Jaffarabad district: Jhatpat railway station, canal farms and Dera Allah Yar

Introduction and location

Jaffarabad is small in area but densely populated. According to the 2023 census, it is part of Nasirabad Division, which also includes the districts of Nasirabad, Sohbatpur, Jhal Magsi and Kachhi. According to the website of the Balochistan High Court, the district headquarters is Dera Allah Yar, whose name means "the settlement of Allah Yar".

One clarification is necessary. In the 2023 census of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Usta Muhammad is not listed as a separate district but as a sub-division of Jaffarabad district. The district figures below therefore include Usta Muhammad. A separate page on Usta Muhammad exists in this series.

According to the census, Jaffarabad district at that time had an area of 1,643 square kilometres and a population of 594,558, including 301,370 men, 293,177 women and 11 transgender persons. The density is about 362 people per square kilometre. According to the provincial report, it is the third most densely populated district in the province after Quetta and Sohrab. The urban population is 27.48 per cent and the average household has 7.2 members. The population was 513,972 in 2017, an average annual increase of 2.46 per cent.

The district has three units: Jhatpat sub-division (690 square kilometres, 302,498 people), Usta Muhammad sub-division (399 square kilometres, 210,870 people) and Gandakha tehsil (554 square kilometres, 81,190 people). The entire population of Gandakha is rural.

According to the census table of urban areas, the district’s two largest cities are Dera Allah Yar Municipal Corporation (98,761 people, in Jhatpat sub-division) and Usta Muhammad Municipal Corporation (64,632 people). About 60 per cent of the district’s urban population lives in Dera Allah Yar.

History

Present-day Jaffarabad was part of the canal-irrigated strip known as "Nasirabad" in British times, which lay along the border of Jacobabad district in Sindh. According to the Sibi volume of the 1907 Balochistan District Gazetteer, the area was earlier a niabat (sub-district) of the Khan of Kalat. Under an agreement of 17 February 1903, the Khan handed over its administration to the British government in perpetuity. In October that year, the Nasirabad niabat and the railway line from Jhatpat to Mithri were combined to form a sub-division attached to the new Sibi district.

The modern identity of the region is linked to the railway. According to the Gazetteer, the railway line from Sindh to Pishin entered Sibi district near Jhatpat, which was 45 miles from Ruk Junction and 361 miles from Karachi. The 82-mile line from Jhatpat to Pirak Takri was administered by Nasirabad sub-division. Its stations were Jhatpat, Temple Dera, Notal, Bail Pat, Lindsay and Mithri.

According to the Gazetteer, in 1906 the sub-division’s headquarters was at Nasirabad (renamed "Yateabad" in 1903), about two and a half miles east of Jhatpat station. There was a plan to move it to Jhatpat itself soon. Today Jhatpat is the name of a sub-division in the census, and Dera Allah Yar city is part of it.

According to the Balochistan High Court, in 1981-82 the Sessions Judge of Sibi began a monthly circuit court in Dera Allah Yar. In 1986 Nasirabad Sessions Division was established in Dera Allah Yar, and in 1992 a sessions court building was constructed there. In 1996 the sessions division was split into two: Nasirabad (Dera Murad Jamali) and Jaffarabad (Dera Allah Yar). Later, a separate sessions division of Usta Muhammad was carved out of Jaffarabad.

Sohbatpur, which was once part of the same area, became a district in 2013 (Daily Times, 2017). It is listed as a separate district in the 2017 census. According to The Nation, in June 2022 the provincial government approved making Usta Muhammad a new district as well, although the 2023 census counted it as a sub-division of Jaffarabad.

According to reports of the administrative restructuring of July 2026, Nasirabad Division remains among the new eleven divisions, but its final composition is yet to be checked against the notification. This page follows the boundaries of the 2023 census.

People and languages

According to the mother tongue table of the 2023 census, more than half of the district’s population, 308,633 people or about 52 per cent, speak Balochi. Sindhi is the mother tongue of 114,911 people (about 19 per cent), Saraiki of 91,835 (about 15 per cent) and Brahui of 71,750 (about 12 per cent). Speakers of Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi are each less than one per cent.

The differences between the units are marked. In Jhatpat sub-division, about 62 per cent speak Balochi, while in Usta Muhammad the share is close to 37 per cent, and Sindhi (27 per cent) and Saraiki (24 per cent) are also major languages there. In Gandakha, the share of Brahui speakers (about 19 per cent) is higher than the district average.

This linguistic diversity is old. According to the Sibi Gazetteer, in 1901 Sindhi, Jatki and Balochi were spoken in Nasirabad tehsil. The Rinds (including the Jamalis and Khosas), Golas, Umranis, Brahui tribes and Jats lived there.

According to the religion table, 98.3 per cent of the population is Muslim. There are 7,034 Hindus, more than half of whom (3,784) live in Usta Muhammad sub-division. There are 1,419 Christians.

Education is a major problem. According to the census, literacy among the population aged over 10 is 35.53 per cent: 44.43 per cent among men and 26.37 per cent among women. The rate is 49.84 per cent in cities and 29.68 per cent in villages. There are 137,885 out-of-school children aged 5 to 16, and the provincial report places Jaffarabad among the districts where 60 to 70 per cent of children do not attend school.

Economy

Jaffarabad’s economy has always run on canal farming. According to the Sibi Gazetteer, in 1905 canals existed only in Nasirabad tehsil, and 90 per cent of the total cultivation there was canal-irrigated. The water came from two canals taken off the Indus: the Begari and the Desert (Shahi Wah). The Gazetteer states that the Begari was the largest of the western canals of Jacobabad, and that its name comes from "begar", meaning forced labour, by which it was dug.

According to the Gazetteer, the main kharif crops at that time were jowar, sesame, rice, cotton and indigo, while wheat, gram and oilseeds were grown in the rabi season. Trade was mostly in the hands of Hindu traders.

Household facilities figures from the 2023 census show that the share of pucca houses is higher here than in other districts of the province. The provincial report includes Jaffarabad among the five districts where more than 20 per cent of houses are pucca. Electricity is the source of lighting in 60 to 80 per cent of homes, 10 to 20 per cent of homes use gas or LPG for cooking, but only 20 to 30 per cent of homes have drinking water inside the premises.

Places of interest

Dera Allah Yar: The district headquarters and largest city, where the district and sessions courts are located.

Canal system: According to the Sibi Gazetteer, the Nur Wah and Sar Wah branches of the Begari canal and the Shahi Wah, Frontier Rajbaha, Uch Rajbaha and Manjuthi branches of the Desert canal irrigated this area.