Dina (Punjabi and ur, ), is a city in

Jhelum District Jhelum District (Urdu and pnb, ), is partially in Pothohar Plateau, and partially in Punjab Plain of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Jhelum is one of the oldest districts of Punjab. It was established on 23 March 1849. According to the 1998 ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

the province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Dina is one of the oldest towns in Punjab. According to the lun in 2017

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, the Dina had a population of 56,885 of which 31.48% were urban. Dina provided many soldiers to the British and later the

Pakistan armed forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

and is known as ''city of soldiers'' or ''land of martyrs and warriors''.

Location

Dina is located near

Pothohar Plateau The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan, located between Indus River and the Jhelum River, forming the northern part of Punjab. Geography Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the ...

, in the north of the Punjab province. It is heart of Jhelum district. It is bordered by

Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...

and

Sohawa Sohawa is a town in the Punjab province of Pakistan, and is the capital of the Sohawa Tehsil, which is an administrative subdivision of Jhelum District in Punjab. Sohawa has grown from a small village in 1947 to a large town in 2014, with majo ...

to its south, Rohtas City to its south west,

Garh Mahal Garh Mahal is a village and union council of Jhelum District in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is part of Jhelum Tehsil.

to its south and east, Mirpur to its east,

Chakwal Chakwal ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

to its west,

Mangla Cantt Mangla Cantonment is an army garrison near Mangla Dam in Jhelum District of Pakistan. The town of Mangla and Mangla dam are located across the Jhelum river in Pakistan administered Kashmir. The antonment has an area of 1.2 km² with a population ...

to its north east, and

Domeli Domeli is a village and union council of Sohawa Tehsil, Jhelum District in the Punjab province of Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the wor ...

to its north. The district of Jhelum stretches from the

River Jhelum A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

almost to the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

. Nearby villages include

Mota Gharbi Mota Gharbi () is a village in the Dina Tehsil in District Jhelum in Punjab, Pakistan. Geography Mota Gharbi is a village in the Dina Tehsil in District Jhelum in Punjab, Pakistan. The village has a population of about 1,771 and contains 293 ho ...

Khukha Khukha is a village in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a Union Council, an administrative subdivision, of Jhelum TehsilGaggar Kalan,

Gaggar Khurd Khukha is a village in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a Union Council, an administrative subdivision, of Jhelum Tehsil Natain Natain is a village located in Dina Tehsil of Jhelum District in the province of Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical regio ...

, Khojki, Dhok Padhal and Dhok Gujral. Dina is about far from

and about far from

northwest of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, southeast of

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

and around southeast of

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

, at the junction of roads, one leading to the

Mangla Dam The Mangla Dam ( ur, ) is a multipurpose dam situated on the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir. It is the sixth-largest dam in the world. The village of Mangla, which sits at the mouth of the dam, serves as its namesake. I ...

and Mirpur, and another to

Rohtas Fort Rohtas Fort or Rotas Ghur ( Punjabi, ur, ; ''Qila Rohtas'') is a 16th-century fortress located near the city of Dina in Jhelum district of the Punjab province of Pakistan. An Afghan warlord turned Padishah, Sher Shah Suri built the fort, w ...

and

Tilla Jogian Tilla Jogian ( Punjabi and ur, ) is an abandoned Hindu temple and monastic complex located on the summit of the ''Tilla Jogian'' mountain in the Salt Range of Pakistan's Punjab province. The complex was the most important centre for Hindu '' j ...

mountain. The historic

Grand Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, 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. ...

passes through the centre of the city.

Economy

There is limited industrial activity including woodworking, ironworking and marble processing. The main source of income for residents is

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wit ...

s from relatives working in the UK and the Gulf states. Many residents join the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

. Most of the people's are

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

& Jutt. There is some

small-scale agriculture A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

with wheat and pulses as the main crops. Salt is quarried at the Mayo mine in the

Salt Range The Salt Range ( pnb, ) is a mountain range in the north of Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends along the south of the Potohar Plateau and the north of the Jhelum River. The ...

hills. The chief centre of the salt trade is

Pind Dadan Khan Pind Dadan Khan (P.D. Khan), a city in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan, is the capital of Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil, which is an administrative subdivision of the district. Location It is located at 32°35'16N 73°2'44E on the bank of River Jhelu ...

. There are two coal mines in the district that supply the North-Western Railway. They are the only working coal mines in Punjab province.

History

Dina is the nearest town to the

, Mirpur which is rich in archaeological sites of the ancient

Soanian The Soanian culture is a prehistoric technological culture from the Siwalik Hills in the Indian subcontinent. Quote: “Soanian and Soanian‐like assemblages are known throughout the entire Siwalik or Sub‐ Himalayan region, from Pakistan to n ...

culture.

Culture

The main languages spoken in Dina are Punjabi and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Zamir Jafri and the Indian poet

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

. Gulzar wrote the following lines for his birthplace:

Transport

The district is crossed by the main line of the North-Western railway of

Pakistan Railways Pakistan Railways ( ur, ) is the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan. Founded in 1861 and headquartered in Lahore, it owns of track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger servi ...

, and traversed along the south by a branch line. The district us also crossed by main road N5.

Education

* Farabi Foundation school * Punjab College * Reformer School System * NLC * Fauji Foundation School * Bukhari College * Govt. Higher Secondary School * Govt. College * Govt. Fatima Jinnah Degree College For Women * Govt. High School Mian Mohalla *Saracens Foundation High School *

The Educators The Beaconhouse School System is a private school system mostly operating throughout Pakistan.Dar e Arqam * Aspire Collage Gt road Dina

Notable people

, Indian film director, lyricist and poet *

Fawad Chaudhry Fawad Ahmed Hussain Chaudhry (born 7 April 1970) is a Pakistani politician and a senior member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who was Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, in office since 14 April 2021 to 10 April 2022. Previously ...

, Former Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Pakistan) *

Chaudhry Altaf Hussain Chaudhry Altaf Hussain ( Punjabi and ur, ), was a Pakistani politician who served as the 19th Governor of Punjab, Pakistan in 1993 and again from 1994 and 1995. Previously, he had been member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 1956 ...

, former Governor of Punjab and member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

* Zamir Jafri, poet

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Jhelum District Jhelum District