History

According to Imperial Gazetteer of India, "The origin of the name Hazara is obscure. It has been identified with Abisara, the country of Abisares, the chief of the Indian mountaineers at the time of Alexander's invasion. Dr. Stein regards it as derived from Urasa, the ancient name of PAKHLI; but a possible derivation is from Hazara-i-Karlugh, or the Karlugh legion, which was settled in this tract by Timur after his invasion of India."

The first quarter of the 18th century was miserable for the Turks because their rule came to an end due to the decay of their vitality and the increasing aggression of the Pukhtoons. The most crucial attack was that of the Swatis under the command of Syed Jalal Baba in 1703 A.D, who was a religious saint of the Pashtuns. He escaped when the Turk sultan tried to assassinate him due to his increasing popularity amongst all of the local tribes. All the tribes were furious at this assassination attempt by the sultan, so they retaliated and ousted the Turks from upper Hazara (Mansehra), Batagram and captured it. By the time Awans Jadoons ,Karlal and Tareens captured lower Hazara (Abbottabad and Haripur), the Tanolis had already established their authority over Tanol who later on founded a state named Amb.

During British rule, the region of Hazara had formed part of the Punjab province, until the western parts of that province were separated to form the new North-West Frontier Province. The areas around Abbottabad and Mansehra became the Hazara District of Peshawar Division, whilst areas to the north of this became the Hazara Tribal Agency and the Kohistan Tribal Agency. Sandwiched between Hazara Tribal Agency and the Hazara district were the small princely states of Amb and Phulra. This system of administration continued until 1950, when these two small states were incorporated into the Hazara district.

From 1955 to 1970, the North-West Frontier Province became part of West Pakistan under the One Unit policy, with the Hazara district forming part of the Peshawar division of West Pakistan. On the dissolution of West Pakistan, the Hazara district and the two tribal agencies were merged to form the new Hazara division with its capital at Abbottabad. The division was initially composed of three districts (Abbottabad, Kohistan and Mansehra) but within a few years, Haripur district was spun off from Abbotabad district and Batagram district was spun off from Mansehra district.

In 2000, administrative divisions were abolished and the fourth tier districts were raised to become the new third tier.

Geography

The division of Hazara is bounded on the north and east by the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. To the south are the Islamabad Capital Territory and the province of Punjab, whilst to the west lies the rest of the North-West Frontier Province. The river Indus runs through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division.

The capital of Hazara Division was Hazara. The total area of Hazara Division is 18013 km˛.

Demographics

Approximately three-quarters of the population speaks Hindko and most of the rest speak Pashto. Small numbers of people speak other languages, but there is considerable bilingualism and multilingualism amongst the population. The districts of Haripur and Abbottabad have higher literacy rates than most districts of the province.

The population of Hazara Division was estimated to be over 4.5 million in 2005.

The University of Hazara provides higher education to people of the region.

Transport

The division of Hazara lay close to the crossroads formed by the river Indus and the Grand Trunk Road. The Karakoram Highway began at the town of Havelian and travelled north through the division towards China via the Northern Areas.