Balakot Tehsil

Balakot Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل بالاکوٹ) is an administrative subdivision (tehsil) of Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan ^[2] Balakot is the main city of the tehsil. It was one of the towns that was devastated in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake^[3] with around 80% of the buildings there destroyed. Villages were badly affected and landslides cut off thousands of people from Balakot where relief workers had been helping the survivors.^[4]

Balakot Tehsil Urdu: تحصیل بالاکوٹ Pashto: بالاکوټ تحصیل‎
Tehsil
Area of Upper Pakhli
Coordinates: 34.883°N 73.667°E / 34.883; 73.667
Country	Pakistan
Province	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
District	Mansehra
Region	Upper Pakhli
Government
• MPA	Munir Lughmani Swati (PTI)
Population  (2017)[1]
• Total	273,089
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Number of towns	1
Number of Union Councils	16

Its population as of 2017 was 273,000.^[1] The major spoken language of the tehsil is Hindko.

Administration

Balakot Tehsil consists of 12 Union Councils:^[5]

• Balakot
• Garhi Habibullah Khan
• Garlat
• Ghanool
• Hangrai
• Kaghan
• Karnol
• Kiwai
• Mahandri
• Satbani
• Shohal Mazullah
• Talhataa
• Attershisha

Notables

• Jageerdar Wasil Khan Swati(Khan of Balakot during Sikh rule who helped Syed Ahmed Shaheed)
• Jageerdar Lal Khan Swati (Khan of Balakot during British Rule)
• Syed Qasim Shah (MNA)
• Syed Ahmed Hussain Shah(MPA)
• Mian Wali Ur Rehman (MPA)
• Munir Lughmani Swati (MPA, Advocate Supreme Court)
• Mian Zia Ur Rehman (MPA)
• Wajid Hamayun Khan Swati(Politician)