Bahawalpurਬਹਾਵਲਪੁਰ

Where is Bahawalpur?

Bahawalpur stands in southern Punjab, Pakistan, at about 29.40 degrees north and 71.68 degrees east, at the edge of the Cholistan Desert. It is the capital of Bahawalpur Division and serves as the gateway to the nearby Lal Suhanra National Park. With 903,795 residents in the 2023 census, it is the 13th most populous city of Pakistan and the 8th of Punjab. The Sutlej river flows nearby, and the desert sands of Cholistan begin just beyond its streets.

History: the Nawabi state

Bahawalpur was established in 1748 by Nawab Bahawal Khan I, who had migrated to the region around Uch from Shikarpur in Sindh with the Daudpotra family, and it replaced Derawar as the clan's capital. The city first flourished as a trading post on the routes between Afghanistan and central India. The princely state of Bahawalpur itself was founded in 1802 by Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan II after the break-up of the Durrani Empire.

In 1807 Ranjit Singh's siege of Multan drove refugees to seek safety in Bahawalpur, and fearing invasion from the Sikh Empire, Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan III signed a treaty with the British on 22 February 1833, guaranteeing the independence of the Nawab and the autonomy of the princely state. A succession crisis in 1866 increased British influence, but the Nawabs kept building. Bahawalpur was constituted as a municipality in 1874.

When British rule ended in 1947, the city and the princely state acceded to Pakistan on 7 October 1947 under Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V, the last Nawab. The state was merged into West Pakistan in 1955, ending two centuries of Nawabi rule. Trade had once made the city rich: in the late 19th century Bahawalpur was known as a centre for silk goods, lungis and cotton goods, and its silk was noted to be of higher quality than the silk works of Benares or Amritsar.

Palaces and monuments

The Nawabs left a rich architectural legacy, and Bahawalpur is known as the City of Palaces. The Noor Mahal was the seat of the ruling Nawabs, an Italian-style palace whose domes and colonnades still dominate postcards of the city. Darbar Mahal was built by Nawab Bahawal Khan V in 1905 as a palace for his wife, and the Gulzar Mahal, the Sadiq Mosque and the Fareed Gate complete the royal quarter. The city's central library dates from the princely state period.

Beyond the city, the ruling Abbasi family regarded the nearby Derawar Fort as the traditional bastion of their power, its massive walls rising from the Cholistan sands. The region also holds ancient Buddhist sites such as Patan minara, and ruins from the Indus Valley Civilisation, while the old shrine city of Uch Sharif, once the great metropolis of Cholistan, lies nearby.

Geography and people

Bahawalpur is a dry city, with a semi-arid climate and little rain, but alluvial plains around it grow cotton, sugarcane, wheat, rice and mangoes, and the district's mangoes, citrus, dates and guavas are exported. The Lal Suhanra National Park, one of the largest national parks in South Asia, protects blackbuck, hog deer and desert wildlife on the city's doorstep.

Saraiki is the mother tongue of 59.49% of the city, followed by Punjabi at 20.68% and Urdu at 16.89%, according to the 2023 census. Bahawalpur emerged as a centre of Chishti Sufism after a khanqa was established here in the mid-18th century, and its shrines keep that tradition alive.

Notable people

Nawab Bahawal Khan I founded the city in 1748 after moving his clan from Sindh, and the Nawabs of his line ruled for two centuries. Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V, the last Nawab of Bahawalpur, took the historic decision to accede to Pakistan in October 1947.

Getting there

Bahawalpur has its own airport, and the city is a major stop on the rail and road routes of southern Punjab, connected to Multan, Lahore and Karachi. Most visitors come for the palaces and for Derawar Fort and the Cholistan Desert beyond.

Bahawalpur today

Bahawalpur is an expanding industrial and commercial city, with cotton ginning, flour mills, textile spinning and sugar industries alongside its bazaars. It is famous for its carpets, embroidery and pottery, and the Punjab government's Craft Development Centre sells the handicrafts of the Cholistan area, from camel-hair Flassi rugs to delicate Gindi needlework. Tourism is growing around the palaces, Derawar Fort and Lal Suhanra National Park.