Attock (Punjab)
Attock is located on the bank of the River Indus on the Pothohar Plateau, at the distance of 80 km from Rawalpindi and 100 km from Peshawar. Attock is famous for the magnificent view of the merger of the River Indus and Kabul River that is visible from the bridge over the River Indus on Grand Trunk Road.
Attock has boundaries with Chakwal, Mianwali, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Nowshera, Swabi, and Haripur districts. It is located near the Haro River, which is a tributary of the Indus River. It is the last city on the Northern side of Punjab and a gateway to Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa. Attock is connected with all of the cities through road, rail, as well as air transportation.
Attock is also an important historical region in the ancient Gandhara civilization and is located strategically over an important location from where all of the commercial and trade activities were performed through the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. Alexander the Great, Nadar Shah, and Timur also crossed the Indus River from this region. In 1758, Nadar Shah defeated the Mughals in the Battle of Kamal at Attack Khurd, old Attock city, near the Indus River. During the British Regime, its name was changed to Campdellpur due to the Commander-in-Chief of British forces Sir Colin Campbell. Then the original name Attock was restored in 1978.
The Attock Fort was built by the Emperor Akbar in 1583. Fort was used to guard the major routes between Central Asia and South Asia by different empires in the region such the Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs, and British. It has four gates for entry and total length of its walls is 1.6 km. Now it is the headquarters of Pakistan Army Special Services Group. Due to military base, general public is not allowed to visit inside it. It is located between Main Peshawar Road and the Indus River. A small road leads from the left side before the Attock Bridge toward the fort. You can also see the fort from the bridge. From the Attock Bridge, one see the vast delta of the Indus River on the right side, whereas the Kabul River confluences with it on the right side.
Gurudwara Panja Sahib was built on the spot the Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, stayed in Hassanabad. There is also a sacred rock that is believed to contain the print of Guru Nanak's hand. Hassanabad is famous town located at the intersection of the Karakoram Highway and the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway M-1. Hassanabad is also famous due to the first Cadet College in Pakistan. Cadet College Hassanabad is located at a distance of 48 km from Rawalpindi on Grand Trunk Road. Hakim Tomb is the 16th century tomb situated in Hassanabad near the Gurdwara Panja Sahib. It was built for two doctors or hakims in the Mughal Empire, Hakim Abdul Fateh Gilani Masluddin and Hakim Humayan Khawaja Gilani. The Tomb of Lala Rukh, daughter of Mughal Emperor Akbar, is also located in the same premises.
Kala Chitta Range, located in Pindi Gheb, thrusts eastward across the Potohar plateau in Attock towards Rawalpindi. The Indus River bounds the range on the north-west. The area is mainly a bleak, dry, stony, and undulating tract, composed of various ravines, slopes, and pebble ridges. Kuldana Formation is hilly area in the Kala Chitta Range, where different mammal fossils, related to early to early middle Eocene, are found in which Pakicetus and its close relatives are famous. These fossils were found in 1981 in the Kuldana Formation in Attock. It was a wolf like mammal and live in and around water and ate fish
Qibla Bandi Dam is located on the right side on the Tarbela Road on Qibla Bandi Sabazper Road. It is a small dam with a lake, so it becomes an ideal place for one-day trip in the Attock city.
Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Dam is located in the Attock district on the Ghazi Barotha Canal, the Indus River downstream of Tarbela Dam, at a distance of 93 km from Rawalpindi. It has capacity to produce 1450 MW electricity. It has two large water reservoirs.
Attock is also famous for producing oil, the first oil well was drilled in 1928 at the town of Khaur, and Attack Oil Company was established to sell the oil.
The weather in the summer season is normally extreme hot, whereas the winter becomes moderate cold.