184. Khalsa High School, Rawalpindi ! (Govt. Muslim Higher Secondary School, No. 1, Saidpur Road, Rawalpindi)
The Sikh community, before partition, built many schools in this region to promote education, and their efforts deserve high appreciation and praise. A couple of them I have already visited. One such school is formerly Khalsa High School, Rawalpindi. It is a very famous school and its history too is widely known, due to the…
183. Gurdwara Akalgarh, Rawalpindi! (Govt. Muslim Elementary School, Gulshanabad.)
Before 1947, Sikhs formed a significant proportion of the population of Rawalpindi. According to the 1941 census, they constituted 17.32% of the population, while Hindus made up 33.72% and Muslims, being the largest community, 43.79%, out of a total population of 185,042. Naturally, all these communities had their places of worship in the city, including…
182. Bedi Palace (Bedi Mahal), Kallar Syedan, Rawalpindi!
In the beautiful region of Potohar in northern Punjab, there exists a small town amidst lush green fields and low hills. It is called Kallar Syedan. Before independence, it was likely referred to simply as Kallar. Its claim to fame, and to a place in history, lies in a magnificent haveli which, even after more…
181. Govt. MC Boys Higher Secondary School, Gujar Khan. (Former Khalsa High School)
The Sikh Empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh comprised Pakistani Punjab (excluding Bahawalpur), Bist Doab in Indian Punjab, Kashmir, parts of Himachal Pradesh, and a large portion of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This entire region fell to the British Indian Empire in 1849. The population of this region was largely Muslim, though Sikhs and Hindus also formed significant…
180. Two Temples and A Samadhi in Gulyana, district Rawalpindi.
Rawalpindi is a district in north Punjab, and geographically it is part of the famous Potohar Plateau, which has an ancient prehistoric archaeological history. Tens of thousands of years-old human settlements have been found here. For at least three millennia, it has been a centre of famous civilizations, Gandhara being one of the most famous…
179. Behram’s Baradari – Attock Khurd
Attock Khurd is a historic town, located at one of the most strategic points in South Asia, about 100 km west of Islamabad, on the Grand Trunk Road near the Indus River. The Grand Trunk Road, as all students of history know, is the most important highway of the Indian Subcontinent and has served as…
178. Gurdwara Singh Sabha & A Temple in Chak Jhumra!
God knows what I was doing in Chak Jhumra on that summer day on July 13, 2017, and how I happened to discover this gurdwara. Now, after eight long years, I cannot recall at all. Later on, I completely forgot about it and even lost its pictures somewhere in the digital space of my computer….
177. The Attock Tomb
While traveling on the Grand Trunk Road from Rawalpindi to Peshawar, a square-shaped building at Attock Khurd immediately captures one’s attention. The structure is quite large, and its close proximity to the road makes it especially conspicuous. It is located at 33°53’53.00″N, 72°15’10.23″E, about one and a half km before the Indus River. It is interesting…
176. Two Historic Mosques at Attock Khurd (Mallah Tola).
The Grand Trunk Road, stretching from Kabul to Sonargaon (or Kolkata), is the most important road in India and one of the most famous in the world. It extends for almost 2,500 km across the great Indo-Gangetic plain. It first emerged as the main artery of the Mauryan Empire during the reign of Chandragupta (320–298…
175. Baoli of Mir Aslam Khan Khattak
I was vaguely aware of the existence of a Baoli (a stepwell) along the GT Road somewhere around Jehangira for a long time. Gradually, the picture became clearer, and I found its location on Google Earth and marked it on the map for my visit. The chance to visit it came on July 30, 2025….