Khushab District is a district in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, with its administrative capital in Jauharabad. The district is named after the historical city of Khushab located within its boundaries. According to the 1998 census, the population was 905,711 with 24.76% living in urban areas. The district consists of four tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal, Quaidabad and Naushera. Khushab is home to the Heavy Water and Natural Uranium Research Reactor, part of the Pakistan's Special Weapons Program.
Language
According to the 1998 census the major first language of the district is Punjabi, spoken by 96.8% of the population, while Urdu accounted for 1.5%.
Nuclear installations
On 21 March 2000, an article in the Christian Science Monitor claimed that satellite photos had revealed a nuclear reactor and missile base near the city of Khushab.
Geography
Khushab is situated between the cities of Sargodha and Mianwali, near the riverJhelum. The district capital is Jauharabad. Khushab consists of agricultural lowland plains, lakes, and hills. Parts of the Thal desert touch the district, which has a breadth of over and is situated between the Indus river and the Jhelum river. There are three lakes in the district. Kanhatti Garden is the largest forest in Khushab district, near Khabbaki village in the Soon Valley. Khabikki Lake is a salt-water lake in the southern Salt Range. The lake is one kilometre wide and two kilometres long. Khabikki is also the name of a neighbouring village. Sakesar is the highest mountain in the Salt Range, and is the site of the ancient Amb Temples. Sakesar’s summit is 1522 metres / 4946 feet high and is situated in Khushab District.
Education
According to Pakistan District Education Ranking, a report released by Alif Ailaan, Khushab is ranked 42 nationally with an education score of 65.42 and learning score of 65.82. The readiness score of Khushab is 62.33. The infrastructure score of the district is 88.11, which indicates that the schools in Khushab have adequate facilities The issues reported in says that there are some areas where there are no government school for girls. Another major issue reported was that Teachers don’t do their jobs properly and don’t do justice to their profession.
Administrative divisions
Khushab got the status of district in 1982. At the start, the district was divided into two tehsils, Khushab, Noorpur Thal. Later on Quaidabad was given the status of Tehsil in March 2007 and Naushera became 4th Tehsil of District Khushab in March 2013. In local bodies delimitation 2000, it contained a total of fifty-one Union Councils. In 2015 delimitation of District Khushab, 48 rural union councils and 7 urban Municipal Committees have been created by the election Commission of Pakistan.
Khushab Tehsil
In 2000, Tehsil Khushab was subdivided into 32 Union councils; but in 2015, 10 urban Union councils transferred to Municipal Committees whereas six Union councils have become the part of Tehsil Naushehra. Now Tehsil Khushab has 19 Union councils and 4 Municipal Committees: Union Councils
