Famous for its cutlery products, it is known as the city of cutlery and is also quite famous for its foods.
Wazirabad is situated on the banks of the Chenab River nearly 100 kilometres north of Lahore on the Grand Trunk Road. It is 45 kilometres from Sialkot, 30 kilometres from Gujranwala, and about 12 kilometres from Gujrat. The city of Wazirabad is the headquarters of former Wazirabad Tehsil (now called Wazirabad District in 2023), an administrative subdivision of the district, the city itself is subdivided into 12 Union Councils.[3]
History
The city was founded by Wazir Khan, the governor and later, Grand Vizier of Mughal EmperorShah Jahan in 17th century. The town was taken over by Charat Singh around 1760 together with other towns in the District. Maharaja Ranjit Singh occupied the town in 1809 and Avitabile was appointed as the Nazim of the city. In 1855, Jarral Rajputs of Rajouri Own Saman Burj Wazirabad ruled Wazirabad as a Royal Family. He built an entirely new town, with a straight broad bazaar running through it, and side streets at right angles.[4]
British rule
During British rule Wazirabad was the headquarters of the old Wazirabad District, broken up in 1851-2, and was the site of a military cantonment moved to Sialkot in 1855.[citation needed]
The municipality was created in 1867, the population according to the 1901 census was 18,069. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 20,800, and the expenditure Rs. 21,400. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 20,800, chiefly from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 19,200. The town had a considerable trade in timber, which comes down the Chenab from Jammu territory.[4] The smiths of Wazirabad had a reputation for the manufacture of small articles of cutlery, and the town of Nizamabad within a mile of the town is famed for its weapons. Wazirabad was an important junction on the North-Western Railway, as the Sialkot-Jammu and Lyallpur lines both branch off of here.[5]
The Chenab river is spanned opposite Wazirabad by the Alexandra railway bridge, one of the finest engineering works of the kind in India, which was opened in 1876 by Edward VII the King-Emperor when he was Prince of Wales. The town possessed two Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church of Scotland Mission, and a government dispensary.[5]
Educational institutes
Colleges
Govt. Associate College of Commerce, Bhattikay Road Wazirabad
Shahzaib Ahsan Medical College For Girls & Boys Basti Qudartabad.
The Educators Wazirabad Campus.
Allied schools
Cityscape
Inside the Old City, the First Residential Complex was built called Musamman Burj. It was constructed by Ilm ul din, a confidant of Jehangir and was completed in 1636 AD during Shahjehan's Rule.
Opposite the Musamman Burj, there is the Main Bazar (Market) which is absolute Wide, is about 2 km long and ends in the South of the City at Lahori Gate.
Another House called Kothi Sheik Niaz Ahmed was Constructed outside the old city about 2 km from the Burj
on the road leading to Nizamabad but silently, the city outgrew its boundaries.
Kothi and Mussamman Burj both are now in the centre of Wazirabad thanks to the Urban Sprawl and Rapid Industrialization of the city.
Architecture
Built in 1878, Alexandra Railway Bridge by the Prince of Wales.
Built-in the british Colonial era, the bridge was constructed to carry the Punjab Northern State Railway over the River Chenab.
The First Brick was Laid on 1 November 1871, and completed in 1876, Though Later in 1878 necessary alterations were made.
Dak Chowki
The Dak chowki (mail station) is an age-old monument built by Sher Shah Suri in 1542 A.D. It has now been declared a protected monument and is planned to be restored.
Dak Chowki of Sher Shah Suri's period
Gurdwara
The Forlorn Gurdwara known as Gurdwara Gurukotha is situated in the city, built by the Orders of Ranjit Singh in memory of Guru har Gobind, the sixth of the Sikh gurus (1595-1640), for he stayed in Wazirabad during his long travels preaching through Punjab and Kashmir.
The spherical, segmented dome of Gurukotha gurdwara rises in splendour above the skyline of the city and is balanced off by four domes at the corner.
The E3 Expressway or Kot Sarwar–Hafizabad–Wazirabad Expressway is a controlled-access expressway that links the N-5 National Highway at Wazirabad with the M-2/M-4 junction near Kot Sarwar, in Punjab, Pakistan.
E3 also Connects the City with the Tehsil's Union councils in the nearby areas.
^ ab"Wazirabad". Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 24, page 378 -- Imperial Gazetteer of India -- Digital South Asia Library.
^ ab"Wazirabad". Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 24, page 379 -- Imperial Gazetteer of India -- Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago.
Pakistan
Punjab
