Chakwal District

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.[https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V10_132.gif Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 10, p. 126] Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago website, Retrieved 27 January 2023 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.

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km², is subdivided into five tehsils.{{cite web|url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/admin_unit/admin_list_tehsil.html|title= List of Tehsils and Districts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101054541/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/admin_unit/admin_list_tehsil.html |archive-date=1 January 2007|website=Population Census Organization, Government of Pakistan website|url-status=dead|access-date=27 January 2023}} These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts:{{Cite book| title = 1998 District Census report of Chakwal| location = Islamabad| publisher = Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan| series = Census publication | volume = 77| date = 2000}}{{rp|1}}

• 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.{{cite web |title=Tehsils & Unions in the District of Chakwal |url=https://lgcd.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/UCDCChakwal.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=27 January 2025 |website=UCs in District Councils {{!}} Local Government and Community Development}} The district Talagang has been recognized as a separate by department of revenue with tehsil Lawa and tehsil Talagang, but it is still non-functional.{{Cite web |title=Updated List of Divisions, Districts and Tehsils Punjab 2024 /25• Galaxy World |url=https://www.glxspace.com/2024/12/19/notification-latest-updated-list-of-divisions-districts-and-tehsils-in-punjab-2024/ |access-date=26 January 2025}}

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:{{cite web|url=http://www.pap.gov.pk/legislators/present/dist3.htm|archive-date=20 June 2008|access-date=27 January 2023|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620115509/http://www.pap.gov.pk/legislators/present/dist3.htm |title=CHAKWAL Constituancies (PP-20 to PP-23)|website=Provincial Assembly of the Punjab website}}

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 {{convert|1652443|acre|km2}}.{{Clarify|date=December 2024|reason=two different values for the square kilometres}}

The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range and includes the Chail peak, {{convert|3701|ft|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 {{convert|2000|ft|m}} at the foot of the hills to {{convert|1400|ft|m}} in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.

{{Historical populations|1951|...|1961|...|1972|...|1981|...|1998|1083725|2017|1,495,463|2023|1,734,854|align=center|percentages=pagr|footnote=Sources:{{cite web |title=Population by administrative units 1951-1998 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/1998/administrative_units.pdf |publisher = Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}} Includes Talagang and Lawa tehsils which have since become a separate district.}}

As of the 2023 census, residual Chakwal district has 187,476 households and a population of 1,132,608.{{cite web |title=7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 20 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/punjab/dcr/table_20.pdf |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}} The district has a sex ratio of 99.23 males to 100 females{{cite web |title=7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_1_punjab_districts.pdf |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}} and a literacy rate of 77.79%: 86.12% for males and 69.52% for females and stands out as 5th highest literate district in Punjab and 11th in Pakistan. As per census 2023, the district has 60,787 out of school children (OOSC).{{Cite web |last=Pakistan |first=Bureau of Statistics |date=2024 |title=TABLE 12 : LITERACY RATE, ENROLMENT AND OUT OF SCHOOL POPULATION BY SEX AND RURAL/URBAN, CENSUS-2023 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_12_punjab_districts.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/20250110000000/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/digital-census/detailed-results |archive-date=January 10, 2025 |access-date=January 10, 2025 |website=pbs.gov.pk}} 266,804 (23.62% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age.{{cite web |title=7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 5 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/punjab/dcr/table_5.pdf |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics |publisher=}} 334,755 (29.56%) live in urban areas. All over Pakistan, the district Chakwal has least (9%) OOSC with highest NER in Matric (49%) and highest GER in Matric (95%){{Cite book |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/pslm/publications/pslm_district_2019-20/Key_Finding_Report_of_PSLM_District_Level_Survey_2019-20.pdf |title=Key Finding Report of PSLM District Level Survey 2019-20}}

Muslims formed the overwhelming majority at 1,722,147 (99.37%) while 0.63% of the population were from religious minorities, mainly Christians, who mostly live in Chakwal town.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-25 |title=7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 9 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_9_punjab_districts.pdf |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}}

{{bar box

|title=Religion in Chakwal district (2023)

|titlebar=#Fcd116

|left1=Religion

|right1=Percent

|bars=

{{bar percent|Islam|green|99.37}}

{{bar percent|Christianity|dodgerblue|0.55}}

{{bar percent|Other or not stated|black|0.08}}

|float=right

}}

{{Pie chart

|caption = Languages of Chakwal district (2023)

|label1 = Punjabi |value1 = 89.93 |color1 = red

|label2 = Pashto |value2 = 7.01 |color2 = lightgreen

|label3 = Urdu |value3 = 2.15 |color3 = green

|label4 = Others |value4 = 0.91 |color4 = grey

|thumb = left

}}

At the time of the 2023 census, 89.93% of the population spoke Punjabi, 7.01% Pashto and 2.15% Urdu as their first language.{{cite web |title=7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/table_11_punjab_districts.pdf |website=www.pbscensus.gov.pk |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}}

The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.{{cite book|last1=Masica|first1=Colon P.|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|date=9 September 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521299446|page=19}}{{Cite book| last1 = Rensch| first1 = Calvin R.| editor-last1 = O'Leary| editor-first1 = Clare F.| editor-last2 = Rensch| editor-first2 = Calvin R.| editor-last3 = Hallberg| editor-first3 = Calinda E.| date = 1992| title = Hindko and Gujari| chapter = The Language Environment of Hindko-Speaking People| isbn = 969-8023-13-5| publisher = National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics| location = Islamabad| series = Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan| url = http://www.sil.org/resources/archives/38573| page = 7}}

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.{{cite web |title=Statistics for District Chakwal, Punjab Annual Schools Census Data 2023-24 |url=https://pesrp.edu.pk/annual-school-census/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822155933/http://schoolportal.punjab.gov.pk/schoolInfoNew.asp?distId=374--Chakwal |archive-date=22 August 2016 |access-date=27 January 2023 |website=School Education Department, Punjab Government website}}

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

• 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 {{post-nominals|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.

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

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

{{Div col end}}

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

• {{citation |author1=University of Engineering and Technology. Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering|author2=Pakistan Science Foundation|title=National Seminar on Land and Water Resources Development of Barani Areas, [July 21-24, 1979]|date=1979 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin|isbn=978-01-9023-806-3|ref={{sfnref|Pakistan Science Foundation|1979}}}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.chakwal.gov.pk/about/About%20District.html |title=Official Website of Chakwal District|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703134421/http://www.chakwal.gov.pk/about/About%20District.html |archive-date=3 July 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=27 January 2023}}

{{Wikivoyage|Punjab (Pakistan)}}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Chakwal district

|North = Rawalpindi District

|Northeast =

|East = Jhelum District

|Southeast =

|South = Jhelum District

|Southwest = Khushab District

|West = Talagang District

|Northwest = Attock District

}}

{{Chakwal-Union-Councils}}

{{Districts of Punjab (Pakistan)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Districts of Punjab, Pakistan

Category:1985 establishments in Pakistan