens of streams and two great rivers, the Indus and the Kabul River. Both the rivers meet at a place called Kund, another major tourist attraction. The Indus river with its spectacular blue colour and the Kabul river's muddy brown water go side by side without blending. It is a treat to watch these two rivers hug each other quietly for thousands of years in its own special way. Also there are several small streams in different locations of the swabi. A unique stream is in village Maini. The water of the stream comes out in the centre of the village. its speciality is that in the winter the water of the stream is so hot. and in the summer water becoms cold. this water is used for irrigation purpose in village. This stream is called CHINA which means a spring. The three villages named KOTHA, TOPI and Maini are collectively called UTMAN has this peculiar aspect that all of them has natural springs called CNINA in Maini, CHINO in Kotha and Bayin in Topi.
Gadoon Amazai is one of the biggest Industrial estate of NWFP. Here once situated 580 industries and mills but due to no proper planning it is losing its charm. There are more reasons the biggest one is that the owners were not giving to workers their rights. 12 hour working, no weekend leave, no cadual leave, no medical leave were allowed to workers. Labour law of Pakistan was nothing in front of industrialist because many of them were ministers and members assemblies. Often workers did demonstration and government withdrawal incentive because the industrialist were making money only and were sending their products to others parts of Pakistan in low rates while others industrialist from different parts of Pakistan were also against them and so on many more reasons. One reason was that also the people of Gadoon were not happy of industrial estate because the industrialist were not giving rights to workers and even not giving jobs to them while often labours leaders if do something for labours they always charged in falls cases and often put in jails. Most of them are still wanted in many falls charges and they live hide of government eyes so when incentive were withdrawal local people and labour leaders not take any action and so government withdrawal incentive. And it's also cause of disturbance of Gadoon Amazai industrial estate.
When one enters Swabai from Jehangira there exist a park on the bank of river Indus and Kabul that is naming Kund park it is situated in Tordher. People came here from different areas of N.W.F.P And Punjab to see Kund Park. Another tourist area is Ghazi-Bharota dam, which lies near Topi and Tarbela. Mahaban Hill in Gadoon has a scenic beauty like Swat and other hilly areas. Here exist a resort, naming as Pir Galai, which is 6000 feet above the sea level and from here one can have glance at Mansehra, Buner and Kaghan Hills. The Tomb of Yousaf Khan in village Shera Ghund, near Shewa Adda.
- Doctor Ibrahim Khan from Mohallah Gulbahar swabi near Faqir Elahi Clinic,M.B.B.S Peshawar,MS & P.hD in Public Health(Germany),Regional health officer Health CANADA.
- Raghib from Mohallah Gulbahar swabi near Doctor Faqir Elahi clinic, B.Sc Electrical Engineering UET PESHAWAR (Doing MS Communication Engineering Griffith University Australia)
- Said Nadeem, MSc chemistry, village and P/O Haryan Tehsil Lahor District Swabi currently doing PhD in Chemistry at Karachi University
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