Sudhanoti District

Sudhanoti (also called Sudhan valley^[4][5] or Sudhan country^[6][7][8]) is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.^[1][9][10] The Sudhanoti District is bounded on the north and east by the Poonch District,^[11] on the south by the Kotli District, and on the west by the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. It is located 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. It is connected with Rawalpindi and Islamabad via the Azad Pattan Road. Historically, the tehsil of Sudhanoti established during the Dogra period by Raja Moti Singh as part of the larger Poonch jagir included territories that are now part of the separate Poonch District. This included towns such as Rawalakot and Khaigala, which historically lay within the greater, pre-partition Sudhanoti region.^[12]

Sudhanoti District ضلع سدھنوتی
District of Azad Kashmir administered by Pakistan[1]
A view of Cadet College Pallandri in the Sudhanoti District
Interactive map of Sudhanoti district
A map showing Sudhanoti district shaded in Yellow along with Poonch district
Coordinates (Pallandri Tehsil): 33°40′N 73°43′E
Administering country	Pakistan
Territory	Azad Kashmir
Division	Poonch Division
Headquarters	Pallandri
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner	N/A
• District Police Officer	N/A
• District Health Officer	N/A
Area
• Total	569 km2 (220 sq mi)
Population  (2017)[2]
• Total	297,584
• Density	523/km2 (1,350/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Urdu[3]
• Spoken	Pahari (Poonchi), Gujari, Pothwari
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Number of Tehsils	4
Website	sudhanoti.com

The district headquarters is the town of Pallandri. It lies at an elevation of 1,372 meters and is at a distance of 97 kilometers from Rawalpindi via the Azad Pattan Road. Pallandri is connected to Rawalakot by a 64-km metalled road.

Map of Azad Kashmir with the Sudhanoti District highlighted in red

Administrative divisions

The Sudhanoti District is divided into four tehsils:^[13]

• Baloch Tehsil
• Mang Tehsil
• Pallandri Tehsil
• Trarkhel Tehsil^[11]

History

Sudhnoti (now called Sudhanoti) was first established as a tehsil of the Poonch jagir by Raja Moti Singh, the ruler of Poonch in the second half of the 19th century. In the Dogra era, the tehsil of Sudhanoti also included the territories of the modern day Poonch district in Azad Kashmir.^[14]

Sudhanoti tehsil of Poonch Jagir of Jammu and Kashmir in 1946

Before Dogra administration, Sudhanoti was an independent tribal domain under the Sudhan chieftains^[15], who traced their origin to an Pathan leader, Jassi Khan, believed to have established rule in the region in the late medieval period. The name Sudhanoti means “land of the Sudhans.” From the 14th 15th century until the early 19th century, the Sudhans maintained control of this area with minimal external interference. In contrast, at this time, the Rathore family held jagirs in other parts of Poonch under Mughal authority, granted since 1596 by Emperor Jahangir to Siraj-ud-Din Rathore. The Sudhan Revolt of 1837 marked the end of Sudhanoti’s autonomy, as the Sikh-Dogra forces suppressed the uprising and consolidated control over the region. Only in the late 19th century did Raja Moti Singh, a Dogra ruler of Poonch, formally establish Sudhanoti as a tehsil within the Poonch jagir.^[16]

When Mughal emperor Jahangir granted Siraj-ud-Din Rathore authority over parts of Poonch in 1596, the Sudhans of Sudhanoti retained their own estates, separate from Rathore control. Throughout the Mughal and Afghan (Durrani) periods, Sudhanoti remained largely under the governance of its local chiefs, while the Rathore family ruled their Mughal-backed domains elsewhere in Poonch. This dual system meant that until the Sikh conquest of Kashmir in the early 19th century, Poonch was not a single unified polity but rather a mosaic of jagirs with Rathore rulers on one side and Sudhan chieftains on the other. Only under Sikh and later Dogra consolidation was Sudhanoti reduced to an administrative subdivision of Poonch. ^[17]

Population

The district is overwhelmingly dominated by the Sudhans,^[18] and the population of Sudhanoti was recorded as 297,584 in the 2017 Census.^[2][19]

The main native language is Pahari, spoken by an estimated 95% of the population.^[20][21]

Education

According to the Alif Ailaan Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017, Sudhanoti is ranked 34 out of 155 districts with a score of 68.85 in terms of education. For facilities and infrastructure, the district is ranked last with the very low score of 6.76.^[22]

Educational institutes include:

• Mirpur University of Science & Technology (MUST) Pallandri campus, Sudhanoti District
• Mohi-ud-Din Islamic University Nerian Sharif, a chartered university situated 125 km west of Islamabad
• University of Poonch (SM campus, Mang, Sudhanoti District)

Notable people

• Kiran Imran Dar, Member National Assembly (MNA) Pakistan
• Aziz Khan, General of the Pakistan Army and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee^[23]
• Khan Muhammad Khan, Politician and the Chairman of the War Council during the 1947 Poonch Rebellion^[24]
• Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan, Minister for Health and Finance. He was elected as a member of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly five times (in 1991, 1996, 2006, 2011, and 2016) from the Pallandri constituency and was a member of the Kashmir Council from 2001 to 2006.
• Muhammad Alauddin Siddiqui, Islamic Sufi Scholar and 2nd custodian of Nerian Sharif, Tarar Khel. He died on 3 February 2017.

See also

• Balouch, Azad Kashmir