Chakwal District

Chakwal
ضلع چکوال
District
Top: Katas Raj Temples
Bottom: Neela Wahn Waterfall, Malot Fort
Chakwal is located in the north of Punjab.
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
DivisionRawalpindi
HeadquartersChakwal
Tehsils (3)
List
Government
 • TypeDistrict Administration
 • Deputy CommissionerQuratulain Malik (PAS)
 • District Police OfficerCapt. (R) Wahid Mehmood
 • District Health OfficerDr. Anjum Qadeer
Area
 • District
3,593 km2 (1,387 sq mi)
Population
 (2023)[1]
 • District
1,132,608
 • Density320/km2 (820/sq mi)
 • Urban
25.06%
 • Rural
74.94%
Literacy
[2]
 • Literacy rate
  • Total:
    (77.79%)
  • Male:
    (86.12%)
  • Female:
    (69.52%)
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)
Area code0543
Main language(s)Punjabi
Websitechakwal.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.[3]

History

[edit]

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.[4] 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

[edit]

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km2, is subdivided into five tehsils.[5] These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts:[6]: 1 

Now the district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils and 45 union councils.[7]

Name of tehsil No. of union councils No. of villages No. of public schools No. of police stations No. of post offices
Chakwal[5] 30 207 485 5 48
Choa Saidan Shah[5] 7 47 93 1 14
Kallar Kahar[5] 8 72 146 1 15
Total 45 326 1140 7 77

Administration

[edit]
# District Area

(km²)[8]

Pop.

(2023)[8]

Density

(ppl/km²)

(2023)[8]

Lit. rate

(2023)

Union Councils
1 Chakwal 2,167 768,622 354.69 79.63% 30
2 Choa Saidan Shah 473 167,537 354.20 79.28% 7
3 Kallar Kahar 953 196,449 206.14 79.23% 8

Constituencies

[edit]

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:[9]

Constituency MPA Party[10][11]
(PP-21) Raja Yasir Hamayun Sarfaraz Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PP-22) Tanveer Aslam Malik Pakistan Muslim League (N)
(PP-23) Sardar Aftab Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(NA-64) Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(NA-65) Choudari Perwaiz Ilahi Pakistan Muslim League (Q)

Geography

[edit]

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 km2).[clarification needed]

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.[4]

Demographics

[edit]
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1951...—    
1961...—    
1972...—    
1981...—    
19981,083,725—    
20171,495,463+1.71%
20231,734,854+2.51%
Sources:[12]

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.[1][13] 398,401 (23.01% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.[14] 434,805 (25.06%) live in urban areas.[1]

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.[15]

Religion in Chakwal district (2023)[15]
Religion Percent
Islam
 
 99.45%
Christianity
 
 0.49%
Other or not stated
 
 0.06%
Religion in Chakwal District
Religious
group 		1941[16][a] 2017[17] 2023[15]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 365,291 90.31% 1,490,510 99.67% 1,722,147 99.45%
Hinduism [b] 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)[18]

  Punjabi (92.04%)
  Pashto (5.47%)
  Urdu (1.66%)
  Others (0.83%)

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.[18]

The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.[19][20]

Education

[edit]

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.[21]

Educational institutions

[edit]

Notable Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include:

Notable people

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 10, p. 126 Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago website, Retrieved 27 January 2023
  5. ^ a b c d "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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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

[edit]
  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

[edit]
  • 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, [July 21-24, 1979], The University of Wisconsin, ISBN 978-01-9023-806-3
[edit]

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

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Punjab (Pakistan).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chakwal_District&oldid=1263875153#Administrative_divisions"