Loralai

Loralai (Pashto: لورالائی‎) is the principal city of Loralai District in the northeast of Balochistan province in Pakistan. It was formerly known as Bori. It is 4,700 feet (1,400 m) above sea level.

Shifting of British Camp

The British camp was shifted from Duki in 1880 due to its strategic location and military importance. Loralai is an important junction coming from Afghanistan via Zhob, Fort Monroe via Punjab and Balochistan via Quetta to Ziarat. These days Loralai is the regional headquarters of paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Loralai has been the district headquarters since 1903. It has consisted of different regions in different times. Loralai currently consists of three tehsils: Tehil Loralai(Bori), Tehsil Mekhtar and Tehsil Duki. Makhter become tehsil with the great accesses of Tehsil Nazim Bori Molvi Abdullah Hamzazai. The population is approximately 0.34 million as per 1998 population.[1] It is mostly inhabited by Jalalzai,Utmankhail, Kakar, Luni, Tarakai(lilizai), Tareen and Kakar tribes with many sub branches is the majority in the current district.

Before the settlement of new city, it was mostly inhabited by tribes whose occupation was animal husbandry and this 80 mile wide area was known as the Bori valley. But the British renamed it after the small river Lai and that is why it is called embankment of the (river/stream) Lai(Loralai).[2]

Earliest signs of population in Loralai are twelve kilometers away from the city in Rana Gundy and in Duki near the ruins of the Mughal gundy. It is known from these ruins that limited populations started settling during the Iron Age in these areas. But due to flooding in mountainous streams, these areas were destroyed many times. Rana Gundy is said to have been destroyed seven times and re-populated.[3]

Before the British Empire

Before the arrival of the British, the area from Sibi to Loralai was called Thal-Chutiali. Then It was divided into two parts through Sibi district. The rationale beyond this division was probably to govern and control the Pashtun and Baloch population separately. The present Zhob Division comprises six districts, Qila Saifullah, Zhob, Sherani, Musa Khel, Barakhan and Loralai.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "District Profile: Northern Balochistan – Loralai -DAWN - Herald Election 2008". DAWN. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  2. 1 2 "BBC Urdu - پاکستان - سیلاب خنجر ہے کہ اژدھا !". BBC. 2010-09-24. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  3. ↑ Walter A. Fairservis (2009). "ARCHEOLOGY: Archaeological Surveys in the Zhob and Loralai Districts, West Pakistan". American Anthropologist. Watson. doi:10.1525/aa.1961.63.3.02a00450 – via Wiley Online Library.

Coordinates: 30°22′N 68°36′E / 30.367°N 68.600°E / 30.367; 68.600

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