Lower Kohistan
More actions
| Lower Kohistan | |
|---|---|
| Kohistan Lower | |
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Kohistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) |
| Geography | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province/State | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| District | Lower Kohistan District |
| Coordinates | 35.18, 72.91 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 810 km² |
| Terrain | Mountain valleys, among them Dubair; approximately Lower Kohistan District |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Lower Kohistan is a landrace cannabis growing area in Lower Kohistan District, in the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In October 2021 the district police began an operation to destroy the cannabis (bhang) crop grown across the district, and by the middle of the month had destroyed hemp over a large tract of land round Mundraza.[1] In September 2025 police and agriculture department staff destroyed cannabis cultivated on 102 kanals in nine places in the Dubair area.[2]
The district
Kohistan is divided into three districts: 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.[3] On the western side the people speak dialects of Kohistani.[3]
Reports of cultivation
In 1985 three officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, writing from intelligence reports, named the northern mountains and valleys of Kohistan, with Chitral, Dir, Swat and Hazara, among the places in Pakistan where cannabis was mainly cultivated.[4]: 44
The district police officer, Zulfiqar Khan Jadoon, led the operation of October 2021 in the mountains himself. He said that the police had destroyed hemp grown over a large tract of land in the Mundraza area and the hamlets round it and had arrested dozens of growers, and that the clerics and elders of the district had been consulted before it began.[1]
In August 2024 the police of the Pattan station destroyed cannabis cultivated on two kanals at Heran Kayal and arrested two men.[5] Later that month a police team destroyed cannabis plants cultivated in mountain fields at Saunglan.[6]
The operation of September 2025 was led by the officer in charge of the Dubair station. It destroyed cannabis cultivated on 102 kanals at Naras Beg, Dheri, Karin, Qila, Ros Banda, Konza, Nilfar, Khar and Chhamber, and the elders and clerics of the area said they would work with the police.[2]
Use
Amin and colleagues surveyed 20 villages in the Seo, Jalkot, Kandia, Kolai and Dubair valleys of Kohistan and listed Cannabis sativa, called bhang, among the wild plants used in medicine there: its leaves are made into a paste with maize flour and applied to the body for weakness and indigestion.[3]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No recent news items.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Police destroy hemp in Kohistan". Dawn. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "لوئر کوہستان پولیس کی کارروائی ، 2 کنال اراضی پر کاشت کی گئی بھنگ تلف، 2 ملزمان گرفتار" [Lower Kohistan police action: cannabis cultivated on 2 kanals of land destroyed, 2 accused arrested]. UrduPoint (in اردو). Associated Press of Pakistan. 12 August 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "Cannabis plants destroyed in Kohistan". Dawn. 24 August 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2026.