Khushab

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Khushab
خُوشاب
City
Khushab is located in Pakistan
Khushab
Khushab
Location in Pakistan
Coordinates (Punjab): Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country Pakistan
Province Punjab, Pakistan
District Khushab
Population (2009)[1]
 • Total 110,868
Time zone PST (UTC+5)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC+6)
Postal code 41000
Area code(s) 0454
District Government Khushab Official Website

Khushab (Urdu: خُوشاب‎) is a city as well as a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan.[2] The word Khushab means "sweet water." Khushab city also serves as the headquarters of Khushab Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district Khushab.[3]

The city of Khushab is home to the Khushab Nuclear Complex,[4] a critical part of the Pakistan's Special Weapons Program, which has come under much heated scrutiny.[5]

Demographics

The population according to the 1901 census was 11,403.[6]

Khushab Nuclear Complex

On March 21, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor published an article written by Alexander Colhoun, in which a high-resolution aerial satellite photo revealed a nuclear reactor, Khushab Nuclear Complex, and a missile base in the city of Khushab. These pictures had mixed views, one of the expression of power that could shackle or reshape diplomatic landscapes[7] of a region and another of the ethical question about the usage of satellite imagery in terms of privacy and national sovereignty of a nuclear-capable nation. The report was published at a time when American President Bill Clinton was due to visit India, and it sparked concerns worldwide. According to a more recent ISIS analysis of imaging the Khushab Nuclear Complex has totally 4 heavy water reactors and a heavy water production plant. Moreover, the plutonium produced in this site as reported by a Pakistani official is prepared to build small, short range nuclear weapons such as tactical nuclear-tipped missiles.[8]

Etymology

"Khushab" is a combination of two Persian words: khush (Persian: خوش‎‎), meaning "sweet or tasty," and aab (Persian: آب‎‎), meaning "water." A common belief is that the Persians from the west first used the word khush-aab in admiration of the sweet and tasty water found in the historical city situated on the bank of Jhelum River. In time the city was known as Khushab.[9]

Language

As per the 1998 census of Pakistan, the following are the demographics of the Khushab district, by spoken language:

References

External links