Abbottabad
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Abbottabad ایبٹ آباد |
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| State : |
 Pakistan
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| Province : | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | ||
| Coordinates : |
34 ° 9 ' N , 73 ° 13' E
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| Height : |
1256 m
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| Residents : | 208,491 (2017) | ||
| Time zone : |
PST ( UTC + 5 )
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Abbottabad ( Urdu ایبٹ آباد[ ɛːbʌʈɑːˈbɑːd̪ ]) is a city in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly Northwest Province). It is located 50 kilometers as the crow flies north of the capital Islamabad at an altitude of 1256 meters above sea level. The city is the administrative seat of Abbottabad District . Because of its location in a romantic valley and its cleanliness, Abbottabad is one of the most beautiful cities in the country.
The city gained international fame when Osama bin Laden , the founder and leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network , was discovered and killed there in 2011 .
history
Abbottabad was founded in British colonial times . The city bears the name of its founder, Major James Abbott . This could be in the district in 1853 down after the British East India Company the Punjab was annexed and became its first governor. Abbottabad became an important military district and sanatorium . The city was home to a brigade of the British Indian Army's Second Division of the Northern Army Corps . In 1901 the city and the military district had a population of about 7,800.
In March 2011, the authorities arrested Umar Patek , an alleged co-organizer of the 2002 Bali attack , in Abbottabad.
On the night of May 2, 2011, US President Barack Obama announced that the terrorist Osama bin Laden had been tracked down in Abbottabad, caught and shot in a commando operation led by the US Joint Special Operations Command ( Operation Neptune's Spear ).
Lately there has been a discussion about whether the city should exchange its old colonial name for another. Proponents of renaming argued, among other things, that the old name was a foreign, colonial name and "un-Islamic". Opponents of the renaming called the demand an attempt to erase history and introduce a new "false identity".
population
The 1998 census showed Abbottabad a population of 105,999. According to estimates, it should have been just under 150,000 in 2010. The 2017 census showed a population of 208,491. The majority of the population in the Abbottabad area speaks Hindko as their mother tongue, while Urdu and English are also common lingua franca .
education
Abbottabad city is small and well organized. It attracts people from all over Pakistan, not only because of its landscape, but also because of its educational opportunities. Abbottabad has a large number of schools and other higher education institutions. The city is therefore known as the city of schools .
In addition to the usual basic education, Abbottabad has numerous institutions for vocational training. The city is home to training facilities for the Pakistani military , technical institutes, government institutions, four medical schools , including one for women only. Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology opened an IT University.
Tourism and transport
The famous Karakoram Highway , which was partly built along the old Silk Road , starts in Havelian in the Abbottabad district and runs through the city. This highway is an attraction for adventure tourists. Abbottabad is a popular summer destination with Pakistani travelers because of its mild summer climate and a retreat from the heat in the plains of the country. The mountain resort of Galyat is less than half an hour's drive away . There is great potential for tourism in this region, but the local government currently has little interest in expanding the tourist infrastructure.
sons and daughters of the town
- Muhammed Ayub Khan (1907–1974), officer, politician and president
- Khalid Shameem Wynne (1953-2017), General
- Kashif Shuja (* 1979), New Zealand-Pakistani squash player
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bali assassin extradited. In: ORF . August 11, 2011, accessed August 11, 2011 .
- ^ White House : Press Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the Killing of Osama bin Laden , May 2, 2011
- ^ Pervez Tahir: Time to rename Abbottabad. The Tribune (Pakistan), September 22, 2011, accessed March 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Yaqoob Khan Bangash: Name changes and manufactured identities. The Tribune (Pakistan), September 26, 2011, accessed March 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: World Gazetteer: Abottābād.