Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur بہاولپور
City
Bahawalpur Location in Pakistan
Coordinates:
Country	Pakistan
Region	Punjab
District	Bahawalpur
Tehsil	Bahawalpur
Union councils	36
Area
• Total	237.2 km2 (91.6 sq mi)
Elevation	461 m (1,512 ft)
Population (1998)
• Total	408,395
Time zone	PKT (UTC+5)
Postal code type	63100
Area code(s)	062
Website	www.bahawalpur.gov.pk/
Bahawalpur Government Website

Bahawalpur (Punjabi, Urdu: بہاولپور‎), is a city in Pakistan. The city is capital of the Bahawalpur District and is the 13th most populous metropolitan area of Pakistan.

History

Main article: Bahawalpur (princely state)

Abbasi Mosque

Farid Gate Bahawalpur

The princely state of Bahawalpur was founded in 1802 by Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan II after the break-up of the Durrani Empire. The city is over 4.51 kilometres long. Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan III signed a treaty with the British on 22 February 1833, guaranteeing the independence of the Nawab. The state acceded to Pakistan on 7 October 1947 when Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V Bahadur decided to join Pakistan at the time of 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 Muslims refugees from India settled down in the Bahawalpur state. Bahawalpur became a province of Pakistan in 1952 and was merged into the province of West Pakistan on 14 October 1955. When West Pakistan was divided into four provinces — Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab — Bahawalpur was amalgamated in Punjab.

Economy

Irrigation from canals such as this provides the city with fertile soil for crop production.

Farid Gate square

The main crops for which Bahawalpur is recognised are cotton, sugarcane, wheat, sunflower seeds, rape/mustard seed and rice. Bahawalpur mangoes, citrus, dates and guavas are some of the fruits exported out of the country. Vegetables include onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. Being an expanding industrial city, the government has revolutionised and libertised various markets, allowing the caustic soda, cotton ginning and pressing, flour mills, fruit juices, general engineering, iron and steel re-rolling mills, looms, oil mills, poultry feed, sugar, textile spinning, textile weaving, vegetable ghee and cooking oil industries to flourish.

Solar Park

Near the city the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park is being erected, a photovoltaic power station named after Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan. It is the first ever utility scale solar power plant in the country and is to have a capacity of 1,000 MW when finished in 2016. A first phase was brought online in April 2015 and opened by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

Education

Public schools

Bahawalpur Central Library

Sadiq Dane High School

• Sadiq Public School

Private schools

• Army Public School
• Beaconhouse School Bahawalpur
• Jinnah Public School
• The City School

Colleges and universities

Bahawalpur is home to The Islamia University of Bahawalpur and Quaid-e-Azam Medical College.

Sports

Bahawal Stadium is the multipurpose stadium, home to domestic cricket team Bahawalpur Stags. It hosted an only Test match against India in 1955.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Bahawalpur

Gallery

• 

  Derawar Fort is on the outskirts of the city in the Cholistan Desert

• 

  Noor Mahal lit at night after being newly renovated

• 

  Darbar Mahal, a former palace of the Nawabs of Bahawalpur

• 

  Daewoo Terminal, Bahawalpur

• 

  Farid Gate, Bahawalpur

• 

  Noor Mahal

• 

  Sadiq Dane High School, Bahawalpur

• 

  Entrance of Dring Stadium

• 

  Bahawal Victoria Hospital

• 

  Sheikh Rashid Air Terminal, Bahawalpur Airport

• 

  Farid Gate

See also

• Bahawalpur Museum
• Bahawalpur Zoo
• Derawar Fort
• Kakazai
• Noor Mahal

External links

• Official website
• Bahawalpur travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Bahawalpur at DMOZ