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.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Economy
2.1 Solar Park
3 Education
3.1 Public schools
3.2 Private schools
3.3 Colleges and universities
4 Sports
5 Notable people
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History[edit]
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[5] 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[edit]
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.[6]
Solar Park[edit]
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.[7][8]
Education[edit]
Public schools[edit]
Bahawalpur Central Library
Sadiq Dane High School
Sadiq Public School
Private schools[edit]
Army Public School
Beaconhouse School Bahawalpur
Jinnah Public School
The City School
Colleges and universities[edit]
Bahawalpur is home to The Islamia University of Bahawalpur and Quaid-e-Azam Medical College.
Sports[edit]
Bahawal Stadium is the multipurpose stadium, home to domestic cricket team Bahawalpur Stags. It hosted an only Test match against India in 1955.
