Pind Dadan Khan (tehsil)

Infobox Tehsil Pakistan
tehsil_

caption =
official_name= Pind Dadan Khan


province= Punjab
district= Jhelum
area_total_km2=
census_year= 1998
estimate_year=
census_pop=
estimate_pop=
population_density_km2=
towns= 1
uc= 16
nazim=
naib nazim =
footnotes=


map_size =
map_text =Location within Pakistan

Pind Dadan Khan (Urdu/Punjabi: پنڈ دادن خان) is a tehsil, a minor administrative area of Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan [http://www.nrb.gov.pk/lg_election/union.asp?district=12&dn=Jhelum Tehsils & Unions in the District of Jhelum - Government of Pakistan] ] . It is headquartered at the town of Pind Dadan Khan located on the bank of River Jhelum, about 28 kilometres from the M2 motorway.

The area is well known for Khewra Salt Mines, Asia's largest salt mine, in use for over 2000 years, and which features an underground mosque. The area has a long history going back to the time of Alexander the Great's invasion (see Punjab (Pakistan)). The small town of Jalalpur Sharif is located in Pind Dadan Khan and is said to be where Alexander the Great's famous horse, Bucephalus is buried.

This "pind" (from Punjabi word for village), is named after "Nawab Dadan Khan", the Muslim Governor of Lahore in the 1700s.

Important personalities from Pind Dadan Khan include Nawabzada Ghzanfar Ali Khan who was one of the ministers from Muslim league in the 1946 cabinet and later was Minister of Health, Food and Agriculture in the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He was later appointed as the minister of refugees and rehabilitation (Dec 1947 onwards).

Another important person was Mr. Mohammad Ramzan Chotana who had the honour making the "Lehaf-i-Kaba" in 1930's. He was and is the only person from Indopak region who had this honour (since the second time when Lehaf-i-Kaba was made during Ayub's era was not accepted by Saudi government). Mr Ramzan Chotana was also awarded several gold medals for his excellent expertise in various technical fields by the British Government.

History

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, compiled over a century ago during British rule, describes the tehsil as follows: [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V20_151.gifPind Dādān Khān Tahsīl - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 20, p. 145-146] ]

Administration

The tehsil is administratively subdivided into 16 Union Councils, these are:

References

* [http://www.modernimpex.com/about_us.htm Modern Impex] Salt crystal lamp company website with article on "Khewra Salt Mine"
* [http://64.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PI/PIND_DADAN_KHAN.htm 1911 Encyclopedia] "Pind Dadan Khan"
* [http://www.kambojsociety.com/moslem.asp Nawab Dadan Khan] scroll to entry no25

External links

* [http://www.contactpakistan.com/newsletter/ksa/Aprilsecond03/newsletter.html Contact Pakistan Newsletter] scroll down to "I Love My Pakistan: Jhelum"
* [http://www.apnajhelum.com Apnajhelum.com, Jhelum's First site on Internet]
* [http://www.apnajhelum.net Apnajhelum.net, Jhelum's Advanced Site in English on Internet]
* [http://www.Jhelum.info Jhelum.info, Jhelum's First BLOG site]