Wazirabad

For other places called Wazirabad, see Wazirabad (disambiguation).

Wazirabad
City
Tomb of Mulana Zafar Ali Khan
Wazirabad Location in Pakistan
Coordinates:
Country	Pakistan
Region	Punjab
District	Gujranwala District
Tehsil	Wazirabad Tehsil
Union councils	5
Municipal status	1867
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC+6)

Wazirabad (Urdu: وزِيرآباد‎), 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 near a village Chanawan where the picturesque Nala Palkhu, a snow stream from the Himalayas joins to this big river.

History

Wazirabad, literally the city of the Wazir, 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. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikhs, who were natives of Punjab formed a secular empire and took charge of Wazirabad.

The town was first take over by Charat Singh around 1760 together with other towns in the District. 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.

British rule

During British rule 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.

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 of 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.

Independence

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 Muslim refugees from India settled in the Wazirabad.

Notable people

• Amir Abdur Rehman Cheema: Convicted criminal.
• Ata ul Haq Qasmi: Columnist.
• Atif Aslam: Singer.
• Double Shah
• Shaista Nuzhat: Poet, Writer, Columnist & Bureaucrat.
• Hamid Nasir Chattha: Former speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan.
• Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema: Member of National Assembly of Pakistan.
• Jawwad S. Khawaja: Chief Justice of Pakistan.
• Krishan Chander: Writer
• Madiha Shah: Actress
• Mazhar ul Islam: Writer
• Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi: Muslim theologian, Orator and revivalist leader.
• Muhammad Rafiq Tarar: President of Pakistan
• Munnu Bhai: Writer
• Razia Butt: Writer
• S. A. Rahman: 5th Chief Justice of Pakistan
• Zafar Ali Khan: Writer, poet, translator and journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement against the British Raj.