Chakwal 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, municip ...

located on the

Pothohar Plateau The Pothohar Plateau (, : ''Pо̄ṭhoā̀r Paṭhār''; , ''Satāh Murtafā Pо̄ṭhohār''), also spelled Pothwar, is a plateau in the Sindh Sagar Doab, Sind Sagar Doab of northern Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan, located between the Indus ...

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 located in the northwestern area of the Punjab province, bordered by Talagang to its west,

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

to its northeast, Jhelum to its east. The district was created out of parts of Jhelum and Attock in 1985.

History

During

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

, Chakwal was a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

of Jhelum district, the population according to the 1891 census of India was 164,912 which had fallen to 160,316 in 1901. It contained the towns of Chakwal and Bhaun and 248 villages. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to 3–300,000.Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 10, p. 126
Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago website, Retrieved 27 January 2023 The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

. After the

independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

of Pakistan in 1947, the minority

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

migrated to India and later it was upgraded as a District on 1 July 1985.

Administrative divisions

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km², is subdivided into five tehsils. These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts: * Chakwal Tehsil was annexed from Jhelum District and made part of the newly formed Chakwal District. * Choa Saidan Shah was carved out of sub-division Pind Dadan Khan of Jhelum District and was amalgamated with sub-division Chakwal. Choa Saidan Shah was upgraded to the level of a sub-division in 1993. Now the district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils and 45 union councils. The district Talagang has been recognized as a separate by department of revenue with tehsil Lawa and tehsil Talagang, but it is still non-functional.

Administration

Constituencies

There is one district council, one municipal committees — Chakwal — and two town committees — Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar. The district is represented in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

by two constituencies: NA-60 and NA-61. The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs and in National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:

Geography

Chakwal district borders the districts of

and Attock in the north, Jhelum in the east,

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

in the south and Mianwali in the west. The total area of Chakwal district is 6,609 square kilometres, which is equivalent to . The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range and includes the Chail peak, above the sea, the highest point in the district. Between this and the Sohan river, which follows more or less the northern boundary, the country consists of what was once a fairly level plain, sloping down from at the foot of the hills to in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, residual Chakwal district has 187,476 households and a population of 1,132,608. The district has a sex ratio of 99.23 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 77.79%: 86.12% for males and 69.52% for females and stands out as 5th highest literate district in Punjab and 11th in Pakistan. As per census 2023, the district has 60,787 out of school children (OOSC). 266,804 (23.62% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 334,755 (29.56%) live in urban areas. All over Pakistan, the district Chakwal has least (9%) OOSC with highest NER in Matric (49%) and highest GER in Matric (95%)

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

formed the overwhelming majority at 1,722,147 (99.37%) while 0.63% of the population were from religious minorities, mainly Christians, who mostly live in Chakwal town. At the time of the 2023 census, 89.93% of the population spoke Punjabi, 7.01%

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and 2.15%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

as their first language. The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.

Education

Chakwal has a total of 1,140 government schools out of which 52.63% (600 schools) are for female students. The district has an enrollment of 181,574 in public sector schools.

Educational institutions

Notable Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include: * Government Post Graduate College (Chakwal) * University Of Chakwal * Govt. High School No.1, Chakwal * Govt. Girls High School No.1, Chakwal * Govt. Islamia High School, Chakwal

Notable people

* Yahya Khan, former President of Pakistan, was born in Chakwal city in 1917. *

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

, former Prime Minister of India, was born in Gah village (formerly part of Jhelum District) * Khudadad Khan , British Indian Army, operated a machine gun despite being wounded after his team was overrun and bayoneted by the Germans, holding them back long enough for reinforcements in the Western Front * Nur Khan, was a three-star air officer, politician, sports administrator, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force, serving under President Ayub Khan from 1965 until 1969. * Tajammul Hussain Malik, War Hero of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, held an impenetrable defence in the Battle of Hilli against a multiple times larger force and famously refused to surrender vowing to fight till the end * Muhammad Safdar, Lt. General Muhammad Safdar is the former Governor of Punjab, having served from 1999 to 2001. He has also previously served as the ambassador to Morocco and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Punjab until 1993. * Colonel Imam – Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar was a one-star rank

army general Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

, member of the Special Service Group (SSG) of the army, and an

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

of the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...

(ISI). * Rafiuddin Hashmi, an Iqbalist, researcher, travel writer and a professor in Oriental College, and the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (UoP) is a public university, public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, its international influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in South As ...

* Sukh Devis, an Indian

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

, academic, researcher and writer, known for his contributions in the development of Guggulsterone, a plant-derived steroid used as a therapeutic and nutritional agent.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

{{Authority control Districts of Punjab, Pakistan 1985 establishments in Pakistan