Zakiganj ( bn, জকিগঞ্জ) is an

upazila An ''upazila'' ( bn, উপজেলা, upôzela, lit=sub-district pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative region in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a ...

Sylhet District Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট), located in north-east Bangladesh, is the divisional capital and one of the four districts in the Sylhet Division. History Sylhet district was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Bengal Pro ...

in Sylhet Division,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

History

There are a few theories behind the name of Zakiganj. The first is that is derived from Shah Zaki, a pir who established a

khanqah A khanqah ( fa, خانقاه) or khangah ( fa, خانگاه; also transliterated as ''khankah'', ''khaneqa'', ''khanegah'' or ''khaneqah''; also Arabized ''hanegah'', ''hanikah'', ''hanekah'', ''khankan''), also known as a ribat (), is a buildin ...

on the banks of the Kushiyara River. A ''ganj'', Perso-Bengali suffix meaning 'marketplace' or 'neighbourhood', was then set up around the khanqah. In memory of Shah Zaki, nearby places are named Pirerkhal and the village Pirerchok. Another theory is that it is named after a man named Ghulam Zaki Majumdar, whose brother Karim Majumdar is who Karimganj district is said to have been named after. Zakiganj was established as a thana in 1947 and was previously a part of the greater Karimganj district. Along with Karimganj, Zakiganj was to be a part of the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

but this was prevented by a delegation led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In the aftermath of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

of 1971, mass graves were found in Atgram Bazar and Kaliganj Bazar. Zakiganj became an

on 1 August 1983. A 17th century stone inscription was found in the Ghayebi Dighi Masjid in Barothakuri and it is now in display at the Bangladesh National Museum.

Geography

Zakiganj is located at . It has 29836 households and total area . It is situated on the north bank of Kushiyara River, opposite Karimganj town of

Assam, India Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to ...

Climate

Demographics

As of the

1991 Bangladesh census In 1991, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh. They recorded data from all of the districts and upazilas and main cities in Bangladesh including statistical data on population size, households, sex and age ...

, Zakiganj has a population of 174038. Males constitute 50.55% of the population, and females 49.45%. This Upazila's eighteen up population is 85935. Zakiganj has an average literacy rate of 30.8% (7+ years), and the national average of 32.4% literate. Religions: Muslim 81.48%, Hindu 18.47%, Buddhist, Christian and others 0.05%.

Points of interest

Derivation of two river Derivation may refer to: Language * Morphological derivation, a word-formation process * Parse tree or concrete syntax tree, representing a string's syntax in formal grammars Law * Derivative work, in copyright law * Derivation proceeding, a proc ...

( Kushiyara River and Surma River) from

Barak River The Barak River flows through the states of Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam in India. Further it enters Bangladesh where it bifurcates into the Surma river and the Kushiyara river which converges again to become the Meghna river before for ...

of India *

Customs wharfage Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ha ...

Hills of Atgram A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

Administration

Zakiganj Upazila is divided into Zakiganj Municipality and nine

union parishad Union council ( bn, ইউনিয়ন পরিষদ, translit=iūniyan pariṣad, translit-std=IAST), also known as union parishad, rural council, rural union and simply union, is the smallest rural administrative and local government unit ...

s: Barahal, Barathakuri, Birorsri, Kajalshar, Khaskanakpur, Kolachora, Manikpur, Sultanpur, and Zakiganj. The union parishads are subdivided into 108 mauzas and 278 villages. Zakiganj Municipality is subdivided into 9 wards and 25 mahallas.

Upazila Chairmen

Notable people

Abdul Kahir Chowdhury Abdul Kahir Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi politician. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in Sylhet-5 ( Kanaighat- Zakiganj) constituency in the February 1996 Bangladeshi general election. He is currently the ...

, Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician *

Abdul Latif Chowdhury Fultali Abdul Latif Chowdhury ( bn, আব্দুল লতিফ চৌধুরী; 25 May 1913 – 16 January 2008), widely known as Saheb Qiblah Fultali, was a Bangladeshi Sufi Islamic scholar and theologian who is the founder of the Fultali movem ...

, Sufi scholar *

Akhlaq Choudhury Sir Akhlaq Ur-Rahman Choudhury ( bn, আখালেক উর-রহমান চৌধুরী; born 23 April 1967) is a British High Court judge of England and Wales. In 2017, he was made Knight Bachelor on appointment, becoming the first B ...

, British High Court judge *

Hafiz Ahmed Mazumder Hafiz Ahmed Mazumder (born 29 March 1935) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician, former chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and Pubali Bank Limited, businessman, and a member of parliament. He served as the Chairman of the Board o ...

, chairman of Pubali Bank Board of Directors and

Bangladesh Red Crescent Society The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (also abbreviated as BDRCS) is a humanitarian organization and auxiliary to the Government of Bangladesh. The organization was established in 1973 as the Bangladesh Red Cross Society through the Presidents Orde ...

Mahmudur Rahman Majumdar Mahmudur Rahman Mazumdar (December 25, 1922-19 December 2011) was a Bangladesh Army brigadier who was the most senior ethnic Bengali officer in Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Early life and education Majumdar was born int ...

, brigadier *

Mohammad Abdul Haque Mohammad Abdul Haque (1918-1996) was a Bangladeshi bureaucrat and government minister. Early life Haque was born on 1 January 1918 at Kamalpur, Zakiganj Upazila, Sylhet District, Assam, British India. He graduated from Murari Chand College in ...

, bureaucrat *

Obaidul Haque Obaidul Haque ( bn, ওবায়দুল হক) was a politician, teacher and the former Member of Parliament of Sylhet-5. Early life and education Haque was born on 2 January 1934 into a Bengali Muslim in the village of Wazirpur in Khola ...

, Islamic teacher and politician * Salman Shah, mainstream film actor *

Ubaidul Haq Ubaidul Haq ( bn, উবায়দুল হক; 2 May 1928- 6 October 2007), also spelt Obaidul Haq ( bn, ওবাইবদুল হক), was a Bangladeshi teacher, muhaddith, mufassir and writer. He was the former khatib of the national mo ...

, former khatib of

Baitul Mukarram Baitul Mukarram, also spelled as Baytul Mukarrom ( ar, بيت المكرّم, bn, বায়তুল মোকাররম; ), is the National Mosque of Bangladesh. Located at the center of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the mosque was comple ...

References

{{Upazilas of Sylhet Division Upazilas of Sylhet District