Abbottabad
With Osama's death, Abbottabad was reluctantly thrust into prominence, content as it was till then with its tags of the pleasant hill station, garrison town and the 'City of Schools'.
Helicopters ruffled more than the air over Abbottabad early Monday. And then the blasts. Was it the beginning of “something nasty”, wondered residents of Pakistan’s quiet hill station town. The first voice to come out of here was information technology consultant Sohaib Athar’s. “Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter," he tweeted around 1 am. And then the tone on Twitter grew increasingly worried as three blasts punctuated the dark. With no formal confirmation for comfort and only a flurry of twitter speculation, Abbottabad wondered.By morning, they made two discoveries -- they were living with Osama bin Laden, and he was now dead. That large two-storied mansion in the yonder with the 12 feet to 18 feet tall walls topped with barbed wire was where the World’s most wanted hid, barely yards from Pakistan's Kakul Military Academy. For a predominantly tourist retreat, that was huge.[caption id="attachment_3982" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad where he was killed on May 2, 2011. Faisal Mahmood/Reuters"]
[/caption]With that, Abbottabad in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province was reluctantly thrust into prominence, content as it was till Monday with its tag of the pleasant hill station and the “City of Schools” as it is home to Pakistan’s elite educational institutions. It’s a quintessential hill town with colonial bearings, with its European bungalows, a club, a church and a cemetery.The modern city of Abbottabad was founded by Major Abbott, the British Deputy Commissioner of Hazara (1849 to 1853) during British rule in the subcontinent and named after him. Pleasant weather led to a strong presence of the British Army, the reason why the Pakistan Military Academy is based here. This is also a city of strategic importance, as the formidable Karakorams and the Himalayas can be accessed from here.Demographics:In 1998 the population of Abbottabad district was 881,000. According to the 1998 census, over 70% of population speak Hindko as their first language, the other first languages are Pushto 30% and Urdu. The national language of Pakistan Urdu is understood by everyone and English is widely used in business and education. The major tribes of Abbottabad district are Tanoli, Abbasi, Karlal, Pathans, Jadoon and shilmani or sulamani tribes. Source: Wikimapia.
