Dera Ghazi Khan

Dera Ghazi Khan ڈیرہ غازی خان (dera)
—  Mid of PAKISTAN  —
DGKHAN
Dera Ghazi Khan Location in Pakistan
Coordinates: 30°03′N 70°38′E / 30.05°N 70.633°E / 30.05; 70.633
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
District	Dera Ghazi Khan District
Population
– Urban	412,650
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
– Summer (DST)	+6 (UTC)

Dera Ghazi Khan (Saraiki, Urdu: ڈیرہ غازی خان) is a city located in Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab, Pakistan. Dera Ghazi Khan is one of the most populous cities in Southern Punjab, and it is the largest district in Punjab in terms of area, being approximately 5,306 square miles (13,740 km²) in extent.

History

See also: Derajat

The city was founded at the close of the 15th century and named after Nawab Ghazi Khan Mirani, son of Nawab Haji Khan Mirani, a Balochi chieftain, who had declared independence from the Langah Dynasty's Sultans of Multan. Together with two other Deras i.e. settlements, Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to Derajat. Derajat eventually came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War in 1849 and was divided into two districts: Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan. After the partition of India, many of the city's Hindu residents settled in Derawal Nagar colony of Delhi, India.^[1] The district of Rajanpur was later carved out of the Dera Ghazi Khan district. Some of them also settled in various part of India, including Bhiwani, Delhi, Jhansi, Ranchi, Ambala and Haridwar. Dera Ghazi Khan was most famous seat of Krishna (Hindu avatar of Vishnu) worship , in north west British India ,where lord Krishn ji were fondly referred as "Thakur Gosain" by devotees. After the partition of British India, the Krishna Moorat was shifted to a new temple at Railway road, in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi.

Dera Ghazi Khan was founded in 15th century by Amar a Tribal Sardar of Mirani tribe^{[citation needed]}. The old city of Dera Ghazi Khan was situated at the distance of 10 miles (16 km) towards east of the present city. In 1908, the old city was destroyed due to flash floods from heavy rains overflowing the River Indus. The present city was established in 1910. The city is divided into different blocks. The British Raj established colonial system in the continent and declared Dera Ghazi Khan as district in the year 1849. General Courtland was appointed as first Deputy Commissioner of this District. Keeping in view the rapidly increasing population of the area and deteriorating law and order situation district Dera Ghazi Khan was divided in two districts i.e. Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur. Presently there are two revenue sub division of the District.

Historical growth

Dera Ghazi Khan city is situated on the western bank of the Indus river. It was founded by a Mirani ruler, Nawab Haji Khan Mirani, in 1476; he named the town after his son Ghazi Khan. Their close allies were Changwani and khetran tribes In those days, game abounded near Dera Ghazi Khan and the fields were green. It was known as "Dera Phoolan Da Sehra" due to plenty of gardens and kastori canal, supplied by the Indus river.and tehsil tounsa shreef is very famous in district D.G khan.

In 1909-10, this cradle of Mirani rule was inundated by the Indus. At that time, there was a population of about 23,731. The present town was built 10 miles (16 km) from the old town. It was laid out on a grid pattern comprising 66 blocks with wide long roads and streets. Two open spaces were planned in each block for social gatherings. Some of these have been encroached upon.

The population of the new developed town in 1911 was 18,446. This 2.22% decrease of population was due to dislocation of population after the destruction of the previous settlement.

In the year 1913, the Municipal Committee came in to existence. At that time, the area of the town was very small. Physical growth continued and now the area was about 4 square miles (10 km²). The major growth of the town has taken place since 1947. The town has largely spread to the north and south; it could not expand to the west due to the danger of flooding torrents such as affected the town in 1955. However, growth has also taken place in the eastern side. Almost all of the new developments in north and east of the planned town are haphazardly built.

The development in the town from 1947 to 1958 remained slow, due to lack of transportation and communication facilities. Only a boat bridge on the river Indus in winter season and steamer service for summer season linked Dera Ghazi Khan with the rest of the Punjab. Taunsa Barrage on river Indus was completed in 1953 and the pace of development gained momentum. During the last 5 years, 72 industrial units were established. Ghazi Textile mills is another attempt to establish a heavy industrial complex in order to raise the economic base of the town.

Languages

Saraiki is the main spoken language in cities and towns. But in rural areas, Balochi is spoken as well. Almost 20% of city population speak Urdu.

Geography and climate

Dera Ghazi Khan is located at 30'03" N and 70'38" E. The overall climate of the city is dry with scanty rain fall. The winter is relatively cold and the climate is hot during the remaining part of the year, but it is very hot in summer. The temperature during summer is usually about 115 °F (46 °C). While during winter season the mercury goes down as far as 40 °F (4 °C). The direction of the winds being North-South throughout the year. Due to barren mountain of Koh-Suleman and sandy soil of the area, windstorm are very common in Summer season especially in July–August Period. The Summer season of the district usually touches the highest point of temperature is Pakistan.

Fort Munro, located on edge of Punjab Province, in Dist. Dera Ghazi Khan holds relatively cooler weather. In Winter, scattered snowfall is also reported in this area.

Administration

As well as being district capital - Dera Ghazi Khan is also the capital of Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district. The city of Dera Ghazi Khan is itself administratively subdivided into seven Union Councils.^[2]Lund, Khosa , Leghari, Qaisrani,and Buzdar,tribes are politically active.

Historical and interesting places

Tomb of Hazarat Sakhi Sarwar

Main article: Sakhi Sarwar

Tomb of Hazarat Sakhi Sarwar was built in the 13th century in Sulaiman Mountains, 35 km from Dera Ghazi Khan city. This is presently in a small village named Muqam. Thousands of people from all over subcontinent come here on the Annual Celebrations of Birth of Sakhi Sarwar in March every year. It is a unique building of Mughal architecture.

Tomb of Ghazi Khan

The tomb of Ghazi Khan was built in the beginning of 15th century. This seems like the tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam in Multan. This is present in the Mulla Qaid Shah Graveyard. Its main gate is from eastern side and two small doors are in side of north and south. In it there are 11 graves, which are of the family of Ghazi Khan. Every side of the tomb is 13 feet (4.0 m) and 3 inches (76 mm) from inner side and which are conical minarets from out side. Its circular distance from the earth is 17 feet (5.2 m) and half. The half diameter of the conical minarets remains 34 inches (860 mm) on the highest of 19 feet (5.8 m). There are 28 ladders from northern side in the internal side. The Graveyard came into being due to the tomb of Ghazi Khan. This is the oldest building of the city Dera Ghazi Khan.

Church yard

In front of central jail there is a residential colony named Canal Colony. The church yard is situated in the northern side of the colony. This is the unique church yard which is situated in the walls on its four sides. This church yard could not spread because of minority of the Christian in the local area. This was came into being in the year 1910.

Shah Bagh Mosque

After the destruction of the old Dera Ghazi Khan when the people of Dera Ghazi Khan shifted in the new city, this was the first Mosque where they performed their first Jumma Namaz. It is in the Block No. 7. In the city people performed their first Jumma Namaz behind the Mutawali of the Mosque named Syed Bagh Ali Shah. So it named after the Imam of that time.

Jamia Masjid

This is the biggest Masjid of the city. Which was constructed in year 1916. There is a large pool in the Masjid which is used for making ablution. It has a big hall whose length is 100 feet (30 m) and width is 45 feet (14 m), in which 3,000 persons can say their prayer at one time. Its courtyard is also wide in which 10,000 men can say their prayer. The minarets of the Masjid are 85 feet (26 m) high in which there are 100 ladders.

Fort Munro

Road to Fort Munro

Main article: Fort Munro

Fort Munro is a hill station in Dera Ghazi Khan which lies on the Quetta Road at 85 km from Dera Ghazi Khan city in the Sulaiman Mountains Range. Its altitude is 1800 meters (6,470 feet) above sea level and attracts many people for short stays during the summer. It is also a good picnic point. Many school trips and families use to go for recreation. Families from south punjab cities like Multan, Muzzafar garh, Rajan pur, Jampur Layyah, Taunsa, Kot addu, Lodhran, Bahawalpur and Kot Mithan make trips to this beautiful hill station during summer. In summer when temrature reaches 48 degree in south Punjab, people rush to this cold place where temperature remains 20 degree in summer.

Taunsa Barrage

See also: Taunsa Barrage

Taunsa Barrage is situated in the northern side of the city Dera Ghazi Khan at the distance of 60 km. It is worth seeing place. It is also a good picnic point. Many school trips and families use to go for recreation.

Parks of the city

Nawaz Sharif Park

This park is at Quetta road near Virtaul University Campus with a beautiful scenery and covering vast area.Its exact location is between grid station and cricket stadium. Its main gate is on Dera-Gaddai road in front of Model Town.

D.C. Garden

Its area is 81 canals and 3 marlas. Divisional Public School and Wild Life Park was also the part of D.C. Garden. Although it is an administrative and residential area but it has natural greenery. Dera Ghazi Khan administration has made the Dera Ghazi Khan officers club inside the D.C Garden, where the officers use to play games like squash, badminton, and tennis. It is a beautiful building in this area where Govt. employees, advocates, politicians, journalists, and the local people are also members of this club.

Company Bagh

This is called the second garden of the city. East Indian Company made the company bagh in every district. This is known as company bagh. Its area is 162 canals and 12 Marlas. In 1948 a friends club was made in this area. Company bagh is used to play Football, Hockey, Volley Ball, Badminton, Table Tennis and four other games. Later it was constructed by Zia Ullah Paracha & Saif ullah Paracha of Kalabagh.

Ghazi Park

Ghazi Park is a decent sized theme park, it is the largest theme park in the city. It is located at the North West outskirts of Dera Ghazi Khan. Exhibition are arranged through part of the year since 1999, the exhibitions attract many more visitors than on other days when there are only a handful. The exhibitions are held between February and March.

The River Bank of River Indus

The western bank of the River Indus is a peaceful picnic point for the people of Dera Ghazi Khan. From here the view of the river is most beautiful. It is also known as the name of Ghazi Ghaat. Ghazi Ghaat welcomes the people coming to Dera Ghazi Khan from the eastern side. There is a boat renting service available at the river.

Wild Life Park Dera Ghazi Khan

Wild Life Park Dera Ghazi Khan has recently been re-developeding. It is a good place for recreation. It has many types of animals and birds. It is commonly called Dera Ghazi Khan Zoo. The Wild Life Park is government funded and free to visit for all ages.

Shopping Centres

The following shopping Markets/Centres are situated in the city:

• Grain market of district Dera Ghazi Khan is well renowned in the south Punjab. Mostly, farmer and traders of the region are affiliated with the grain market. Cotton, rice and wheat are the major crops of the area

• Rani bazar is another business center situated in city Dera Ghazi Khan. All kinds of jewelry and beautiful dresses of ladies are available in this market. Mostly ladies purchase their needy articles from this market.

• Cloth market is another business centre of the city and situated in Saddar Bazar near Committee Gollai.

• Garments market is another business centre of the city located in Block-10 behind Govt. City High School and situated in Rani Bazar near Committee Gollai.

• Electronic market falls within the middest of the city i.e. round the Gollai Committee.

• Medicine market is situated near Civil Hospital Dera Ghazi Khan. All kind of medicine are available from the market. Pakistan traders is the wholesale supplier of all kind of medicine & Ameer Sons, serving the needs of patients as well as medical stores.

• Vegetable and fruit market is situated within the area near the Faridi bazar. A huge quantity of apple, appricot (khubani), plum (aalubukhara) and other vegetables are being brought in this market from Baluchistan and thereafter the same are being supplied to the other district of Punjab province.

• Mobile market is a big mobile market in heart of Dera Ghazi Khan. Every type of mobiles and mobile related shops are in this area.

• Mowaish Mandi is held in Shah Saddar-Din.
• Spices industry Diamondstar Salt & spices is the famous name in spice industry in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Business and Industry

The prominent employers in Dera Ghazi Khan are the D. G. Khan Cement Company Limited, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Al-Ghazi Tractors. It is considered that these companies, along with various other flour mills, companies in the cotton, chemical, textile industries, as well as rice, sugar, and ghee mills, form the backbone of the Pakistan's economy. However, private sector investment is increasing rapidly from previous few years and a large number of private banks, national corporations are offering their services in the city. The City also has an Oil Refinery owned by OGDC located in Tuman Qaisrani near Taunsa. In addition to this there are many oil rigs owned by the Dewan Group located in the tribal areas.

Real Estate

Business of property and Real Estate have very much progressed in the past few years,

Education

See also: Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dera Ghazi Khan

Dera Ghazi has a literacy rate of 40 percent which is relatively low as compared to the national level. Due to non-availability of adequate higher education facilities locally, most of the desirous students move to colleges and universities located in other cities of Punjab. In past few years, there has been rapid growth in terms of institutions for higher and technical education

Schools

The City has a variety of Schools both by the Public Sector and Private Sector. Government High School No. 1 being the most prominent and old School of the city, holds several academic as well as extra-curricular awards. Three high (matriculation) school for girls and 4 for boys provide enough facilitation to the youth in context of education. The city also include branches of famous private School-Chains nationwide like Divisional Public School, Bloomfield Hall School (BHS), The City School (TCS), The Educators, AIMS,Al Mansoor High School(AHS) etc.

Colleges

Dera Ghazi Khan has 8 Govt. colleges, 2 Degree college for boys, 2 Degree colleges for women. 1 commerce college for boys and girls and one technical college. The medical college in the city is under construction.Khosa sardars make promise every year for medical college but so for there is no medical college in this divisional headquarter.Because all funds turned to upper punjab and Punjab Govt. and no development in south punjab. Several Private Sector Colleges are also performing in the city to get a skilled and literate youth.

Universities

Virtual University of Pakistan has established its campus here since 2004 which is providing both campus based and distance learning education primarily based on IT tools & technology. There are sub-campuses of BZ University Multan and University of Education, and UAF College of Agriculture (constituent college of University of Agriculture Faisalabad). Other prominent educational organization is Allama Iqbal Open University Centre.Even the Governor of Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa belongs to D.G.Khan but he did nothing to provide higher education facility like Engineering University for this city.

Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Sub Campus Dera Ghazi Khan

See also: Bahauddin Zakariya University

BZU, Multan's Sub Campus in Dera Ghazi Khan is an educational institute of the area, provinding education to the people.Governor of Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa has promised for Engineering University for D.G.Khan. It seems that he has little interest and knowledge about the importance of higher education in the developement of the area. It's likely that Latif Khosa's promise for an engineering university is just a political promise.

Health facilities

In D.G Khan, there is a civil hospital called the Divisional Headquarters Hospital, along with many private hospitals and labs. The number of beds is being doubled from 250 to 500 in DHQ. Along with the DHQ there are several private hospitals working for the welfare of the people of Dera Ghazi Khan. The overall conditions of public health are miserable in the city. It needs substantial improvement, as even today critical patients could not get proper treatment locally and have to proceed to other cities, i.e., Multan and Lahore. Although Leghari, Mazari and khosa sardars remained prominent in national and provincial politics, they could not succeed in establishing a medical college and providing better health facilities in Dera Ghazi Khan.

The rich agricultural land

Dera Ghazi Khan is a rich agricultural land with cotton, wheat, sugarcane, rice, tobacco being the major crops grown. Dera Ghazi Khan is also well known for its dates. The district is now connected by railroad with other parts of the country including Multan, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. The railway was built by the British before the partition of India.

Dera Ghazi Khan International Airport

Main article: Dera Ghazi Khan International Airport

Dera Ghazi Khan International Airport is situated over 23 km from the city of Dera Ghazi Khan.^{[citation needed]} It has a single, double sided, runway. The airport provides flights to Multan, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and because of high demand is operating flights to and from Dubai since 2008 making it an international airport. The traffic to and from most airports is usually low, although flights to Karachi, especially, get a large number of passengers.Although it is international airport but night landing facility is still not provided at this important airport.Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa has promised to provide night landing facility for D.G.Khan air port.

See also

• Dera Ghazi Khan Airport
• Punjab
• Pakistan
• Indus river
• Balochistan
• Taunsa Sharif
• Bahawalpur (princely state)
• Saraiki language
• Saraiki literature
• Saraikistan
• Sulaiman Mountains
• Saraiki Wasaib
• Saraiki Culture

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

1. ^ "Colonies, posh and model in name only!". NCR Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030319/ncr1.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-16. 
2. ^ Tehsils & Unions in the District of D.G. Khan - Government of Pakistan

• "How Pakistan Made Nuclear Fuel" by Munir Ahmad Khan, former chairperson of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission: Islamabad The Nation 7 February 1998, page 7 [Pakistan: Article on How Pakistan Made Nuclear Fuel : FBIS-NES-98-042 : 11 Feb 1998].

External links

• Official Website of the Dera Ghazi Khan, Complete Encyclopedia about Digerians
• Lot of information about current D.G Khan
• Dera Ghazi Khan
• Dera Ghazi Khan - Pakistan Special Weapons Facilities
• Dera Ghazi Khan. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05
• Dera Ghazi Khan travel guide

Coordinates: 30°03′N 70°38′E / 30.05°N 70.633°E / 30.05; 70.633