Fazilkaਫਾਜ਼ਿਲਕਾ

History

Fazilka district was created in 2011, carved out of Firozpur, and sits at Punjab's southwestern edge where the Sutlej bends toward Pakistan. The border runs along much of its western side, and the district's villages have lived with the fence, the border lights and the stories of 1947 and 1971 for generations.

The town of Fazilka was founded in the nineteenth century and grew as a trading post on the edge of the princely state of Bahawalpur. After Partition it became a border town overnight, its old trade routes cut, and it rebuilt itself around agriculture and the grain trade.

Kinnow country

The district's pride is Abohar, the largest town in the district and the centre of Punjab's citrus belt. Abohar's kinnow orchards produce a large share of India's kinnow crop, and in winter the town's fruit markets send truckloads across the country. The surrounding plain grows cotton, wheat and paddy alongside the orchards.

At Asafwala, near Fazilka town, stands the war memorial to the soldiers who fell in the 1971 war, when this sector saw heavy fighting. The memorial's eternal flame is a stop for school groups and travellers through the border belt.

Towns and villages

The district's main towns are Fazilka, Abohar and Jalalabad, each a mandi town for its surrounding villages. Village-level pages for Fazilka district are being added to the Kosh.