Gujratਗੁਜਰਾਤ

Where is Gujrat?

Gujrat stands on the western bank of the Chenab River in northern Punjab, Pakistan, at about 32.57 degrees north and 74.08 degrees east. The city lies between the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers, bounded by Azad Kashmir in the northeast and Mandi Bahauddin in the west. It is the headquarters of its district and division, and became the divisional capital in 2022. With 574,240 residents in the 2023 census, it is the 11th largest city of Punjab and the 16th of Pakistan. The district is divided into three tehsils: Sarai Alamgir, Kharian and Gujrat.

History: an ancient river city

Gujrat is a place of antiquity. The district formed part of the kingdom of Porus, who fought Alexander at the Battle of Hydaspes in May 326 BCE on the Jhelum. The city was known and inhabited during the early 16th century, and it developed under the Mughal emperor Akbar in the latter half of the 16th century, who built the Gujrat Fort and allowed Gujars, for whom the city is named, to settle there. During Jahangir's reign the city lay on the Mughal route to Kashmir, and in the Mughal era it was ringed by a wall with five gates, of which only the Shah Daula gate survives.

The Sikhs took Gujrat in 1765, and by 1810 Ranjit Singh's armies had brought it into the Sikh Empire. The city finally came under British control in 1849 after the Sikh defeat at the Battle of Gujrat on 22 February, which ended the Second Anglo-Sikh War and led to the annexation of Punjab. In 1867 Gujrat was constituted as a municipality. The British-era Alexandra Bridge still spans the Chenab here.

The Golden Triangle

Gujrat has an industrial and export-oriented economy, and with Sialkot and Gujranwala it forms the Golden Triangle of Punjab. Its clay has been famous for generations, and the locals have long used it to make quality pottery. The city is known for its carved furniture, which graces provincial and national assemblies, and over the last decade it has gained a name for shoe manufacturing and the export of electric fans, as well as for rice.

The fan industry was started in Gujrat before the partition of India by Muhammad Azam, who founded S.A. Fans in 1944 after learning fan manufacturing in Amritsar. After partition the industry grew rapidly: today some 300 to 350 units make fans and their components in Gujrat, employing about 40,000 people directly and 150,000 indirectly, and exporting to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

Sohni Mahiwal

Gujrat is also known as the setting of the classical Punjabi folktale of Sohni Mahiwal, the tragic love of Sohni, the potter's daughter, and Mahiwal, who swam the Chenab to meet her. The river that flows past the city is the stage of the legend, and the tale remains an essential part of Punjabi culture.

Places of interest

The historic Gujrat Fort, built by Akbar, stands in the city, and the Shah Daula gate is the last survivor of its Mughal walls. The shrine of Shah Daula, a Sufi mystic, is a noted Muslim shrine, and the Darbar Mohri Sharif, the Chal-e-Sharif tomb and the Eid Gah are other landmarks. The Chenab riverfront, crossed by the Alexandra Bridge, is the city's natural gathering place.

Notable people

Fazal Elahi Chaudhry, the 5th President of Pakistan (1973 to 1978), was born in Kharian in Gujrat district. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a former prime minister of Pakistan, and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a former deputy prime minister and chief minister of Punjab, are the city's best-known modern politicians, along with the former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, who was born in Lalamusa.

Getting there and Gujrat today

Gujrat railway station sits on the Karachi-Peshawar main line, the busiest rail corridor of Pakistan Railways. The Grand Trunk Road runs through the city, linking it to Lahore in the southeast and to Rawalpindi and Islamabad in the northwest. The city is well served by intercity buses.

Gujrat is overwhelmingly Punjabi speaking, with Punjabi spoken by 89.5% of the city, Urdu by 6.2% and Pashto by 3.3% in the 2023 census. The University of Gujrat and Nawaz Sharif Medical College anchor its education scene, and a large overseas community sends back remittances that fuel its growth. Its factories keep the Golden Triangle humming, but its old bazaars, shrines and riverfront keep it a Punjabi city at heart.