History
Jauharabad was developed in 1953 under a master plan. Because of its planned design, open spaces and wide avenues, the district headquarters of Khushab District was shifted to Jauharabad from Khushab city. Jauharabad is one of the few planned urban settlements in Pakistan (others being Faisalabad, Islamabad and Gwadar), which have been developed from scratch under an urban master plan.The famous Islamic thinker and scholar and Jewish convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad (formerly Leopold Weiss), author of The Road to Mecca, The Message of the Qur'an and Principles of State and Government in Islam, stayed at Jauharabad in the 1950s, residing at the bungalow of the town's prominent resident, Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan who, on the advice of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, had established the Dar ul Islam Trust Institutes first in Pathankot, India and, after Pakistan's independence, in Jauharabad.
Geography
Jauharabad lies at the confluence of the Thal Desert and the Potohar in flat agricultural territory immediately south of the Salt Range, marking the end of the Pothohar Plateau and the start of the Punjab plains. The Jhelum River passes 7 km southeast of Jauharabad and on the west of Jauharabad lies the Thal Desert. On the east of Jahaurabad is the Khushab Reserve Forest spread overapproximately 4 km2.
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Situated roughly in the strategic centre of Pakistan’s east-west axis (which was one of the reasons for it originally being selected as the site of Pakistan’s federal capital in the early 1950s), Jauharabad lies within close proximity of some of Pakistan’s most important strategic installations:- 45 km east of Jauharabad lies Pakistan’s largest air force base, PAF Base Mushaf and the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), both of which are in Sargodha
- 30 km south of Jauharabad lies the Khushab Nuclear Complex
- 42 km north-east of Jauharabad lies PAF Base Sakesar, one of the primary air defence radar stations in Pakistan
Languages
As per the 1998 census of Pakistan, the following are the demographics of the Khushab district, by spoken language:- Punjabi language: 96%
- Other: 4%
- Shah puri (Main dialect of the district)
- Pothohari (Northern Hilly Side),
- Thalochi (southern areas)
- Majhi or standard (in cities),
- Jandali (western areas near Mianwali).
- Urdu is mother tongue of few people but being national language is spoken and understood by sizeable population.
- English is also understood and spoken by the educated elite.
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