Бархан ауданы: тарихы, географиясы және халқы

Barkhan (Balochi: بارخان, , ) is a district in the province of Balochistan in Pakistan. It shares its borders with the province of Punjab to the east and the Balochistan districts of Dera Bugti to the south, Kohlu to the west, Loralai to the northwest and Musakhel to the north. The town of Barkhan serves as the district's headquarters. It was granted the status of a separate district on 31 December 1991, prior to which it was a tehsil within Loralai District.

The early history of District Barkhan is obscure, but it is said that this area remained under Muslim rulers and conquerors of Kandahar and India. Baro Khan the founder of the Barozai family of Pannis was a great fighter who came to Barkhan with his tribal people. As such, this valley was named Bar Khan, but with the passage of time it was called Barkhan.

District Barkhan made headlines when million years old fossils of a dinosaurs was found in the area of Vatakari. Etymology; Khetrani, honoring the Khetran tribe of Barkhan district; saurus means reptiles. The species specific epithet barkhani, honoring the Barkhan which is the host District of dinosaurs.

Barkhan has a hot semi arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh) with very hot summers and mild winters. Precipitation mainly falls in two distinct periods: light to moderate rain in the late winter and early spring from February to April, and heavier rain in the monsoon from June to September.

At the time of the 2017 census the district had 25,475 households and a population of 171,025. Barkhan district had a sex ratio of 902 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 26.99% 36.35% for males and 16.61% for females. 12,201 (7.13%) lived in urban areas. 64,821 (37.90%) were under 10 years of age. 82 (0.05%) people in the district were from religious minorities. At the time of the 2017 census, 94.79% of the population spoke Balochi and 1.48% Pashto as their first language. There are also 2,973 (1.74%) speakers of a language recorded as 'Other' on the census, possibly Khetrani. The predominant language is Balochi, which accounts for 75% of the population. There is also a sizeable community of speakers of the Indo Aryan language Khetrani. There are four main tribes in Barkhan District: the Khetran, Marri tribe, Hasni tribe and Buzdar tribe. The Khetrans have a chief (called Tumandar) of the tribe, while, each sub clan/section is represented by a headman (called Wadera).

Barkhan started functioning as a district on 31 December 1991. Previously, it was a tehsil of district Loralai. The main motivation for granting Barkhan the status of a district was to provide basic facilities at a grassroots level and to give people easy access to public offices. District Barkhan comprises only one Tehsil, Barkhan itself. The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance (BLGO) of 1980 was intended to involve local populations in the development of their areas; it was replaced by BLGO 2001, which introduced the concept of district government. Under BLGO 2001, Barkhan District had one tehsil and eight union councils. The district was administered by a single line of administration that covered both the rural as well as the urban areas. The system continued for two tenures and was again modified through the approval of BLGA 2010. The present system, under the Local Government Act 2010, is similar to BLGO 1980 in that it emphasizes a rural urban division, but no elections were held under the latest system.

There are eight union councils' representatives in the District Council of Barkhan, one from each union council. Special seats are allocated to the representatives of workers/peasants, women and minorities as discussed above. All the elected chairmen of the Municipal Committees are also members of the District Council. The District Council is concerned with rural development activities and functions pertaining to, public health, education, agricultural development and economic welfare, articles of food and drink, drainage, livestock and dairy development, culture and public safety. The District Council can generate revenue by levying fees and various taxes as given in part II of second schedule of BLGA 2010.

A number of Federal and Provincial Government departments provide services at the district level. Except for FBS, Civil Defense and Passport and immigration, all other major departments are functional at the district level, and some departments have offices even at the tehsil level. (DC office, Election Commission of Pakistan, 2010)

According to Pakistan District Education Ranking, a report by Alif Ailaan, district Barkhan is ranked at number 100 nationally with a score of 50.24. The learning score of Barakhan is 54.58 and gender parity of 62.75. The national rank according to readiness is 100, with a readiness score of 22.66 and primary ratio of 9.7. The school infrastructure score is 20.53, ranking Barkhan district nationally at 153. Functional toilets are a major issues in schools of Barkhan with a score of 2.65. Issues reported in TaleemDo! App usually relate to poor building walls, putting students lives at risk or in some places no building walls at all. Basic facilities are missing and there are also many complaints about lack of quality teachers. In the case of rural females, only 6% had ever attended any school and only 3% graduated from primary or higher levels. The primary net attendance ratio of school going age children was 39%, with girls lower than boys (36% versus 41%). This indicates that 61% children were still out of school and will either join late, or probably will never enroll. The total enrollment for middle classes up to December 2009 was 1,085, and total enrollment in secondary classes was only 595. One of the major reasons for low enrollment in secondary levels is non availability of schools. Against 572 primary schools in the district, there are only 17 middle and 14 high schools. Primary school completion is relatively better (65%). There are 572 primary schools (407 male and 165 female), 17 middle schools (12 male and 5 female), 14 high schools (12 male and 2 female), 1 girls' inter college and 1 boys' degree 4 college.

District Barkhan has deposits of coal and gypsum. The coal deposits are not large. In some places, very minute quantities of coal were found, but the work was abandoned as there was no prospect of commercial benefits. As recently as 2001, a British oil exploration company conducted a survey and found oil reserves in Vitakari, Gadobra and some other areas. The Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd. discovered gas and condensate at Barkhan in 2021.