Dera Ismail Khan

Dera Ismail Khan, abbreviated D. I. Khan, is a city and the headquarters of Dera Ismail Khan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, the 10th largest city of the country and the third or fourth largest in the province. It lies 300 kilometres south of Peshawar and 230 kilometres northwest of Multan, and takes its name, Camp of Ismail Khan, from the Dodai mercenary Ismail Khan, son of Malik Sohrab Dodai, who founded the original town. Flooding on the Indus swept that town away in 1823, and the present city was founded in 1825 by Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan of the Saddozai clan on a small plateau about 6 kilometres from the river. The nearby pre-Harappan site of Rehman Dheri dates back to 3300 BCE. The city stands at 177 metres above sea level with a hot arid climate.