Garhi Habibullah is a town and union council (an administrative subdivision) of Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located in Balakot Tehsil, to the east of the district capital Mansehra, towards the Kashmir frontier (near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir). It was affected by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
Garhi Habibullah is basically divided into 5 separate Khanates. 1) Khanate of Samundar Khan Khankhail Swati, Khanate of Habib Khan Jehangiri Swati, Khanate of Ameen Khan Jehangiri Swati, Khanate of Hassan Ali Khan Arghushal Swati and Khanate of Behram Khan Sarkheli Swati.
On 10 June 1847 - Boundary Commissioner James Abbott, who would later become First Deputy Commissioner of Hazara, noted in his journal:
The following day Abbott made the following entry in his journal:
Abbott remained in Garhi Habibullah until the 13th of June awaiting contact from Vans Agnew - he had been delayed to protracted negotiations with the Dhund tribe, the next day (14 June) he set off for Shinkiari.
Garhi Habibullah underwent its first formal land settlement under the British administration in 1872. During this process, the region was organized into five estates, locally referred to as hundis or turfs. These five estates were:
Approximately fourteen different Gabri families from 7 different Gabri Swati clans were recognized as Ala Malkans (principal landlords) within these five estates, while other residents were classified as tenants, kasabgars and adna maliks .