Bhakkar District ( ur, ), is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the province of

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 ...

, Pakistan. The district was created out of parts of

Mianwali Mianwali (Punjabi/ ur, ) is the capital city of Mianwali District in Punjab, Pakistan. The 81st largest city of Pakistan, it is known for its diverse population of, Punjabi and Pashtun ethnicities. History Mianwali District was an agricult ...

in 1982, and has the city of

Bhakkar Bhakkar ( ur, ), is the principal city of Bhakkar District located in Punjab, Pakistan. It lies on the left bank of the Indus River. It is the 86th largest city in Pakistan. Administration Bhakkar city is also the administrative centre of B ...

as its headquarters. Part of its area consists of a riverine tract along the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...

, called Kaccha, while most of the district area lies in the desolate plain of the

Thal Desert The Thal desert (Urdu, Punjabi: ) is situated at 31°10’ N and 71°30’ E in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located near the Pothohar Plateau, the area falls under the Indomalayan biogeographic realm and stretches for a length of approximat ...

.Bhakkar Tahsil - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 8, p. 43
/ref> The main languages spoken in the district include Saraiki (79.97%) which according to some lingustics is considered a dialect of Punjabi, Punjabi (10.18%),

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

(7.14%), and

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 languag ...

(2.33%). It is located in the west of the Punjab province, Bhakkar district is bordered by

Layyah Layyah ( Saraiki and ur, ), previously spelled as Leiah, is a city in the Pakistan.Jhang Jhang (Punjabi, ur, ), ) is the capital city of Jhang District, in the central portion of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 18th largest city of Pakistan by population. The histori ...

to its south east,

Dera Ismail Khan Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan ...

to its west,

Khushab Khushab (punjabi: خُوشاب) is a town as well as a district of Sargodha Division, located in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The word ''Khushab'' means "sweet water." Khushab city also serves as the headquarters of Khushab Tehsil, an admini ...

to its north east, and

to its north.

Administration

The district is administratively divided into 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 and 64 Union Councils: *

* Darya Khan * Kaloorkot * Mankera Khansar Union Council is one of the major Union Councils in Bhakkar. Mari Shah Sakhira Union Council is very close to Bhakkar District boundary.

Demography

At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 1,647,852, of which 843,056 were males and 804,669 females. Rural population is 1,388,198 while the urban population is 259,654. The literacy rate was 51.82%.

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abra ...

made up almost the entire population with 99.89%. At the time of the 2017 census, 79.97% of the population spoke Saraiki, 10.18% Punjabi, 7.14%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

and 2.33%

as their first language.

Education

According to the census held in 2017, the literacy rate of Bhakkar is about 55%. There are 19 colleges, and 1300 primary, elementary, secondary, and higher secondary schools.

Notable people

* Rasheed Akbar Khan Nawani (politician) *

Muhammad Sana Ullah Khan Masti Khel Muhammad Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel ( ur, ; born 21 October 1971) is a Pakistani politician, who has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since February 2024 and previously served in this position from August 2018 till January 2023 ...

(politician) * Inamullah Niazi (politician)

References

External links