Mir PurThe largest and capital city of Mirpur District is Mirpur and even it is the largest cities in the area of Jammu Kashmir directed by Pakistan. In summers it is quiet hot in Mirpur as it connects northern plains of the Punjab. Mirpur itself has been modernized where as other areas nearer to it remains agricultural. Due to its huge buildings and large bungalow-houses it has become very famous city. As a number of people living in England live here that’s why it is also known as “Dusra England”. Millet is the main crop that is cultivated here. In addition to that other crops like wheat, vegetables and maize are also produced in other places of this region. In the entire region the districts stands unique due to the production of electricity through Mangla Dam.
It is located at 459 meters above sea-level and is associated with the main Peshawar-Lahore grand trunk road at Dina Tehsil. Mirpur is the head quarter of Mirpur District, which encompasses two divisions and these divisions are known as Mirpur and Dadyal. Mirpur has successfully developed as an industrial place by the government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Moreover the government has promoted private investment for establishing synthetic yarn, textile, foam, ready-made garments, cosmetic, soap, marble, polypropylene, wood and sawmills, matches, vegetable oil, motorbikes and scooters, rosin, turpentine industrial units in the area, but to obtain high quality products the infrastructure still needs some improvement. In Mirpur the literacy rate is quiet high, it is mostly by the emigrating capability in the youngsters to UK. In educational institutes English language is quiet common. In the past there was only one institute forhigher education that was University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir but in recent time things have changed and now many institutes can be seen for higher studies such as MUST, Mohi-ud-Din Islamic Medical College and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Medical College are the well-known examples.
Mirpur is quiet popular interms of sports like Volleyball, Cricket and Football. In the city many tournaments are organized around the year, even night floodlight tournaments are arranged in the blessed month of Ramadan. There is also a stadium in Mirpur known as Quaid-e-Azanm Stadium, which was later taken by Paksitan Cricket board for reconstruction to give it an appearance of International standard. The transportation system of Mirpur includes CNG auto rikshaws which are quiet popular in the city for short route transportation. The transportation of city links it to numerous destinations in AzadKashmir particularly Kotli, Jatlan, Bhimbar, Dadyal, Chakswari and Khoi Ratta and to main cities within Pakistan, and intergrated services to Kharian, Lahore, Jhelum, Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Gujwanwala. Unfortunately Mirpur has no railway station but station near to it is in Jhelum city, Punjab. Islamabad Airport services the Mipur region which is approximately 100 miles away. But after the demand of Kashmiri community the international airport was finally planned in the region.
Azad Kashmir is known as the shopping capital as it encompasses large and varied shopping areas including Chowk Shaheed Mian Muhammad Road and Allama Iqbal Road. In these areas there arenumber of markets, plazas, shops that sells almost every variety from hand made pottery to International brands. For food centers and restaurants Mirpur is very popular. Samosas and fish are the speciality of this region. If we talkbout restaurants then Mirpur encompasses a huge variety of diverse food areas from take away to high standard restaurants. The prominent languages of the city are Mirpuri, Pahari, Potahari dialects of Punjabi language andkashmiri Language even English and Udru languages are also spoken here. The population of Mirpur was more then 100,000 according to the 1998 census and within this census the emigrants of United Kingdom, Middle East, Western Europe and North America are not included. Enthnic Potohari are the original population of this region. Shlawar and Kameez are the dress code of this area and in winter they usually take Shaal on body. The city of Mirpur has several cultural events including Saif Ul Mulook Festival, Rathoa Mehla, Pahari Mushahira and many more. The Saif Ul Mulook festival comes every year in April, mostly in the center of the city. This festival has much importantance as Mirpuris celebrates the anniversary of Baba Pir-e-Shah Ghazi Qalander where as Rothoa Mela comes every year in summer in the Rothoa town near the Dam Front. In this festival they celebrate cultural value of peace and tolerance and Pahari Mushahira is a fictional occasion in which poets from all over Azad Kashmir comes and takespart and present their poems to the audience. It is celebrated regularly in the city of Mirpur as part of the operation of Alami Pahari Adabi Sangat for the continuation and analysis of the Pahari language and th
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