Kotli District Azad Kashmir
Kotli is a district in Azad Kashmir state of Pakistan. It is located 141 kilometers from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. It is connected to Mirpur by two metalized highways, one of which travels 90 kilometers via Gulpur and Rajdhani and the other via Dhungi and Charohi. Through Sehnsa and Holar, it is also immediately connected to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Trarkhal serves as a straight connection to Rawalakot as well (82 Kilometers).
District Kotli is bordered to the east by the Indian occupation troops of Indian-administrated Kashmir, to the south by Mirpur District, and to the north by Rawalakot. One of the eight municipalities in Pakistan’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir is Kotli. Kotli, the district’s principal town, was once a small settlement situated halfway between Mirpur and Muzaffarabad, but it has lately experienced significant development.
Location
Gulhar is located south of the metropolis. Union council Chowki Tinda, which has a long past, is located between Kotli and Sarsawa, to the northwest of Kotli City. With a road heading west from Sarsawa Chowk and to the left, Sehnsa is connected to Sarsawa, while Panjera and Plandri are connected by a road to the right. Baloch and Rawlakot follow as you move from Sarsawa Bazaar eastward on the left-hand path. Through Chowki Tinda, the right-hand connection takes you to Kotli City in the east (also misleadingly called as Tinda Kalah).
The tiny village of Gulpur, in the southwest, is home to a sizable refugee camp. Throtchi, renowned for its fortress constructed in 1460, is next to Gulpur.
Description:
The term Kotli was originally derived from two words that were spoken by a tiny portion of the community in the nearby village. These titles, koh and talay, denote a people living beneath mountains. With time came the creation of the hybrid moniker Kotli. Regarding the roots of the name Kotli, there are two more ideas. According to one school of thought, Prince Raja Shahswar Khan constructed a modest residence nearby and gave it the name Kot, which was subsequently changed to Kotli.
History of Kotli
Up until 1975, Kotli was a part of the Mirpur District and was referred to as Kotli Mangralan. It falls under the Jammu portion of the larger conflict between India and Pakistan and was formerly a component of the Jammu and Kashmir region before 1947.
Kotli is currently a summertime boomtown. The town has transformed into a vision of three-story palaces that now line the formerly desolate roadways connecting the outlying ring towns to the ever-growing city perched on the Poonch River’s brim.
In 1947, the Dogra force was routed and beaten here by a group of local men led by Col. Mahmood.
Sehnsa is located just before Holar on the Kotli-Rawalpindi route, west of Gulpur (the boundary point between Azad Kashmir and Pakistan).
Churches in Kotli
Because of its numerous churches, the settlement of Kotli is frequently referred to as Madina-tul-Masajid. There is a lot of spirituality in the Kotli village of Gulhar Sharif. Here, one discovers a magnificent Mosque situated just at the heart of the town.
Administrative distribution
Kotli district is divided into four tehsils (sub-divisions):
Kotli (City)
Fatehpur Thakiala or Nakyal
Sehnsa
Charhoi
Fagoosh