Hindko
Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...
Mansehra District
Mansehra District is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.
It was established as a district in 1976, prior to which it was a tehsil within the former Hazara District. Two former subdivisions of Mansehra were ...
in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
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 ...
. It is a major tea city with many tea gardens. The police station was established before the
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
. At that time,
Baffa
Baffa ( ur, Pashto :بفه ) is a town, a union council and capital of Tehsil Baffa Pakhal of Mansehra District in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,
Pakistan. It lies about 15 km north of the district capital, Mansehra.
History
Baffa ...
was a police chowki of Shinkiari Police Station and the second police chowki was in
Battal
Battal is a town and a union council (an administrative subdivision) of Mansehra District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.Swati Pashtun and
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 ...
tribes, speaking
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
and
Hindko
Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...
.
Etymology
Shinkiari is a combination of two
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
words, ''shīn'' () meaning "green" and ''kyārəi'' () meaning "flowerbed".
Geography
The specialty here is drinking water that is very sweet and tasty with many digestive minerals such as Nara and Pishora. This is the main reason for the increasing population of the city. It is a very important city from its political and geographical points of view. Its topography is very level towards Lower Pakhal. It is the very first city of Pakhal. It is a junction point for Siran Valley, Konsh Valley and Baffa.
Shinkiari is located 18 km north of
Mansehra
Mansehra is a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Mansehra District. It is the 71st largest city of Pakistan and 7th largest city in the province.
The name of the city (written in Hindko, Urdu and Goj ...
city on the
Karakoram Highway
The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...
, it is located at 34°28'0N, 73°16'60E at an altitude of 1019 metres (3346 feet). Due to its strategic location Shinkiari is also a base for 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 ...
. Pakistan Junior Leaders Academy (JLA) is the army training centre for juniors. The city is a major stop for people travelling north. It is a historical city. There is very flat cultivated land for vegetables, grains, sugar cane, tobacco leaves, rice and uses for many other agricultural purposes.
Pakistan Forest Institution college was reconstructed after the earthquake of 2005 and is located just 3 km away from the city toward the Great Forest (jungle) and the same way proceeds just towards Kund Bangla.
Terrain
Shinkiari is known for cultivating the first tea garden in Pakistan because of its natural environment and terrain. One can access Kund Rest house 24 km away in the Jabori forest range over the top of the hill. This rest house was built during English empire in 1919. It was also damaged in the earthquake of 2005 and could not be rebuilt by The Government of Pakistan.
It should be administered as a tehsil due to its covered area of 14 joint union councils.