17/03/2024
Mirpur is a district and division of Azad Kashmir. It is situated on the main Peshawar to Lahore Grand Trunk road at Dina Tehsil. Division of Mirpur consists of three districts Kotli, Bhimber and Mirpur.
The dominant language spoken in Mirpur is Pahari Potohari language which is also named as the Mirpuri language. Although now due to the vast immigrations to England, English is also becoming popular. Urdu is also spoken but Pahari/Pothohari is mostly preferred by the inhabitants.
The religion of majority in Mirpur city is Islam. They follow mostly the practices of the Punjabi Potohari culture due to the closeness with the Potohar plateau. Islmiyat is compulsory subject till graduation level. Mirpur has a very famous darbaar they visit occasionally, that is the shrine of Baba Peer Shah Ghazi and Mian Mohammad Baksh who were famous sufi saints. They have named this darbaar as Chechiyaan Darbaar or Khari Shareef. People of Mirpur have a firm believe that if one wants some prayer or wish to be accepted, he or she must promise to give some money, give a daaig or put a chadar on the shrine of Peer Shah Ghazi once the wish is granted. Not only people of Mirpur but people form Punjab also believe this and visit this place whole heartedly.
People in the said city have the same taste as that of Punjabis. They like the same spicy dishes like biryanai, pulao, korma etc. But the most famous and favorite dish of Mirpur is laal lobia with white rice. There are many restaurants, food stalls and stands on road selling this dish by the name “pothi chaaval” or “lobia chaaval” and people from all social classes be it a lower class person or an elite class chaudry likes being here and eating this dish. Even expats from UK love this dish and try it every time they visit Mirpur.
And last but not least Mirpur has people who are very loving and kind by nature. They are helpful at time of needs even for their enemies. They consider their guests as “rahmat and barkat” (good omen). They welcome their guests warmly and treat them with whole heart. Most of the people in Mirpur are lazy and do not want to work hard, so they make malls, shops, bungalows, buy cars and give them on rent which is their source of income. In this way they don’t have to work hard and by sitting at home and doing nothing they earn.
