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Hazara Division was one of the administrative subdivisions of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, forming part of the third tier of government, below the federal and provincial levels. Divisions were composed of districts which formed the fourth tier of government, but the local government reform of 2000 abolished the division as an administrative tier, making the district the new third tier of government.
History
According to Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 13, p. 76: "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 became miserable for 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 and escaped when the Turk sultan tried to assassinate him due to increasing popularity of the saint amongst all local tribes. All the tribes had got furious at this cheap step taken by sultan so they retaliated and ousted the Turks from upper Hazara (Mansehra), Batagram and captured it. While Jadoons and Tareens captured lower Hazara i.e. Abbottabad and Haripur; the Tanolis had already established their authority over Tanol who later on founded a state namely Amb state. 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 Hazara district were the small princely states of Amb and Phulra. This system of administration continued until 1950, when the two small princely 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 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 it's 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.
During the 1980's the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq tasked the Advisory Council on Islamic Ideology with finding ways to Islamicise the country. One of the proposals was the abolition of the existing four provinces and the transformation of the twenty administrative divisions into new provinces, but the proposal was never implemented. In contrast, the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, committed itself to reforming the structure of government, such that by the year 2000, administrative divisions were abolished and the fourth tier districts were raised to become the new third tier.
Geography
The division of Hazara was bounded on the north and east by the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. To the south were the Islamabad Capital Territory and the province of Punjab, whilst to the west lay the rest of the North-West Frontier Province. The river Indus ran through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division.
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.
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.
Districts
The division was composed of five districts at abolition in 2000.
See also
"Hazara Division"