Fort Abbas

Pakistan, Pakistan

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Fort Abbas is a historic town and the administrative headquarters (tehsil) of Fort Abbas in Bahawalnagar District, Punjab, Pakistan, located in the Cholistan Desert (locally called Rohi) near the Pakistan–India border.

It was originally known as Pholra (or Pholra) and was renamed Fort Abbas in 1927 by Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan V of Bahawalpur in honor of his eldest son, Muhammad Abbas Khan, who later became the Nawab and Amir of Bahawalpur and briefly served as the 5th Governor of Punjab from 1975 to 1977. The town lies south of Haroonabad, close to Faqirwali and Khichiwala, and is strategically important as a border area settlement with proximity to India.

Fort Abbas is famous for its desert landscape, and the area is noted for being part of the ancient Hakra (or Hakra) civilization, which dates to around 5000 BCE according to archaeological surveys of the Cholistan region. The region’s land is highly fertile but much remains uncultivated due to water shortages, with the Hakra Canal as the main water source; major crops include wheat, cotton and sugarcane, and the area’s cotton (known as Hakra cotton) is exported internationally.