Killa Saifullah (Balochistan)
Killa Saifullah, or Qilla Saifullah, is a district in Balochistan Province at a distance of 188 km from Quetta and is accessible via Kuchlak through Kuchlak-Zhob Highway N-50. Its name is derived after Saifullah Khan Khoidadzai as in honour of his chivalry and nobility.
Killa Saifullah is bounded by Ziarat, Loralai, and Zhob districts. It also has boundaries with Maruf and Atgar cities of Afghanistan. The Kuchlak-Zhob Highway N-50 runs across the center of the district and is a way to access all of the other towns in the district. The National Highway N-70 also runs from the town of Killa Saifullah to access Loralai, Barkhan, and Dera Ghazi Khan districts.
The region of Killa Saifullah was attacked by Genghis Khan in the early 13th century. At that time, it was under the rule of Aghans, then it was remained under the control of Timurind Empire. The area was ruled by the Mughals as several Mughal era forts are available in the town. Number of times, it became part of various dynasties ruled by Afghanistan. A historical fort, Qilla Saifullah, built by Saifullah Khan, who was warlord among the Mirdadzai Khudiadadzai tribe of Kakar Sunzerkhels. British captured the area after performing number of battles and destroying the several forts in the area such as the fort of Saifullah Khan Jogezai.
Killa Saifullah is a historical region, there are ruins of an old fort Mughal-o-Killa in the west of Karezgai village at a location of 3 km from Muslim Bagh. The ruins of another fort called Khanki at a distance of 25 km from Muslim Bagh. The Mughalo Brunj is a ruins of fort near Murgha Faqirzai. There are also ancient karezes in the various location of the district.
Killa Saifullah is located in the high mountain ranges of the Sulaiman Mountain Range. Its average elevation is 2,768 feet and has extreme climate, hot summer and cold winter. It land is fertile and best to produce different kind of best quality fruits such as grape, apple, apricot, almond, cherry, etc. Several orchards of apricot, apple, and grape can be seen in the district and these fruits are exported to other countries. There several seasonal streams and small rivers in the district flowing through the deep gorges of the mountains. It is also good to produce different crops such as wheat, barley, corn, maize, chillies, etc.
The Sulaiman Mountain Range in the district is suitable for various species of wildlife such as Markhor, Afghan urial, wolf, jackal, Afghan hedgehog, etc. It is also a place of various birds such as golden eagle, chukar, hawk, etc.
Killah Saifullah is also enrich in various deposits of natural resources such as gypsum, chromite, salt, coal, granite, copper, oil, gas. It has the best quality reserves of chromite metal, which is the world second largest reserve. These mines are located at a distance of 15 km in the south of Muslim Bagh. The chromite processing plant is also located in Muslim Bagh to facilitate metal processing near the mines.
Kan Mehterzai mountain in the Sulaiman Mountain Range, is the highest point at an elevation of 2,170 meters and covers with snow throughout the winter season. So the weather becomes chilly in surrounding regions.
The weather of the Killa Saifullah district is extreme hot in summer season but shorter than the winter season, that is moderate cool and pleasant. Sometimes in winter season, the temperature falls below zero and high moutain areas also receive snowfall. There is a negligible amount of rainfalls in the monsoon period during July to September. Rainfall is also occured in the winter season due to western breeze.