TIMERGARA: Lower Dir deputy commissioner Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and assistant commissioner Usman Jilani have jointly authored and published the revised edition of ‘Gazetteer of Dir Lower’ after 91 years of its first publication.

Talking to this correspondent, the deputy commissioner said that the publication of the gazetteer after 91 years was undertaken primarily to document the history of this district, which had been a site of many historic battles and movements.

The book was formally launched by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan during his visit to the district on Aug 10.

The “Dir State” was a princely state that was formally merged into Pakistan in 1969. The district was bifurcated in Lower Dir and Upper Dir in 1996 when Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao was the chief minister.

DC says it will help people to understand history, local dynamics

Mr Yousafzai said that they documented the history of Dir and Panjkora valley.

“It is an important district by virtue of its location and history,” he said, adding that this district faced countless battles, movements and struggles from Alexandar the Great to the Gandhara civilisation, from Buddha to Mughals, from British era to the military operation of the government to depose the ruler of erstwhile Dir State, and militancy and its rooting out.

The DC said that it was essential so that the coming generations could know the history of Dir.

He said that the gazetteer would also help the officers posted in this district to understand the local dynamics of this region.

“Two gazetteers have been written on this area previously by the Government of India, one in 1906 and second in 1928, titled Military Report on Dir, Swat and Bajaur,” the deputy commissioner said.

“This gazetteer contains socioeconomic, political and development factors which will acquaint the readers and administrators with the local dynamics so that they could take suitable decisions taking into account the ground realities,” he remarked.

The DC said that he along with Mr Jilani started work on the project soon after he assumed charge of his duty as DC in Lower Dir. He said the latest 215-page gazetteer compiled by them showed abridged history of Lower Dir from 327BC to 2019AD which would provide the readers with credible information.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019