Why Haripur
Haripur is a city located in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, where it serves as the administrative capital for both its district and tehsil. Positioned in a hilly plain region at an elevation of 520 meters (1,706 feet), it stands as the fourteenth most populous urban center in the province. Geographically, the city sits roughly 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of the Islamabad Capital Territory and about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Abbottabad.
The settlement was established in 1822 by Hari Singh Nalwa, a Punjabi Sikh commander under Ranjit Singh who was appointed administrator of Hazara following the death of his predecessor, Amar Singh Majithia, in Abbottabad. Haripur initially functioned as the administrative headquarters of the Hazara region until 1848. Historical records note a visit by Baron Hugel on December 23, 1835, during which he observed an active, bustling town. Control of the area passed to the British East India Company in 1846 following the defeat of Sikh forces in the first Anglo-Sikh War. A notable local site from this era is an obelisk marking the grave of Colonel Canara, a European artillery officer who died in 1848 while defending his cannons against insurgents under Chattar Singh.
During the British period, a local municipality was established in 1867. Early administrative developments included the formation of the 4th (Hazara) Mountain Battery in 1851, comprising local Hazarewal gunners trained under James Abbott, the first deputy commissioner of the region. The area was governed as part of Punjab province until 1901, when it was annexed into the newly established North West Frontier Province. Decades after national independence, Hazara attained divisional status in 1976, and Haripur was later elevated from a tehsil to a full district headquarters.
According to the 2023 census, Haripur records a population of 91,915 residents. The city features educational institutions including the University of Haripur and its affiliated colleges, as well as the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule: Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology. Climatologically, Haripur experiences a humid subtropical climate categorized as Cfa under the Köppen classification system, characterized by relatively high temperatures and precipitation that is evenly distributed throughout the year.
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