Ghaseetpur Sohalian

Ghaseetpur Sohalian is a village in Mirpur (District of Azad Kashmir) Pakistan.

Ghaseetpur is a village in the Khari Sharif area of Azad Kashmir set between the Upper Jhelum Link Canal to the North and the River Jhelum to the South. Khari Sharif is known for housing the shrines of Sufi saints known as Pir Shah Ghazi Qalandar Damri Wali Sarkar and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh. The village of Ghaseetpur used to sit on the banks of the River Jhelum but was moved back away from the River due to persistent flooding. In fact the workd Ghaseet is derived from the urdu word Ghaseetna (گھسیٹنا) which translates as drag - the village was dragged away from the banks of the river Jhelum. The village is set between the Upper Jhelum Link Canal to the North and the River Jhelum to the South.

According to the 1998 census, its population was 625.^[1] Much of the village has connections to the U.K. (United Kingdom) where a good portion of its residents reside but still retain land and homes in the village. Villagers first left for Britain during the construction of the Mangla Dam. The building of the dam in 1961 displaced over 110,000 people who had to be relocated elsewhere. Land was distributed to these people in other parts of Kashmir and some of those affected by the dam were given work permits to work in the United Kingdom due to lack of workers and the booming mills of the North of England. The Government of Pakistan issued the work permits that allowed villagers to leave the comfort of their homes to try to provide a better future for their loved ones. These workers managed to get jobs in England and sent money they saved from their meager wages back to Kashmir for their families to try to improve their standards of living. Some of these Kashmiris managed to pool money together and eventually started businesses and became quite wealthy. This wealth can be seen in some of the residences and ownership of land and businesses in the Kari Shareef and Mirpur areas.

The villagers are mainly loyal to the Barelvi sect of Islam. Although the villagers are Muslim there is a heavy influence of their ancestry which comes from Sikhism and Hinduism. Weddings and other communal gatherings are indistinguishable from one that is performed in India by Hindus. A version of the Hindu caste system^[2] is still used in the village and dictates hierarchy.

Rajputs are the main caste of the village, which is about 95 percent.

The main occupation of the residents is farming. The Monsoon^[3] which flows down from the Himalayas allows the cultivation of Rice for half the year and wheat the other half. This along with the 2 water sources of the river and canal allow for good irrigation to the fields. There are many new builds in this village with some quite extravagant Villas 3 stories high. Many prominent local figures live in this particular Village and are highly respected through the region and beyond. The main Clan in the village is of the Rajput caste and have the Khan family name. This clan is at the top of the hierarchy since it also takes the ancestral name of Khan. This Particular clan actually has a book written about their ancient history. On the back cover of this book is the verified traced roots of this clan ending with the sons of Ali Zaman namely Raja Mushtaq Khan, Raja Mukhtar Khan, Raja Ali Shan and Raja Tafel Khan most notable of their progeny being Raja Iftikhar Hussain Mukhtar & Raja Imran Mukhtar. Raja Imran is a potential Khalifa of the clan.

Legend also claims that this clan has a heritage that can be traced back to being the ancestral owners if the Koh-I-Noor.^[4] This dazzling diamond now sits in the British Crown Jewels.