Umerkot District ( Dhatki: عمرکوٹ / عمرڪوٽ, sd, عمرڪوٽ ضلعو, ur, ), also known as Amarkot District, 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

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

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 of Umerkot is the capital of the district. Sindhi is the native language of approximately 93.4% of the residents according to the 2017 Pakistan Census. Umerkot is the only non-Muslim majority district in Pakistan, with adherents of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...

representing 52.2% of the total population.

History

Akbar was born in Umerkot Fort when his father Humayun was fleeing from the Suris. After the 1843 invasion by Charles Napier, Sindh was divided into provinces and was assigned a

Zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

s, also known as Wadaras, to collect taxes for the British.

Administration

The district is administratively subdivided into the following

Tehsils 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 ...

: * Kunri * Pithoro * Samaro * Umarkot

Demographics

At the time of the 2017 census, Umerkot district had a population of 1,073,469, of which 556,470 were males and 516,841 females. The rural population was 829,932 (77.31%) and urban 243,537 (22.69%). The literacy rate is 35.07%: 48.36% for males and 20.87% for females.

Religion

Umerkot is the only Hindu majority district in Pakistan. Hindus form around 52% and Muslims form around 47% of Umerkot's population. In 1965, about 80% of the district's population were Hindus and 20% were Muslims. The Hindu population declined due to the migration of Hindus to India. Muslims are in the majority in Pithoro taluk. The Umarkot Shiv Mandir in Umerkot is one of the oldest and most sacred Hindu temples in the

. The annual Maha Shivratri celebration of the temple is one of the biggest religious festivals in Pakistan and is attended by around 250,000 people.

Languages

At the time of the 2017 census, 93.43% of the population spoke Sindhi, 3.02%

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

and 1.80%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

as their first language. The main dialect of the region is Dhatki, although most people record their language as 'Sindhi'.

List of Dehs

The following is a list of Umerkot District's dehs, organised by taluka:

References

Districts of Pakistan Districts of Sindh Hinduism in Sindh {{Sindh-geo-stub