Khushab District
Khushab District (Urdu: ضِلع خُوشاب) is a district in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, with its administrative capital in Jauharabad. The district is named after the historical city of Khushab located within its boundaries. According to the 1998 census, the population was 905,711 with 24.76% living in urban areas.[4] The district consists of four tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal, Quaidabad and Naushera.[5] Khushab is home to the Heavy Water and Natural Uranium Research Reactor,[6] part of the Pakistan's Special Weapons Program.[7]
Khushab ضِلع خُوشاب | |
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Khushab District highlighted within Punjab Province | |
Country | Pakistan |
Province | Punjab |
Division | Sargodha Division |
Established | 2 July 1982[1] |
Founded by | Sher Shah Suri |
Headquarters | Jauharabad |
Government | |
• Deputy Commissioner | Mussarrat Jabeen, PAS |
• Additional Deputy Commissioner (R) | Adeel Haider, PAS |
Area | |
• Total | 6,511 km2 (2,514 sq mi) |
Population (2017)[3] | |
• Total | 1,281,299 |
• Density | 200/km2 (510/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
Number of Tehsils | 4 |
Website | http://khushab.gop.pk/ |
Language
According to the 1998 census the major first language[8] of the district is Punjabi, spoken by 96.8% of the population, while Urdu accounted for 1.5%.[9]:22
Nuclear installations
On 21 March 2000, an article in the Christian Science Monitor claimed that satellite photos had revealed a nuclear reactor and missile base near the city of Khushab.[10]
Geography
Khushab is situated between the cities of Sargodha and Mianwali, near the river Jhelum. The district capital is Jauharabad (founded 1953, pop. 39,477).
Khushab consists of agricultural lowland plains, lakes, and hills. Parts of the Thal desert touch the district, which has a breadth of over 70 miles (110 km) and is situated between the Indus river and the Jhelum river.
There are three lakes (Ochali, Khabbaki and Jahlar) in the district. Kanhatti Garden is the largest forest in Khushab district, near Khabbaki village in the Soon Valley. Khabikki Lake is a salt-water lake in the southern Salt Range. The lake is one kilometre wide and two kilometres long. Khabikki is also the name of a neighbouring village. Sakesar is the highest mountain in the Salt Range,[11] and is the site of the ancient Amb Temples. Sakesar’s summit is 1522 metres / 4946 feet high and is situated in Khushab District.
Education
According to Pakistan District Education Ranking, a report released by Alif Ailaan, Khushab is ranked 42 nationally with an education score of 65.42 and learning score of 65.82.
The readiness score of Khushab is 62.33. The infrastructure score of the district is 88.11, which indicates that the schools in Khushab have adequate facilities
The issues reported in TaleemDo! app says that there are some areas where there are no government school for girls. Another major issue reported was that Teachers don’t do their jobs properly and don’t do justice to their profession.
Administrative divisions
Khushab got the status of district in 1982. At the start, the district was divided into two tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal. Later on Quaidabad was given the status of Tehsil in March 2007[12] and Naushera (Wadi e Soon) became 4th Tehsil of District Khushab in March 2013. In local bodies delimitation 2000 (before to the creation of the Tehsil Quaidabad and Naushehra), it contained a total of fifty-one Union Councils.[13] In 2015 delimitation of District Khushab, 48 rural union councils and 7 urban Municipal Committees have been created by the election Commission of Pakistan.[14]
Khushab Tehsil
In 2000, Tehsil Khushab was subdivided into 32 Union councils; but in 2015, 10 urban Union councils (Khushab 5, Jauharabad 2, Hadali 2 and Mitha Tiwana 1) transferred to Municipal Committees whereas six Union councils have become the part of Tehsil Naushehra. Now Tehsil Khushab has 19 Union councils and 4 Municipal Committees:[14]
Union Councils
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Union Councils
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Municipal Committee / Corporation
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Noorpur Thal Tehsil
Noorpur Thal is subdivided into 12 Union Councils and 1 Municipal Committee.[13]
Union Councils
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Union Councils |
Municipal Committeee
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Quaidabad Tehsil
Quaidabad is subdivided into 11 Union Councils and 1 Municipal Committee.[12]
Union Councils
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Municipal Committee
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Notable people
- Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Urdu poet, fiction writer and journalist
- Wasif Ali Wasif, teacher, writer, poet, and Sufi
- Abdulqadir Hassan, writer and journalist
- Idris Azad, philosopher, poet, fiction writer and journalist
- Khushwant Singh, novelist, lawyer, politician and journalist
- Sohail Warraich, writer and journalist
- Malik Naeem Khan Awan,Former Federal Minister of Pakistan
- Sumaira Malik, Former Federal Minister of Pakistan & Granddaughter of Nawab of Kalabagh
- Feroz Khan Noon,Former Prime Minister of Pakistan.
References
- "District Courts Khushab"., Retrieved 24 December 2013.
- "Khushab – Punjab Portal". Retrieved 15 December 2016.
- "DISTRICT WISE CENSUS RESULTS CENSUS 2017" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- Urban Resource Centre (1998 Census) Archived 2006-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
- "Tehsil Codes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2011.
- Special Weapons Program of Pakistan (Federation of American Scientists)
- South Asia arms race - is it paranoia? (BBC News).
- "Mother tongue": defined as the language of communication between parents and children and recorded of each individual.
- 1998 District Census report of Khushab. Census publication. 64. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
- "Top-Secret Kodak Moment In Space Shakes Global Security, Christian Science Monitor (21 March 2000)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- Sumra, Anwer Hussain (30 October 2013). "Sakesar a tourist spot". The Express Tribune. Pakistan. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- "Tehsil status -DAWN - National; March 24, 2007". archives.dawn.com. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
- Tehsils & Unions in the District of Khushab - Government of Pakistan Archived 2008-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)