Mianwaliਮੀਆਂਵਾਲੀ

Mianwali is a city in northern Punjab, Pakistan, with 129,500 people (2023 census). Named the Land of the Mian after a 16th-century Sufi saint and sitting east of the Indus, it is a garrison and farming town known for Namal Lake, the Chashma nuclear and hydel complex, and the famous sportsmen and singers it has produced.

Where is Mianwali?

Mianwali stands in the northwest of Punjab, Pakistan, at 32.59° N, 71.54° E, just east of the Indus River. It is the capital of Mianwali District in Sargodha Division, 210 metres above sea level. To its southwest lies Chashma Lake and to its northeast Namal Lake, and the Thal Canal irrigates its farmland.

History: the Land of the Mian

The name Mianwali means the Land of the Mian. Local tradition says a Sufi saint of the Qadiriyya order, Shaikh Mian Ali, who migrated from Baghdad, settled a hamlet on the eastern bank of the Indus in the 16th century. The town was first known as Kachchi, and gradually the saint's name became the town's name.

The municipality of Mianwali was created in 1875 under British rule. The British made the town the tehsil headquarters of Bannu District, and in 1901, when the North-West Frontier Province was created, Mianwali became the headquarters of its own new district. The 1901 census of India counted 3,591 people in the town, rising to 31,398 by 1961.

Geography and people

The city sits between the Indus River and the Salt Range, on the edge of the Thal Desert. Chashma Lake to the southwest holds the Chashma Barrage and its 184 MW power station, while Namal Lake to the northeast is a popular picnic spot. Mianwali is the only district in Pakistan with two barrages: Chashma and Jinnah.

The 2023 census counted 129,500 people in the city. Saraiki is the first language of 86.9 percent of residents, Punjabi of 5.1 percent, Pashto of 3.9 percent and Urdu of 3.8 percent. The Niazis and Awans are the two dominant tribes of the district.

A garrison town: air base and nuclear power

PAF Base M. M. Alam at Mianwali, named after the Pakistan Air Force ace Muhammad Mahmood Alam, serves as the force's fighter converter base. It began as a Second World War airstrip, was upgraded during the 1965 war and became a permanent operational airbase in 1974.

Nearby, the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant, a commercial nuclear complex built with Chinese cooperation, joined the national grid in 2000 and now runs four reactors, with a fifth planned.

Places of interest

Namal Lake, about 30 km from the city on the Talagang Mianwali Road, draws day-trippers with its mountain views, and the private Namal University stands nearby on its shore. The Chashma Barrage, about 15 km away near Kundian, is the district's most famous visiting point. Kalabagh, 35 km away, is known for the Salt Range, Sakesar Hills, the Jinnah Barrage and the historic Kalabagh railway bridge over the Indus.

Notable people

Mianwali is famous as the home district of Imran Khan, the former cricket captain and prime minister; folk singer Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, named for the town of Isa Khel; cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq; the Nawab of Kalabagh, Malik Amir Mohammad Khan, a former governor of West Pakistan; poet Jagan Nath Azad; and film composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar.

Today

The city remains a market town for the surrounding farms, with the railway station on the line that runs through the district and road links to Sargodha, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Namal University, which gained degree-awarding status in 2019 after beginning as an affiliate of the University of Bradford, is turning the lake-side campus into an education city.