Ghaseetpur Sohalian

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 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 of Sufi saints known as 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 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 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 is still used in the village and dictates hierarchy.

Rajputs are the main caste 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 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 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 the British Crown Jewels.