Sahiwal Division (

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 ...

, ur, ) is one of the nine Divisions of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

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 ...

. It was formed by merging parts of Lahore Division and Multan Division and took its name Sahiwal from the district and city of the same name, which in turn are named for the Sahi Clan of the Kharal tribe, the traditional inhabitants of the area. In 2008, Sahiwal Division was reorganised into three districts: Sahiwal District, Okara District, Burewala and Pakpattan District.

Sahiwal Sahiwal (Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city of Pakistan by population and the administrative capital of both Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. Sahiwal is approx ...

is the capital of Sahiwal Division. In 1998, the population of Sahiwal was 6,271,247. The population rate of growth was 1.92 percent per annum. About southwest of Sahiwal is Harappa, an ancient city of the Indus Valley civilisation. About west of Sahiwal, at Kamalia township, is the site of Malli, a city captured by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

in 325 BCE. Alexander stayed in this region of

for two years in a time of frequent military conflict.

Location

Sahiwal Division is located at about 30.6 degrees north

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

and 73.1 degrees

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

in east central Pakistan in the Punjab region. It lies on the Pakistan national highway N-5 about halfway between

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

and Multan. Sahiwal division is bordered by Faisalabad Division to the west; Lahore Division to the north; Bahawalpur Division and

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

to the east; and, Multan Division to south. Sahiwal division lies on the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of two rivers. Ravi River lies to the west; and, Satluj River lies to the east. The dry Khushak Bias also passes through the Sahiwal Division, separating the Sahiwal District from the Pakpattan District. Almost 28,956 acres of the division is forested. The Sahiwal Division lies above sea level.

Administration

Okara Public Park, Okara - panoramio (4)

Sahiwal Division consists of three districts and seven

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s. Sahiwal is one of the nine divisions of

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the P ...

. In 2008, after Pakistan national elections, the new

democratic government Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

restored the former tier of divisions and appointed Commissionaires for each division. Sahiwal Division was formed in an area of 10302 km². Its three districts are Sahiwal District, Pakpattan District and Okara District, each governed by a District Coordination Officer. Sahiwal District has two tehsils;

and Chichawatni. Towns in these tehsils include Qadirabad, Yousafwala, Iqbal Nagar, Kassowal, Noorshah, Gogera, Malkahans, Harappa and Ghaziabad.

History

Indus Valley civilisation

Harappa, an archaeological site in Sahiwal Division, which takes its name from a small nearby village has revealed remains of a typical Indus Valley civilisation (3300 BCE - 1300 BCE) fortified

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

city. In about 1900 BCE, the Indus Valley civilisation began to decline. The population may have moved away due to changes in the environment. Jim G. Shaffer and Diana A. Lichtenstein (in ) stated that: "This shift by Harappan and, perhaps, other Indus Valley cultural mosaic groups, is the only archaeologically documented west-to-east movement of human populations in South Asia before the first half of the first millennium B.C.." Ecological factors that may have been involved in the decline include drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and increased aridity in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. The Indus River also began to flow further east and floodings occurred. Shaffer (as cited in ) suggested: "There were no invasions from central or western South Asia. Rather there were several internal cultural adjustments reflecting altered ecological, social and economic conditions affecting northwestern and north-central South Asia".

Alexander the Great

Surrender of Porus to the Emperor Alexander

(356 BCE - 323 BCE) came to the Sahiwal region in 326 BCE. He conquered reigning local leaders such as Porus the Elder. During his Mallian Campaign of 326 BCE, Alexander followed his retreating opponents, the Mallians, to the city of Multan. The village of "Malli" in Kamalia Tehsil, is reminiscent in name.

Ashoka

Following Alexander's departure from the region, the Punjab region was ruled by

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

(reign about 260 BCE to 232 BCE) of the Maurya Empire. After the decline of the Maurya dynasty, the Sahiwal region was ruled by invading forces including the

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

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

s, and

Lodhi Lodhi may refer to: * Lodi (Pashtun tribe), a Batani Pashtun (Ghilzai) tribe mainly found in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Lodhi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate * Lodhi Colony, a residential colony in South Central part of New Delhi * Lodhi (caste), a Hind ...

Mughal

From about 1524 CE, the Sahiwal region fell under the rule of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the ...

. Sher Shah Suri (1486 - 1545), extended the

Great Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, 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. ...

, which ran from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

to Multan. Where the road passes through Gogera, it is known as the ''Kakhan Wali Sarak''. Sher Shah Suri also constructed a fort at Shergarh, in Okara District. The Mughals' dominance in the Sahiwal area continued until 1739 CE.

Sikh

From the time of the decline of the Mughal Empire, Sahiwal fell under the rule of the Sikh Empire. However, as well as the Sikh Nakkais there were powerful Muslim tribes such as the Kharrals, Sials, Wattus, and Hans in the Sahiwal region. Between 1804 CE and 1810 CE, Maharaja Ranjit Singh held most of the Sahiwal area. However, the Nawab of Bahawalpur, on the payment of tributes to Ranjit Singh, held a strip of territory along the Sutlej river. Ranjit Singh resumed rule of this territory when Nawab defaulted on his payments. After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839 CE, the Sikh Empire declined.

British

From 1845 CE to 1849 CE, Sahiwal was embroiled in the

Anglo-Sikh wars Anglo-Sikh War may refer to: * First Anglo-Sikh War, 1845–46 * Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulte ...

. In 1847, Sahiwal came under control of the British East India Company. In that year, a British revenue officer was sent to Sahiwal to collect land taxes. In 1849, the Sahiwal district was formed with its headquarters in Pakpattan. In 1852, the district was expanded to include an area east of the Ravi river, the "trans-Ravi portion". The district headquarters were moved to Gogera. In 1865, a railway was opened, and the district headquarters was moved to a village on the line called " Montgomery" after Sir Robert Montgomery, a colonial administrator. In 1979, Montgomery was renamed "Sahiwal".

Indian Rebellion 1857

During the Indian rebellion of 1857, there was an uprising of the Jat clans in Sahiwal. On 26 August 1857, prisoners rioted in an attempted

jailbreak A prison escape (referred as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, or prison break) is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture the ...

. Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, leader of a local Kharral Jat clan, was detained at Gogera. He escaped, then was apprehended, then was released on bail, together with some other local leaders.Montgomery District
Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. 17 p. 411. In September 1858 Khan led an insurrection in the Neeli Bar district. He held the jungles of Gogera and had some successes against the British forces. Kamalia Tehsil was sacked. General Sir Crawford Chamberlain (1821 - 1902) moved north from Multan with a small force. At Chichawatni he was be sieged for days. The uprising continued for three months. Along with his companions, Murad Fatiana, Shujaa Bhadroo, and Mokha Wehniwal, Khan killed Lord Berkley the Commissioner for Gogera. Several minor actions followed in the open field, until the rebels, driven from the plain into the jungles, were defeated and dispersed. The British troops then inflicted severe punishment on the insurgent clans, destroying their villages, and seizing large numbers of cattle for sale. The insurrection was centered in a wide area including

Ganji Bar Ganji Bar is the lower valley region from the old flow of the rivers Satluj and river Beas or river Hakra to river Ravi. There was a high ridge in the middle of Montgomery (Sahiwal), Sahiwal District, old Gogaira district (now Sahiwal Division) ...

, Neeli Bar and Sandal Bar. The arena of conflict was bordered by the

Sutlej The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the In ...

river, the Ravi River and Chenab River. The area was thickly forested and suitable for resistance actions. For instance, Major Crawford Chamberlain was ambushed at Chichawatni.

Partition of India

Prior to 1947, Sahiwal was part of the Lahore Division of the Punjab Province of India. Then, with the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the p ...

for independence came the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. Sahiwal's minority Hindu and Sikh populations migrated to India. Muslim immigrants from India arrived. Sahiwal became a part of Pakistan. In 2008, the Sahiwal region, after a few changes in borders, became a "division".

Climate

In the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Sahiwal has a Semi-arid climate. More precisely, it is intermediate between a

Desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(BW) and a Humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Sahiwal vary between hot and very hot in summer and are mild in winters. In May, June and July, temperatures increase to maximums between 40 and 50 °C. In winter months, the temperature falls to minimums between 5 and 10 °C. Sahiwal lies on the edge of the Thar Desert at a low altitude and so, wet seasons are warm and dry seasons are cool. Sahiwal is also affected by the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

. Precipitation is very heavy in the monsoon, and dry during the rest of the year, with few or no months bringing moderate levels of precipitation. The annual average rainfall in Sahiwal is approximately 349 mm. The soil in Sahiwal is fertile. The vegetation is short and scrubby. The land supports grasses, shrubs and some forests.

Economy

The

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

of Sahiwal Division depends on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

and associated industries. The largest crop is wheat, followed by cotton.

Agriculture

Because there are nearby rivers, Sahiwal is a fertile zone within Punjab province. There is a canal

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

system. Sahiwal is cultivated for the production of food. A number of types of crops are grown. This is possible because across Sahiwal there is some variation in climatic conditions. Crops farmed in Sahiwal include:

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeolog ...

, sugarcane,

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...

, tobacco,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

, mustard seed and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

. Plants such as rapeseed are grown for production of

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, ...

. Vegetables are cultivated including

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Un ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the oni ...

, cauliflower, peas, carrot,

turnip The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound (linguistics), compound of ''turn'' as in turned/r ...

and Okra. Fruits grown in Sahiwal include

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is nati ...

, guava, orange, lemon, mango, dates, jambul, jujube and mulberry. Sahiwal's sandy region near the dry bed of the Dias river are used for growing

and

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

s. Areas in Yousuf and Arif are used to grow

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

Forestry

Archaeologists suggest that the forests have been present in Sahiwal area since the times of the Indus Valley civilisation. Sculptures, stamps and seals depicting the animals such as

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species '' Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, incl ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

and rhinoceros have been found. These are the animals of a humid subtropical climate. Sahiwal has 28,956 acres (117 km2) of forested land. Some are in Chichawatni and Okara. Trees in Sahiwal include: * Sacred fig (Peepal) *

Banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...

(Bargad) *

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...

(Safaida) * Salvadora persica (Peelu) * Prosopis cineraria (Jundi) *

Sal Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

* Tecomella undulata (Okaan) *

Dalbergia sissoo ''Dalbergia sissoo'', known commonly as North Indian rosewood or ''shisham'', is a fast-growing, hardy, deciduous rosewood tree native to the Indian subcontinent and southern Iran. ''D. sissoo'' is a large, crooked tree with long, leathery lea ...

(Shisham) * Acacia nilotica (Kikar or Babul) * Azadirachta indica (Neem), and * Melia azedarach (Bakain)

Cattle

The Sahiwal cattle breed, a dairy breed of Zebu or "humped cattle" is grown in the region. This cattle breed is tick resistant, heat tolerant and resistant to external and internal parasites Due to their heat tolerance and high milk production, Sahiwal cattle are grown in other Asian countries,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n nations such as Kenya, Burundi, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and Caribbean nations such as Jamaica, and Guyana.''Handbook of Australian Livestock'' Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation,1989, third edition.Sahiwal Cattle
/ref>RCCSC
Research Centre for Conservation of Sahiwal Cattle website. Other livestock types that are grown in Sahiwal include sheep, and goat. Fish and poultry are also in abundant. The

Nili-Ravi Nili-Ravi is a breed of domestic water buffalo of Punjab. It is distributed principally in Pakistan and India, concentrated in the Punjab region. It is similar to the Murrah breed of buffalo, and is reared mainly for dairy use. The average mi ...

is a breed of domestic

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, S ...

native to the Sahiwal area.

Industry

Sahiwal's industry is cantered around products and services for its agriculture. Some industrial entities in Sahiwal include

Mitchell's Fruit Farms Limited Mitchell's Fruit Farms Limited, () commonly known as Mitchell's, is a Pakistani food products company established by Francis J Mitchell in 1933. It consists of 720 acres of oasis in Renala Khurd, Okara District, Pakistan. History Mitchell's ...

, Montgomery Biscuits and Sweets Factory, Engro Foods Limited, rice mills, sugar mills for example, Ittefaq Sugar Mills Limited, and Baba Farid Sugar Mills Limited, pharmaceutical suppliers, tobacco processing units, cotton ginning and pressing units, flour mills, fertilizer companies for example, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, vegetable ghee and cooking oil processing units, textile factories, soap and detergent factories, paper and paper board factories, poultry feed suppliers, seed processing units and tanneries.

Education

The average urban literacy rate of Sahiwal Division (Sahiwal, Okara, and Pakpattan) is 60.7 percent. The average rural literacy rate is 33.8 percent.

Institutions

COMSATS University, Sahiwal
* University of Education (established 2002)
University of Sahiwal, Sahiwal
* Acute Business College. * Sahiwal Medical College, DHQ Hospital Sahiwal. * School of Nursing, DHQ Hospital, Okara. * Government College of Technology Sahiwal * Government College Sahiwal (established1942) * Divisional Public School and College, Sahiwal, * District Public School and College, Okara * Divisional Public School, Pakpattan * Sahiwal Public School, Sahiwal
College of Advanced Scientific Techniques (CAST), SahiwalUniversity of Lahore (UOL), PakpattanQuaid-e-Azam College of Engineering and Technology, SahiwalGovernment College University Faisalabad (GCUF), SahiwalUniversity of Okara, OkaraCadet College Okara, Okara
Other notable schools are Ad Alta School Sahiwal, Beaconhouse School System, BloomField Hall, The City School, Army Public School, Sahiwal, Army Public School, Okara, Government College For Women, Sahiwal, Government High School, Sahiwal, Government Mahmoodia High School, Sahiwal, Comprehensive School, Sahiwal, Government Pilot Higher Secondary School, Government Immamia College, Muhammadan Law College, Sahiwal, Multan Law College, Sahiwal, Government Commerce College, The Educators, Punjab Group of Colleges and The Limit Group of Colleges, Okara, Leading college, Sahiwal.

Libraries

Sahiwal Division has following libraries; * Government Jinnah Public Library, Sahiwal (established 1989) * COMSATS Sahiwal Library * Government Post Graduate College Sahiwal Library is the largest library in Sahiwal Division. * Sahiwal Public library (Library Bazm-e-Adab-o-Fikr) is the oldest library of Sahiwal. Other libraries are Baldia Library, Government College for Women library, Zila Council Library and District Bar Library.

Demography

At the time of the 1998 Census in Pakistan, the population of Sahiwal Division was 6,271,247. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 608 people per square kilometre. Forty-seven percent were female. Seventy-five percent lived in an urban environment. The urban literacy rate was 60.7 percent. The rural literacy rate was 33.8 percent. According to 2017 census, Sahiwal division had a population of 7,378,065, which includes 3,769,226 males and 3,608,089 females. The Sahiwal population includes a small proportion of indigenous people living in pastoral communities. Another proportion are people whose ancestors moved to the area and were allotted lands by the British in about 1849. The Abadkar people were forcibly removed to Sahiwal from other areas of Punjab (especially the east) after the building of the irrigation canal system in Sahiwal. These people became sharefarming tenants of state-owned farms. In 1998, fourteen percent of the Sahiwal Division's population had come to the area in 1947 as a result of the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. ;Religion Islam is the predominant religion in Sahiwal. In 1998, over 98.7 percent of residents in Sahiwal identified as Muslim. Islam was brought to the area by

Muhammad Bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqāfī ( ar, محمد بن القاسم الثقفي; –) was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (part of modern Pakistan), inaugurating the Uma ...

(695 CE - 715 CE) and Fariduddin Ganjshakar. Prior to Independence, most Muslim people in Sahiwal supported the All-India Muslim League and the

. Sahiwal division constitutes 104 Hindus, 7,264,688 Muslims, 108,688 Christians,1,728 Ahmadi followed by 504 scheduled castes and 2,353 others. ;Language

is the first language of most people in Sahiwal (95%).While, Raangri (2.8%)and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

(2%) are also spoken.

Notable people

* Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179 CE - 1266 CE) known as "Baba Farid" (Punjabi: بابا فرید (Shahmukhi), was a 12th-century Sufi preacher and saint of the Chishti Order of South Asia. Ganjshakar is one of the first major poets of the

Punjabi language Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab, Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first lan ...

, and is one of the pivotal saints of the

Punjab region Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. * Tufail Mohammad (1914 CE - 1958 CE) was a recipient of the

Nishan-e-Haider Nishan-e-Haider (NH; ), is the highest military gallantry award of Pakistan. The Nishan-e-Haider is awarded posthumously and only to members of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It recognises the highest acts of extraordinary bravery in the face of ...

, Pakistan's highest military award, for his contribution to the defence of Pakistan. * Majeed Amjad (1914 CE - 1974 CE) was a writer of modern

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

literature. He was educated at the Government College

. He was inspired by the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of Sahiwal. There is a park named for him. * Abdus Salam (1926 CE - 1996 CE) was a

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

who won the 1979

Nobel Prize in physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

for his contribution to electroweak theory. He was born in Santokdas a village near

haveli lakha Haveli Lakha ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a city in Depalpur Tehsil of Okara District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located around 158 km (98.4 miles) south west of Lahore. Haveli Lakha is part of Depalpur Tehsil Depalpur Tehsil ( ...

tehsil depalpur where his maternal grand father was resided, raised in Jhang and is buried in Rabwah.

Central Jail Sahiwal

The first jail in Sahiwal was the Gogera jail. Prisoners of war were housed there during India's First War of Independence. In 1873, the jail was moved to Sahiwal township and named "Central Jail, Sahiwal". People who have been housed at the jail include:

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, Zafar Ali Khan,

Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al- Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following In ...

, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Habib Jalib, Abdul Qayyum Khan and Agha Shorash Kashmeeri.

Twin cities

Sahiwal city is a twin of Rochdale,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. There is a direction sign in Rochdale's town centre that reads, "Sahiwal 3960 miles" and points towards Sahiwal.
UK Parliament 1991.

References

{{Neighbourhoods of Sahiwal Divisions of Pakistan