Mianwali is the capital city of
Mianwali DistrictMianwali is a district in the northwest of Punjab province, Pakistan. It borders eight districts: Attock District in the north, Chakwal District in the northeast, Khushab District in the east, and Bhakkar District in the south, while Lakki Marwat lies to the west, Kohat and Karak districts to the...
and situated in the north-west of Punjab
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The city is located on the eastern bank of the
Indus RiverThe Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
. Thal canal traverses the city and makes the surroundings a picturesque place.
According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, the Mianwali city had a population of 85,000 inhabitants.
In November 1901, present day towns of Mianwali, Bhakkar, Isa Khel, Kalabagh, and Kundian were separated from Bannu District and hence a new district named as Mianwali District was created with the headquarters in Mianwali city. The municipal committee was founded in December 1903 and has remained operational since then.
Infrastructure
Mianwali city is the economic and commercial hub of the Mianwali district. The city has a FM Radio Station (FM 93), municipal library now called Professor Muhammad Feroz Shah Library, sports complex, and hockey stadium. There are several educational institutions from elementary to post-graduate level. .
The city has an airport built near the old
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
aerodrome and known as
PAF Base MianwaliPAF Base Mianwali is a Pakistan Air Force airbase located at Mianwali, in the Punjab province of Pakistan.-History:Originally a World War II airstrip, it was decided that Mianwali would be upgraded into a satellite airbase for PAF Base Mushaf during the 1965 Indo-Pak War to act as an alternate...
. It is one of the major operational bases of the country. The No.1 Fighter Conversion Unit of the
PAFThe Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
is stationed here.
There is also a railway connecting the city with
MultanMultan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
,
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
and
RawalpindiRawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
.
The main highways connecting the city to the other parts of the country include the
SargodhaSargodha is a city in the Sargodha District of Punjab province, Pakistan.Sargodha is located in the northwest of Pakistan. It is the eleventh largest city of Pakistan and also known as Pakistan's best citrus-producing area. It is an agricultural trade centre with various industries...
–
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
road [N–60], MM Road (Mianwali–Muzaffargarh road),
TalagangTalagang, the headquarters of Talagang Tehsil, is a town located in Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located at 32°55'0N 72°25'0E and lies about 30 kilometres from the M2 motorway and about 45 kilometres from the district capital, Chakwal....
–
RawalpindiRawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
road, and the
KalabaghKalabagh a town and union council of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located on the western bank of Indus River. It is the site of the proposed Kalabagh Dam. It is also famous for its red hills of the salt range and scenic view of the Indus River traversing through the...
–
BannuBannu is the principal city of the Bannu District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is an important road junction and market city. Bannu is a very old city, founded in ancient times; however, the present location of the downtown Bannu was founded by Sir Herbert Edwardes in 1848,...
road [N–60].
History
Early history of the city is unknown. The city is famous for the shrine of Syed Mian Sultan Zakria, whose father Syed Mian Ali founded Mianwali village in the 16th century. The son is believed to have exhibited supernatural powers from an early age and many miraculous deeds are ascribed to him and his shrine is not uncommonly the scene of settlement of civil disputes.
Before the British rule, the area formed an integral portion of the Graeco–Bactrian Empire of Kabul and the Punjab. During
British ruleBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, the Indian empire was subdivided into provinces, divisions and districts; afterward, the independence of Pakistan
divisionsDivisions are the third tier of government in Pakistan, between the provinces and districts. They were abolished in 2000 by the government of former president Pervez Musharraf to make way for local governance via district governments...
remained the third tier of government until 2000. The British had made the town of Mianwali as tehsil headquarters of
Bannu DistrictBannu District is one of the twenty four districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, it is represented in the provincial assembly by four MPAs. The chief city of the district is Bannu. The major industries are cloth weaving and the manufacture of cotton fabrics, machinery, and...
then part of
Dera Ismail Khan DivisionDera Ismail Khan Division was an administrative division of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, until the reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government....
of
Punjab provincePunjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...
. The population of Mianwali, according to the 1901 census of India, was 3,591.
In November 1901, the
North-West Frontier ProvinceKhyber Pakhtunkhwa , formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country...
was carved out of Punjab and the towns of Mianwali, Isa Khel,
KalabaghKalabagh a town and union council of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located on the western bank of Indus River. It is the site of the proposed Kalabagh Dam. It is also famous for its red hills of the salt range and scenic view of the Indus River traversing through the...
, and
KundianKundian is a town of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in Piplan Tehsil at 32°27'0N 71°28'0E and is administratively divided into two Union Councils....
were separated from Bannu District (Bannu became part of NWFP) and hence a new district was made with the headquarters in Mianwali city and placed in Punjab. The district became a part of
Multan DivisionMultan Division was an administrative division of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, until the reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government.-History:Multan Division was created during British Rule in the subcontinent...
. There were four tehsils namely Mianwali, Isa Khel,
BhakkarBhakkar is the principal city of Bhakkar District, Punjab, Pakistan. It lies on the left bank of the Indus river. It has a population of almost 300,000 and was given status of district in 1981.-Administration:...
, and
LayyahLayyah, also spelt Leiah , is the capital city of the Layyah District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 30°58'0N 70°56'0E with an altitude of 143 metres .-Old History:...
. Layyah was included in the
Muzaffargarh DistrictMuzaffargarh is a district in the south of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Saraiki Waseb. It is spread over an area of 8,249 km². Muzaffargarh District lies in the strip between the rivers Chenab and Indus, which pass along the Eastern and Western boundaries respectively of...
in 1909. The district became a part of
Sargodha DivisionSargodha Division is an administrative division of four districts of the Punjab Province of PakistanBefore October 2008, divisional system was abolished by the reforms of 2000 the third tier of government....
in 1961.
Bhakkar TehsilBhakkar is an administrative subdivision, , of Bhakkar District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The town of Bhakkar is the headquarters of the tehsil.-Administration:The tehsil of Bhakkar is subdivided into 17 Union Councils....
was carved out of Mianwali District and was made a separate district inside Sargodha Division w.e.f. 01-07-1982.
Sawans is the One of famous UC of this district.
Languages and ethnicity
SaraikiSaraiki , transliterated as Sirāikī and sometimes spelled Seraiki and Saraiki, is a standardized written language of Pakistan belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages. It is a language spoken in the heart of Pakistan...
language is widely spoken by the people of Mianwali while Urdu,
PunjabiPunjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
and
PashtoPashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
languages are also spoken by Muhajir and by awans , Punjabi and Pushtun communities respectively.
Further reading
- "Gazetteer of the Mianwali district 1915" by Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, Pakistan
- "Tareekh-e-Niazi Qabail"
- "Wichara Watan" By Harish Chander Nakra, New Delhi, India
- Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty was a British Indian Army officer and linguist.-Life:He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infantry....
, Notes on Afghanistan and Baluchistan" (Indus Publications, Karachi)
External links
- http://mianwalinews.wordpress.com
- http://www.MianwaliOnline.com
- http://www.seraikigroup.nexo.com