Khanozai

Khanozai (خانوزئی) is a union council in Tehsil Karezat, Pishin District.[1]

Khanozai
Tehsil	Karezat
District	Pishin District
Province	Balochis tan
Country	Pakistan
Elevation	1,966 m (6,450 ft)
Website	www.khanozai.net

History

The word “Khanozai” is the combination of two words Pashto words “Khano” and “zoi” which means the ‘son of Khano’. Historically speaking, Pani (the founder of Panezai tribe) had two sons; first's name was “Khano” and seconds name was “Balo”. It is said that they were nomadic shepherds and with passage of time, to fulfill the requirements of life they adopted farming as occupation. These two brothers are said to constitute Panezai tribe. As the sub-cast of Kakar, Panezai belong to Pashtun nation.

Location and Strategic Importance

Khanozai town basically comprises three main villages besides many small and scattered clusters of dwellings i.e. Dadhaqzai, Saki Zai and Saleh Zai. Geographically, it is located at Latitude 30°37'15.64"N and longitude 67°20'20.99"E. It is situated at a height of 6457 ft. above the sea level (Google Earth, 2014). Strategically, it has got very important position due to two considerable reasons. Firstly, it is located on the national highway N-50, which provides a smooth and easy access of transportation both to social and commercial sectors; secondly, it serves as a junction for the neighboring 5 districts. Khanozai is situated 75 km away in the Northeast of the provincial capital Quetta. It is at distance of 38 km from District Pishin and in the west there is District Zhob at 225 km. In the north, there is Barshore sub-division, in the south the limits of Khanozai extends to Ziarat District. In the East, it connects with Loralai District through Rod Malazai via Spera Ragha Road. In the Northeast, there is Killa Saifullah District. In the West, Khanozai meets with Pishin through Surkhab Camp (the famous Afghan Refugee camp) via Surkhab Road.

Administrative Setup

Khanozai is the tehsil headquarter of Tehsil Karezat and it serves as Municipal Committee under local government system. In total, there are Nine (9) Union Councils (UCs) in Tehsil Karezat.

Physiography

a. Topography Physically Khanozai is the land of contrasts and the general character of the area is mountainous. The valley of Khanozai shrinks while moving towards west from the north and south. Strong physical bodies’ bound that is hill ranges called as sub-recent rocks and Muslim Bagh intrusion respectively. The middle area of Khanozai consists of plain area. The area which is covered by the plain in the southern west is called Khushab Basin. b. Barani Streams Khanozai receives very less amount of annual rainfall, therefore, only Barani streams are present in the area. From the east of Rod Malazai stream runs to Pishin after passing through Khanozai. When it enters Surkhab area then it is called as Surkhab Lora, it finally ends into Band Khushdal Khan, Pishin. In the south, the Manda of Zarghoon (Local Name) runs to the southern west. Barani stream runs from Churmian towards District Pishin after crossing Balozai.

Geology of Khanozai

The mountain ranges on the surrounding sides of Khanozai are predominantly composed of limestone and shale. Generally, three types of unconsolidated material occupy the area of Khanozai. i. Loess ii. Silt occupies the plain area iii. Unconsolidated material found on foothills. However, the complete details of the rock are as below; a. Sub-recent Rocks In the North of Khanozai there are sub-recent rocks, these rocks are Ten Thousand (10,000) years old. Beside these rocks there are Nisai formation. b. Nisai Formation In 1961, Hunting Survey Corporation proposed the name of Nisai Group for the black Nummulitic limestone, conglomerates (mountains) etc. The unit is there re-defined as Nisai formation, which includes the Nisai group, Mimargh limestone, wad limestone, Wakabi Limestone, Wulgai Limestone, Khude Limestone and upper parts of “Jakkar” and “Jamburo group” of Hunting Survey Corporation, 1961 of similar lithology. The section exposed 12 kilometer north of Nisai Railway Station and traversed by the road leading to north from railway station was designated as type section by Hunting Survey Corporation, 1961. The formation consists of limestone marl, shale with subordinate sandstone and conglomerate the main area of development of Nisai formation is the axial belt (Hunting Survey Corporation, 1961). c. Muslim Bagh Intrusion In the eastern north, the mountainous range is called as Muslim Bagh Intrusion. d. Shirinab Formation In the east of Khanozai, mountains are called Shirinab Formation, which are also known as Wulgai Formation. The Shirinab formation constitutes the lower division of Jurassic sequence of lower Indus basin. The formation is widely developed in the Suleiman and Kirthar Ranges and more particularly in adjoining axial belt. The same Shirinab was introduced by Hunting Survey Corporation 1961 for undifferentiated, Jurassic, Triassic and even Permian rocks. The Shirinab Formation in its areas is estimated to be between 1515 meters, and 3030 meters thick (Hunting Survey Corporation, 1961). e. Chiltan Formation In the deep southern part of Khanozai, there is mountains called Chiltan Formation. The name Chiltan limestone introduced by Hunting Survey Corporation 1961 is derived from the Chiltan range southwest of Quetta, form massive thick bedded limestone that forms prominent ranges and high peaks in Suleman-Kirther ranges and axial belt. Chiltan limestone is typically massive thick bedded dark limestone, but shows color and texture variation within one section and in different area (Hunting Survey Corporation, 1961). In 1959 Williams gave a thickness of 757 m in Dara Manda Nala that is 3 km south of Bostan Hunting Survey Corporation estimated a thickness of 1818m in the region of Quetta and Dhanasar.

Climate

The climate of the Khanozai is warm in summer and very cold in winter. The area is outside the moon soon currents, therefore, receive negligible amount of rains during summer. Most of rainfall is occurs in winter, however, it is irregular and scanty. Snow fall usually occurs during the month of January and February. July is the hottest month with mean maximum and minimum temperatures of 35 ºC and 19 ºC respectively while January is the coldest month with mean maximum and minimum temperatures of 10 ºC and -3 ºC respectively. However, in some cases the temperatures down even up to -14 ºC. Khanozai is influenced by the local steppe climate. According to Köppen and Geiger, climate of Khanozai is classified as BSk (Climate-Data.Org, 2014). There are several climatic indicators which are being used to analyze the climate of any area. These indicators include; temperature, humidity, and precipitation etc. Temperature refers to the degree of hotness and coldness; humidity refers to the amount of moisture content in the air, while precipitation is the total amount of moisture contents deposited on the surface of earth such as rainfall, hail and snow etc. As there is no meteorological station in District Pishin; therefore, the exact statistics on the climatic indicators of Khanozai are not available. However, there is a considerable resemblance among the climate of Quetta and Khanozai. Therefore, the climatic indicators of Quetta and Kach (Ziarat) where the closest meteorological station works; hence taken as proxies for Khanozai's climate. In the table below, there is the climatic data for climatic indicators such as relative humidity and temperature for the period of Thirty (30) years i.e. (1961-1990). While the precipitation data is for 35 years from 1975 till 2010, recorded at Kach meteorological station.

Physical Resources

The nature has blessed Khanozai with two types of physical resources i.e. agriculture and mineral resources. The brief description of these resources are given below. 1. Agriculture The agriculture sector has long been the dominant and flourishing resource of the area. There are two cropping seasons in Khanozai. Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or early winter while Rabi crops are wheat, barley, cumin, vegetables and fodder. Crops sown during Kharif cropping season include melon, tobacco, potato, onion, vegetables and fodder. These are cash crops and contributing as prompt financial support for farmers. The farmer of the area use scarce water resources in an efficient and effective manner. Generally, those crops which require much water are produced in the area, however, since the recent past, the trend is going to change to produce those which need comparatively less water. During Rabi cropping season, wheat constitute the major share of irrigated area, followed by vegetables, cumin, barley, and fodder. During the Kharif cropping season, fruits are produced at larger scale, followed by tobacco and vegetables particularly potatoes and onions are also important Kharif crops. The farmers in Khanozai are highly commercialized and produce market crops. They have expanded their cropping pattern from subsistence to high valued cash crops over the years. It can be concluded that the major threat to the future of agriculture in Khanozai include down going water table and high costs of agricultural inputs such as electricity, fertilizers and labor (Ashraf & Routray, 2013). Agriculture basically constitute two important sub-sectors i.e. horticulture and livestock. 1.1 Horticulture Horticulture is the prominent sub-sector of the Khanozai and enormous quantities of good qualities of apple - Tor Colo, Shin Colo and Gaja, etc., are produced (Education Department Government of Balochistan, 2011). Fruit production is also now dominating in the area as it requires less amount of water compared to those of apple. It may easily be concluded that horticulture remains a dominant sector in the area's economy. The cropping pattern explains the types of crops produced by the farmers in tehsil Karezat including Khanozai and district Pishin. The cropping pattern explored by a very recent study (Ashraf. & Routray., 2014), validates that fruits are produced at larger scale followed by wheat and vegetables.

1.2 Livestock The raising of livestock is another important sector in Khanozai. It is a major source of income, as large number of small ruminants is exported to the other areas. At household level, goats and sheep are generally reared. Besides them, cows are also domesticated for fulfilling the milk requirements at households along with rearing for commercial purposes. The presence of pasture and grazing lands near the Sahibzada Karez has provided highly productive fields for livestock raising, however, the drought in recent past (1997-2003) has severely affected this sector in the area (Ashraf & Routray, 2013). 7.2 Means of Irrigation In Khanozai, karezes have long been used as source of irrigation; however, tube wells run by electricity constitute the major mean comparatively. In 1930, a dam known as Khanozai Band (Local Name) was built by Allama Abdul Ali Akhundzada for the storage of irrigation water and it is still operational. During the last quarter of 19th century, Karezes were major source of irrigation, but the construction of Karezes and their maintenance is an expensive business and therefore they are gradually falling out of use due to the down going water table. People in the area; due to the extinction of Karezes, are now solely relying on the submersible-driven tube wells for water acquisition for irrigation and domestic use. Wheat 25% Cumin 1% Barley 1% Potato 1%Melons 3%Fodder 4% Fruits 58% Vegetables 5% Tobacco 1% Others 1%Croping Pattern 3 Mines and Minerals Despite the considerable potential of mining resources in Khanozai, little of them has been explored and extracted in the last few decades. However, in the recent past Chromite has been extracted on large scale from “Tora Khula” (local name of the village) and the adjacent areas, situated in the mountains range known as Shirinab Formation, in the southern east of Khanozai city. Chemically speaking, Chromite are found in Ultramafic Rocks in Khanozai (MTEQ Pakistan, 2014). There are found several deposits of others minerals besides chromite which needs to be extracted. The mineral extraction and their usage may be made sanguine through the development of beneficiation plants. Chromite is a metallic mineral. Its chemical formula is (Fe Cr2 O4) and it basically consists of three main metallic elements and oxides such as Ferrous (Fe), Chromium (Cr) and Oxides (O2) (Haqqi Borthers Pakistan, 2005). Besides these three important metallic elements, there are several metallic oxides of the minerals found in Chromite Ore such as Manganese (Mn), Aluminum (Al), Titanium (Ti) and Calcium (Ca) etc. Chromite is melted and it is from the metal family of minerals. It is basically used in hardening of iron i.e. 18 % of Chromium is used in making stainless steel. The Chromite Ore extracted in mountains of Khanozai and Muslim Bagh region consists 44.7 to 59.1 % of the Chromium. (Bilgrami, 1969). From Islamic Jurisprudence point of view, those extracted metallic minerals which are melted by fire in order to use them are subjected to Khumas (One-fifth or 20 %)- a type of Zakat, therefore, Chromite as a metallic mineral does fall in this category for which Khumas is necessary to be paid to the people mentioned in the Quran and hadith of Muhammad (Sahih Al Bukhari). The support to vulnerable groups of society such as widows, patients, orphans and charity-based social institutions through the payments of Khumas, if made; may act as a stimulus in reducing poverty in the area. The exploration of mines and minerals in Khanozai may have resulted into the equity-based economic growth of the area, however, due to the illegal occupation of mines made by the occupiers and former employees of PCM, Chromite industry has failed to provide equal opportunity to the local people of Khanozai. For example, Pakistan Chrome Mines (PCM) Limited, a mining company (Russell & Cohn, 2012) which was earlier founded during the British rule in 1902 titled “Baluchistan Chrome Mines Limited” at that time. This company was later renamed as “Pakistan Chrome Mines (PCM) Limited” after the generation of Pakistan in 1947. When the company was declared defaulted after being financially collapsed, the former employees of PCM, who were serving as “sole employees”, occupied the mines and minerals in the area. In addition to them, a small local village has also got the exclusive mining and extracting rights of Chromite mines by keeping the rest of Khanozai deprived. This occupation has resulted into the inequity in the provision of opportunities and deprivation of the local people from benefiting out of chromite industry. Besides all these ill experiences, the money coming from mines and minerals is serving as economic stimulus in promoting the economy of Khanozai. 4 Forestry Natural forests in the form of plantation occur in the area. Natural forests are found in two places- Surkhab and Gawal, however, these forests have now been destroyed in the mentioned areas due to the drought and usage of forests woods as fuel at household level.

Major Socio-economic Resources

Socio-economic resources include all those resources which are related to the social and economic life of the people, however, this study incorporates few important of them here.

People and Population

The majority of people living in Karezat in general and Khanozai in particular belong to the Kakar tribe of Pushtun, therefore, speak Pashto.Although the Bazai tribe is not mentioned here, an important figure from that tribe is Jahangir Bazai. He is a well-educated and well-travelled individual who comes from a good social standing. He is considered by many to be a beacon of the society.According to the 1998 census report population of Sub-Division Karezat was 75,416 in which male population in 40,110 while female population was 35,306. There is no census conducted yet hence, this study uses the population census data of 1998. Khanozai population in 1998 was Five Thousand and Fifty Three 5053 in which 2724 were male and 2329 were female. The sex ratio of Khanozai was 116.96 which means that the male proportion in the population is high i.e. (1.17) compare to that of female i.e. (1). Simply speaking, in Khanozai, there are recorded more male population than that of female (Population Census Organization, 1998a).

Education

Education has long been used as a prominent parameter of socio-economic development. In the advanced world, the literacy is near about 100%, therefore, they use education as a tool for their socio-economic and technological development. There are different definitions of the literacy in different countries however, in case of Pakistan, according to the definition given in 1998 census, a person was treated as literate in if he could read newspaper and write a simple letter in any language. Illiteracy leads the society towards ill doing. Khanozai in this respect, is famous throughout the country because of its outstanding literacy ratio. According to the District Census Report, Pishin, the exclusive literacy ratio of Khanozai is 74.2% (Population Census Organization, 1998c). It is very important to mention that there is lack of official data which shows the current rate of literacy in Khanozai. However, this high literacy ratio particularly among women stands Khanozai at high rank among other villages in tehsil Karezat. There is an utmost need for conducting further research on the education sector of Khanozai which may disclose the reality of the high literacy ratio and underlying factors.

Health Facilities and Services

Khanozai is the headquarter of tehsil Karezat, therefore, offers a wide range of public and private health facilities and services. In public facilities, there is a Tehsil Headquarter Hospital (THQ), along with MCH Center in Khanozai while medical care is also provided in private facilities i.e. Al-Shifa Medical Center, Kakar Medical Center and Hamad Medical Center etc. However, in tehsil Karezat many other health facilities are also providing primary level of health care.

Future Challenges and Opportunities

The socio-economic and strategic location of Khanozai place it on the most advantaged position compare to the other parts of the district. There are certain prospects which may be converted into opportunities for the development of area. However, it needs to realize the strengths and weaknesses of the area and prepare strategic development plans for the development of tehsil Karezat in general and Khanozai in particular. Some of those are hereby briefly explained. i. Chromite industry prospects

The exploration and extraction of Chromite has provided great potential for the development of economic industry at domestic level. On one hand, the inflow of chromite money is serving as a source for creating job opportunities. The establishment of beneficiation plants for Chrome Ore processing can more significantly result into an increase in employment opportunities. While on the other hand, the involvement of youth of Khanozai in this sector may severely affect their educational attainment- a decrease in educational enrollment and literacy ratio. The investment needs to be regulated so that with the pace of economic inflow, Chromite industry might not affect the social development of area.     

ii. Administrative challenges

Administratively, Khanozai in Tehsil Karezat possess the high capacity, in comparison to others areas of the tehsil; to serve as a district's headquarter of a new expected District which has to be delineated in the map of Balochistan. There is high time that the people of Khanozai and adjacent areas in general and Olusi Committee in particular start taking proactive measures to enable themselves to bear that responsibility if it is laid on their shoulders in the nearer future.   

No TYPE OF HEALTH FACILITY LOCATION LEVEL OF HEALTH CARE 1 Tehsil Headquarter Hospital Khanozai Town Secondary Level 2 Basic Health Unit Balozai Primary Level 3 Basic Health Unit Rod Malazai =do= 4 Basic Health Unit Yousaf Kuch =do= 5 Basic Health Unit Niganda =do= 6 Basic Health Unit Bostan =do= 7 Basic Health Unit Mughutian =do= 8 Dispensary Churmian =do= 9 MCH Center Khanozai Town =do= 10 MCH Center Rod Malazai =do= 11 MCH Center Bostan =do= iii. Demographic challenges

The prospects of becoming District headquarter may bring great challenges for the local people in terms of expected demographic and population change. An unprecedented and unpreventable accelerated growth in town population is expected if Khanozai is promoted into the status of district, hence; would need town planning in general and proper sewerage and transportation planning in particular. This challenge can only be overcome if the Olusi Committee takes pro-active measures to cope with the expected demographic growth. The well-known English proverb very rightly says that “a stich in times saves nine”.    

iv. Peace and stability Khanozai is well known for its peaceful environment and social stability in the region. The people of the area have paid a huge cost of its maintenance and extension. In the recent past, the engagement of criminal elements in the chromite industry has provided space to sabotage the long lasted peace in the area. In order to maintain peace in the area, it is highly recommended that there must in place some ‘rules of engagement’ for the investors in Chromite industry. It is only and solely Olusi Committee which on behalf of the whole area is expected to take initiatives in this regard. v. Earthquake hazards and Unsafe buildings Earth quakes are natural hazards which cannot be avoided, however, its destruction may be reduced through disaster preparation and mitigation. In Pakistan, the major cause of huge death toll in earth quakes has been the construction of weak and unsafe buildings. In terms of earth quake resilience, the conventional building structure which are used by the inhabitants of Khanozai and adjacent areas are absolutely weak and unsafe. These structures may rightly be called as, “surface graves” due to their high risk of collapsing during earth quake jolts. Khanozai and adjacent areas are located on the route i.e. fault line, which is also called as (Red Zone of Earth Quakes) where earth quakes of any magnitude are expected any time. Therefore, the people are strongly recommended to build the earth quake proof structures for construction of housing and commercial buildings so that the human, economic and construction losses are reduced in case earthquake hits the area.

Summary

Based on the description and analysis of the geography in this article, it may be summarized that Khanozai has got both the prominent physical and social features revealing its geography. The strategic location upgrades its importance compare to other areas of the tehsil Karezat and District Pishin. There is an immense need for the town planning in order to cope with future demographic challenges among others. Social sector, particularly health and education needs more attention in order to maintain and enhance the pace of social development in the area. Economic sector, particularly Chromite industry is contributing well in the economy of the area, however, it needs to be regulated in order to ensure the provision of equal opportunities of investment to the local people and peace in the area. Lastly, being a socially advanced town, it becomes the inevitable responsibility of Khanozai to continue playing a leading role and continue provision of as much as possible facilities to its own vicinity and surrounding areas.

References

1. Government of Balochistan, UNICEF (18 July 2011). District Development Profile 2011 (Pishin) (PDF) (Report). p. 3. Retrieved 9 October 2016.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)