Wiki: Sialkot District - upcScavenger

Sialkot District is a district within the Gujranwala Division of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in northeastern Punjab, the city of Sialkot is the headquarters of the district. It houses the Sialkot Cantonment, established in 1852.

Administration

The district is administratively divided into the following four (subdivisions), which contain a total of 122 Union Councils:

1	Pasrur Tehsil	975	970,366	995.25	74.52%	28
2	Daska Tehsil	690	980,547	1,421.08	79.19%	42
3	Sambrial Tehsil	450	460,280	1,022.84	79.89%	30
4	Sialkot Tehsil	901	2,088,201	2,317.65	79.42%	52

History

Sialkot District was an agricultural region with forests during the Indus Valley Civilization. The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan culture that flourished in the Punjab region. The Kambojas, Daradas, Kekaya, Madras, Pauravas, , Malavas and Kuru Kingdom invaded, settled and ruled the ancient Punjab. After overrunning the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE, Alexander marched into the present-day Punjab region with an army of 50,000. The Sialkot was ruled by Maurya Empire, the Indo-Greek kingdom, Kushan Empire, Gupta Empire, White Huns, Kushano-Hephthalites, the Arabs and Hindu Shahi kingdoms.

In 997 CE, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi took over the Ghaznavids empire established by his father, Sabuktigin, In 1005 he conquered the Hindu Shahi in Kabul in 1005 CE and followed this by the conquests of the Punjab region. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the region.

At an early date the District fell to the Mughal Empire, and under the Mughal Empire formed the Rechna Doab sarkar of the Subah of Lahore. Under Shah Jahan the sarkar was entrusted to Ali Mardan Khan, the famous engineer, who dug a canal through it to bring water from the Chenab River river to the imperial gardens in Lahore.

On the decline of the Mughal Empire Ranjit Singh Deo, a Rajput hill chief, extended his sway over the lowlands, owning a nominal allegiance to Delhi. In 1748 he transferred his allegiance to Ahmad Shah Durrani, who added Zafarwal and two other to his fief. Before his death in 1773 Ranjit Deo had secured possession of the whole District, except the Sialkot town and its dependencies, which were held by a Pashtun people family. Sialkot district was annexed by the British from its former Sikhs rulers after the Second Anglo-Sikh war of 1848–1849.

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the station was denuded of British troops; and the Native regiments which were left behind the rose, and, after sacking the jail, treasury, and courthouse, and massacring several of the European inhabitants, marched off towards Delhi, only to be destroyed by Nicholson at Trimmu Ghat. The rest of the Europeans took refuge in the fort, and on the morning after the departure of the rebels order was restored. The only events of interest in the subsequent history of the District are the plague riots that occurred at the villages of Shahzada and Sankhatra in 1901.

Numerous mounds are scattered about the District, which marks the sites of ancient villages and towns. None of them, except that on which the Sialkot fort stood, has been excavated, but silver and copper utensils and coins have been dug up from time to time by villagers. Most of the coins are those of Indo-Bactrian kings. The excavations in Sialkot revealed the existence of some old baths, with hot-water pipes of solid masonry. The fort itself, of which very little now remains, is not more than 1,000 years old and is said to have been rebuilt by Shahab-ud-din Ghori at the end of the twelfth century.

In 1859, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Sialkot were placed in the new division of Sialkot. But in 1884, Gurdaspur along with Amritsar again became a part of the Lahore Division.

According to the 1901 census, the district had a population of 1,083,909 and contained 7 towns and 2,348 villages. The population at the previous three enumerations was: 1,004,695 (1868), 1,012,148 (1881) and 1,119,847 (1891). The population decreased between 1891 and 1901 by 3.2, the decrease being greatest in the Raya tahsil and least in the Daska tahsil. The Chenab Colony was responsible for this fall in population, with no less than 103,000 persons having left to take land in the newly irrigated tracts.

The district was subdivided into five tehsils, namely: Sialkot, Pasrur, Zafarwal, Raya and Daska, the headquarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The chief towns of the district were Sialkot, Daska, Jamki, Pasrur, Kila Sobha Singh, Zafarwal and Narowal.

Sialkot	428	1	637	312,668	730.5	+3.2	12,101
Pasrur	394	2	443	193,746	491.7	−5.0	5,601
Sambrial	485	1	456	192,440	396.8	+10.4	5,586
Daska	360	2	332	206,148	572.6	−0.6	4,103
Total	1,991	7	2,348	1,083,909	544.4	−3.2	31,341

In 1930, the of Raya, Daska and Pasrur were split up and parts of these were amalgamated into Gujranwala District. In 1991, the tehsils of Narowal and Shakar Garh (which was tehsil Shankar Garh of Gurdaspur district before the independence of Pakistan in 1947) were split up and formed into the new Narowal District.

Geography

Sialkot District lies southeast of Gujrat District, southwest of Jammu district (in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir), while Narowal District is to the southeast and Gujranwala District is situated to the west. Sialkot district is spread over an area of 3,016 square kilometers.]] Sialkot is hot and humid during the summer and cold during the winter. June and July are the hottest months. The maximum temperature during winter may drop to . The land is generally plain and fertile. The average annual rainfall is about 1000 mm. Over 25.82% of the population of the district is urban.

Demographics

Population

As of the 2023 census, Sialkot district has 671,320 households and a population of 4,499,394. The district has a sex ratio of 102.58 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 78.37%: 80.24% for males and 76.50% for females. 1,116,259 (24.96% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 1,481,968 (32.94%) live in urban areas.

Educational Institutes

There are two main public universitiesand one medical college in Sialkot

University of Sialkot
Government College Women University Sialkot
Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College

There are one private university and one private medical college

Grand Asian University Sialkot
Islam Medical College

Besides these institutions there are many small institution providing education in District Sialkot

Religion

Muslims are the majority community making up 96.19% of the population, while Christians (descendants of Hindu Dalits who converted during the British Colonial period) are the principal minority.

+ Religion in contemporary Sialkot District ! rowspan="2"	Religious group ! colspan="2"	1941 ! colspan="2"	2017 ! colspan="2"	2023
Islam	592,236		3,740,507	96.04%	4,302,067	96.19%
Hinduism	176,989		2,870	0.07%	3,195
Sikhism	92,715				260	~0%
Christianity	54,498		136,254	3.50%	154,884	3.46%
Ahmadi			14,771	0.38%	11,386	0.25%
Others	6,461		536	0.01%	668

+ Religious groups in Sialkot District (British Punjab province era) ! rowspan="2"

Religious
group ! colspan="2"

1881 ! colspan="2"

1891 ! colspan="2"

1901 ! colspan="2"

1911 ! colspan="2"

1921 ! colspan="2"

1931 ! colspan="2"

1941

+ Religion in the of Sialkot District (1921) ! rowspan="2"

Tehsil ! colspan="2"

Islam ! colspan="2"

Hinduism ! colspan="2"

Sikhism ! colspan="2"

Christianity ! colspan="2"

Jainism ! colspan="2"

Others ! colspan="2"

Total

+ Religion in the of Sialkot District (1941) ! rowspan="2"

Tehsil ! colspan="2"

Islam ! colspan="2"

Hinduism ! colspan="2"

Sikhism ! colspan="2"

Christianity ! colspan="2"

Jainism ! colspan="2"

Others ! colspan="2"

Total

Language

At the time of the 2023 census, 92.01% of the population spoke Punjabi language, 4.86% Urdu, 1.27% Mewati language and 1.22% Pashto as their first language.

Notable people

Historical figures

Muhammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher
Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan's first Foreign Minister and President of the United Nations General Assembly
Faiz Ahmad Faiz,Now in Narowal District poet and scholar
Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah, great orator, poet and pir, has been president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan
Zafar Ali Khan writer, poet, and journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement
Fazl-i-Hussain was one of the most Influential politicians in the United Punjab region
Ubaidullah Sindhi pre-partition Muslim Scholar and leader
Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician and twice Prime Minister of India
Umera Ahmad famous Urdu fiction writer of modern era
Chaudhry Naseer Ahmad Malhi a leading member of the Muslim League
Abdul Hakim Sialkoti famous Muslim intellectual of 16th century
Chaudhry Sir Shahab-ud-Din Virk, lawyer and politician in pre-partition.
Ian Talbot (2013). 9781136790294, Routledge. . ISBN 9781136790294

Military

Air marshal Zafar Chaudhry was the first Chief of Air Staff
General Khalid Shameem Wynne the 14th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

Journalists and poets

Kuldip Nayar, Indian journalist
Amjad Islam Amjad, Urdu writer, lyricist, and poet
Rajinder Singh Bedi, writer
Khalid Hasan, who was born in Srinagar but studied and lived in Sialkot.
Hamid Mir, a Pakistani journalist who was born in Sialkot
Abdal Bela, Urdu writer
Taufiq Rafat, a British-Pakistani poet

Politicians

Chaudhry Amir Hussain, former Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly, former acting President of Pakistan and Federal Minister of Pakistan 3 times
Khawaja Muhammad Safdar, Pakistani politician and former acting President of Pakistan
Syed Iftikhar Ul Hassan, Politician from Allo Mahar, re-elected several time as a Member of the National Assembly.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif, politician and Federal Minister of Pakistan
Firdous Ashiq Awan, former Federal Minister
Mumtaz Kahloon, politician
Gulzari Lal Nanda, former acting Indian Prime Minister