Abbottabad Heart of Hazara 6.44

The town of Abbottabad, under the British Raj, was the headquarters of the Hazara District during British rule of India. It was named after Major James Abbott who founded the town and district in January 1853 after the annexation of Punjab. He remained the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara district from 1849 until April 1853. Major Abbott is noted for having written a poem titled "Abbottabad", before he went back to Britain, in which he wrote of his fondness for the town and his sadness at having to leave it. In the early 20th century, Abbottabad became an important military cantonment and sanatorium, serving as the headquarters of a brigade in the Second Division of the Northern Army Corps.The garrison consisted of four battalions of native infantry, of the Frontier Force (including the 5th Gurkha Rifles) and two native mountain batteries.

In 1901, the population of the town and cantonment was 7,764[3] and the income averaged around Rs. 14,900. This increased to Rs. 22,300 in 1903, chiefly derived from octroi. During this time chief public institutions were built such as the Albert Victor unaided Anglo-Vernacular High School, the Municipal Anglo-Vernacular High School and the Government dispensary.[4] In 1911, the population had risen to 11,506 and the town also contained four battalions of Gurkhas.[5] In June 1948, the British Red Cross opened a hospital in Abbottabad to deal with thousands of patients who were being brought in from the Kashmir fighting areas.[6]


A sunset scene in Abbottabad.
In October 2005 Abbottabad was devastated by the Kashmir earthquake. Although most of Abbottabad survived, many older buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.[7] On 25 January 2011, Indonesian JI terrorist Umar Patek who was wanted in 2002 Bali bombings as well as a series of 2000 church bombings was arrested in Abbottabad.[8][9]

In May 2011, Abbottabad gained worldwide attention when U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed in his compound in the city.[10][11] In February 2012, nine months after bin Laden was killed, Pakistani authorities demolished the compound where Osama bin Laden had lived for years.[12] In May 2014, three years after the raid that killed bin Laden, the United States undertook not to use health officials as a front for espionage purposes, as they did in 2011 prior to the raid when a Pakistani doctor called on the bin Laden compound in an effort to obtain DNA samples for the CIA by posing as being part of an immunization program.