Chakwal District


Chakwal District is in Pothohar Plateau of Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the north of the Punjab province, Chakwal district is bordered by Khushab to its south, Rawalpindi to its north east, Jhelum to its east, Mianwali to its west and Attock to its north west. 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 while the Muslims refugees from India settled down in the Chakwal District.
The boundaries and area of the tehsil were described by the Imperial Gazetteer of India as follows: the tehsil "lies between 28° 45' and 30°05' N. and 72°32' and 73° 13' E., with an area of 1,004 square miles".

Administrative divisions

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km², is subdivided into five tehsils. These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts:
The district is administratively subdivided into five tehsils and 68 union councils.
Name of tehsilNo. of union councilsNo. of villagesNo. of public schoolsNo. of police stationsNo. of post offices
Chakwal30207523548
Kallar Kahar872148115
Choa Saidan Shah74796114
Talagang1776318330
Lawa618119111
Total68420120411118

Constituencies

There is one district council, two municipal committees — Chakwal and Talagang — 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:
ConstituencyMPAParty
Raja Yasir Hamayun SarfarazPakistan Tehreek Insaf
Tanveer Aslam MalikPakistan Muslim League
Sardar Aftab KhanPakistan Tehreek Insaf
Ammar YasirPakistan Muslim League
Sardar Zulfiqar Ali KhanPakistan Tehreek Insaf
Choudari Perwaiz IlahiPakistan Muslim League

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.
The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range, and includes the Chail peak, 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 at the foot of the hills to in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.

Demography

According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, the total population is 1,083,725 of which only 12.01% were urban — making Chakwal the most rural district in Punjab. The literacy rate in 1998 was %.
According to the 1998 census, the predominant first language of the district is Punjabi, spoken by 97.7% of the population. Pashto is the first language of 1.2%, and Urdu – of 0.9%.
The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.

Education

Chakwal has a total of 1,199 government schools out of which 52 percent are for female students. The district has an enrollment of 181,574 in public sector schools.

Educational institutions

Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include: