Swabi: Between the Indus and the Kabul

Swabi lies on the eastern part of the Yusufzai plain, about 340 metres above sea level, in the wedge of fertile land between the Indus River to the east and the Kabul River to the south. It is the headquarters of Swabi District, which was part of Mardan District until it became a district in its own right in 1988, and it is the second-largest town of Mardan Division after Mardan itself.

The 2023 Census counted 156,496 people in Swabi city and 1,894,600 in the district, which has four tehsils: Swabi, Lahor, Razar and Topi. The people are overwhelmingly Pashto-speaking, and the Yusufzai Pashtuns have long been the dominant tribe of the plain. Hindko is spoken by a small minority.

Swabi is a farming district, wheat, maize, sugarcane and tobacco have long been the main crops of the Yusufzai plain, and a growing education centre. The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), opened at Topi in 1993, is one of Pakistan's best-known engineering universities, and the University of Swabi and a medical college have followed.

History runs deep here. At Hund, on the right bank of the Indus, Alexander the Great's army crossed the river on a bridge of boats in 327 BCE; the town, ancient Udabhandapura, later became a capital of the Hindu Shahi kings. A site museum now tells its story. Tradition also links the village of Lahor with the birthplace of the great Sanskrit grammarian Panini.

At Hund, the Indus has carried armies, pilgrims and kings, Swabi has watched them all go by.