Ghaseetpur Sohalian is a village in Mirpur (District of Azad Kashmir) Pakistan.

Demography

Ghaseetpur
is a village in the Khari Sharif area of

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

set between the Upper Jhelum Link Canal to the North and the River Jhelum to the South. Khari Sharif is known for housing the

shrines A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

saints known a
Pir Shah Ghazi Qalandar Damri Wali Sarkar
and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh. The village of Ghaseetpur used to sit on the banks of the River Jhelum but was moved back away from the River due to persistent flooding. In fact Ghaseet actually translates as dragging - as in dragging away from the banks of the river. The village is set between the Upper Jhelum Link Canal to the North and the River Jhelum to the South. According to the 1998 census, its population was 625. Much of the village has connections to the U.K. (United Kingdom) where a good portion of its residents reside and still retain land and homes in the village. Villagers first left for Britain during the construction of 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 ...

. The building of the dam displaced over 110,000 people who had to be relocated elsewhere. Land was distributed to these people in other parts of Kashmir and some of those affected by the dam were given work permits for Britain by the Government of Pakistan. These workers helped Britain during the Industrial revolution and mainly worked in the mills of Northern England and beyond. Some managed to pool money together and eventually started businesses and became quite wealthy. This wealth can be seen in some of the residences and ownership of land and business in Mirpur. The villagers are mainly loyal to the Barelvi sect of Islam. Although the villagers are Muslim there is a heavy influence of their

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

which comes from Sikhism and Hinduism. Weddings and other communal gatherings are undistinguishable from one that is performed in India by Hindus. The Hindu

caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

is still used in the village and dictates hierarchy. Rajputs are the main

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

of the village, which is about 95 percent. The main occupation of the residents is farming. The Monsoon which flows down from the Himalayas allows the cultivation of Rice for half the year and wheat the other half. There are many new builds in this village with some quite extravagant Villas 3 stories high. Many prominent local figures live in this particular Village and are highly respected through the region and beyond. The main Clan in the village are of the Rajput caste and have the

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

family name. This clan is at the top of the hierarchy as it also takes the ancestral name of Khan and actually has a book written about their ancient history. On the back cover of this book is the verified traced roots of this clan ending with the sons of Ali Zaman and their children most notable of these being Raja Imran Mukhtar. The Clan unanimously agrees to the status of Raja Imran as a potential

Khalifa Khalifa or Khalifah (Arabic: خليفة) is a name or title which means "successor", "ruler" or "leader". It most commonly refers to the leader of a Caliphate, but is also used as a title among various Islamic religious groups and others. Khalifa ...

of the clan. Legend also claims that this clan has a heritage that can be traced back to being the ancestral owners if the Koh-I-Noor. This dazzling diamond now sits in th
British Crown Jewels

References

Populated places in Mirpur District {{Pakistan-stub