Markaz-e-Taiba

Muridke ( Punjabi / ), is a city and headquarters of Muridke Tehsil of Sheikhupura District in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan by population. Muridke is a commercial area situated near the city of Lahore, at an elevation of 205 m (675 ft).Location of Muridke - Falling Rain Genomics
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Geography

It situated on the Grand Trunk Road. The city occupies a strategic position, with an interurban highway linking cities such as Lahore, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura.

It is located at an altitude of 215 meters above sea level, with the land around being largely flat. Murīdkeat Geonames.org (cc-by) The area is largely agricultural and is serviced by nearby canals.

Temperature

The average temperature is 23 °C. The hottest month is May, at 33 °C , and the coldest is January, at 11 °C.  The average rainfall is 955 millimetres (37 in) per year. The wettest month is September, at 289 millimetres (11 in) of rainfall, and the driest is November, at 11 millimetres (0.5 in).

History

The city, lying in an agricultural canal irrigated region, is home to many rice mills. In the 21st-century, beyond educational institutions, parks, amusement parks, restaurants, and non-agricultural markets have also been built, the population rate has also increased significantly. In 2005, Muridke became the headquarters of the newly created Muridke Tehsil of Sheikhupura District. It is also home to the Muridke railway station, near Kala Shah Kaku railway station, which is situated on the Karachi–Peshawar Line.

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Muridke had a population of 254,291. The city's population increased nearly ninefold between 1972 and 2017, from 18,507 to 166,652. Between 1998 and 2017, average annual growth was 2.1%, slightly lower than the national average of 2.4%.Population of major cities of Pakistan
at ''citypopulation.de.''

Education

Chand Bagh School is a private boarding school for boys in Muridke. It is situated on the Muridke-Sheikhupura Road. It follows the Cambridge International Examination system.Nauman Tasleem,
Punjab govt donates Rs 60m to an elite school
' dated 17 June 2011 from ''Pakistan Today'' online at pakistantoday.com.pk. Retrieved 24 March 2012

Jinnah Ideal Higher Secondary School and Al Noor Group of Schools and Colleges are other famous schools of Muridke.

Bright Future College, a commerce college was established in the 2000s.

Landmarks

Markaz-e-Taiba

Muridke is known for being home to the Markaz-e-Taiba, the headquarters of Markaz Dawa wal Irshad (MDI) or Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the parent organisation of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), located in the suburb of Nangal Sahdan. The Markaz is a large 200-acre complex that has a range of infrastructure established by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in 1990. Osama bin Laden, the former leader of Al-Qaeda, is believed to have contributed approximately PKR 10 million (roughly USD 100,000 at the time) towards the development of the complex. The complex includes the Umm al-Qura Mosque, a madrasa, a religious preaching centre, residential quarters, a school, a hospital, a market, a garment factory, an iron factory, a woodwork factory, a stable, a swimming pool, a fishfarm, agricultural tracts and various administrative buildings. While it presents itself as a religious and educational institution, multiple international intelligence assessments and security reports have identified it as a hub for indoctrination, militant training and terrorist recruitment. In 2009, following the Mumbai attacks, the Punjab government took over the complex, but JuD continued to operate from there. The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan continued to allocate funds to the organisation.

The complex was targeted in an airstrike conducted by the Indian Air Force as part of Operation Sindoor on the night between on 7 May 2025. The Government of Pakistan has claimed that the complex is a civilian facility run by the Government. However, ''The Diplomat'' noted that Amir Hamza, a co-founder of LeT, gave a Friday sermon at the Markaz in March, and a leader of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, an affiliate of JuD/LeT, was seen telling a gathering just a few weeks earlier that the "jihad" would continue.

Notable people

* Iqbal Masih, former child slave and later activist
* Jaffar Nazir, first-class cricketer
* Bilawal Bhatti, international cricketer
* Imran Nazir, international cricketer

Notes

References

{{Sheikhupura District

Populated places in Sheikhupura District