Sohawa is a town in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and is the capital of the Sohawa Tehsil, which is an administrative subdivision of

Jhelum District Jhelum District () is a district, located partially on the Pothohar Plateau and in Indus Plain, in Punjab, Pakistan. Jhelum is one of the oldest districts of Punjab. It was established on 23 March 1849. Jhelum is known for providing many sold ...

in Punjab. Sohawa has grown from a small village in 1947 to a large town in 2014, with major developments in transport, education and health. Most of the bureaucrats, army officers, judges and high officials belong to Sohawa areas. It is also the death place of Muhammad of Ghor. Tomb of Shihab

Etymology

The etymology of Sohawa has not been proven, but

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

suggests ''Soo Hawa'', which means "100 winds".

Geography

Sohawa is in the north-western part of

Jhelum district Jhelum District () is a district, located partially on the Pothohar Plateau and in Indus Plain, in Punjab, Pakistan. Jhelum is one of the oldest districts of Punjab. It was established on 23 March 1849. Jhelum is known for providing many sold ...

, Punjab, on the subcontinental

Grand Trunk Road Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...

(GT Road) between

Gujar Khan Gujar Khan ( ; ) is a city in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is also the headquarters of Gujar Khan Tehsil, the largest tehsil of Punjab by land area. Gujar Khan is located approximately southeast of Islamabad, the capital of Pak ...

and Dina. The geographical coordinates of its weather station are 33° 07' 15" North, 73° 25' 34". One sign of Sohawa is the toll plaza by the name of 'Tarakki' on the GT Road. The bazaars of Sohawa attract people from nearby villages; these bazaars are located on both sides of the GT Road.

Sociology

The population mostly consists of different tribes. One of the major professions in Sohawa is service in the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

. A large number of people of Sohawa are settled in foreign countries particularly Western Europe and Middle East. The main source of livelihood of the people is agriculture.

In the media

In mid 2014, Sohawa was featured on national media including

Geo News Geo News () is a old technology foundation Pakistani news channel owned by the Jang Media Group. It was launched in October 2002 as the news and current affairs program was under its flagship channel Geo TV, which later in 2004, Geo TV decided ...

Dawn News Dawn News HD is a Pakistani 24-hour Urdu news channel. Based in Karachi, the station is a subsidiary of Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (PHPL), Pakistan's largest English-language media group. The test transmission of the station occurr ...

and other top news channel because of newly discovered Ghauri XI oil reserves in its suburbs.

Health

The main hospital for Sohawa and surrounding rural areas is the 80-bed Tehsil Headquarters Hospital but it has only basic facilities. For more serious health problems people have to go to larger hospitals in major cities such as

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...

. There is also a rural health center in Domeli and twelve basic health units (Adrana, Jandala, Nagial, Gurah Uttam Singh, Kohali, Phulray Syedan, Surgdhan, Dewan-e-Hazoori, Pail Mirza, Karounta, Panchor and Banth). Additionally there three government rural dispensaries (Lehri, Gaddar, and Baragawah) and four rural dispensaries (Dial, Hayal, Pari Darweza and Dhairy Bakrala).

References

Footnotes

Notations

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120209043508/http://www.nrb.gov.pk/lg_election/union.asp?district=12&dn=Jhelum

External links

Government of Punjab
{{Neighbourhoods of Jhelum Jhelum District Populated places in Jhelum District