West Punjab
Encyclopedia
West Punjab was a province of Pakistan
from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 160,622 km², including much of the current Punjab
province and the Islamabad Capital Territory
, but excluding the former princely state of Bahawalpur
. The capital was the city of Lahore
and the province was composed of four divisions (Lahore
, Sargodha
, Multan
and Rawalpindi
). The province was bordered by the Indian states of East Punjab
and Jammu and Kashmir
to the east, the princely state of Bahawalpur to the south, the provinces of Balochistan
and Sindh
to the southwest, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to the northwest, and Azad Kashmir
to the northeast.
of British India into two new provinces. The largely Sikh
and Hindu
East Punjab
became part of the new nation of India
while the largely Muslim
West Punjab became part of the new nation of Pakistan. The name of the province was shortened to Punjab
in 1950. West Punjab was merged into the province of West Pakistan
in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. When that province was dissolved, the area of the former province of West Punjab was combined with the former state of Bahawalpur to form a new Punjab Province
.
but most of the population spoke Punjabi
using the Shahmukhi script
. The linguist George Abraham Grierson
in his multivolume Linguistic Survey of India
(1904–1928) considered the various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken in North, West, and South of Lahore in what is now Pakistani Punjab, as constituting instead a distinct language from Punjabi. (The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.) Grierson proposed to name this putative language "Lahnda", and he dubbed as "Southern Lahnda" the coherent dialect cluster now known as Saraiki spoken in Multan
Dera Ghazi Khan
and Bahawalpur
division and "North Lahnda" now known as Potwari spoken in Rawalpindi
division and "Western Lahnda" now known as Hindko spoken in the regions bordering Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
with Iftikhar Hussain Khan as the first Chief Minister. Both offices were abolished in 1955, when the province of West Pakistan was created. The last Governor of West Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, became the first Governor of West 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...
from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 160,622 km², including much of the current 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...
province and the Islamabad Capital Territory
Islamabad Capital Territory
The Islamabad Capital Territory is one of the two federal territories of Pakistan. It includes Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and covers an area of 1,165.5 km² of which 906 km² is Islamabad proper...
, but excluding the former princely state of Bahawalpur
State of Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur was a princely state, stretching along the southern bank of the Sutlej and Indus Rivers, with its capital city at Bahawalpur. The state was counted amongst the Rajputana states...
. The capital was the city 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...
and the province was composed of four divisions (Lahore
Lahore Division
Lahore Division was an administrative division of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, until the reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government.-History:Lahore Division was originally an administrative division of the Punjab Province of British India...
, Sargodha
Sargodha Division
Sargodha Division is an administrative division of four districts of the Punjab Province of PakistanBefore October 2008, divisional system was abolished by the reforms of 2000 the third tier of government....
, Multan
Multan Division
Multan Division was an administrative division of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, until the reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government.-History:Multan Division was created during British Rule in the subcontinent...
and Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi Division
Rawalpindi Division was one of the administrative subdivisions of the Punjab province of Pakistan, forming part of the third tier of government below the federal and provincial levels...
). The province was bordered by the Indian states of East Punjab
East Punjab
East Punjab was the part of the Punjab region that went to India following the Partition of the Punjab Province of British India between India and Pakistan in 1947...
and Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
to the east, the princely state of Bahawalpur to the south, the provinces of Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
and Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
to the southwest, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to the northwest, and Azad Kashmir
Azad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir for short, is the southernmost political entity within the Pakistani-administered part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir...
to the northeast.
History
The independence of Pakistan in 1947 led to the divisions of the Punjab ProvincePunjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...
of British India into two new provinces. The largely Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
and Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
East Punjab
East Punjab
East Punjab was the part of the Punjab region that went to India following the Partition of the Punjab Province of British India between India and Pakistan in 1947...
became part of the new nation of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
while the largely Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
West Punjab became part of the new nation of Pakistan. The name of the province was shortened to 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...
in 1950. West Punjab was merged into the province of West Pakistan
West Pakistan
West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh...
in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. When that province was dissolved, the area of the former province of West Punjab was combined with the former state of Bahawalpur to form a new Punjab Province
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...
.
Demographics
At independence there was a Muslim majority in West Punjab with significant minorities of Hindus and Sikhs. Nearly all of these minorities fled West Punjab for India, to be replaced by large numbers of Muslims leaving in the opposite direction. The official language of West Punjab was UrduUrdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
but most of the population spoke Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
using the Shahmukhi script
Shahmukhi script
Shahmukhi is a local variant of the Urdu alphabet, which itself is a Perso-Arabic derivation that has used to write and record the Urdu language in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Nastaʿlīq is a portmanteau word of naskh of Arabic and ta'aliq,...
. The linguist George Abraham Grierson
George Abraham Grierson
Sir George Abraham Grierson OM KCIE was born to a prominent Dublin family in 1851. His father and grandfather, both also named George, were well-known printers and publishers.-Biography:Educated at St...
in his multivolume Linguistic Survey of India
Linguistic Survey of India
The Linguistic Survey of India, often referred to as the LSI, is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India, describing 364 languages and dialects. It was a project of the British Raj conducted between 1894 and 1928, under the direction of George A...
(1904–1928) considered the various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken in North, West, and South of Lahore in what is now Pakistani Punjab, as constituting instead a distinct language from Punjabi. (The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.) Grierson proposed to name this putative language "Lahnda", and he dubbed as "Southern Lahnda" the coherent dialect cluster now known as Saraiki spoken in Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
Dera Ghazi Khan
Dera Ghazi Khan
Dera Ghazi Khan is a city located in Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab, Pakistan. Dera Ghazi Khan is one of the most populous cities in Southern Punjab, and it is the largest district in Punjab in terms of area, being approximately in extent....
and Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur , located in the province of Punjab, is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs and counted as part of the Rajputana states...
division and "North Lahnda" now known as Potwari spoken in Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
division and "Western Lahnda" now known as Hindko spoken in the regions bordering Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Government
The offices of Governor of West Punjab and Chief Minister of West Punjab lasted from August 15, 1947, until 14 October 1955. The first Governor was Sir Francis MudieFrancis Mudie
Sir Robert Francis Mudie KCSI, KCIE, OBE was a member of the Indian Civil Service during the British Raj. He was the last British Governor of Sind and after the partition of India and Pakistan in August 1947, he continued to serve as Governor of the West Punjab.-Education:Robert Francis Mudie...
with Iftikhar Hussain Khan as the first Chief Minister. Both offices were abolished in 1955, when the province of West Pakistan was created. The last Governor of West Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, became the first Governor of West Pakistan.
| Tenure | Governor of West Punjab |
|---|---|
| 15 August 1947 - 2 August 1949 | Sir Francis Mudie Francis Mudie Sir Robert Francis Mudie KCSI, KCIE, OBE was a member of the Indian Civil Service during the British Raj. He was the last British Governor of Sind and after the partition of India and Pakistan in August 1947, he continued to serve as Governor of the West Punjab.-Education:Robert Francis Mudie... |
| 2 August 1949 - 24 November 1951 | Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar Abdur Rab Nishtar Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar was a Muslim League stalwart, Pakistan movement activist and later Pakistani politician.-Education:... |
| 24 November 1951 - 2 May 1953 | Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar |
| 2 May 1953 - 24 June 1954 | Mian Aminuddin |
| 26 September 1954 - 26 November 1954 | Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah |
| 27 November 1954 - 14 October 1955 | Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani |
| 14 October 1955 | Province of West Punjab dissolved |
| Tenure | Chief Minister of West Punjab | Political Party |
|---|---|---|
| 15 August 1947 - 25 January 1949 | Iftikhar Hussain Khan | |
| 25 January 1949 - 5 April 1952 | Governor's Rule | |
| 5 April 1951 - 3 April 1953 | Mian Mumtaz Daultana | Pakistan Muslim League Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League was founded in 1962, as a successor to the previously disbanded Muslim League in Pakistan. Unlike the original PML which ended in 1958 when General Ayub Khan banned all political parties, each subsequent Muslim League was in some way propped by the military dictators of... |
| 3 April 1953 - 21 May 1955 | Malik Firoz Khan Nun | Pakistan Muslim League |
| 21 May 1955 - 14 October 1955 | Abdul Hamid Khan Dasti | |
| 14 October 1955 | Province of West Punjab dissolved |
Contemporary usage
Today the term West Punjab is used in Pakistan to describe the western part of Pakistan's Punjab province, while in India it is often used to refer to Pakistani Punjab.See also
- Punjab regionPunjab regionThe Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
- Punjab (Pakistan)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...
- Punjab (India)Punjab (India)Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
- HaryanaHaryanaHaryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
- Bahawalpur State