Sahiwal ( Punjabi / ; ; ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in central

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

. It is the administrative capital of both Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. It is the 19th largest city of Pakistan by population according to the 2023 census of the country. Sahiwal is located approximately 180 km from the major city Lahore and 100 km from

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

and lies between

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

. Sahiwal is approximately 152 meters above the sea level. The city of Harappa is located just 24 kilometers (15 miles) west of Sahiwal. 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

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

conquest of the Punjab cities of Uch and

, led by Muhammad bin Qasim, Arabs of the Emirate of Multan ruled the region of Sahiwal for a few centuries. Then Sahiwal remained part of the Multan province of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

. Sahiwal also remained associated with the 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, then lieutenant governor of the Punjab and it replaced Gogera 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 which now irrigates both the city and the wider region. During the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947 the city, being part of Montgomery district, was allocated to Pakistan by the Punjab Boundary Commission. 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, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and Sikh groups on the basis of greater property ownership and revenues paid to the state.

Climate

The climate of Sahiwal district is hot semi arid, reaching 47 °C in summer, and down to 5 °C in winter. The soil of the district is very fertile. The average rainfall is about 685 mm, peaking during the summer

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

season.

Demography

Population

According to the 2023 census, Sahiwal city had a population of 574,240.

Education

Notable educational institutes of the city include: * University of Sahiwal * COMSATS University, Sahiwal Campus * Barani Institute of Sciences * Sahiwal Medical College * Quaid-e-Azam College of Engineering and Technology, Sahiwal * Punjab College of Science * The Superior College *

Army Public Schools & Colleges System Army Public Schools & Colleges System (APSACS) is a school system operated by the Pakistan Army, Pakistani Army with over 230 branches. APSAC System operates in 18 regions across Pakistan, with supervision by 18 regional directors. They are sub- ...

(APSCS) * Beaconhouse School System * The City School * Divisional Public School and College * The Educators * Government Postgraduate College Sahiwal

Twin city

Sahiwal is twinned with the town of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. Approximately eight per cent of Rochdale's population is of Asian origin, most of whom have links with Pakistan. The twinning arrangement was agreed between Rochdale and Sahiwal in 1998.

Hospitals and Basic Health units

There are 35 basic health units in Sahiwal sub-division. Some public and private hospitals are: * Sahiwal teaching hospital * Government Haji Abdul Qayyum DHQ Hospital * Sahiwal international hospital * Christian hospital Sahiwal * Al-khidmat hospital

Notable people

* Mushtaq Ahmed, former test cricketer * Majeed Amjad, Urdu poet * Tariq Aziz, television anchor * H.K.L Bhagat, politician and former Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs of India * Dildar Pervaiz Bhatti, (TV artist, compere, comedian, anchor) * Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, Indian Army Officer * Attash Durrani, Urdu writer and scholar * Manzoor Elahi, former test cricketer * Mehdi Hasan, journalist and historian * Rana Mohammad Hanif Khan, politician and former Finance Minister of Pakistan * Nazir Naji journalist and Urdu columnist for various media groups. * Emmanuel Neno, Christian author and translator * Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi Sahar, Urdu poet * Nouraiz Shakoor, politician and former federal minister * Saieen Zahoor, Sufi musician * Imran Ali, a cricketer

References

External links

*
NIMLS COLLEGE Sahiwal

''Montgomery to Sahiwal''
by S. A. Naeem (in Urdu), digitised at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Authority control Populated places in Sahiwal District Sahiwal District Populated places in Punjab, Pakistan