Malir District ( sd, ) is an administrative district of Karachi Division in

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 ...

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 ...

Map of Karachi Division

History

Before the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

, there were small villages of

Sindhi Sindhi may refer to: *something from, or related to Sindh, a province of Pakistan * Sindhi people, an ethnic group from the Sindh region * Sindhi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them People with the name * Sarkash Sindhi (1940–2012 ...

and Kalmati Baloch in the Gadap Town and

Malir Town Malir Town ( sd, ملير ٽائون, ur, ) lies in the northern part of the city that was named after the Malir River. History Administrative status 2000 The federal government under introduced local government reforms in the year ...

of modern Karachi. Now both towns are developed as the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

s of the city because of the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

Countryside

Malir has been regarded in history as the countryside of Karachi City due to its open atmosphere and lush green farms, but now these are no more.

Agriculture land

Malir was once famous for its fruit and vegetable farms; but, now due to severe scarcity of groundwater, these farmlands are being converted into residential areas, thus increasing urbanization and

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defin ...

. The ''Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment'' (SCOPE) has been concerned about drought and

desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused ...

in Malir district and has launched a campaign against illegal sand and gravel mining in dry river beds of Malir and its tributaries. Because sand and gravel mining cause lowering of ground water, as rainwater can cannot percolate in the aquifer. SCOPE is developing rainwater reservoirs in drought affected rural areas.

Administrative status

Malir District was established in 1996. Malir District was abolished in 2000 and divided into three towns namely: *

, * Bin Qasim Town * and Gadap Town. On 11 July 2011,

Sindh Government The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions u ...

restored again Malir District.

Demographics

At the time of the 2017 census, Malir district had a population of 1,924,346, of which 1,028,865 were males and 895,329 females. The rural population was 857,634 (44.57%) and urban 1,066,712 (55.43%). The literacy rate is 63.69%: 69.85% for males and 56.43% for females. The majority religion is Islam, with 96.39% of the population. Christianity is practiced by 1.78% and Hinduism (including Scheduled Castes) is practiced by 1.77% of the population.

Languages

At the time of the 2017 census, 31.37% of the population spoke

, 19.37%

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 langua ...

, 12.91%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' 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 ...

, 8.18% Balochi, 6.83%

Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punj ...

, 3.96% Saraiki and 1.26% Brahui as their first language.

Epidemic of mysterious Chikungunya virus

Due to pollution, mainly resulting from garbage dumps and overflow of sewerage water, Emergency declared in Malir Town, as thousands of patients were affected by mysterious

Chikungunya Chikungunya is an infection caused by the ''Chikungunya virus'' (CHIKV). Symptoms include fever and joint pains. These typically occur two to twelve days after exposure. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and a r ...

virus in December, 2016. Despite joint denial by WHO and Health Ministry of Pakistan, Provincial Government of Sindh discloses that

aedes aegypti ''Aedes aegypti'', the yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro and yellow fever viruses, and other disease agents. The mosquito can be recognized by black and white markings on its l ...

mosquito is responsible for spreading Chikungunya in the area.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Sindh Districts of Karachi