Chakwal District is a district, located on the Pothohar Plateau, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern area of the Punjab province, bordered by Talagang to its south; Rawalpindi to its northeast; Jhelum to its east. The district was created out of parts of Jhelum and Attock in 1985.

History

During British rule, Chakwal was a tehsil of Jhelum district, the population according to the 1891 census of India was 164,912 which had fallen to 160,316 in 1901. It contained the towns of Chakwal and Bhaun and 248 villages. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 1903-4 to 3–300,000. 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 and later it was upgraded as a District on 1 July 1985.

Administrative divisions

The district of Chakwal, which covers an area of 6,524 km2, is subdivided into five tehsils. These tehsils were formerly part of neighbouring districts: Now the district is administratively subdivided into Five tehsils and 45 union councils.

Administration

Constituencies

There is one district council, one municipal committees — Chakwal — and two town committees — Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar. The district is represented in the National Assembly by two constituencies: NA-60 and NA-61. The district is represented in the provincial assembly by four elected MPAs and in National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:

Geography

Chakwal district borders the districts of Rawalpindi and Attock in the north, Jhelum in the east, Khushab in the south and Mianwali in the west. The total area of Chakwal district is 6,609 square kilometres, which is equivalent to 1652443 acre. The southern portion runs up into the Salt Range and includes the Chail peak, 3701 ft above the sea, the highest point in the district. Between this and the Sohan river, which follows more or less the northern boundary, the country consists of what was once a fairly level plain, sloping down from 2000 ft at the foot of the hills to 1400 ft in the neighbourhood of the Sohan; the surface is now much cut up by ravines and is very difficult to travel over.

Demographics

At the time of the digital census 2023, Chakwal district had 288,838 households and a population of 1,734,854 with average growth rate 2.51% with respect to Census 2017. Chakwal had a sex ratio of 99.23 female to 100 male and a literacy rate of 77.79% - 86.12% for males and 69.52% for females. 434,805 (25.06%) lived in urban areas. 398,401 (22.96%) were under 10 years of age. Muslims formed the overwhelming majority at 1,722,147 (99.45%) while 9,542 (0.55%) were from religious minorities, mainly Christians. At the time of the 2023 census, 92.04% of the population spoke Punjabi, 5.47% Pashto and 1.66% Urdu as their first language. The local Punjabi dialects are Dhani and Awankari.

Education

Chakwal has a total of 1,140 government schools out of which 52.63% (600 schools) are for female students. The district has an enrollment of 181,574 in public sector schools.

Educational institutions

Notable Educational institutions in the Chakwal District include:

Notable people