Rawalakot ( ur, ) is the capital of Poonch district in

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 K ...

, Pakistan. It is located in the Pir Panjal Range.

History

Along with Pallandri, Rawalakot was the focal point of the 1955 Poonch uprising. It was led by the local Sudhans who disapproved of

Sher Ahmed Khan Colonel Sher Ahmed Khan (1902 at Pallandri, Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir - 1972) (Now in Sudhnuti, Azad Kashmir), was one of the guerrilla commanders of the Azad Kashmir Movement and also served as the President of Azad Kashmir. He was known as ...

and wanted Sardar Ibrahim Khan, as well as democratic reforms.

2005 Kashmir earthquake

On Saturday, 8 October 2005 a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed 73,338 people and left up to three million homeless in Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir. The city of Rawalakot, the capital of the Poonch, suffered significant damage from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake; although most of the buildings were left standing, many of them were rendered uninhabitable, and some of the population was left homeless. Most of the buildings have been reconstructed. 2005 Earthquake damage, Rawalakot

Location

Rawalakot is located at

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

33°51'32.18"N,

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

73° 45'34.93"E and an

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of 5374 feet. Rawalakot is approximately from Kahuta and about from the city of Rawalpindi,

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 ...

. It is linked with Rawalpindi and

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 ...

via Goyain Nala and Tain roads. Via Kotli Satiyan and Kahuta. It is also linked with Rawalpindi via

Sudhnuti The Sudhanoti District (also spelled Sudhanuti District) ( ur, ), meaning the "heartland of Sudhans" or "Sudhan heartland"), is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan's dependent territory of Azad Kashmir. The Sudhanoti District is bounded on the ...

Transport

Travel routes

Construction of the Ghazi-e-Millat road (also known as Guoien Nala road) between Rawalakot and

Azad Pattan Azad Pattan ( ur, ), previously Lachman Pattan, is a village near Palandri in the Sudhanoti District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located on border of Punjab and Azad Kashmir on bank of Guoien stream. The Azad Pattan bridge on the Jhelum Ri ...

has considerably reduced travel time, it is main road which is connecting

/Rawalpindi to Rawalakot city.

Road links

The road passing through Pakgali-Paniola connects Rawalakot to

Bagh Bagh ( fa, باغ, link=no, meaning "garden") may refer to: Places India * Bagh Caves in Madhya Pradesh, India * Bagh, Dhar, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India Iran * Bagh, Ardabil, a village in Ardabil Province * Bagh, Larestan, a village ...

, Rawalpindi and Muzaffarabad. The alternative road that passes through Mohri Farman Shah, Shuja Abad is the shortest possible road link that connects Rawalakot city with Bagh. Murree, Islamabad and Rawalpindi are situated in a southward direction from Rawalakot. The town has another road link with Kotli. Rawalakot Airport is non-operational and it has been closed since 1998.

Climate

Rawalakot features a subtropical highland climate under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

due to high

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

. The weather of Rawalakot is quite erratic. However, the climate of Rawalakot can be divided into four seasons, namely spring, summer, autumn and winter. Rawalakot has mild to warm temperatures during the spring and autumn, humid temperatures during the summer and cold to snowy during the winter. The temperature can rise as high as during the mid-summer months and drop below during the winter months. Snowfall occurs in December and January, while most rainfall occurs during the monsoon season stretching from July to September.Pakistan Meteorological Department Kaleem Abbasi, 15 Aug, 2014

Demography

Rawalakot has an urban population of 56,006 people according to the 2017 census which rose to 56,590 in 2018.

Notes

References

External links

*
Britannica – Azad Kashmir
{{Tehsils of Azad Kashmir 2005 Kashmir earthquake Populated places in Poonch District, Pakistan Tehsils of Poonch District