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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Sialkot District
Sialkot District (Punjabi and Urdu: ضلع سیالکوٹ), is one of the districts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in the Majha region of Punjab, otherwise the northeast of the province. The city of Sialkot is the capital of the district. The Sialkot Cantonment was established in 1852.

Administration

The district is administratively divided into the following four tehsils (subdivisions), which contain a total of 122 Union Councils:

Tehsil No. of Unions
Daska 42
Pasrur 28
Sambrial 30
Sialkot 52
Total 152

History

Sialkot District was an agricultural region with forests during the Indus Valley Civilization. The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan culture that flourished in the Punjab region. The Kambojas, Daradas, Kaikayas, Madras, Pauravas, Yaudheyas, Malavas and Kurus invaded, settled and ruled the ancient Punjab region. After overrunning the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE, Alexander marched into the present-day Punjab region with an army of 50,000. The Sialkot was ruled by Maurya Empire, the Indo-Greek kingdom, Kushan Empire, Gupta Empire, White Huns, Kushano-Hephthalites, the Arabs and Hindu Shahi kingdoms.

In 997 CE, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi took over the Ghaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sultan Sebuktegin, In 1005 he conquered the Shahis in Kabul in 1005 CE and followed by the conquests of the Punjab region. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the region.

The legendary history of the District is connected with Raja Salivahan, the reputed founder of the town of Sialkot, and his famous son Rasalu. Pasrur is also an ancient place. At an early date the District fell to the Rajas of Jammu, and under the Mughals formed the Rechna Doab sarkar of the Subah of Lahore. Under Shah Jahan the sarkar was entrusted to Ali Mardan Khan, the famous engineer, who dug a canal through it to bring water from the Chenab river to the imperial gardens in Lahore.

On the decline of the Mughal Empire Ranjit Singh Deo, a Rajput hill chief, extended his sway over the lowlands, owning a nominal allegiance to Delhi. In 1748 he transferred his allegiance to Ahmad Shah Durrani, who added Zafarwal and two other parganas to his fief. Before his death in 1773 Ranjit Deo had secured possession of the whole District, except the Sialkot town and its dependencies, which were held by a Pashtun family.

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the station was denuded of British troops; and the Native regiments which were left behind the rose, and, after sacking the jail, treasury, and courthouse, and massacring several of the European inhabitants, marched off towards Delhi, only to be destroyed by Nicholson at Trimmu Ghat. The rest of the Europeans took refuge in the fort, and on the morning after the departure of the rebels order was restored. The only events of interest in the subsequent history of the District are the plague riots that occurred at the villages of Shahzada and Sankhatra in 1901.

Numerous mounds are scattered about the District, which marks the sites of ancient villages and towns. None of them, except that on which the Sialkot fort stood, has been excavated, but silver and copper utensils and coins have been dug up from time to time by villagers. Most of the coins are those of Indo-Bactrian kings. The excavations in Sialkot revealed the existence of some old baths, with hot-water pipes of solid masonry. The fort itself, of which very little now remains, is not more than 1,000 years old and is said to have been rebuilt by Shahab-ud-din Ghori at the end of the twelfth century.

In 1859, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Sialkot were placed in the new division of Sialkot. But in 1884, Gurdaspur along with Amritsar again became a part of the Lahore Division.

According to the 1901 census, the district had a population of 1,083,909 and contained 7 towns and 2,348 villages. The population at the previous three enumerations was: 1,004,695 (1868), 1,012,148 (1881) and 1,119,847 (1891). The population decreased between 1891 and 1901 by 3.2, the decrease being greatest in the Raya tahsil and least in the Daska tahsil. The Chenab Colony was responsible for this fall in population, with no less than 103,000 persons having left to take land in the newly irrigated tracts.

The district was subdivided into five tehsils, namely: Sialkot, Pasrur, Zafarwal, Raya and Daska, the headquarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The chief towns of the district were Sialkot, Daska, Jamki, Pasrur, Kila Sobha Singh, Zafarwal and Narowal.

Tehsil Area (sq mi) Towns Villages Population (1901) Population per sq mi Population variation 1891–1901 Number of literate people
Sialkot 428 1 637 312,668 730.5 +3.2 12,101
Pasrur 394 2 443 193,746 491.7 −5.0 5,601
Sambrial 485 1 456 192,440 396.8 +10.4 5,586
Daska 360 2 332 206,148 572.6 −0.6 4,103
Total 1,991 7 2,348 1,083,909 544.4 −3.2 31,341

In 1930, the tehsils of Raya, Daska and Pasrur were split up and parts of these were amalgamated into Gujranwala District. In 1991, the tehsils of Narowal and Shakar Garh (which was tehsil Shankar Garh of Gurdaspur district before the independence of Pakistan in 1947) were split up and formed into the new Narowal District.

Geography

Sialkot District lies southeast of Gujrat District, southwest of Jammu district (in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir), while Narowal District is to the southeast and Gujranwala District is situated to the west.

Sialkot district is spread over an area of 3,016 square kilometers.

Sunset at Head Marala

Sialkot is hot and humid during the summer and cold during the winter. June and July are the hottest months. The maximum temperature during winter may drop to −2 °C (28 °F). The land is generally plain and fertile. The average annual rainfall is about 1000 mm. Over 25.82% of the population of the district is urban.

Demographics

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1951 961,721—    
1961 1,045,958+0.84%
1972 1,509,424+3.39%
1981 1,802,505+1.99%
1998 2,723,481+2.46%
2017 3,894,938+1.90%
2023 4,499,394+2.43%
Sources:

At the time of the 2017 census, Sialkot district had 573,346 households and a population of 3,894,938. Sialkot had a sex ratio of 1027 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 77.90% - 80.38% for males and 75.55% for females. 1,144,535 (29.39%) lived in urban areas. 971,385 (24.94%) were under 10 years of age. In 2023, the district had 671,589 households and a population of 4,499,394.

Religion

Religion in Sialkot district (2017)
Religion Percent
Islam
 
 96.04%
Christianity
 
 3.50%
Other or not stated
 
 0.46%

Muslims are the majority community, while Christians (converted during the colonial period) are the principal minority. There are small Hindu and Ahmadi communities in the district. The Shivala Teja Singh temple is a historic Hindu temple in Sialkot.

Religion in Sialkot District
Religious
group 		1941 2017
Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 592,236 64.17% 3,740,507 96.04%
Hinduism 176,989 19.18% 2,870 0.07%
Sikhism 92,715 10.05% — —
Christianity 54,498 5.91% 136,254 3.5%
Ahmadi — — 14,771 0.38%
Others 6,461 0.7% 536 0.01%
Total Population 922,899 100% 3,894,938 100%
Note: 1941 data is for Sialkot, Daska and Pasrur tehsils of Sialkot district, which roughly corresponds to present-day Sialkot district.
Religious groups in Sialkot District (British Punjab province era)
Religious
group 		1901 1911 1921 1931 1941
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 716,953 66.15% 604,801 61.74% 580,532 61.9% 609,633 62.23% 739,218 62.09%
Hinduism 302,012 27.86% 242,325 24.74% 217,912 23.24% 206,421 21.07% 231,319 19.43%
Sikhism 50,982 4.7% 81,761 8.35% 74,939 7.99% 94,955 9.69% 139,409 11.71%
Christianity 11,939 1.1% 48,620 4.96% 62,266 6.64% 66,365 6.77% 75,831 6.37%
Jainism 2,008 0.19% 2,029 0.21% 2,147 0.23% 2,236 0.23% 3,250 0.27%
Zoroastrianism 9 0% 17 0% 27 0% 7 0% 14 0%
Buddhism 6 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 3 0%
Judaism 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Others 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 1,453 0.12%
Total population 1,083,909 100% 979,553 100% 937,823 100% 979,617 100% 1,190,497 100%
Note1: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Note2: Population decrease between 1901 and 1921 census due to large population migrations south to newly created tehsils and districts in the Chenab Canal Colony.

Language

Languages of Sialkot district (2017)

  Punjabi (94.92%)
  Urdu (2.47%)
  Pashto (1.26%)
  Others (1.35%)

At the time of the 2017 census, 94.92% of the population spoke Punjabi, 2.47% Urdu and 1.26% Pashto as their first language.

Notable people

Allama Iqbal

Historical figures

Military

Journalists and poets

Politicians

Businesspersons

Scientist

Artists

Sportsmen

Others

Notes and references