Saidū Sharīf (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Swat District Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov ...

in the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The city also serves as the capital city of

Malakand Division Malakand Division is an administrative division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. It contains the following districts: Districts * Bajaur District * Buner District * Upper Chitral District * Lower Chitral District * Lower Dir District * ...

. It was named after

Saidu Baba Akhūnd Abdul Ghaffūr ( ps, اخوند عبدالغفور; 1793–1878), commonly known as Saidū Bābā ( ps, سيدو بابا) or the Akhund of Swat, was a prominent religious saint or priest, and Emir of the former State of Swat. Saidu Bab ...

, a prominent leader of the former Yusufzai State of Swat. Saidu Sharif is the hub of several official buildings, and archeological sites such as the Swat Museum, the Tomb of

, Royal Residential Palace of former Wali-e-Swat, and the archaeological remains of the Butkara Buddhist Stupa. It is also home to the Govt. Girls Degree College, Govt.

Jahanzeb college Government Post Graduate Jahanzeb College is one of the pioneer institutes of higher education in Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was founded by the ex-ruler of Swat State, in order to provide education to the populace of the region. It is in ...

, DIG, DC, and the Commissioner House.

Old name of the city

Since the ancient Buddhist era, the name of Saidu Sharif was "Baligram".

Akhund Abdul Ghaffur Akhūnd Abdul Ghaffūr ( ps, اخوند عبدالغفور; 1793–1878), commonly known as Saidū Bābā ( ps, سيدو بابا) or the Akhund of Swat, was a prominent religious saint or priest, and Emir of the former State of Swat. Saidu B ...

, commonly known as Saidu Baba, settled here in 1835. From then onwards, the town was called "Saidu Sharif". However, there is still a calm region in the southwest of Saidu Sharif which is called 'Baligram'

Climate

Saidu Sharif has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(''Csa'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. The average annual temperature in Saidu Sharif is 19.3 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 894 mm. November is the driest month with 22 mm of precipitation, while August, the wettest month, has an average precipitation of 134 mm. June is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 29.2 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 7.5 °C.

Swat Museum of Saidu Sharif

The Swat museum is on the east side of the

G.T road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

, halfway between

Mingora Mingora ( ps, مینګورہ, ur, ) is a city in the Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located on the Swat River, it is the 3rd largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the 26th largest in Pakistan. Mingora is the largest city and t ...

and Saidu Sharif. Japanese aid has given a facelift to its seven galleries which now contain an excellent collection of

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

sculptures taken from some of the Buddhist sites in Swat. The galleries have been rearranged and labeled to illustrate the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

's life story.

Terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

figurines and utensils, beads, precious stones, coins, weapons and various metal objects are present from ancient Gandhara. The ethnographic section displays the finest examples of local embroidery, carved wood, and tribal jewelry. It is also under renovation with funds from the Pakistani-Italian debt swap agreement. KIH Saidu sharif

Education

The pioneer alma mater of education & learning Govt: Wadudia High School is located in Saidu Sharif which has blessed thousands of students with the light of knowledge. Similarly, the largest college ( P.G Jahanzeb college) of the district was built here in 1952 and offers MSc (to males and females), BSc and Fsc degrees (male only). Saidu medical college was built here in 1998; which ranks third in the government medical colleges in the province. On 7 July 2010, the first university of the district was established in this area. Since the rule of the Mian family in Saidu Sharif, Swat has set the excellent ground for education and infrastructure improving its image as a well preserve touristic site. In the last few years, Swat has seen great changes in all aspects of its society including an increase in education, modern health care centers and a new university, along with private sector colleges.

Archeological sites

One of the most important Buddhist relics in Swat is near the museum. The stupa, which dates from the 2nd century BC, was possibly built by the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

emperor

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

to house some of the ashes of the Buddha. In subsequent centuries, it was enlarged five times by encasing the existing structure in a new shell. Italian excavators working in 1955, exposed the successive layers of the stupa, each layer illustrating a stage in the evolution of building techniques.

Administrative divisions

Saidu Sharif is an administrative unit, known as Union council or

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in Tehsil Babuzai, of

in the

province of

. According to

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 was passed by the provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 31 October 2013, and is published as an Act of the Provincial Legislature of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as No.PA/Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Bills/2 ...

.http://lgkp.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Local-Government-Elections-Rules-2013.pdf District Swat has 67

Wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, of which total amount of Village Councils is 170, and Neighbourhood Councils is 44. Saidu Sharif is Territorial ''Ward'', which is further divided into three ''Neighbourhood Councils'': # Saidu Sharif i (''Neighbourhood Council'') # Saidu Sharif ii (''Neighbourhood Council'') # Saidu Sharif iii (''Neighbourhood Council'')

References

http://www.saidusharif.com https://archive.today/20130915044603/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Swat {{Authority control * Populated places in Swat District Cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa