Swabi District
District
Location of Swabi District (highlighted in yellow) within the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
Country	Pakistan
Province	North-West Frontier Province
Capital	Swabi
Government
• District Nazim	Shahram Khan
• District Naib Nazim	Saeed Zada
Area
• Total	1,543 km2 (596 sq mi)
Population  (1998)
• Total	1,026,804
• Density	665/km2 (1,720/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Number of Tehsils	3

Swabi District (Template:Lang-ps,Template:Lang-ur) lies between the Indus River and Kabul River, in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Its residents are referred to as 'Swabva'l.' It is the fourth most populous district of the province. The Mandanr Yusufzai subsection of the Yousafzai clan of the Pukhtoons form a majority of the districts population.

Tobacco is a cash crop of Swabi, along with vegetables, wheat, sugar cane and maize. Its climate is well suited for citrus in particular, but many other fruits like watermelon, peaches and apricots are also grown there.

It also boasts one of the most prestigious institutions of Pakistan, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology located in village Topi.

A six lane motorway connecting Islamabad with Peshawar passes through Swabi District with an access interchange at Village Ambaar. Swabi, also commonly known as the "land of Yousafzai Eagles", has produced a number of great personalities, which has influenced various aspects of Pakistan, like Politics, Literature, Sports, Defence, Education and much more. Great Pakistanis, like Captain Kernal Sher Khan Shaheed (Nishan e Haider) who got matyrdom during "Kargil War" borned here. Similarly Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayum Khan (the founder of Islamia College Peshawer) Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar (the founder of Caliphate Movement in British India) V.P. Singh (the seventh Prime Minister of India) Abdul Qadir (former test cricketer and Gogli Boweler) and Moin Akhtar (great comedian and Compere) were the prominent Pakistanis borned at Swabi.

Swabi contains many important archaeological sites; it was part of the Gandhara civilization. Alexander the Great crossed river Indus where the village of Hund now lies on its right bank. Hund is an archaeological treasure and been the capital of the Hindu and Turk Shahi for nearly three hundred years. Archaeological sites are found all over the Swabi and they are great tourist attractions.^[1]

Rani Ghat is another start of the Gandhara archaeological site located further deep in the mountainous area. Rani Ghat is the famous historical palace on the top of mountain used by the Queen of that era. She was famous for buying the fresh air coming from Swabi side. She paid the villagers for clean air—they were not allowed to pollute it by blowing the crops in the air for cleaning purpose. The ruins are still a famous place for visitors. As a part of the origin of Buddhist Gandhara civilisation it has also attracted re-construction funds from Japanese research institutes. With the help of Japanese funds the local NGO Shewa Educated Social Workers Association (SESWA) built a walkway to the historical sites and built fences to protect the area. It also built a mountain resthouse on Baga mountain which is a popular tourist site. This area attracted many tourists including Japanese, who came here for studies in the ancient times to learn about Buddhism.

Aurel Stein recorded in his survey of the Mahaban range "it remains for me to explain the opinion to which I have been led as regards the character and identity of this remarkable site. The nature of the ruins described and the remains they have furnished, makes it clear beyond all doubt; that they mark the position of a Buddhist sanctuary possessed of shrines and monastic establishments ^[2]

Today almost the whole population is Pakhtun of the Yusufzai tribe, there are also Utmanzai and Tanoli present in district, however even today Hindus and Sikhs live in some areas of Swabi.

Swabi is famous for Yusuf Khan and Sherbano, a famous folk Pashtun love story. Visitors come to the village of Shera Ghund and climb the mountain located in the town of Kalu Khan at the Mountain Karamar to visit the tomb of Yousaf Khan. Gadoon Amazai is one of the most popular places for tourists, especially the village of Mangal Chai.

Kund park, which lies on the banks of the rivers Indus and Kabal, is located in town of Tordher. Tordher is the second leading trading city after Swabi in the district. It has a population of nearly 50,000 people. There are 18 primary schools and three high schools. Another tourist area is Ghazi-Bharota Dam, which is near Topi and Tarbela Dam. Mahaban Hill in Gadoon has a scenic beauty, like Swat and other hilly areas. Pir Galai resort is here, 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above sea level. From here one can see Mansehra, Buner and Kaghan hills.

The Afghan Refugee camp was established more than 20 years ago when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and five million Afghanis fled to Pakistan for shelter. This was the biggest camp in the country. Most of the refugees speaking the same language and culture had little problem settling down. But the huge flow of arms (confiscated from Soviet soldiers during the war), together with the rise in drug smuggling from Afghanistan and theft had become great challenges for the local population. The local people wished to have peace in Afghanistan so that refugees could leave as soon as possible. This camp is also called Maneri Camp.

Two types of games are played in Swab. Local and ancient games include Maily, Makha, Kabaddi, Cock Fighting, Dog Fighting, Horse Racing, Asses, Akor, Gulu Dandai, Bilorai and Pat Patonay, koda etc.

The popular modern games being played are cricket and football. A famous player in cricket, Ibrahim Shah, belongs to Village Kunda. In football, Maneri is the defending champion of all district swabi football championship. They got wonderful players which are capable to represent the national team of Pakistan. Swabi is considered as one of the best volleyball nurseries in the country. Many of the national team players are from this district such as former National Volleyball Team Captain Raheem, belongs to village Zaida.

Makha, a type of archery, is the traditional game of Swabi, in which different villages take part. In this game a long bow and an arrow made from bamboo stick are used. Instead of a tip, the arrow has a saucer shaped distal end called Tubray. The Makha game has a famous rivalry between the two villages Mangal Chai and Channi of the Gadoon.

Kabbadi is one of the most famous sports of the area.

Koda is one of the game which is played through small round shaoe stones one of the hot favorite game of swabiwal in ancient times still it is played in Maneri Bala and Payan. During the game there is a lot of crowd n pushto traditional music dulkay is played during tournaments.

People of Swabi have a great love for Sports. With addition to local sports, Swabi people also made their name on National and International basis. The local sports represent the culture of Swabi, However, Cricket, Valley ball, and football are the national games which are played in Swabi. The world famous googly bowler Abdual Qadir Khan belongs to Swabi. He has proven records in his career. Moheen khan is also related to the international world cricket. He was wicket keeper and was considering a good all-rounder. The young generation with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, Zohaib Ali Tariq and Ahmad Ali Tariq played from Abbottabad Club and subsequently played in different counties abroad. The two IT graduated brothers used their IT techniques and cricket skills to discovered efficient techniques for twenty twenty. Zohaib is left hand fast bowler played in Australia. He did not play on International basis but always on the top list. He quit cricket and concentrated to his IT business. He made different software to UK counties to improve the skills and techniques in the world of twenty twenty. Most of the Software’s are copy righted under the different licence and agreement.

Swabi is home of dozens of streams and two great rivers, the Indus and the Kabul. Both the rivers meet at a place called Kund, a major tourist attraction. The Indus river with its spectacular blue colour and the Kabul river's muddy brown waters go side by side without blending. Also there are several small streams in different locations of Swabi. A unique stream is in village Maini. The water of the stream comes out in the centre of the village. Its water is used for irrigation in the village. This stream is called china in local language which means spring. The three villages namely Kotha, Topi and Maini are collectively called Utman. They all have natural springs called china in Maini, chino in Kotha and bayin in Topi.

• District Swabi, www.myswabi.tk

Template:Administrative divisions of the North-West Frontier Province