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Cherat Cantonment

Special Operations School is located in Cherat which is called the home of Special Services Group. Cherat is located in the crest of Khattak Range at approx 4500 ft above sea level in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. It is 52 Kilometres from Peshawar and 54 kilometres from Nowshera. The road from Cherat bifurcates from Pabbi Railway Station on Grand Truck Road. Timewise it is approx 45 minutes drive from Pabbi Railway Station. The climate in Cherat is very pleasant in summers and cold in winters. Strong winds are a constant feature.

Cherat was a hill sanitarium and cantonment in the Naushahra tahsll of Peshawar District, North-West Frontier Province, situated in 33° 50' N. and 71° 54' E., on the west of the Khattak range, 30 miles south-east of Peshawar. Cherat, which is 4,500 feet above sea-level, was first used as a sanitarium for troops in 1861, and was declared a cantonment in 1886. A hospital, a church, and a few bungalows have been built. The station had a good water-supply, and was throughout the summer the head-quarters of the Peshawar division command, and of one of the two British regiments stationed at Peshawar. A detachment of the other British regiment was also sent here. The mean temperature in June is 82° at Cherat, compared with 90° at Peshawar, and the nights are bearable. The hill commands a view of the whole of the Peshawar valley on one side, and on the other of a portion of the Khwarra valley in Peshawar District, and of Kohat District as far as the Indus. The population, according to the Census of March, 1901, was only 376 (no Europeans), but in the hot season the garrison sometimes numbers 1,000 men.

Cherat was used as a sanitarium for Peshawar and Nowshera in the hot months. In the epidemics of 1872 and 1876 not a single case of cholera showed itself at Cherat. The deaths have averaged 8 in each year, out of a strength of 750. In the six years 46 deaths occurred ; some were due to disease contracted at Peshawar, but 18 were caused by enteric fever, which originated in the sanitarium. With two exceptions, these fever deaths occurred in young men under 25, and generally in men new to the country. Of the six fatal cases during the last three years, the longest period of residence was 16 months. Notwithstanding the prevalence of this special cause of mortality, Cherat had hitherto admirably fulfilled the purpose on account of which its occupation was urged.

On August 01, 2007 an attempt to attack the Cherat Cantonment with Russian-made missiles failed on Wednesday morning as two of the missiles hit a mountainside while the two others didn't explode and defused by the bomb disposal squad. Police said the five kms range Russian RR-107 missiles were fired from Qamar Mela area, near Kohat at about 4:00 pm. The missiles were wired to a timer. Two missiles hit mountainside near Mir Kalan and Mariba villages and failed to reach the intended target in the Cherat Cantonment.