Wazirabad
Encyclopedia
AYAZ KHAN
Wazirabad is an industrial city located in Gujranwala District
, Punjab
, Pakistan
. Wazirabad is situated on the banks of the Chenab River nearly 100 kilometres north of Lahore
on the Grand Trunk Road. It is 45 kilometres from Sialkot
, 30 kilometres from the district capital - Gujranwala
and about 12 kilometres from Gujrat
. The city of Wazirabad is the headquarters of Wazirabad Tehsil, an administrative subdivision
of the district, the city is itself subdivided into 5 Union Councils
. Wazirabad City is located near the south banks of the Chenab River
where the picturesque Nala Palkhu
, a snow stream from the Himalayas
joins to this big river.
, was first settled in 1542 CE. In 1636 CE Wazir Hakim Illmmudiddin, an amir of Shah Jahan
constructed the first ever residential building of Wazirabad namely Musaman Burj on the bank of Palkhu Nala. During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb
another building namely Shesh Mahal at the east of Musaman Burj was built during 1705 CE.
The Sixth Sikh Prophet Guru Hargobind Sahib ji (1595-1644) Visited Wazirabad and blessed his Follower Bhai Khem Chand Ji Who was the Resident of this Town.
The town saw a decline in its population at the beginning of Sikh rule when it was taken over by Charat Singh around 1760 together with other towns in the District. but Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Warraich and his son Jodh Singh restored its glory. Maharja Ranjit Singh
occupied the town in 1809 and Avitabile
was appointed as the Nazim
of the city. He built an entirely new town, with a straight broad bazar running through it, and side streets at right angles.
Wazirabad was the headquarters of the old Wazirabad District, broken up in 1851-2, and was the site of a cantonment removed to Sialkot
in 1855 on account of the unhealthiness of the place.
The municipality was created in 1867, the population according to the 1901 census was 18,069. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 20,800, and the expenditure Rs. 21,400. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 20,800, chiefly from octroi
; and the expenditure was Rs. 19,200. The town had a considerable trade in timber, which comes down the Chenab from Jammu
territory,
and in cloth, grain, and sugar. The smiths of Wazirabad had a reputation for the manufacture of small articles of cutlery, and the, village of Nizamabad within a mile of the town is famed for its weapons; Wazirabad was an important junction on the North-Western Railway, as the Sialkot-Jammu and Lyallpur lines both branch off here.
The Chenab river is spanned opposite Wazirabad by the Alexandra railway bridge, one of the finest engineering works of the kind in India, which was opened by Edward VII the King-Emperor
when he was Prince of Wales
in 1876. An important fair is held at: Dhaunkal
, a short distance off. The town possessed two Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church of Scotland Mission, and a Government dispensary.
During the 1947 Partition the Sikh and Hindu Residents of Wazirabad Town Left and Migrated to India.
There is also a Women Government Degree College and a government Mc girls high school
Muslim hands technical training,center,City Science College Imperial public High School>
Now the improvements have been seen in the field of education in Wazirabad. Many other new schools and colleges have been opened especially in the private sector. These schools include Arham Educational Heights School, S.Z Elahi model school and Allied schools. The newly opened college is Punjab college which is having the campuses both for the females and males.
The newly opened is Jamea tul Madina University Near Hawa Memorial Hosptaial & Faizan e Madina Maddrissa 3 Branchs (Dawat e Islami Wazirabad) The newly opened Technical college is " Dilawar Institute Of Technology " for boys.
Wazirabad is an industrial city located in Gujranwala District
Gujranwala District
Gujranwala District is a district in Punjab, Pakistan.- History :The village of Asarur which has been identified as the location of Taki, an ancient town, visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang contains immense ruins of Buddhist origin...
, Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Wazirabad is situated on the banks of the Chenab River nearly 100 kilometres north of Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
on the Grand Trunk Road. It is 45 kilometres from Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
, 30 kilometres from the district capital - Gujranwala
Gujranwala
Gujranwala is a industrial city in the north-east of the Punjab province. It is the sixth largest city in Pakistan with a population of approximately 2,661,360 as on 24 June 2011...
and about 12 kilometres from Gujrat
Gujrat
Gujrat is a city in Pakistan. It is the capital of Gujrat District and the Gujrat Tehsil subdivision in the Punjab Province. People living in Gujrat refer to themselves as Gujratis, which sometimes leads to confusion with people from the Indian state of Gujarat which adjoins Pakistan...
. The city of Wazirabad is the headquarters of Wazirabad Tehsil, an administrative subdivision
Tehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....
of the district, the city is itself subdivided into 5 Union Councils
Union Councils of Pakistan
A sherwan or village council in Pakistan is an elected local government body consisting of 21 councillors, and headed by a nazim and a naib nazim...
. Wazirabad City is located near the south banks of the Chenab River
Chenab River
The Chenab River چنRiver' آب) is a major river of Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab in Pakistan. It forms in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of the Punjab, Pakistan...
where the picturesque Nala Palkhu
Nala palkhu
The Nala Palkhu or Palkhu Nala is a stream in Punjab, Pakistan.-Course:The Nala Palkhu originates near the town of Saidpur in Bajwat area from the Tawi River, the major left bank tributary of the Chenab River...
, a snow stream from the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
joins to this big river.
History
Wazirabad, literally the city of the WazirVizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
, was first settled in 1542 CE. In 1636 CE Wazir Hakim Illmmudiddin, an amir of Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
constructed the first ever residential building of Wazirabad namely Musaman Burj on the bank of Palkhu Nala. During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
another building namely Shesh Mahal at the east of Musaman Burj was built during 1705 CE.
The Sixth Sikh Prophet Guru Hargobind Sahib ji (1595-1644) Visited Wazirabad and blessed his Follower Bhai Khem Chand Ji Who was the Resident of this Town.
The town saw a decline in its population at the beginning of Sikh rule when it was taken over by Charat Singh around 1760 together with other towns in the District. but Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Warraich and his son Jodh Singh restored its glory. Maharja Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
occupied the town in 1809 and Avitabile
Paolo Di Avitabile
General Paolo Crescenzo Martino Avitabile was an Italian soldier, mercenary and adventurer. A peasant's son born in Agerola, near Amalfi in Italy, he served in the Neapolitan militia during the Napoleonic wars. After Waterloo he drifted east like many other adventurous soldiers...
was appointed as the Nazim
Nazim
A nazim is the coordinator of cities and towns in Pakistan. Nazim is the title in Urdu of the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council....
of the city. He built an entirely new town, with a straight broad bazar running through it, and side streets at right angles.
British rule
During British ruleBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
Wazirabad was the headquarters of the old Wazirabad District, broken up in 1851-2, and was the site of a cantonment removed to Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
in 1855 on account of the unhealthiness of the place.
The municipality was created in 1867, the population according to the 1901 census was 18,069. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 20,800, and the expenditure Rs. 21,400. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 20,800, chiefly from octroi
Octroi
Octroi is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption.-Antiquity:Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, being known in Roman times as vectigalia...
; and the expenditure was Rs. 19,200. The town had a considerable trade in timber, which comes down the Chenab from Jammu
Jammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
territory,
and in cloth, grain, and sugar. The smiths of Wazirabad had a reputation for the manufacture of small articles of cutlery, and the, village of Nizamabad within a mile of the town is famed for its weapons; Wazirabad was an important junction on the North-Western Railway, as the Sialkot-Jammu and Lyallpur lines both branch off here.
The Chenab river is spanned opposite Wazirabad by the Alexandra railway bridge, one of the finest engineering works of the kind in India, which was opened by Edward VII the King-Emperor
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
when he was Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
in 1876. An important fair is held at: Dhaunkal
Dhaunkal
Dhaunkal is a village in Gujranwala district, Punjab, Pakistan. Dhaunkal is one the biggest and oldest villages in tehsil Wazirabad, Gujranwala. Dhaunkal is mostly famous for Darbar of HAZRAT SAKHI SARWAR SULTAN...
, a short distance off. The town possessed two Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church of Scotland Mission, and a Government dispensary.
During the 1947 Partition the Sikh and Hindu Residents of Wazirabad Town Left and Migrated to India.
Structure
Wazirabad city was divided into 4 Katras namely Ram Katra, Katra Mai, Katra Thatharian, Katra Dewanan beside a Chohatrah. Exactly in the front of the Musaman Burj Main Bazar of the City is located which is absolute wide and is about 2 kilometer long as the same ends in the south of the city at Lahori Darwaza. Beside the Main Bazar there are two more roads which are parallel to Main Bazar namely Circular Road and Collage Road with an outer road travelling beside the railway lines inside the city which starts from Lahori Darwaza and ends at the first ever underpass of Gujrawala Division to contact with the main G. T. Road.Education
Here in the small town, there are many educational institutions in public and private sectors.The results of the private schools are always better than the government schools. Govt schools are Govt Public high School (Ghulaam Qader),Govt High School Nizamabad, Govt MC Famous private schools include.The Educators Shaheen Junior Model School Musamman Burj, Mumtaz Grammar School, Sir Syed Pilot School.latif model high school is the first english medium high school for boys and girls.There is also a Women Government Degree College and a government Mc girls high school
Muslim hands technical training,center,City Science College Imperial public High School>
Now the improvements have been seen in the field of education in Wazirabad. Many other new schools and colleges have been opened especially in the private sector. These schools include Arham Educational Heights School, S.Z Elahi model school and Allied schools. The newly opened college is Punjab college which is having the campuses both for the females and males.
The newly opened is Jamea tul Madina University Near Hawa Memorial Hosptaial & Faizan e Madina Maddrissa 3 Branchs (Dawat e Islami Wazirabad) The newly opened Technical college is " Dilawar Institute Of Technology " for boys.
Notable people
- Maulana Zafar Ali Khan (Companion of Quaid e Azam & Famous Journalist of Pakistan Movement)
- Hamid Nasir ChatthaHamid Nasir ChatthaChaudhry Hamid Nasir Chattha is a politician from Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. He was born on November 15, 1944 at Lahore. Hamid Nasir Chattha is currently a Member of Punjab Assembly, Pakistan after losing in 2008 National Assembly elections. He was previously elected as an MNA in 1985, 1990,...
(Former Speaker of National Assembly) - Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi (Spiritual Leader of Pakistan Movement & Former Central President Jamiat-e-Ulamai Pakistan)
- S.A. Rahman (5th Chief Justice of Pakistan)
- Atif AslamAtif AslamAtif Aslam is a Pakistani pop singer. He is widely recognized in South Asia and has given several hit songs such as Aadat, Woh Lamhe, Tere Bin, Bakhuda Tumhi Ho, Pehli Nazar Mein, Tera Hone Laga Hoon, Tu Jaane Na, Tere Liye. He is one of the most popular South Asian celebrity on Facebook with...
(Singer) - Kashif ButtKashif ButtMuhammad Kashif Shahid commonly known as Kashif Butt is a well known Urdu poet among young Pakistani poets. He is also a story writer, critic & TV host. His writings are free from topos and revolve around the orbit of his ideological and philosophical circle...
(Poet, Writer & Columnist) - Munnu Bhai (Writer, Columnist)
- Ata ul Haq QasmiAta ul Haq QasmiAta ul Haq Qasmi is a Pakistani columnist who has been writing Urdu columns for more than last 45 years in the leading newspapers with the name of "Rozan-e-Dewar Sey"....
(Columnist) - Ashfaq Hussain Attari ( Art Designer)
- Razia Butt (Novelist)