Place:Punjab, Pakistan

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Punjab is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and it is the most populous Pakistani province.

Forming the bulk of the transnational Punjab region between Pakistan and India, it is bounded locally by Sindh to the south, Balochistan to the west, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the northwest, the Islamabad Capital Territory to the north, and the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the northeast. On its eastern side, it is bounded by the India–Pakistan border, sharing an international boundary with the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east and southeast, respectively, and a disputed boundary with the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the northeast. The province's capital is Lahore—a cultural, historical, economic, and cosmopolitan centre of Pakistan, where the country's cinema industry and much of its fashion industry are based. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, and Sialkot. Punjab is also the world's fifth-most populous subnational entity, and the most populous outside of China and India.

Modern-day Pakistani Punjab has been inhabited since ancient times; the Indus Valley civilization, dating to 3300 BCE, was first discovered at Harappa. It features heavily in the Sanskrit-language Indian epic known as the Mahabharata, and is also home to Taxila, the site of what is considered by many scholars to be the oldest university in the world.^[1][2][3] In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated the ancient Indian king Porus in the Battle of the Hydaspes near Mong. Subsequently, Punjab formed part of the Maurya Empire, the Kushan Empire, and the Gupta Empire. In the 7th century, the region saw its first wave of Arab conquests, which introduced Islam; by the 8th century, the Umayyad Caliphate had largely conquered Punjab. In the subsequent centuries, the region was conquered by various dynasties, including the Hindu Shahis, the Ghaznavids, the Ghurids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, the Afghan Empire, and the Sikh Empire. During the 18th century, an Iranian invasion of Mughal-ruled India under Iranian ruler Nader Shah caused Mughal authority in Punjab to collapse. Later, the region was conquered by the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani; the Afghan Empire eventually lost control of Punjab as a result of the Afghan–Sikh Wars. In 1799, the Sikh Empire was formally established under the rule of Ranjit Singh with its capital based in Lahore, and Punjab remained under Sikh rule until the arrival of the British Empire. The region was central to the independence movements of Pakistan and India, with Lahore being the site of both the Declaration of Indian Independence as well as the Lahore Resolution that called for the establishment of a separate state for Indian Muslims. The modern-day Pakistani province has its roots in the Punjab Province of British India, which was divided along religious boundaries by the Radcliffe Line during the partition of India in 1947.

Punjab is Pakistan's most industrialized province, with the industrial sector comprising 24 percent of the province's gross domestic product. It is known across Pakistan for its relative prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty among all Pakistani provinces. However, a clear divide is present between the northern and southern portions of the province;^[4] with poverty rates in northern Punjab being among the lowest in Pakistan, while some in southern Punjab are among the most impoverished. Punjab is also one of the most urbanized regions of South Asia, with approximately 40 percent of its population being concentrated in urban areas.

It has been strongly influenced by Sufism, with numerous Sufi shrines spread across the province, attracting millions of devotees annually. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the town of Nankana Sahib, near Lahore. Punjab is also the site of the Katas Raj Temples, which feature prominently in Hindu mythology. Several of the World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the archaeological excavations at Taxila, and the Rohtas Fort, among others.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ancient history

The oldest evidence of human life in Punjab has been found in Soan River valley, discovered during the excavations of prehistoric mounds. Tools up to two million years old have been recovered in the Potohar plateau. In the Soan River, many fossil bearing rocks are exposed on the surface.

Punjab was part of the Indus Valley civilization, more than 5000 years old.^[5] The main site in Punjab was the city of Harrapa. The Indus Valley civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan and eventually evolved into the Indo-Aryan civilization. The arrival of the Indo-Aryans led to the flourishing of the Vedic civilization along the length of the Indus River. Punjab during the Mahabharata times was known as Panchanada. This civilization shaped subsequent cultures in South Asia. The Vedic civilization also flourished in the ancient city of Taxila in Gandhara.According to historians, this region was ruled by many small kingdoms and tribes around 4th and 5th BCE. The earliest known notable local king of this region was known as King Porus, who fought the famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great in 326 BCE near the river Jhelum. His kingdom, known as Pauravas, was situated between the river Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and Acesines (modern day Chenab).

Punjab was also part of other empires including the Achaemenids, Macedonians, Mauryans, the Indo-Scythians, Guptas, Kushans, and Hindu Shahis.

Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from the west and witnessed centuries of foreign invasions by the Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks, Arabs and Mughals.

The city of Taxila, founded around 1000 BCE, was reputed to house one of the earliest universities in the world, the Takshashila University. One of its instructors was the Vedic statesman and philosopher Chanakya. Taxila was a major centre of political control, intellectual discourse and trade between the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Maurya Empire. Taxila is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, valued for its archaeological and religious history.

Gandhara civilization (750 BCE–518 BCE)

Gandhāra was an ancient kingdom situated in the northwestern region of Pakistan, in the Peshawar valley and Potohar plateau with its capital at Taxila in modern northwestern Pakistan. Gandhara's existence is attested since the time of the Rigveda, as well as the Zoroastrian Avesta, which mentions it as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda. Gandhara was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, Alexander the Great in 327 BCE, and later became part of the Maurya Empire before being a centre of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The region was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties. Gandhara also a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia. The primary cities of Gandhara were Puruṣapura (Peshawar), Takṣaśilā (Taxila), and Pushkalavati (Charsadda). Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect, usually called Gāndhārī. The language used the Kharosthi script, which died out about the 4th century.

Achaemenid Persians and Macedonian Greeks

The Achaemenid Persian empire included Gandhara and western Punjab, administered through the satrapies of Gandāra, Hindush and Sattagydia.

Having conquered Drangiana, Arachosia, Gedrosia and Seistan in ten days, Alexander the Great (known in Urdu as 'Sikander-e-Azam') crossed the Hindu Kush and was thus fully informed of the magnificence of the country and its riches in gold, gems and pearls. However, Alexander had to encounter and reduce the tribes on the border of Punjab before entering the luxuriant plains. Having taken a northeasterly direction, he marched against the Aspii (mountaineers), who offered vigorous resistance, but were subdued. Alexander then marched through Ghazni, blockaded Magassa, and then marched to Ora and Bazira. Turning to the northeast, Alexander marched to Pucela, the capital of the district now known as Pakhli. He entered Western Punjab, where the ancient city of Nysa (at the site of modern-day Mong) was situated. A coalition was formed against Alexander by the Cathians, the people of Multan, who were very skilful in war. Alexander invested many troops, eventually killing 17,000 Cathians in this battle, and the city of Sagala (present-day Sialkot) was razed to the ground. The Battle of the Hydaspes was fought astride the Jhelum River in western Punjab against the regional chieftain Porus, and the Siege of the Malli Tribe which occurred at the confluence of the Indus and Hydaspes Rivers near modern Multan (during which Alexander suffered a near-fatal arrow wound). Alexander left Punjab in 326 B.C. and continued to campaign down the course of the Indus River in modern-day Sindh and Baluchistan.

Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE–10 CE)

The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom covering most of the Punjab. The Indo-Greek kingdom founded by Demetrius (180-165 BC) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165-150 BC), with its capital in Sagala (present-day Sialkot), thriving the greco-buddhist culture in the region. Agriculture flourished and trading cities (such as Multan and Lahore) grew in wealth.

Indo-Scythian Kingdom (150 BCE–400 CE)

The Indo-Scythian king Maues invaded Indo-Greek territories in Punjab and established an Indo-Scythian empire. Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila around 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. The Indo-Scythians ultimately established a kingdom in the northwest south Asia, based near Taxila, with two great Satraps, one in Mathura in the east, and one in Surastrene (Gujarat) in the southwest. The Indo-Scythians seem to have been followers of Buddhism, and many of their practices apparently continued those of the Indo-Greeks.

Indo-Parthian Kingdom (19 CE–226 CE)

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty with its capital at Taxila, Punjab. Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian kingdom, was a ruler of Seistan in what is today eastern Iran, probably a vassal or relative of the Apracarajas. Around 20–10 BCE, he made conquests in the former Indo-Scythian kingdom, perhaps after the death of the important ruler Azes. Gondophares became the ruler of areas comprising Arachosia, Seistan, Sindh, Punjab, and the Kabul valley. The temple of Jandial, Taxila is usually interpreted as a Zoroastrian fire temple from the period of the Indo-Parthians.

Kushan Empire (30 CE–375 CE)

The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. Around 75 CE under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises they gained control of Gandhara and other parts of what is now Pakistan. The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Gandhara's culture peaked during the reign of the Kushan ruler Kanishka the Great (128–151). The cities of Taxila (Takṣaśilā) at Sirsukh and Peshawar were built. Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread to Central Asia and the Far East across Bactria and Sogdia, where his empire met the Han Empire of China.

Hephthalites

The Hephthalite Huns captured Gandhara around 451, and did not adopt Buddhism, but in fact "perpetrated frightful massacres." Mihirakula became a "terrible persecutor" of the Buddhist religion. During their rule, Hinduism revived itself and the Buddhist civilization in Gandhara declined.

Arrival of Islam (712 CE)

Arab conquests

Before the arrival of Islam, the Punjab region was home to a diverse plethora of faiths, mainly Hinduism, Buddhism or Greco-Buddhism.^[6]

The Arab Umayyad army brought Islam to the region led by Muhammad bin Qasim who conquered Sindh and Southern Punjab in 712, by defeating Raja Dahir. The Umayyad Caliphate was the second Islamic caliphate established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph.

Turko-Persian and Turko-Mongol conquests

Islam was introduced into Northern Punjab during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century and the region subsequently became part of various Turko-Persian and Turko-Mongol Muslim empires.

The Ghaznavids, a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin, had earlier conquered and converted many Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Afghanistan. The province of Punjab was made part of the Ghaznavid Empire with Lahore as its second capital. The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region. The famous Sufi mystic Ali Hujwiri arrived from Ghazni and settled in Lahore during the reign of Ghaznavids in 11th century.

Over the next millennium Islam flourished in Punjab as it became part of different Muslim empires including the Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate and Mughals. In cooperation with local Punjabi tribes and others, a millennium long Islamic dominance was achieved across South Asia and with its peak during the Mughal Empire.

Mughal Empire

The Punjab region rose to significance in the Mughal Empire when Lahore became the capital for the royal family in 1585, the legacy of which is seen today in its rich display of Mughal architecture all over modern day Punjab, Pakistan.

The Mughals left an indelible mark on the landscape of Punjab from 1556 to 1739 by commissioning the construction of great gardens, forts, tombs, baths and mosques such as the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore Fort, Tomb of Jahangir, Tomb of Nur Jahan, Shahi Hammam, Akbari Sarai, Wazir Khan Mosque, and the Badshahi Mosque, all situated in Lahore, as well as Hiran Minar and others elsewhere in Punjab. Akbar established two of his original twelve subahs (imperial top-level provinces) in Punjab:

• (northern) Lahore Subah, bordering Kabul (Afghanistan), (later) split-off Kashmir, (Old) Delhi and Multan subahs
• (southern) Multan Subah, bordering Kabul, Lahore, (Old) Delhi, Ajmer, Thatta (Sindh) subahs, the Persian Safavid empire and shortly Qandahar subah.

Later Mughal period

After the death of the last great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, in 1707, Mughal authority significantly weakened but didn't totally vanish despite Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. The centralised authority that had existed during Aurangzeb's rule and the rule of his predecessors was now largely in the hands of governors and Nawabs (semi autonomous rulers) who gave their nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor at Delhi.

This would change, however, in 1752, when Nader Shah's general Ahmad Shah Durrani who founded the Durrani Empire, defeated Mir Mannu, the last Mughal governor of Punjab. The Mughal emperor ceded control of the subahs that constituted Punjab namely the Lahore and Multan subahs over to Ahmad Shah Durrani.

Afghan Empire and Maratha Empire

In 1758 Raghunath Rao, a general of the Hindu Maratha Empire, conquered Lahore and Attock. Timur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of Ahmad Shah Durrani, was driven out of Punjab. Lahore, Multan and Kashmir provinces were under Maratha rule for the most part. In Punjab and Kashmir, the Marathas were now major players.

The Third Battle of Panipat took place in 1761, Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas and reversed their gains in the regions of Punjab and Kashmir by re-consolidating control over them. Battles with Powerful Maratha empire weakened the Afghan dominance over the region and created a partial power vacuum in the region

Sikh Empire

In the mid-fifteenth century, the religion of Sikhism was born. During the Mughal empire, many Hindus increasingly adopted Sikhism. The Sikhs became a formidable military force after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and challenged the Mughals and later the Durrani Afghans for power in Punjab. After fighting Ahmad Shah Durrani in the later eighteenth century, the Sikh Misls took control of Punjab and its capital Lahore was captured by the Bhangi Misl. In 1799 Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sukerchakia Misl, defeated the Bhangi Misl and captured Lahore thereby proclaiming himself as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at the age of 21. Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and formed a sophisticated Sikh Empire which lasted from 1799 to 1849. Ranjit Singh modernized his Sikh Khalsa army by using Franco-British principles and by employing veterans of the Napoleonic Wars to train the infantry in European style. Ranjit Singh expanded his empire so that by his death in 1839 his empire included most of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir.

Ranjit Singh was not without opponents who challenged his authority in the regions he had conquered. He faced huge opposition from Nawab Muzaffar Khan, Azim Khan, Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Mir Painda Khan. In 1818 Nawab Muzaffar Khan was killed by the Sikhs at the Battle of Multan after putting up stout resistance for many years. Azim Khan was the governor of Kashmir from 1812 until 1819 when Ranjit Singh captured it for himself. In 1823 Azim Khan took control of Peshawar and with support from Pashtun tribesmen faced off against the encroaching Khalsa army in the Battle of Nowshera. He abandoned his troops whilst they regrouped to continue fighting until they were defeated. Azim Khan retreated to Kabul where he died shortly thereafter due to grief. Syed Ahmad Barelvi was an Indian Muslim who declared Jihad against the Sikhs by garnering support from local Pashtun tribesmen and attempted to create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Sharia. In 1821 Syed Ahmad Barelvi spent two years organizing popular and material support for his Punjab campaign. In December 1826 Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi and his followers clashed with Sikh troops at Akora Khattak, with no decisive result. Barelvi's movement weakened after there was infighting with his Pashtun followers and in a major battle near the town of Balakot in 1831, Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Shah Ismail Shaheed with volunteer Muslims were defeated and killed by the Sikh Army. Only Mir Painda Khan was able to maintain his independence at Tanawal in Hazara from the Sikh Empire. From about 1813 he began a series of rebellions against the Sikhs which continued throughout his lifetime inflicting defeats on the Sikhs whilst also losing territory to them before being poisoned in 1844. James Abbott, British officer and deputy commissioner at Hazara in 1851, described Mir Painda Khan as "a chief renowned on the border, a wild and energetic man who was never subjugated by the Sikhs".

British Empire

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death in the summer of 1839 brought political chaos and the subsequent battles of succession and the bloody infighting between the factions at court weakened the state. Relationships with neighbouring British territories then broke down, starting the First Anglo-Sikh War; this led to a British official being resident in Lahore and the annexation in 1849 of territory south of the Satluj to British India. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, the Sikh Empire became the last territory to be merged into British India. In Jhelum 35 British soldiers of the HM XXIV regiment were killed by the local resistance during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Independence of Pakistan

In 1947 the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious lines into West Punjab and East Punjab. Western Punjab was assimilated into the new country of Pakistan, while East Punjab became a part of modern-day India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees.

The part of the Punjab now in Pakistan once formed a major region of British Punjab, and was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs up to 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.

Migration between Eastern and Western Punjab was continuous before independence. By the 1900s Western Punjab was predominantly Muslim and supported the Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After independence, the minority Hindus and Sikhs fled massacres and violence and migrated to India while Muslim refugees from India settled in the Western Punjab and across Pakistan, having fled pogroms that almost entirely depopulated Eastern Punjab of its Muslim population, while Western Punjab was left with virtually no Hindus and Sikhs.

Recent history

Since the 1950s, Punjab industrialised rapidly. New factories were established in Lahore, Sargodha, Multan, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Wah and Rawalpindi.

Agriculture continues to be the largest sector of Punjab's economy. The province is the breadbasket of the country as well as home to the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, the Punjabis. Unlike neighbouring India, there was no large-scale redistribution of agricultural land. As a result, most rural areas are dominated by a small set of feudalistic land-owning families.

In the 1950s there was tension between the eastern and western halves of Pakistan. To address the situation, a new formula resulted in the abolition of the province status for Punjab in 1955. It was merged into a single province West Pakistan. In 1972, after East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh, Punjab again became a province.

Punjab witnessed major battles between the armies of India and Pakistan in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Since the 1990s Punjab hosted several key sites of Pakistan's nuclear program such as Kahuta. It also hosts major military bases such as at Sargodha and Rawalpindi. The peace process between India and Pakistan, which began in earnest in 2004, has helped pacify the situation. Trade and people-to-people contacts through the Wagah border are now starting to become common. Indian Sikh pilgrims visit holy sites such as Nankana Sahib.

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