Kohistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
More actions
| Kohistan | |
|---|---|
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 35.20, 72.60 |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Provinces/States | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Area | 15,600 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Indus Kohistan, Swat Kohistan, Dir Kohistan |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Kohistan is a landrace cannabis growing region in the mountains of northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It holds the growing areas of Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, on the Indus, and of Swat and Dir to the west. In 1985 three officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, writing from intelligence reports, named the northern mountains and valleys of Dir, Swat, Hazara and Kohistan among the places in Pakistan where cannabis was mainly cultivated.[1]: 44 Police have destroyed cannabis cultivated in each of the three Kohistan districts since 2019.[2][3][4]
Extent
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kohistan is the thinly peopled mountain country west of Chilas and the Kagan valley. Its eastern part, on the Indus, is Indus Kohistan; its western part is divided between Swat Kohistan, also called Kalam, and Dir Kohistan, and reaches across the north of the province to the Afghan border. It is a country of mountain ranges in the outer Himalayas, under snow above about 3,700 m, of forest- and grass-covered hills at 1,500 to 1,800 m and of the fertile valley of the Indus. Sheep and goats are kept, and grain and vegetables grown.[5]
Kohistan is now divided into the three districts of Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas Kohistan. The Indus splits it into a western and an eastern side: Seo, Kandia and Dubair are the main valleys on the western side, and Jalkot, Palas and Kolai on the eastern.[6]
The border of the growing region follows its growing areas: the three Kohistan districts, Swat District and Upper, Central and Lower Dir districts. In Swat and Dir it takes in the valleys south of Swat Kohistan and Dir Kohistan.
Cannabis
Indus Kohistan
In July 2020 police destroyed cannabis grown in villages of Kandia tehsil, in Upper Kohistan, on the district's boundary with Swat and with Ghizer in Gilgit-Baltistan.[7] In July 2026 police and agriculture department teams destroyed cannabis cultivated on 2,534 kanals at 52 villages and other places in the district over 15 days.[4] In Lower Kohistan the district police began an operation in October 2021 against the hemp crop grown across the district,[3] and in September 2025 police destroyed cannabis cultivated on 102 kanals in the Dubair area.[8] In Kolai-Palas police destroyed cannabis cultivated at Bin Banda in 2019 and on 80 kanals at Kolai in 2025.[2][9]
Amin and colleagues list Cannabis sativa, called bhang, among the wild plants used in medicine in Kohistan: its leaves are made into a paste with maize flour and applied to the body for weakness and indigestion.[6]
Swat
Growing Areas
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing region yet.
See also
References
- ↑ Stamler, R. T.; Fahlman, R. C.; Vigeant, H. (1985). "Illicit traffic and abuse of cannabis in Canada". Bulletin on Narcotics (4). United Nations: 37–49.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "پالس پولیس نے بن بانڈہ میں بڑی مقدار میں کاشت کی گئی بھنگ کو تلف کر دی" [Palas police destroy cannabis cultivated in large quantity at Bin Banda]. UrduPoint (in اردو). Associated Press of Pakistan. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Police destroy hemp in Kohistan". Dawn. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "کوہستان اپر میں 52 مقامات پر 2535 کنال پر کاشت بھنگ کی فصل تلف" [Cannabis crop cultivated on 2,535 kanals at 52 places destroyed in Kohistan Upper]. UrduPoint (in اردو). Associated Press of Pakistan. 24 July 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "Kohistan". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Amin, Muhammad; Aziz, Muhammad Abdul; Manduzai, Ajmal Khan; Pieroni, Andrea; Alkahtani, Jawaher; AbdelGawwad, Mohamed Ragab; Gafforov, Yusufjon; Nazeer, Abdul; Abbasi, Arshad Mehmood (8 July 2024). "Standard medical ethnobotany of Kohistan, North Pakistan". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 20 (1) 64. doi:10.1186/s13002-024-00704-w.
- ↑ "Cannabis destroyed in Upper Kohistan". The News International. 12 July 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "کوہستان لوئر پولیس کا گرینڈ آپریشن، 102 کنال پر کاشت کی گئی بھنگ تلف" [Kohistan Lower police grand operation: cannabis cultivated on 102 kanals destroyed]. UrduPoint (in اردو). Associated Press of Pakistan. 11 September 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "کولئی پالس کوہستان میں 80 کنال پر کاشت بھنگ کی فصل تلف کر دی گئی" [Cannabis crop cultivated on 80 kanals destroyed in Kolai Palas Kohistan]. UrduPoint (in اردو). Associated Press of Pakistan. 14 October 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Akhtar, Naveed; Rashid, Abdur; Murad, Waheed; Bergmeier, Erwin (15 April 2013). "Diversity and use of ethno-medicinal plants in the region of Swat, North Pakistan". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 9 (1) 25. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-25.