Sahiwal guide

The history of Sahiwal

From 5,000-year-old Harappa to a railway village called Montgomery, and on to a busy divisional capital: the story of a city that grew up beside the Ravi.

Harappa first settled: ~3300 BCE
Modern city founded as Montgomery: 1865
Renamed Sahiwal: 1966–67
City population (2023 census): 538,344

c. 3300 – 1300 BCE
Harappa and the Indus Valley
About 24 km west of today’s city lies Harappa, one of the great cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the site that gave the whole civilisation its name. At its height it covered about 150 hectares and may have been home to some 23,500 people, with planned streets, drains and standard weights.
The granary and Great Hall on Mound F at Harappa · Photo: Muhammad Bin Naveed, CC BY-SA 3.0
- c. 3300 BCE
  First settlement at Harappa (the “Ravi” phase).
- c. 2600–1900 BCE
  Mature Harappan period: the city is at its largest.
- c. 1300 BCE
  The city is finally abandoned.
- 1850s
  Railway builders carry away Harappa’s ancient bricks as track ballast, damaging the mounds.
- 1926
  A small site museum opens at Harappa; the present Harappa Museum building opens on 26 March 1967.
- 2004
  Harappa is added to UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites.
Ancient times – 1840s
Kingdoms, saints and the Sikh Empire
Over the centuries the land between the Ravi and the Sutlej was ruled by the Maurya, Indo-Greek, Kushan and Gupta empires, later by the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals, and finally by the Sikh Empire. In the 13th century the Sufi saint Baba Farid settled at nearby Pakpattan, and his shrine still draws pilgrims from across the region.
The shrine of Baba Farid in Pakpattan · Photo: Sunni Person, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 13th century
  Baba Farid (Fariduddin Ganjshakar) makes Pakpattan, then called Ajodhan, his home.
- 1766
  At Malka Hans near Pakpattan, Waris Shah completes his Punjabi epic “Heer”.
- Early 1800s
  After Mughal decline, the area becomes part of the Sikh Empire.
1847 – 1947
Montgomery: the British era
The British took over the Punjab in 1849. The district’s headquarters moved from Pakpattan to Gogera, and the area became a centre of resistance in 1857. When the railway arrived in 1865, a small village on the line was named Montgomery, after Sir Robert Montgomery, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, and made the district capital. Canals later turned the dry bar into rich farmland.
Sahiwal railway station · Photo: Torbenbrinker, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 1849
  Direct British rule begins; the district is first run from Pakpattan.
- 1852
  Headquarters move to Gogera.
- 1857
  Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal leads the local rising against British rule. He is killed on 21 September 1857; accounts differ on exactly where. Chichawatni is besieged and Kamalia sacked.
- 1865
  A railway station is built at a small village, named Montgomery, which replaces Gogera as district capital.
- 1867
  Montgomery becomes a municipality.
- 1914
  Work begins on the Lower Bari Doab Canal, which still irrigates the region.
1947 – 1970s
A new country, a new name
At Partition the Boundary Commission gave Montgomery to Pakistan. Hindu and Sikh families left for India and refugees from India settled here. In 1966–67 the city and district took the name Sahiwal; local tradition links the name to the Sahi clan of the area.
- 1947
  Montgomery becomes part of Pakistan.
- 1951–55
  Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, jailed in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, spends part of his imprisonment in Montgomery Jail; 35 of his letters to his wife are written from here.
- 1955
  Sahiwal Stadium (now Zafar Ali Stadium) opens.
- 1966–67
  Montgomery is renamed Sahiwal (sources give 1966 or 1967).
- 1977–78
  Zafar Ali Stadium hosts two one-day internationals: Pakistan v England (23 Dec 1977) and Pakistan v India (3 Nov 1978).
2000s – today
Sahiwal today
Sahiwal is now the capital of a division, a growing university town and a power hub. Its farms grow wheat, cotton, potatoes and oilseeds, and the famous Sahiwal dairy cattle, named after the area, are bred around the world.
- 2008
  Sahiwal Division is created, with Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan districts.
- 2017
  The 1,320 MW Sahiwal coal power plant, an early CPEC project, starts feeding the national grid (first unit in May 2017).
- 2023
  Census: 538,344 people in the city and 2,881,811 in the district.

People of Sahiwal

Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal

† 1857 · Leader of the 1857 rising in the Ravi region

Led the Kharal and allied clans against British rule; remembered across Punjab as a freedom fighter. His tomb is at Jhamra.

Majeed Amjad

1914 – 1974 · Poet, a pioneer of modern Urdu verse

Born in Jhang, he lived in Sahiwal for about 30 years and died here in 1974.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

1911 – 1984 · Poet

Held for part of 1951–55 in Montgomery Jail, where a ward now carries his name.

Tariq Aziz

1936 – 2020 · Broadcaster, host of “Neelam Ghar”

Grew up in Sahiwal after Partition and studied at Government College Sahiwal.

Mushtaq Ahmed

b. 1970 · Cricketer, leg-spinner

Born in Sahiwal; part of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning team, with 185 Test wickets.

See the history for yourself

The ruins of Harappa, Baba Farid’s shrine at Pakpattan, and the city’s parks and monuments, with maps and directions.

Places to visit

Sources

Written from the sources below. Spotted a mistake? Let us know. info@pakbusinessdirectory.com