Jauharabad (Punjabi/; ; ) is the headquarters of Khushab District in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Etymology The Urdu word 'Jauhar' translates to 'gem' in English, but the city was named in honour of the renowned Pakistani freedom activist, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar.
History The foundation of Jauharabad was laid in 1951 and completed in 1953, and developed under a master plan to serve as the new federal capital of Pakistan due to its central location until Ayub Khan eventually replaced it with Islamabad. It began serving as the district headquarters when Khushab was carved out of Sargodha as a new district.
The famous Islamic thinker, scholar and Jewish convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad (formerly Leopold Weiss) — author of The Road to Mecca, The Message of the Qur'an and Principles of State and Government in Islam, stayed at Jauharabad in the 1950s. He resided at the bungalow of the town's prominent resident, Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan; who on the advice of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, had established the Dar ul Islam Trust Institutes first in Pathankot, India, after Pakistan's independence, in Jauharabad.Azam, K.M., Hayat-e-Sadeed: Bani-e-Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan (A Righteous Life: Founder of Dar ul Islam Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan), Lahore: Nashriyat, 2010 (583 pp., Urdu)
The city houses Khushab Nuclear Complex and Pakistan Air Force Base Sakesar.
Geography Jauharabad lies at the confluence of the Thal Desert and the Pothohar Plateau in flat agricultural territory immediately south of the Salt Range, which marks the end of the Pothohar Plateau and the start of the Punjab plains. The Jhelum River passes 7 km southeast of Jauharabad and to the south of Jauharabad lies the Thal Desert. To the east of Jauharabad is the Khushab Reserve Forest, spread over approximately 4 km2.
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