Salt Range in the context of "Thal Desert"

Tilla Jogian (Punjabi: ٹلا جوگیاں; Urdu: ٹلہ جوگیاں, meaning "hill of jogis "), also known as Balnath Tilla or Gorakh Tilla, is an abandoned Hindu temple and monastic complex located on the summit of the Tilla Jogian mountain in the Salt Range in the Jhelum district of Punjab province, Pakistan. Several temple structures exist at the site, albeit in a dilapidated and deteriorating condition. The summit of the mountain is heavily forested.

The complex was the most important centre for Hindu jogis in Punjab prior to 1947, and had housed hundreds of ascetics. In the pre-partition period, many pundits and yatris (pilgrims) visited the site, with the local environment being described as being lively. Post-partition, the site fell into disuse and decayed. The site is also important in Sikhism for its association with the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak. The site also features in the Waris Shah's version of the Punjabi folktale Heer Ranjha, being the location where Ranjha became a jogi and pierced his ears.

Jhelum District is a district within the Rawalpindi Division of Punjab, Pakistan, located on both the Pothohar Plateau and the Indus Plain of northern Punjab. It is one of the oldest districts of Punjab, being established on 23 March 1849. It borders the districts of Chakwal, and Rawalpindi to the west; Khushab to the south; Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, and Sargodha to the east, along the Jhelum River; and Mirpur to the north.

Jhelum is known for providing many soldiers to the British and later to the Pakistan armed forces due to which it is also known as the 'city of soldiers' or 'land of martyrs and warriors'. Salt is quarried at the Khewra Salt Mine in the Salt Range. There are two coal mines in the district from which the North-Western railway used to obtain part of its supply. These are the only coal mines in Punjab province which are in working condition. The chief center of the salt trade is Pind Dadan Khan. The district is crossed by the main line of the North-Western railway and also traversed along the south by a branch line.

The Gandhara grave culture of present-day Pakistan is known by its "protohistoric graves", which were spread mainly in the middle Swat River valley and named the Swat Protohistoric Graveyards Complex, dated in that region to c. 1200–800 BCE. The Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan (MAIP) holds that there are no burials with these features after 800 BCE. More recent studies by Pakistani scholars, such as Muhammad Zahir, consider that these protohistoric graves extended over a much wider geography and continued in existence from the 8th century BCE until the historic period. The core region was in the middle of the Swat River course and expanded to the valleys of Dir, Kunar, Chitral, and Peshawar. Protohistoric graves were present in north, central, and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as in north-western tribal areas, including Gilgit-Baltistan province, Taxila, and Salt Range in Punjab, Pakistan, along with their presence in Indian Kashmir, Ladakh, and Uttarakhand.

The grave culture has been regarded as a token of the Indo-Aryan migrations but has also been explained by local cultural continuity. Estimates, based on ancient DNA analyses, suggest ancestors of middle Swat valley people mixed with a population coming from the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor, which carried Steppe ancestry, sometime between 1900 and 1500 BCE.

Talagang District (Urdu/Punjabi: ضلع تلہ گنگ) is an administrative district of Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province of Pakistan. Formerly it was Talagang Tehsil within the Chakwal District; its status was raised to District in October 2022 by the government.

It is part of the Potohar plateau and lies on the north of Salt Range and east of the Kala Chitta range. Talagang is 45 km from Chakwal. The motorway M2 is located 30 km from Talagang. It is bordered by Khushab to its South, Attock to its North, Chakwal to its East, and Mianwali to its West.

Soon Valley (Punjabi, Urdu: وادیِ سُون), also known as Soon Sakesar Valley, is in the north west of Khushab District of Punjab, Pakistan. Its largest settlement is the town of Naushera. The valley extends from the village of Padhrar to Sakesar, the highest peak in the Salt Range. The valley is 35 miles (56 km) long and has an average width of 9 miles (14 km). It covers a 310-square-mile (800 km) area. Soon Valley has a number of lakes, waterfalls, jungle, natural pools and ponds. The valley has been settled since ancient times, most recently by the Awan tribe, which still resides in the valley.

The peak of Mount Sakesar is at 5,010 feet (1,530 m) above sea level. It was once the summer headquarters of the Deputy Commissioners of three districts – Campbellpur (now Attock), Mianwali and Shahpur (now Sargodha). It is the only mountain in this part of the Punjab which receives snowfall in winter. In the late 1950s, the Pakistan Air Force placed PAF Base Sakesar, a radar station on Sakesar to monitor airspace over north-eastern Pakistan. Also on the mountain is a Pakistan Television Corporation transmission center.

The Khewra Salt Mine (Urdu: کھیوڑہ نمک کان), also known as Mayo Salt Mine, is the world's second largest salt mine, located in Khewra in the Jhelum District of Punjab, Pakistan. The mine is in the Salt Range of the Pothohar Plateau, which rises from the Indus Plain of the Punjab. 

The mine is famous for its production of pink Khewra salt, often marketed as Himalayan salt, and is a major tourist attraction, drawing up to 250,000 visitors a year. Its history dates back to its discovery by Alexander's troops in 326 BC, but it started trading in the Mughal era. The main tunnel at ground level was developed by H. Warth, a mining engineer, in 1872 during British rule. After independence, the BMR took possession until 1956 and then Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) owned the mines till 1965. After India-Pakistan war in 1965, the West Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (WPIDC) took over the administration of salt mines and in 1974, the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation took over the mine, which still remains the largest source of salt in the country, producing more than 350,000 tons per annum of about 99% pure halite. Estimates of the reserves of salt in the mine vary from 82 million tons to 600 million tons.