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Chakwal ضلع چکوال
District
Top: Katas Raj Temples Bottom: Neela Wahn Waterfall, Malot Fort
Chakwal is located in the north of Punjab.
Coordinates: 33°40′38″N 72°51′21″E / 33.67722°N 72.85583°E / 33.67722; 72.85583
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Division	Rawalpindi
Headquarters	Chakwal
Tehsils (3)	List Chakwal Kallar Kahar Choa Saidan Shah
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner	Quratulain Malik (PAS)
• District Police Officer	Capt. (R) Wahid Mehmood
• District Health Officer	Dr. Anjum Qadeer
Area
• District	3,593 km (1,387 sq mi)
Population
• District	1,132,608
• Density	320/km (820/sq mi)
• Urban	25.06%
• Rural	74.94%
Literacy
• Literacy rate	Total: (77.79%) Male: (86.12%) Female: (69.52%)
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Area code	0543
Main language(s)	Punjabi
Website	chakwal.punjab.gov.pk

Chakwal District (Urdu: ضلع چکوال) is a district located on the Pothohar Plateau in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern area of the Punjab province, bordered by Talagang to its south, Rawalpindi to its northeast, Jhelum to its east. The district was created out of parts of Jhelum and Attock in 1985.

History

During British rule, Chakwal was a tehsil of Jhelum district, the population according to the 1891 census of India was 164,912 which had fallen to 160,316 in 1901. It contained the towns of Chakwal and Bhaun and 248 villages. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to 3–300,000. The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India and later it was upgraded as a District on 1 July 1985.

Administrative divisions

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km, is subdivided into five tehsils. These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts:

• Chakwal Tehsil was annexed from Jhelum District and made part of the newly formed Chakwal District.
• Choa Saidan Shah was carved out of sub-division Pind Dadan Khan of Jhelum District and was amalgamated with sub-division Chakwal. Choa Saidan Shah was upgraded to the level of a sub-division in 1993.

Now the district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils and 45 union councils.

Administration

Constituencies

There is one district council, one municipal committees — Chakwal — and two town committees — Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar.

The district is represented in the National Assembly by two constituencies: NA-60 and NA-61. The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs and in National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:

Geography

Chakwal district borders the districts of Rawalpindi and Attock in the north, Jhelum in the east, Khushab in the south and Mianwali in the west. The total area of Chakwal district is 6,609 square kilometres, which is equivalent to 1,652,443 acres (6,687.20 km).

The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range and includes the Chail peak, 3,701 feet (1,128 m) above the sea, the highest point in the district. Between this and the Sohan river, which follows more or less the northern boundary, the country consists of what was once a fairly level plain, sloping down from 2,000 feet (610 m) at the foot of the hills to 1,400 feet (430 m) in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Chakwal district has 288,838 households and a population of 1,734,854. The district has a sex ratio of 99.23 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 77.79%: 86.12% for males and 69.52% for females. 398,401 (23.01% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 434,805 (25.06%) live in urban areas.

Muslims formed the overwhelming majority at 1,722,147 (99.45%) while 9,542 (0.55%) were from religious minorities, mainly Christians, who mostly live in Chakwal town.

Religion in Chakwal District

Religious group	1941		2017		2023
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	365,291	90.31%	1,490,510	99.67%	1,722,147	99.45%
Hinduism	21,507	5.32%	187	0.01%	142	0.01%
Sikhism	17,594	4.35%	—	—	26	~0%
Christianity	58	0.01%	3,764	0.25%	8,478	0.49%
Others	21	0.01%	1,002	0.07%	896	0.05%
Total Population	404,471	100%	1,495,463	100%	1,731,689	100%

Languages of Chakwal district (2023)

At the time of the 2023 census, 92.04% of the population spoke Punjabi, 5.47% Pashto and 1.66% Urdu as their first language.

The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.

Education

Chakwal has a total of 1,140 government schools out of which 52.63% (600 schools) are for female students. The district has an enrollment of 181,574 in public sector schools.

Educational institutions

Notable Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include:

• Government Post Graduate College (Chakwal)
• University Of Chakwal
• Govt. High School No.1, Chakwal
• Govt. Girls High School No.1, Chakwal
• Govt. Islamia High School, Chakwal

Notable people

• Yahya Khan, former President of Pakistan, was born in Chakwal city in 1917.
• Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, was born in Gah village (formerly part of Jhelum District)
• Khudadad Khan VC, British Indian Army, operated a machine gun despite being wounded after his team was overrun and bayoneted by the Germans, holding them back long enough for reinforcements in the Western Front
• Nur Khan, was a three-star air officer, politician, sports administrator, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force, serving under President Ayub Khan from 1965 until 1969.
• Tajammul Hussain Malik, War Hero of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, held an impenetrable defence in the Battle of Hilli against a multiple times larger force and famously refused to surrender vowing to fight till the end
• Muhammad Safdar, Lt. General Muhammad Safdar is the former Governor of Punjab, having served from 1999 to 2001. He has also previously served as the ambassador to Morocco and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Punjab until 1993.
• Colonel Imam – Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar was a one-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, member of the Special Service Group (SSG) of the army, and an intelligence officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
• Rafiuddin Hashmi, an Iqbalist, researcher, travel writer and a professor in Oriental College, and the University of the Punjab
• Sukh Devis, an Indian organic chemist, academic, researcher and writer, known for his contributions in the development of Guggulsterone, a plant-derived steroid used as a therapeutic and nutritional agent.

See also

• Chakwal
• Rawalpindi Division
• Chakwal railway station
• North Western State Railway
• Districts of Pakistan
• Punjab, Pakistan
• Mandra–Bhaun Railway
• Swaik Lake (Khandowa Lake)

References

1. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
2. "Literacy rate, enrolments, and out-of-school population by sex and rural/urban, CENSUS-2023" (PDF).
3. "Chakwal Tehsils". Punjab Portal, Punjab Government website. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
4. ^ Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 10, p. 126 Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago website, Retrieved 27 January 2023
5. ^ "List of Tehsils and Districts". Population Census Organization, Government of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
6. 1998 District Census report of Chakwal. Census publication. Vol. 77. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
7. "Tehsils & Unions in the District of Chakwal". National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
8. ^ "TABLE 1 : AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN POPULATION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, CENSUS-2023, PUNJAB" (PDF).
9. "CHAKWAL Constituancies (PP-20 to PP-23)". Provincial Assembly of the Punjab website. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
10. "PML-N wins Chakwal by-polls with thumping majority". The News International (newspaper). 10 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
11. Nabeel Anwar Dhakku, "Chakwal district falls into PML-N's fold", Dawn (newspaper), retrieved 27 January 2023
12. "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
13. "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 12" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
14. "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 5" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
15. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 9" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
16. India Census Commissioner (1941). "Census of India, 1941. Vol. 6, Punjab". p. 42. JSTOR saoa.crl.28215541. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
17. "District census: Chakwal". pbs.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017.
18. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
19. Masica, Colon P. (9 September 1993). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0521299446.
20. Rensch, Calvin R. (1992). "The Language Environment of Hindko-Speaking People". In O'Leary, Clare F.; Rensch, Calvin R.; Hallberg, Calinda E. (eds.). Hindko and Gujari. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 7. ISBN 969-8023-13-5.
21. "Statistics for District Chakwal, Punjab Annual Schools Census Data 2014-15". School Education Department, Punjab Government website. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2023.

Notes

1. 1941 figures are for Talagang tehsil of Attock district and Chakwal and part of Pind Dadan Khan tehsil of Jhelum district. Figures for present-day Choa Saidan Shah were taken from the current ratio of the current population of the tehsil to the current population of undivided Pind Dadan Khan tehsil. Proportion of religions in rural areas was assumed to be homogenous.
2. 1931-1941: Including Ad-Dharmis

Bibliography

• University of Engineering and Technology. Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering; Pakistan Science Foundation (1979), National Seminar on Land and Water Resources Development of Barani Areas, , The University of Wisconsin, ISBN 978-01-9023-806-3

External links

"Official Website of Chakwal District". Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2023.

v t e Places adjacent to Chakwal District
Attock District Rawalpindi District Talagang District Chakwal district Jhelum District Khushab District Jhelum District

v t e Districts of Punjab, Pakistan
Provincial capital: Lahore
Bahawalpur	Bahawalnagar Bahawalpur Rahim Yar Khan
Dera Ghazi Khan	Dera Ghazi Khan Jampur Kot Addu Layyah Muzaffargarh Rajanpur Taunsa
Faisalabad	Chiniot Faisalabad Jhang Toba Tek Singh
Gujranwala	Gujranwala Narowal Sialkot
Gujrat	Gujrat Hafizabad Mandi Bahauddin Wazirabad
Lahore	Kasur Lahore Nankana Sahib Sheikhupura
Mianwali	Bhakkar Mianwali Talagang
Multan	Khanewal Lodhran Multan Vehari
Rawalpindi	Attock Chakwal Jhelum Murree Rawalpindi
Sahiwal	Okara Pakpattan Sahiwal
Sargodha	Khushab Sargodha

• Chakwal District
• Districts of Punjab, Pakistan
• 1985 establishments in Pakistan