Sahiwal ( Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in
Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...
Sahiwal District
Sahiwal District ( Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery district, is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. In 1998, it had a population of 1,843,194 people, 16.27% of which were in urban areas. Since 2008, Sahiwal District, ...
and
Sahiwal Division
Sahiwal Division ( Punjabi, ur, ) is one of the nine Divisions of Punjab province, Pakistan.
It was formed by merging parts of Lahore Division and Multan Division and took its name Sahiwal from the district and city of the same name, which ...
. Sahiwal is approximately 180 km from the major city
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
and 100 km from
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...
and lies between
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
and
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the old ...
.
The city lies in a densely populated region between the Sutlej and Ravi rivers. The principal crops are wheat, cotton, tobacco, legumes, potato and oil seeds. Cotton goods and lacquered woodwork are manufactured.
History
Following the Ummayad Arab conquest of Punjab cities of Uch and Multan, led by Muhammad bin Qasim. Arabs of Emirate of Multan ruled the region of Sahiwal for few centuries. Then Sahiwal remained part of Multan province of Mamluk dynasty. Sahiwal also remained associated with historic city of Depalpur.
The modern day city of Sahiwal was founded in 1865 when a train station was built at the site of a small village on the Karachi-Lahore railway line. The site was named Montgomery for
Sir Robert Montgomery
Sir Robert Montgomery GCSI, KCB (2 December 1809 – 28 December 1887), was a British administrator and civil servant in colonial India. He was Chief Commissioner of Oudh during the period of 1858 to 1859 and later served as Lieutenant Govern ...
Gogera
Gogera ( ur, ), is a town and union council of Okara District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 30°58'4N 73°18'24E with an altitude of 166 metres (547 feet) and lies to the north-west and away from the district capital - ...
as the capital of the recently created Montgomery district. Two years later in 1867, it was constituted a municipality.
In 1914 construction began of the
Lower Bari Doab Canal
The Lower Bari Doab Canal is a canal in Punjab, Pakistan. Part of the part of the second-largest irrigation system of the province, it serves approximately 275,000 farmsteads. It is located south-west of Lahore and runs alongside the River Ravi.
...
which now irrigates both the city and wider region.
During the Partition of India in 1947 the city, being part of Montgomery district, was allocated to Pakistan by the
Punjab Boundary Commission
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 ...
. This was on the basis of being a Muslim majority area, despite claims from the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
and Sikh groups on the basis of greater property ownership and revenues paid to the state.
Climate
The climate of Sahiwal district is extreme, reaching 52 °C in summer, and down to 2 °C in winter. The soil of the district is very fertile. The average rainfall is about 2000 mm.
Education
Notable educational institutes of the city include:
*
University of Sahiwal
The University of Sahiwal ( ur, ) is a public university located in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan.
History & overview
In January 2005, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan (BZU) established a sub-campus in Sahiwal inaugurated by the then Gover ...
Barani Institute of Sciences
The Barani Institute of Sciences (Urdu: ), or BIS is a private institute having its campuses in Sahiwal and Burewala in Punjab, Pakistan. It is affiliated with Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi.
History
Barani Instit ...
*
Sahiwal Medical College
Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal (Urdu:, SLMC, established in 2010, is a public school of medicine located in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established to provide education in the Punjab region and especially in Sahiwal District. Old District ...
*
Quaid-e-Azam College of Engineering and Technology, Sahiwal
The Quaid-e-Azam College Of Engineering and Technology (QCET) ( ur, ) is a private college located in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. It offers undergraduate engineering and engineering technology degree programs in affiliation with University of En ...
Army Public Schools & Colleges System
Army Public Schools & Colleges System or APSACS is one of the largest educational institutions of Pakistan which provides education till intermediate. APSAC System operates in 18 regions across Pakistan, with supervision by 18 Regional Director ...
Divisional Public School and College
Divisional Public Schools and Colleges (DPS or DPSC), established in 1963, is a series of mega-schools at the division level in Punjab, Pakistan. The series consists of one of the largest institutions providing education at school level in Pakis ...
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
, in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
, North West England. Approximately eight per cent of town's population is of Asian origin, most of whom have links with Pakistan. The twinning arrangement was agreed between Rochdale and Sahiwal in 1998.
Majeed Amjad
Majeed Amjad (Punjabi, ur, ) (29 June 1914 – 11 May 1974) was an Urdu poet from Pakistan. One newspaper described him as a "philosophical poet of depth and sensitivity". His ghazals have also been sung by various Pakistani singers.
Personal ...
, Urdu poet
*
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz ( ar, طارق عزيز , 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraqi politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and a close advisor of President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s wh ...
, television anchor
*
Dildar Pervaiz Bhatti
Dildar Pervaiz Bhatti (30 November 1946 – 30 October 1994) was a Pakistani television and a radio host, college professor and a TV program announcer.Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, Indian Army Officer
*
Attash Durrani
Attash Durrani ( ur, ; 22 January 1952 – 30 November 2018) was a Pakistani linguist, researcher, critic, author, educationist, and gemologist. He wrote more than 275 books and approximately 500 papers in Urdu and English. His main disciplines o ...
, Urdu writer and Scholar
*
Manzoor Elahi
Manzoor Elahi (Urdu:منظور الہی) (born 15 April 1963) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. Considered a hard-hitting batsman and a medium-pacer bowler, Elahi appeared in six Test matches and 54 One Day Internationals for Pa ...
, former test cricketer
*
Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi Raza Hasan (born July 1979) is a British-American political journalist, broadcaster and author of Indian descent.
Hasan has been the host of ''The Mehdi Hasan Show'' on Peacock since October 2020 and on MSNBC since February 2021.
In 2 ...
, journalist and historian
*
Rana Mohammad Hanif Khan
Rana Mohammad Hanif Khan (رانا محمد حنیف خان ) was a politician who served as the Finance minister of pakistan from 22 October 1974 to 28 March 1977. He was from the city of hichawatni, Sahiwal which is in the Punjab (Pakistan ...
Nouraiz Shakoor
Chaudhary Nouraiz Shakoor Khan (Urdu, pa, ) (born October 19, 1948) is a Pakistani politician from Sahiwal who has been a member of the Pakistan National Assembly three times in 1988, 1993 and 2002 elections respectively. Shakoor was a member o ...
, politician and former Federal minister
*
Saieen Zahoor
Saieen Zahoor Ahmed or Ali Saain Shafiu ( Punjabi: سائیں ظہور, born 1936) is a leading Punjabi Sufi musician from Pakistan. He has spent most of his life singing in Sufi shrines, and didn't produce a record until 2006, when he was nom ...
Zafar Ali Stadium
Zafar Ali Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. From 1955 until 1995, it was used for first-class and List A cricket cricket matches.. The stadium has a capacity to house 10,000 people.
The venue, formerly known as Sa ...
*
University of Sahiwal
The University of Sahiwal ( ur, ) is a public university located in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan.
History & overview
In January 2005, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan (BZU) established a sub-campus in Sahiwal inaugurated by the then Gover ...