Mianwali
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The Mianwali District is a district located in the Mianwali division of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It has borders with the Chakwal, Attock, Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar, and Khushab districts.
Geography
editThe City of Mianwali is located in northeast region of the Punjab. The city is located near to the Chashma Lake to southwest and Namal Lake to its northeast. The Chashma Lake is home to the Chashma Barrage, that houses a 184 MW power station. The Chashma lake also houses one of the two nuclear power facilities in Pakistan, the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant.
The city has an airport built near the old World War II aerodrome and known as M.M. Alam Base Mianwali. It is one of the major operational and training air bases of the country. The No. 1 Fighter Conversion Unit of the PAF is stationed here. The notable locations in the vicinity of the city include Chashma Nuclear Power Plant. The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (or CHASNUPP), is a large commercial nuclear power plant located in the vicinities of Chashma Colony in Mianwali District. Officially known as Chashma Nuclear Power Complex, the nuclear power plant is generating energy for industrial usage with four nuclear reactors with one being in planning phase in cooperation with China, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Department of Energy of the United States. Established in 2000, the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant became operational when it joined the national grid system with China National Nuclear Corporation overseeing the grid connections of the power plant.
The Namal Institute is a private university about 20 minutes’ drive from the City of Mianwali. The institute is located on 30 km, Talagang Mianwali Road near Namal Lake. Initially it was established as an affiliated college of the University of Bradford, UK. Later in 2019, Namal College acquired a DAI (Degree Awarding Institute) status and thus became Namal Institute. There are further plans to turn the small campus into an education city, construction is already underway.
Demographics
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Mianwali City has an urban population of 220,010, accounting for only about 20.82% of Mianwali District's Population. The rest of 79.18% of the rural population is spread around the district in small villages called Mauza’s. The average household size comes about to 7.1, that means on average 7 people live in one house. This is in line with joint family culture prominent in northwest regions of Pakistan. Mianwali has a literacy ratio of about 42.8%, considerably less than other urban cities in Punjab. As for male to female ratio, male inhabitants count for 63.8% of population and female inhabitants account for the remaining 22.2%. This number may somewhat vary due to Parda culture as census teams might have not been able to accurately access the number of females in each house.
Natural Resources
edit| Crops | Fruits | Vegetables |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat | Mango | Potato |
| Rice | Orange | Garlic |
| Sugercane | Guava | Tomato |
| Cotton | Onion |
Important Places
editNamal Lake
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Namal Lake is located near Rikhi, a village on one corner of the Namal valley in Mianwali District, Punjab, Pakistan. It was formed following the construction of Namal Dam in 1913. Namal Dam is situated some 32 km from Mianwali City. The lake has a surface area of 5.5 km². There are mountains on its western and southern sides. On the other two sides are agricultural areas.
Chashma Barrage
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Chashma Barrage is located in Mianwali District near Kundian, Punjab, Pakistan. It is situated at the left bank of the river Indus, in close proximity of the Koh-e-Suleman mountain range. Chashma is famous for the well-known Chashma Barrage built on the Indus River. Chashma Nuclear Power Plant of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is also nearby with two units of 300 MW CHASHNUPP-1 and CHASHNUPP-2 and two 325 MW CHASHNUPP-3 and CHASHNUPP-4. It is located close to the Koh-e-Suleman range.
Kalabagh
editKalabagh is a town and union council of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Isa Khel Tehsil. It is located on the western bank of Indus River. It was the seat of the Nawab of Kalabagh, who lived in the fort known locally as Qila Nawab Sahib. Kalabagh is known for its red hills of the salt range and the scenic view of the Indus traversing through the hills. It also produces handicrafts, especially footwear and Makhandi Halwa. Kalabagh is also the main town of Mianwali District which has a market of all the needs for life.
The Kalabagh Dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Indus River at Kalabagh which has been intensely debated along ethnic and regional lines for over 40 years. If constructed, the dam could generate 3600 MW of electricity. It is also suggested and promoted as a potential solution to the chronic flooding problem and the related water crises in the country. Over the decades, the understanding of the environmental impacts of mega dam projects have grown, and Pakistan Economy Watch has demanded a national debate on the Kalabagh Dam.[1]
Important Personalities
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Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi
editImran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born October 05, 1952) is a cricketer turned politician who sworn in as 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018. He is also the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Before entering politics, Khan was an international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan National Cricket Team, which he led to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He was Chancellor of the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2014.
Khan was born to a Pashtun family in Lahore in 1952, and graduated from Keble College, Oxford in 1975. He began his international cricket career at age 18, in 1971 Test Series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team's captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992, and won the Cricket World Cup, in what is Pakistan's first and only victory in the competition. Considered one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, Khan registered 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test Cricket and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
In 1991, he launched a fundraising campaign to set up a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. He raised $25 million to set up a hospital in Lahore in 1994, and set up a second hospital in Peshawar in 2015. Khan then continued his philanthropic efforts, expanding the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital to also include a research center, and founded Namal College in 2008. Khan also served as the Chancellor of the University of Bradford between 2005 and 2014, and was the recipient of an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians in 2012.
Khan founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996, and serves as the party's chairman. By winning a seat in the National Assembly in 2002, he served as an opposition member from Mianwali until 2007. PTI boycotted the 2008 general election. In the subsequent election PTI became the second-largest party by popular vote. In regional politics, PTI led a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2013, with Khan delegating this leadership to Mahmood Khan.
Maulana Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi
editHe was born on October 01, 1915 at Isa Khel in Mianwali District, Punjab, British India. After his school education, he gained religious education in Lahore. He obtained his Master's degree from Islamia College, Lahore in 1940, and later became its Dean of Islamic Studies. He held that post until 1947, after which he joined active politics.
Niazi vigorously participated in the political struggle for the creation of Pakistan and the Pakistan Movement, and became the President of the Punjab Muslim Students Federation in 1938. He then served in the position of the President of the Provincial (Punjab) Muslim League until the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He was considered among the trusted companions of both Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He was arrested for a short period along with Abul Ala Maududi by the Pakistan Army for purportedly inciting the Lahore Riots of 1953 against the Ahmadiyya. Both Maulana Maududi and Maulana Abdul Sattar Niazi were then sentenced to death by a military court but later released.
Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi
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Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi also known as ‘Lala’ (meaning "elder brother" in Pashto and Punjabi), is a Pakistani musician from Isa Khel, Mianwali, Punjab. This Mianwali-born vocalist with his swashbuckler moustache, kameez shalwar and shawl on one shoulder became the poster boy for traditional Pakistani music. He is considered as one of the most formidable classical folk singers to have emerged from South Asia.
The Government of Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2019 and he also got the Pride of Performance Award in 1991.
In 2011, he appeared in Coke Studio (Season 4) and sang 3 songs including ‘Ni Oothaan Waale’, and ‘Pyaar Naal’. In September 2017, he appeared in Coke Studio (Season 10) second time and sang ‘Sab Maya’ with his traditional loving sound.
