Pallandri, Azad Kashmir.

                             This is view of small town of Pallandri from a nearby top during summer. 

Let me take you on a road trip to Pallandri, District Sudhnoti Azad Kashmir from Islamabad , Pakistan. Actually, I have no intention to tell each detail of complete trip in just one post. Surely , you will be tired. You can imagine about the roads. I think , it’s just like a spiral helix. Hopefully, I am not exaggerating :) . I will just share few pictures from Kashmir when I was travelling from Islamabad, Pakistan. In above picture you can clearly see fog covering whole town. There is rain almost every day and when weather is clear we have this scene. I have joined few pictures of my trip that you can check here. 

This is Flag of Azad Kashmir. White strips represent four rivers of Kashmir and yellow part indicates occupied territory. 

Introduction:

Let me tell you something about Pallandri. Pallandri a small town of District Sudhnoti, Azad Kashmir. The name of district is because of majority of people in the district belong to Sudhan tribe. Pallandri was a Tehsil of district Poonch before 1995. Azad Kashmir is divided in eight districts. Pallandri is at the distance of 97 km from the capital Islamabad, Pakistan via Kahutta road. It takes two hours on local transport to reach Pallandri city but if you are driving yourself then you will be in Pallandri from Islamabad after 1 hour and 15 minutes. Total area of Pallandri is 569 km². The total Population of district is 242,000. (70% of total population lives in rural areas and only 30% is living in urban areas. Percentage of male is about 51% whereas there are 49% females in the district. It is situated at the height of 4500 feet from sea level.

Climate:

The climate is moderate  with the temperature variation from 20-30 C in summer and -4 to 20 C in winter. We can also see some snow on nearby hills during winter. In my whole life whole Pallandri was covered with snow just twice. 

Landscape:

The district has hilly landscape stretching across from one end to the other. The boundary between Pakistan and district Sudhnoti is defined by the Jhelum River.Pallandri has soothing green scenery to offer to its visitors. Whole district is covered with green high mountains with tall and ever green pine and cedar trees. Unfortunately pine trees catch fire almost every year during summer. This fire breaks out just because of laziness or you can say because of irresponsibility of people. Sometimes people try to burn the needle like dried leaves of pines and ultimately the forest is set on fire or sometimes if someone throws a burning cigarette than trees have to pay the price. Each year the forest is damaged on large scale. So cigarette is injurious for plants as well. 

Coming back to beauty the view is alluring with its beautiful and blooming springs. If you get a chance then visit during spring. Whole district is colored by nature. Sides of the river are full of colors with so many wild bushes and flowering trees and plants. Many colorful mountains stand high above you. You can enjoy the music of flowing water from peaks. The natural scenery is enough to take you away from depression of this busy life. You will fall in love with water-falls and clear blue sky. All the year around the weather is very nice and pleasant. You can feel the freshness of cool breeze that below in the summer.

Historical Places:

You can check here the link of Baral Fort , Bawali , Afzalabad tower, Islampura Temple are among the few places to visit.

Water Resources:

Mostly people have hand pumps to pump water up to the surface. At some places there are natural streams and wells (small). Many women also carry water from far of places from natural springs for drinking. For household usage the rainy water is accumulated in large tanks.

River Jhelum:

We have to take this road in picture(left) named Kahutta road to reach our destination. The road is metalled. The bridge on River Jhelum is called Azad Pattan bridge that we have to cross to enter Pakistan or Azad Kashmir. The picture on the right  side is showing the river. During summer Glaciers and Ice on mountains melt and a lot of water comes in rivers and makes the water muddy. The water in river Jhelum is never clear but gray as it is full of sand that it brings with it from long distances. You can see many people collecting sand from both edges of river that is used for construction purposes. The rivers covers the length of 725 km. 

I took the picture on right from here to show the color of river. The picture (left) is taken from here to give you an idea about the road. The road is properly maintained and is in good condition.  
You can see few more pictures here of River Jhelum and the road that is travelling with the river on both sides. One side is Kashmir and the other is in Pakistan. You can check the details of the river here. You will be wondering why I have shared so many links and pictures of river. I love this river from my childhood as I have always seen it. You will not believe the moment I catch the sight of river near Azad Pattan, I do not turn around and continuously watch the beauty, calmness, smoothness of the river till the moment it disappears. 

Rest Houses:

There is just one rest house that was build long ago by Azad Kashmir government. Not even a single rest house was  built after that. Many think, what’s the reason that we can find so many resorts and rest houses in other cities of Kashmir but not in Pallandri? I believe that Pallandri is closest to Islamabad so people just go during day and prefer to stay in Islamabad. There are just a few hotels that are recently built  privately by people.

Unfortunately, I believe that District Sudhnoti is behind all others districts of Azad Kashmir. The reason is again the same as it is closed to Islamabad and mostly the families from Pallandri move to Islamabad when it comes to jobs or education of kids. It is in easy approach and no one thinks for the development of Pallandri. Mostly poor people are residing Pallandri. 

Education:

There is one military high school named Cadet College in Pallandri for Boys. Here you can check Cadet college website.  There are many government and private schools and colleges for both females and males. There is one private university in Trarkhal, you can check website of Mohi-ud-Din Islamic University. 

There are many websites that give details about different places and picnic spots in Kashmir. You can check Kashmir at a Glance here.

Another website from government of Azad Kashmir tourism department can be checked here.

There are details of livelihood , livestock and stuff on different websites but I do not want to go towards that.  People of Pallandri are very hospitable and helpful. The history of Indo-Pak  is familiar with the fact that the people of Pallandri are very brave. There are many names who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Kashmir. From all parts of the Kashmir , largest number of soldiers in Pakistan army are from Pallandri. They are living peacefully and respect each other’s freedom. 

Famous Personalities:

Different personalities of Pallandri have gained respect through out the world. To name a few;General Aziz Khan, Dr. manzoor husain Khan, Sheikh-ul-Hadees Molauna Yousaf Khan, Khan Muhamamd Khan, Col. Sher Ahmad Khan, Gazi Sher Dil( Gazi-e-Kashmir), Captain Abdullah Khan  who struggled hard throughout their lives for betterment of the people. 

I love Pallandri as its my home town and I wish that it will be a prosperous city and many tourist will come to visit in future. Mostly people are coming from all over Pakistan who have admitted their children in military Cadet College Pallandri. 

I feel that you must have got some information about Pallandri with its beauty. That was my goal. Even if not fully accomplished but I tried. 

View during winter. 

Pallandri; it's green, refreshing, soothing, peaceful, safe and windy. I wish the peace, cool breeze of pine trees and beauty of Pallandri will be ever lasting. 

Now it's your turn to tell me; 

Is there any place that you want to visit and love the most? Why do you love that particular place???

Image of Flag and map is taken from: wikipedia.org

First and last picture of Pallandri is taken from a friend on facebook. 

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