Hasan Abdal (حسن ابدال) is an historic town in Northern Punjab, Pakistan. It is located where the Grand Trunk Road meets the Karakoram Highway near the North-West Frontier Province province, northwest of  Wah. It is 40 km northwest of Rawalpindi. It has a population of about over 50,000. It is famous for Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib, one of the most sacred places of Sikhism. Thousands of Sikhs visit the Gurudwara on the eve of Besakhi every year. The other historical place is a tomb erroneously called Lala Rukh Tomb. There is a grave inside a square walled Garden and a fresh water fish pond near the tomb. On the nearby hill there is a meditation chamber attributed to a saint Baba Hasan Abdal also known as Baba Wali Kandhari with local folks. The city is named after this saint.

Hasan Abdal is 48 km from Rawalpindi. It is a beautiful, quiet place and a convenient halting point of G.T. Road enroute to Peshawar or Abbottabad. This town has a particular association with Mughals and Sikhs. It was mentioned by Emperor Jehangir in his memoirs and frequently visited by successive Mughal Kings, on their way to Kashmir.
It remained a holy place for various religious groups through the ages. It has a Sikh Gurdwara (temple) known as Panja Sahib having a sacred rock with the hand print of their religious leader, Guru Nanak.Twice a year, Sikh pilgrims visit

This Gurdwara from all over the world. Two other historical buildings of Mughal era (Muqbara Hakeeman and so-called tomb of Lala Rukh) are located just opposite the Gurdwara.

On the nearby hill, at an altitude of 714 meters, there is a meditation chamber related to a 15th century Muslim Saint, Baba Wali Qandhari, popularly known as Baba Hasan Abdal. The saint stayed in Hasan Abdal from 1406-1416 AD but died and buried in village Baba Wali near Qandhar (Afghanistan). The devotees and visitors climb over the steps leading to the hill, for offerings and to have a panoramic view of Hasan Abdal.

Administration

Administratively the city is a part of Attock District. Hasan Abdal is one of the five tehsils of the District Attock. The former town committee was renamed as tehsil municipal administration in the Musharraf era. The tehsil municipal administration is divided into two union councils.

Health and Medical Care

There is a governmental Tehsil Headquarters Hospital and numerous privately owned clinics in and around the city. Despite the exponential growth in population, the health care facilities are extremely insufficient. For any serious illness one has to visit a specialist in the nearby Wah Cantonment or in Rawalpindi.

Schools

The city has several state owned primary schools, a high school each for boys and girls, a higher secondary school each for boys and girls and a degree college for women. There are a number of privately run schools to make up for the shortfall of the state owned ones.

In the vicinity of the city limits there is a missionary school called Presentation Convent School Wah which offers education for girls up to high school.

In addition to the above schools that cater for the local population, there is a military style boys residential school which enrolls boys from 8th to 12th grades and was originally founded to prepare them for a military career. Cadet College Hasan Abdal is administered by a board of directors and is associated to the provincial Government of Punjab.

The city in recent past

The city has been an idyllic place till a couple of decades ago. It was hardly imaginable that its fresh water springs with crystal clear water and loquat orchards will turn to ruins so soon. In 1980 it had a population of about ten thousands and everything seemed to be in control. Now, the population of the city has more than quadrupled in a matter of two decades without any plan. One can see houses and commercial buildings built at every imaginable place. The fresh air of the 1970s and early 1980s has become a nostalgic memory.