Dera Ghazi Khan lies in a narrow strip between the Indus River to the east and the Koh-e-Suleman mountains to the west. Water can arrive from both directions: river floods from one side, and violent hill torrents from the other. Between them live farming families, herders in the hills, and a city that serves as the trading post for the whole region. Many of the people who look up an NGO in Dera Ghazi Khan are simply trying to get through the month.
Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization, known as PHWO, is a non-sectarian welfare organisation that accepts requests from DG Khan online. It has no office, team or camp in the district; its one office is in Larkana, Sindh. Everything it offers is free.
Ration and debt: the most common needs here
Requests from DG Khan are often about food and money owed. A labourer’s family may have run out of flour halfway through the month. A tenant may owe the landlord or the shopkeeper for last season’s inputs. Others borrowed for a daughter’s wedding or a trip to hospital in Multan and cannot keep up.
If that describes you, complete the request help form. List the people in your household, your income, what you owe and to whom. Add a live photo of yourself. PHWO’s volunteers verify each request. Help is arranged where they can confirm a genuine need and are in a position to meet it. It is important to understand that sending a request does not guarantee anything, and PHWO does not give timelines.
Hill torrents and the 2022 floods
In August 2022 rain over the Koh-e-Suleman sent torrents rushing through DG Khan and neighbouring Rajanpur. Dawn reported widespread damage: hundreds of transformers down, dozens of roads washed away, schools and health facilities damaged, and thousands of people camped along the Indus Highway without shelter (Dawn). Many families rebuilt with borrowed money, and the debt remains.
Disaster losses are one of the categories PHWO accepts. Photographs of the damage, even old ones, help volunteers understand what happened.
The district in the 2023 Census
Dera Ghazi Khan District had 3,393,705 people in 2023, and only 23.8% of them lived in urban areas. Saraiki is the most common mother tongue. Balochi is also widely spoken, since several Baloch tribes, such as the Leghari, Khosa and Buzdar, have lived in the district for centuries. The hill areas near Fort Munro and the former tribal belt remain among the least developed parts of Punjab.
Free legal aid in DG Khan
Family disputes in DG Khan are sometimes complicated by tribal custom, but women still have rights to maintenance, dower and custody under Pakistani law, and the family courts in the district hear these cases. Appeals generally go to the Lahore High Court’s Multan bench.
PHWO’s free legal aid lets you put your case to volunteer advocates without paying. No FIR is required. Custody disputes and cases with an early hearing are taken up first. Representation depends on whether a volunteer lawyer can take the case; PHWO does not promise one.
If you are in danger, dial 15 for the police or 1043 for the Punjab women’s helpline.
Students and work devices
Young people in DG Khan study at Ghazi University, the medical college and many colleges, often as the first in their family to reach university. A laptop or a working smartphone can decide whether they keep up with online assignments, apply for jobs, or earn through freelancing. If you are asking PHWO for a device, name your institution and programme and explain what you would use it for.
Girls from the hill areas and Taunsa face extra hurdles: long distances, fewer colleges and families who worry about travel. For some of them, studying online with a borrowed phone is the only route to a degree, which is why a proper device matters so much.
Government services in Dera Ghazi Khan
- DHQ Teaching Hospital Dera Ghazi Khan, attached to Dera Ghazi Khan Medical College.
- Rescue 1122, whose teams also respond when torrents cut roads.
- BISP Kafaalat support for eligible women.
- The district zakat committee and Punjab’s Bait-ul-Maal schemes.
- PDMA Punjab for hill torrent and flood alerts.
- The Deputy Commissioner’s office for official relief and compensation.
Volunteering, donating and the Rishta Desk
Lawyers who practise in DG Khan are the volunteers PHWO needs most in this region. Teachers, students and community elders can help families write clear requests, and people abroad can raise funds. Register through the volunteer form; in return, volunteers get a certificate along with written thanks and a letter describing their work.
Donors from DG Khan and its many workers in the Gulf can give money or goods. Zakat and Sadaqah are passed on fully to people in need, and you can sponsor a single verified case if you prefer.
The free Rishta Desk welcomes families of every faith. It checks each profile with a live selfie and a PHWO staff review; families decide for themselves and no match is guaranteed.
Public services in Dera Ghazi Khan you can also use
- DHQ Teaching Hospital Dera Ghazi KhanPublic teaching hospital
- Rescue 1122Emergency and flood rescue
- PDMA PunjabFlood and hill torrent alerts
- Benazir Income Support ProgrammeCash support for eligible families
- District Administration Dera Ghazi KhanDeputy Commissioner's office
- Lahore High Court, Multan BenchAppeals from DG Khan courts
These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.
Frequently asked questions
We live in the hills near Fort Munro. Can we apply to PHWO?
Yes. If you can use a phone, even at a relative's house in town, you can send a request. Nothing requires a visit.
Is there a PHWO office in DG Khan city?
No. There is no PHWO office anywhere in the DG Khan division; the organisation works from Larkana, Sindh. Reach it through Message PHWO in a free PHWO account, info@phwo.org or phwo.org.
Our house was damaged by the 2022 hill torrent and we are still in debt. Can we ask?
Yes. Describe the damage and the loan, and add any photos you have. Volunteers verify the case; no outcome is promised.
Can a Baloch family in DG Khan use the Rishta Desk?
Yes. It costs nothing and is open to every family in Pakistan, whatever its language or faith.
Can I apply for legal aid in a case governed by a jirga decision?
You can ask a volunteer advocate to look at your situation. Pakistani courts, not jirgas, decide legal rights such as maintenance and custody.