Daska ( ur, ), is a city in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

province of Pakistan. The city is the capital of

Daska Tehsil Daska ( ur, ), is a tehsil in Sialkot District, Punjab, Pakistan. Its capital is Daska Daska ( ur, ), is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is the capital of Daska Tehsil, one of four tehsils of Sialkot District. It is t ...

, one of four

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s of

Sialkot District Sialkot District ( Punjabi and ur, ), is one of the districts of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in the Majha region of Panjab, otherwise the northeast of the province. The city of Sialkot is the capital of the district. The Sialko ...

. It is the 50th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is 29th largest by population in Punjab.

History

17th-19th centuries

Daska was founded during the reign of

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

, and was initially named Shah Jahanabad, according to Mughal revenue records. It was later renamed Daska as it is ''das'' ("ten") ''koh'' (Mughal unit of distance) from

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

Pasrur Pasrur (Punjabi and ur, ), is a city of Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is the capital of Pasrur Tehsil and is administratively subdivided into 26 wards of municipal committee Pasrur. It is located at 32°16'0N 74 ...

, Gujranwala, and

Wazirabad Wazirabad (Urdu/ pa, ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Wazirabad District. Famous for its cutlery products, it is known as the city of cutlery and is also quite famous for its foods. Wazirabad is situated on the banks of th ...

. During the Afghan

Durrani The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan ( Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but ...

invasion of the 18th century, Daska was ruined and its inhabitants forced to seek shelter in the nearby mudfort of Kot Daska. Daska was later repopulated during the Sikh era. Daska was captured by

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

in 1802 and made part of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

20th century

In 1929, Daska was the site of Hindu-Sikh riots when Akali Sikhs attempted to seize control of

Gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

Sant Wayaram Singh. The local Hindu community claimed it was built to be a dharamsala. In August 1947, 5,000 refugees from surrounding areas gathered at Daska Camp for two weeks before being escorted to the Indian border by the

Pakistani Military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

Economy and Geography

Daska tehsil was once the biggest tehsil in Pakistan, containing almost 400 villages. There are a number of agricultural machinery manufacturers based in Daska. Being surrounded by big industrial cities such as Gujranwala and Sialkot, Daska has a very healthy employment rate. The urban area of Daska is no more than in length but it still manages to hold the title of an industrial city which contributes a lot to the national economy. Mughal, Kashmiri, Rajput, Arain, and Malik tribes are prominent in the urban area and several Jatt tribes are in the majority in rural areas. The

Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian Canal __NOTOC__ Bambanwala-Ravi-Bedian Canal (BRB Canal), also called Ichogil Canal, is a manmade waterway in Pakistan that takes off from the Upper Chenab Canal near the Bambanwala village (to the west of Daska), runs southeast until reaching close ...

flows through its centre which makes the surrounded area fertile and rich in crops.

References

Cities and towns in Sialkot District {{Sialkot-geo-stub

History

17th-19th centuries

20th century

Economy and Geography

See also

References