Dera Ismail Khan was founded toward the end of the fifteenth century by Sardar Ismail Khan Baloch, a son of Sardar Malik Sohrab Khan Dodai Baloch, who named the town after himself. The original town was swept away by a flood in 1823, and the existing buildings are all of relatively modern construction. The present town stands four miles (6 km) back from the permanent channel of the river.
However, later research does not support this theory. Firstly, Malik Sohrab was not an Arab adventurer but a Hooth Baloch who was appointed Soobadar of this area by the Langha rulers of Multan. Similarly the city could not have been founded towards the end of fifteenth century; because when Babar came here in 1506 he passed through this plain which is now called Dama'an and referred to it as Dasht and went up to Tank but did not mention any city around here in his Tuzk (Memoirs, originally published in Turkish). Later we are told that when in 1540 Sher Shah came to Khushab, Ismail Khan of Dera Ismail Khan went to Khushab to meet him there. So the city must have been founded in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. After the flood destruction of 1823, the present city was founded by Sardar Ellahi Bakhsh Siyyal in 1825 but he prefer not to change the name.
During British rule the town contained two bazaars, the Hindu and Muslim population living in separate quarters. The town stands on a level plain, with a slight fall to the river, but is badly drained. It is surrounded by a thin mud wall, with nine gates, enclosing an area of about 500 acres (2.0 km2).
The cantonment, which lies southeast of the town, has an area of 44 square miles (110 km2), excluding the portion known as Fort Akalgarh on the northwest side. The civil lines are to the south. The Derajat Brigade had its winter headquarters at Dera Ismail Khan, and the garrison consisted of a mountain battery, a regiment of Native cavalry, and three regiments of Native infantry. Detachments from these regiments helped to garrison the outposts of Drazinda, Jandola, and Jatta. The municipality was constituted in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902–3 averaged Rs. 55,000, and the expenditure Rs. 53,000. The income and expenditure in 1903-4 were Rs. 55,500 and Rs. 55,800 respectively. The chief source of income was octroi (Rs. 48,000); the chief items of expenditure were conservancy (Rs. 8,785), education (Rs. 7,246), hospitals and dispensaries (Rs. 6,302), public safety (Rs. 7,733), public works (Rs. 2,143), and administration (Rs. 5,546). The receipts and expenditure of cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902–3 averaged RS. 2,700 and Rs. 2,800 respectively.
The local trade of Dera Ismail Khan was of second-rate importance, but some foreign traffic with Khorasan passed through it. Powinda caravans of Afghan merchants traversed the town twice a year on their road to and from India; and, with the increasing security of the Gomal route, these caravans were yearly swelling in numbers. The chief imports were English and native piece-goods, hides, salt, and fancy wares; and the exports, grain, wood, and ghee. The local manufactures are lungis and lacquered woodwork. The town possesses a civil hospital; its chief educational institutions are two aided Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church Missionary Society and the other by the Bharatri Sabha, and an Anglo-vernacular middle school maintained by the municipality.
Saraiki is the main language spoken in D.I.Khan followed by Pashto. D.I Khan has a mixed population of Pashto and Saraiki speakers. The vast majority of people are conversant in Urdu. English is understood by the educated.
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