Gujrat, Pakistan
Gujrat, is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is the capital of Gujrat District and the 18th largest city of Pakistan. Along with the nearby cities of Sialkot and Gujranwala, Gujrat forms part of the so-called Golden Triangle of industrial cities with export-oriented economies.
History
The area around Gujrat was settled during the Sher Shah Suri period, immediately prior to Mughal rule. The area was named Khwaspur, in honur of Suri’s Governor of Rohtas, Khwas Khan. Local traditions state that Gujrat is the second town to be built in the area, with the first having been destroyed by Mongol invasions in 1303.
The city was further developed during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, who built the Gujrat Fort in 1580, and compelled local Gujjars to settle in the city in 1596-97. The city was then named in reference to the Gujjar tribes. In 1605, the city Syed Abdul Kasim was granted the city as a fief by Akbar.
During the reign of Emperor Jahangir, Gujrat was part of the route used by Mughal royals when visiting Kashmir. Gujrat’s most famous saint, Shah Daula, is credited with having saved Gujrat from the wrath of Sikh Guru Hargobind when he stayed in the city upon his return from Kashmir in 1620. During the Mughal era, Gujrat was encircled by a wall with 5 gates, of which only the Shah Daula gate survives.
Following the decline of the Mughal Empire after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the region’s security situation declined. Gujrat was sacked by Afsharid Persian Emperor Nader Shah during his invasion of the Mughal Empire. Shortly afterwards in 1741, the city was captured by Gakhar tribes from near the Rawalpindi area. The city further suffered from the invasions of Ahmad Shah Durrani in the mid 1700s.
In 1765, the city was overrun by the Bhangi Sikhs under Sardar Gujjar Singh. The Sikhs defeated an Afghan force in a battle for Gujrat on 29 April 1797. In 1798, the Bhangi leader Sahib Singh pledged allegiance to the Sukerchakia Misl of Ranjit Singh. In 1810, Ranjit Singh’s armies captured the city from Bhangi forces, thereby extending the rule of the Sikh Empire to the city.
Gujrat finally came under British influence in 1849, following the collapse of the Sikh Empire in the wake of the Sikh’s defeat at the Battle of Gujrat on 22 February, which ended the Second Anglo-Sikh War. In 1867, Gujrat was constituted as a municipality.
Geography
Gujrat is an ancient city of Pakistan located between two famous rivers, Jhelum River and Chenab River. It is bounded to the northeast by Jammu and Kashmir, to the northwest by the Jhelum River, to the east and southeast by the Chenab River, separating it from the districts of Gujranwala and Sialkot; and to the west by Mandi Bahauddin District. Gujrat consists of three Tehsils which are Sarai Alamgir, Kharian and Gujrat.