The Jhelum City situated on the
right bank of the river Jhelum, here crossed by a bridge of the
North-Western railway, 103 m. N. of Lahore. It is a modern town with river
and railway trade (principally in timber from Kashmir), boat-building
(long time back) and cantonments for a cavalry and four infantry
regiments.
The district of Jhelum stretches from
the river Jhelum almost to the Indus. Salt is quarried at the Mayo mine in
the Salt Range. There are two coal-mines, the only ones worked in the
province, from which the North-Western railway obtains part of its supply
of coal. The chief centre of the salt trade is Pind Dadan Khan. The
district is crossed by the main line of the North-Western railway, and
also traversed along the south by a branch line.
The river Jhelum is navigable
throughout the district, which forms the south-eastern portion of a rugged
Himalayan spur, extending between the Indus and Jhelum to the borders of
the Sind Sagar Doab. Its scenery is very picturesque, although not of so
wild a character as the mountain region of Rawalpindi to the north, and is
lighted up in places by smiling patches of cultivated valley. The backbone
of the district is formed by the Salt Range, a treble line of parallel
hills running in three long forks from east to west throughout its whole
breadth.
The range rises in bold precipices,
broken by gorges, clothed with brushwood and traversed by streams which
are at first pure, but soon become impregnated with the saline matter over
which they pass. Between the line of hills lies a picturesque table-land,
in which the beautiful little lake of Kallar Kahar nestles amongst the
minor ridges. North of the Salt Range, the country extends upwards in an
elevated plateau, diversified by countless ravines and fissures, until it
loses itself in tangled masses of Rawalpindi mountains. In this rugged
tract cultivation is rare and difficult, the soil being choked with saline
matter. At the foot of the Salt Range, however, a small strip of level
soil lies along the banks of the Jhelum, and is thickly dotted with
prosperous villages.
The drainage of the district is
determined by a low central watershed running north and south at right
angles to the Salt Range. The waters of the western portion find their way
into the Sohan, and finally into the Indus; those of the opposite slope
collect themselves into small torrents, and empty themselves into the
Jhelum.
The history of the district dates
back to the semi-mythical period of the Mahabhdrata. Hindu tradition
represents the Salt Range as the refuge of the five Pandava brethren
during the period of their exile, and every salient point in its scenery
is connected with some legend of the national heroes. Modern research has
fixed the site of the conflict between Alexander and Porus as within
Jhelum district. After this event, we have little information with regard
to the condition of the district until the Mahommedan conquest brought
back literature and history to Upper India. The Janjuahs and Jats, who now
hold the Salt Range and its northern plateau respectively, appear to have
been the earliest inhabitants.
The Ghakkars seem to represent an
early wave of conquest from the east, and they still inhabit the whole
eastern slope of the district; while the Awans, who now cluster in the
western plain, are apparently later invaders from the opposite quarter.
The Ghakkars were the dominant race �at the period of the first Mahommedan
incursions, and long continued to retain their independence.
During the flourishing period of the
Mogul dynasty, the Ghakkar chieftains were prosperous and loyal vassals of
the house of Baber; but after the collapse of the Delhi Empire Jhelum
fell, like its neighbours, under the sway of the Sikhs. In 1765 Gujar
Singh defeated the last independent Ghakkar prince, and reduced the wild
mountaineers to subjection. His son succeeded to his dominions, until
1810, when he fell before the irresistible power of Ranjit Singh. In 1849
the district passed, with the rest of the Sikh territories, into the hands
of the British.
The British, after annexation of
Punjab in 1949 from Sikhs, established administration at district level
and Jhelum District, which originally was covering large area inclusive of
Pindigheb and territory upto River Indus, was delimited later to include
sub-districts (Tehsils) of Jhelum, Chakwal and Pind Dadan Khan, with
District Head Quarters shifting from P.D. Khan to Jhelum.
During World War I, Jhelum provided
maximum number of Soldiers as a result of which the British recruited very
extensively from Jhelum, till their last days of rule. First Victoria
Cross, the highest award for gallantry was earned by Subedar Khuda Dad
Khan during World War I. Later its equivalent (Nishan-e-Haider) of
Pakistan has been won by Major (Shaheed) Muhammad Akram during our war of
1971.