Dera Ghazi Khan

Dera Ghazi Khan stands west of the Indus in the Derajat, between the river plain and the Sulaiman Mountains. It bears the name of Ghazi Khan, a Dodai chief and son of Haji Khan Mirani. The town was founded at the end of the fifteenth century, when Shah Husayn, the Langah Sultan of Multan, invited Baloch tribes to settle in the region. Mirani chiefs governed the area for many generations.

Dera Ghazi Khan formed part of the Mughal province of Multan from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. In the mid-eighteenth century Mahmud Khan Gujjar exercised authority in the town and is credited with beginning canal works and founding Mahmud Kot. In 1819 a Sikh army under Khushal Singh advanced from Multan and took Dera Ghazi Khan for Ranjit Singh.