Sheikhupura ( Punjabi / ; ) also known as Qila Sheikhupura, is a city and district in the Pakistani province of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Founded by the Mughal Emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

in 1607, Sheikhupura is the 15th largest city of Pakistan by population and is the headquarters of Sheikhupura District. The city is an industrial centre and satellite town, and is located about 38 km northwest of

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 ...

. It also borders

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

, Nankana Sahib and

Kasur Kasur (Punjabi language, Punjabi / ; ; also Romanization, romanized as Qasūr; from pluralized Arabic word ''Qasr'' meaning "palaces" or "forts") is a city to the south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. The city s ...

districts 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

of Punjab, Pakistan.

Etymology

The region around Sheikhupura was previously known as Village Sheikhupura, or "Pind Sheikhupura", in reference of the Kachari, Nabi-pura and Behari colony & Jahangir-pura is Qila and old city that inhabited the area. In Singh Kingdom Raja Ranjeet Singh, Sheikhupura city is part of Gujranwala Dist. In Akbar's Kingdom, Sheikhupura city was a part of Forest Near

city. The city, founded in 1607, was named by

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Jehangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

himself - the city's first name is recorded in the Emperor's autobiography, the '' Tuzk-e-Jahangiri,'' in which he refers to the town as ''Jehangir pura.'' The city then came to be known by its current name, which derives from Jehangir's nickname ''Shekhu'' that was given to him by his mother, wife of

Akbar the Great Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor exp ...

History

Mughal

Mughal Emperor

laid the foundations of Sheikhupura in 1607 near the older town of Jandiala Sher Khan, an important provincial town during the early to middle Mughal era. He also erected the nearby Hiran Minar, Sheikhpura's most renowned site, between 1607 and 1620 as a monument to his beloved pet deer, ''Mansiraj'', at a time when the area served as a royal hunting ground for the Mughal Emperor. Jehangir laid the foundation of the Sheikhupura Fort in 1607, which is situated in the city's centre.

British

During British colonial rule, the area was under the rule of Raja Dhayan Singh and during establishment of British colonial rule, Bhatti possessions that had been seized by the Sikhs were restored. The large area between the Chenab and Ravi rivers were initially consolidated into a single district with Sheikhupura serving as its first headquarters, until 1851. The area around Sheikhupura attained District status in 1919, with M.M.L. Karry serving as its first administrator.

Partition

On the eve of the Partition of British India, Sikhs made up 19% of the district's population. Despite the area's Muslim majority, Sikhs had hoped that the boundary commission would award the area to India, given the proximity of Sheikhupura to the city of Nankana Sahib - revered as the birthplace of the founder of

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

. The city was spared the large-scale rioting that engulfed

earlier in 1947, and the city's Sikh population did not shift to India before the

Radcliffe Line The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated by the two boundary commissions for the provinces of Punjab Province (British India), Punjab and Bengal Presidency, Bengal during the Partition of India. It is named after Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Visco ...

that demarcated the border of the newly independent states of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

was announced. The Sikh population had not made arrangements to leave and remained trapped in the city until 31 August 1947. The city's Sacha Sauda refugee camp hosted upwards of 100,000 Sikh refugees who had come to the city after fleeing nearby

and other surrounding areas earlier that year. Fierce violence erupted in the city, and an estimated 10,000 people were killed in Sheikhupura between 16 August and 31 August in communal rioting between

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'' ...

and

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 ...

Education

The overall literacy rate of Sheikhupura is 43.6% which is increasing day by day. Following are some of the notable educational institutes of the city:
Government Graduate College for Boys, Civil Lines Sheikhupura
* Hajvery University, Sheikhupura Campus * University of Central Punjab, Sheikhupura Campus * Punjab College of Science * Beaconhouse School System * The City School * Overseas Pakistanis Foundation

Demographics

Population

According to the

1998 Pakistan Census The 1998 Census of Pakistan was the fifth Pakistani national census. It provided a detailed enumeration of the population of Pakistan at the time it was conducted under the authority of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, an agency of the Gover ...

, the population of Sheikhupura city was recorded as 280,263. As per

2017 Census of Pakistan The 2017 Census of Pakistan was a detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population which began on 15 March 2017 and ended on 25 May 2017. It was the first census taken in the country in the 21st century, nineteen years after the previous one i ...

, the population of city was recorded as 473,129 with an increase of 68.82% in just 19 years.

Industrial areas

Quaid-e-Azam Business Park Sheikhupura and Rachna Industrial Park are two industrial areas under development in Sheikhupura. The former industrial area is declared a special economic zone by the government of Pakistan.

Notable people

* Sher Akbar Khan, MPA PP 142 Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, Pakistani politician * Aaqib Javed played as fast bowler for Pakistan cricket team * Anjum Saeed played one Olympics for Pakistan hockey team * Choudhry Bilal Ahmed, politician * Ghulam Jilani Khan is the founder of the Chand Bagh School * Kulwant Singh Virk, author * Mohammad Asif a right arm medium fast bowler in cricket * Muhammad Javed Buttar, is a former justice of

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

* Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti, judge and lawyer * Nawab Kapur Singh, one of the pivotal figures of the

Sikh Confederacy The Sikh Confederacy was a confederation of twelve sovereign Sikh states (each known as a Misl, derived from the Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal'; sometimes spelt as Misal) which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the n ...

and founder of the Singhpuria Misl * Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, player for the Pakistan National Cricket Team * Rana Tanveer Hussain, politician of PML-N & Federal Minister * Saeed Anwar played three Olympics for Pakistan hockey team * Sheikh Salim Chishti, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order during the Mughal Empire * Waris Shah, Punjabi Sufi Poet * Zaka Ullah Bhangoo, Pakistani army aviator * Zia Ullah Khan, Commander of XII Corps Quetta * Zulfiqar Ahmad Dhillon, retired brigadier in the Pakistani army. * Gulshan Bawra, Indian song writer

References

External links

Official Website of Punjab Government
{{Authority control Education in Sheikhupura Populated places in Sheikhupura District