Renala Khurd (

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

, ) is a city in the

Okara District Okara District ( Punjabi and ), is a district of Punjab, Pakistan. It became a separate district in 1982, prior to that it was part of Sahiwal District.Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab (, ) is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and the second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, i ...

. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Renala Khurd Tehsil and sits at an elevation of approximately above sea level. The city is located about from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and from Okara, the district's capital. Positioned southwest of Lahore, it lies along the national highway (

GT Road Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...

) and the main Lahore-Karachi railway line. While

Khurd Khurd and Kalan (Urdu: خرد اور کلاں, Hindi: ख़ुर्द और कलाँ, Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਖ਼ੁਰਦ ਅਤੇ ਕਲਾਂ, shahmukhi: خرد تے کلاں) are administrative designations used in India and Pakistan t ...

is of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

origin, meaning small, while Renala translates to "Mother of Forests". Renala Khurd is renowned for its lush gardens, forests, and fruit orchards.

Demographics

Population

With a radius of 7 km, it is home to 100,054 inhabitants. The population of Renala Khurd is over 99%

Muslim 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 ...

. It has a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

majority and a

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

minority; there are also small groups of Christians. Due to its strategic location in the Indian sub-continent, many migrants have poured into the area and settled on its fertile lands. The people of Renala Khurd are descendants of Iranians, Turks, Afghans and Arabs who came individually or in groups.

Languages

Haryanavi Haryanvi (हरियाणवी or हरयाणवी) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Haryana and the territory of Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which als ...

, Ranghari and

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 ...

are basic languages of the people.

University of Okara

The

University of Okara The University of Okara (UO) () is a public university located in Renala Khurd, Okara, Punjab, Pakistan. History In 2005, Okara campus of the University of Education, Lahore (UE) was inaugurated by then Minister of Defence (Pakistan) Rao Si ...

, previously known as the University of Education Okara campus, is 1 km west of the city. It was inaugurated in 2005 by then Prime Minister

Shaukat Aziz Shaukat Aziz (born 6 March 1949) is a Pakistani-born British former banker who served as the 15th prime minister of Pakistan from 28 August 2004 to 15 November 2007. When his term as Prime Minister was over, he immediately left Pakistan and se ...

Notable residents

* Muhammad Sarwar (born 1975), hockey * Liaquat Ali (born 1983), athlete *

Rizwan Haider Rizwan Haider (born 16 June 1985) is a Pakistani cricketer who played for multiple teams including Baluchistan and Multan. He played in 70 first-class, 56 List A, and 34 Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cri ...

(born 1985), cricketer, *

Abdur Rauf ʻAbd al-Raʼūf (ALA-LC romanization of ) is a male Muslim given name. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Raʼūf'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names. It means 'servant of the ...

(born 1978), cricketer

References