Kohistan (Urdu: کوہستان‎, Pashto: اباسين کوهستان‎) Kohistan, a Persian word meaning “Land of mountains”  Kohistan means the land of mountains. In fact there is hardly any plain area. It could be correctly described as all mountains dotted with land.

Kohistan District is a district in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town of Dassu is the district headquarters. The area is also called Abasin Kohistan or Indus Kohistan, after the Indus River that runs through the middle of the district. Covering an area of 7,492 square kilometres (2,893 sq mi); it had a population of 472,570 at the 1998 Census. Geographically, Kohistan stretches from the border with Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in the east and north to Swat and Shangla in the west, and Mansehra and Battagram District in the south.

In 2014, the government bifurcated Kohistan District into Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan, carving out one more administrative unit, each of the new districts are subdivided into two tehsils (subdivisions):

Upper Kohistan

Dassu Tehsil (district capital)

Kandia Tehsil

Lower Kohistan

Palas Tehsil

Pattan Tehsil (district capital)

The People The tribes of Swat Kohistan are divided into two groups, Manzar and Money.Among these, tribes of Dubair, Kandia and Ranolia belong to the Manzar groupand those of Banked, Jijal, Pattan, Kayal and Seo belong to Money group. The main tribes on the left bank are Koka Manke Khel and Darram Khel. They are of cognate origin and do not convey clear territorial division.

The district has one of the lowest literacy rates in Pakistan, about 10% of the people can read and write. Education is spreading though. The population of Kohistan District according to 1998 census report is 472,579 with an average annual growth rate of 0.09%. The District of Kohistan is one of the less developed areas of the country.

Important Places Supat Valley situated on the east southern side of Jalkot, which touches Kaghan and Narran valleys of Manshera District, is an important site for tourism. It remains covered with snow from September to April. The valley consists of vast plains and that is why horse race competitions among the people are held there. It is also famous for different colorful flowers in spring. “Seo Mosque” is situated in village Seo at a distance of 10 km from Dassu Tehsil towards north and is centuries old. Its wooden pillars and beams are decorated by carving pictures and flowers on them.

The only route for commerce and trade from the district is the Karakorum Highway. The main trading centers are Dubair Bazar, Pattan Bazar, Komila Bazar and Shatial Bazar. Roads The Karakorum highway runs from one end of the district to the other. The High Way enters the District Kohistan about eight kilometers up from Besham. It runs along the right bank up to Komila (85 km) and the left bank (82 km).The KKH leaves the District about five kilometers ahead of Besham. Its total length in the district is 167 km and it is 28 to 33 feet wide.

The major crops grown in district are Maize, Wheat, and Rice while Pulses i.e. Mot, Kot, Red Beans and Potatoes are also grown. Farming and growing livestock are the main focus of the economy there. Growing timber has also become more important in recent years. All essential commodities like vegetables, food, grain, flour and all the other agriculture and industrial goods are imported to these markets from Swat ,Manshera.

The district is warm in summer except some areas of high altitude and very cold in winter. There is heavy snowfall and temperature generally falls below freezing point.

KARWAN-E-KHAIR WELFARE ORGANIZATION

Information Technology “ Computer Centre”  & Linguistic Centre

Kohistan Computer Centre October 09-2018: ALHAM DU LILLAH After Road travelling 36 hours KARACHI to KOHISTAN Karwan-e-Khair Established a Computer Centre at KOHISTAN, Village Jijal, Post Off. Ranolia, Tehsil Pattan, District Kohistan, KPK.