Kahuta Tehsil (Punjabi, Urduتحصیل کہوٹا) is one of the seven tehsils (subdivisions) of Rawalpindi District in the Punjabprovince of Pakistan. The neighbouring tehsil of Kallar Sayedan used to be part of Kahuta, but was later created as separate tehsil. The name Kahuta was derived from "Koh" a local medicinal tree (Look the leaves as Oliven) and "Boota".[citation needed]
In the year 1849, Kahuta along with much of the South Asia became part of British India, the undivided tehsil (which includes what is now Kallar Syedan Tehsil) is described in the "Imperial Gazetteer of India" as follows:
Kahuta-Eastern tehsil of Rawalpindi District, Punjab, lying in the Lower Himalayas, between 33° 18′ and 33° 48′ N. and 73° 15′ and 73° 39′ E., with an area of 206 square miles. Its eastern border rests upon the Jhelum River. The whole of the tahsil except the south-west corner lies in the hills, which in the north reach an elevation of over 6,000 feet. The population in 1911 was 94,719, compared with 91,371 in 1891. It contains 231 villages, of which Kahuta is the headquarters. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1913-4 to 1.2 lakhs.[1]
The population of the Kahuta Tehsil is approximately 220,576 according to the latest census of Pakistan which was held in 2017.[citation needed]
The tribes living in Kahuta include the Janjua Rajput, Shaikhs, Awans, Dhund Abbasi, Jasgam Abbasi, Sudhan, Syed, Satti, Gakkhar, Gujjar, Khattar, Qazi, Janhal, Mughal, Chauhan, Siddiqui and Dhanyal.[citation needed]