Chamankot

Chamankot is a village in Dhirkot Tehsil, Bagh District, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It is situated 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) up the hills from Kohala on the Azad Kashmir Bagh Road. Its altitude is 1,380 metres (4,530 ft), and the Jhelum River is at the bottom end of its sub-village, Malalbagla.

Chamankot has orchards of apples, apricots, and nuts. It has a large supply of natural spring water that serves as a source of drinking water for adjacent villages.

Abbasi, Awan and Janjua are the prominent families of the village.

History

Chamankot possesses some historical value because the ancestors of the Abbasi family present in this region first came to this village after their long migration from Iraq in the late 16th century.

The grave of Chand Khan, the predecessor of the Abbasies of this region, is in Chamankot. Most of the population found in the region of Murree and Bagh are members of the Abbasi family. In the mid-17th century the population in the village started to increase a great deal, so part of the family (the nephews of Chand Khan) migrated to the other side of the Jhelum River, in the areas of Bakot and Aliot. A Grand Mosque in Chamankot, Qari Amjid Abbasi as administrator of this mosque always teach peace and harmony.

Notable residents

• Sardar Muhammad Shafi Khan started a business in Bombay prior to the partition of India in 1947. Khan helped found the local boys' high school, the dispensary, post office, and hospital. Khan planted an apple, plum, and apricot garden in Chamankot in the early 1960s.
• Afra Sayyab Khan was the chairman of the union council and general secretary of the Muslim Conference party.
• Dr.Abdul Rauf Janjua Ph.D.has started his political career and appears in LA-13 election 2011 as covering candidate from Jamaat-e-Islami.