This mainly rural district is geographically diverse and includes parts of the Thal desert as well as the picturesque Soon Valley. The town of Jauharabad was proposed to be the site of the country’s new capital in the 1960s but the rulers eventually decided on Islamabad. The area is an important recruiting ground for the army and is also home to the Heavy Water and Natural Uranium Research Reactor, a component of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. The dominant political clans of this district are the Tiwana, Awan, Ganjial, Pidhrar and Baloch.




Constituencies:



NA69:

Sumaira Malik of the NA, a niece of former president Farooq Leghari, beat Umar Aslam Khan of the PMLQ by 13,000 votes here in 2002. After the election, Malik’s party merged with the PMLQ and she served first as the minister of state for tourism and then as the federal minister for women’s affairs in the outgoing government. She is hoping to retain her seat in the February elections. She will be facing Umar Aslam Khan who is running as an independent candidate this time and Malik Irfan Ahmed Gheba of the PPP.



NA70:

As an independent candidate Malik Mohammad Saifullah Tiwana beat Malik Mohammad Shabbir Awan of the PMLQ by almost 8,000 votes here in 2002 to enter the National Assembly for the first time. This time around Saifullah Tiwana’s brother Ehsanullah Tiwana is contesting this seat as an independent candidate. His challengers are: Malik Shakir Bashir Awan of the PMLN, who is the nephew of the 2002 runner-up Faizullah Tiwana, and Malik Sultan Mehmood Tiwana of the PPP.