Derajat

Derajat (Saraiki: ڈیرہ جاٹ, Urdu: ڈیرہ جات) the Arabic plural for the word 'dera', is a cultural region of central Pakistan, located in the region where the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab meet. Derajat is bound by the Indus River to the east and the mountains to the west. The region consists of three districts, Dera Ghazi Khan (western Punjab), founded by Ghazi Khan Dodai, and Dera Ismail Khan (southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), founded by Ismail Khan Dodai as well as smaller districts, Rajanpur and Tank, which were separated from Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, respectively. People of these Deras are called Derawal and the dialect of Saraiki they speak is called as Derawali dialect.

The Derajat is a level plain between the Indus and the Sulaiman range, lying between 29°30′ and 34°15′ N. and 69°15′ and 72′ E., the name derives its name from, the three Deras : Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Fateh Khan, and Dera Ghazi Khan. It extends north to the Sheikh Budin range, which divides it from the Marwat plain, and south to the town of Jampur, having a length of 325 miles and breadth of 50 miles.

The DeraJaat owes its existence as an historical area to the Baloch immigration in the fifteenth century. Sultan Husain, the Langah sovereign of Multan, being unable to hold his trans-Indus possessions, called in Baloch mercenaries, and assigned these territories to Malik Sohrab Dodai in jagir. Malik's sons, Ghazi Khan, Ismail Khan and Fateh Khan, founded the three Deras or `settlements' named after them.

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