Pishin (Balochi: پشین; IPA: pʂin/pçin) is a district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Pishin District is located at 45km² from the provincial headquarters, Quetta. In 1975, it was bifurcated from Quetta District, while in 1993 part of it was split off to form the new district of Killa Abdullah.
Again in 2022, part of it created the new district of Karezat. Myth attributes the origin of the Persian designation to a son of the mythical Emperor Afrasiab. The population of Pishin District was 300,000 in 2005.
Administration
Pishin District is subdivided into five tehsils or sub-districts:
{| class="wikitable sortable static-row-numbers static-row-header-hash"
!Tehsil
!Area
(km²)
!Pop.
(2023)
!Density
(ppl/km²)
(2023)
!Literacy rate
(2023)
!Union Councils
|-
|Barshore Tehsil
|2,288
|141,994
|62.06
|47.61%
|...
|-
|Hurramzai Tehsil
|418
|147,844
|353.69
|39.67%
|...
|-
|Pishin Tehsil
|1,199
|325,641
|271.59
|52.50%
|...
|-
|Saranan Tehsil
|83
|65,157
|785.02
|48.33%
|...
|-
|Bostan Tehsil
|186
|49,721
|267.32
|45.19%
|...
|}
Demographics
As of the 2023 census, Pishin district has 147,185 households and a population of 835,482. The district has a sex ratio of 104.34 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 51.07%: 65.85% for males and 36.05% for females. 318,031 (38.07% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 243,785 (29.18%) live in urban areas. 2,441 (0.29% of the surveyed population) are religious minorities, mainly Christians. Pashto is the predominant language, spoken by 99.07% of the population.
Pishin's main ethnic groups are Pashtuns who belong to the Tareen, Sayed, Kakar, and Achakzai tribes. However, the Tareen tribe is known to be the ruling one among them.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religious groups in Pishin City (1941 & 2017)
! rowspan="2" |Religious<br>group
! colspan="2" |1941
! colspan="2" |2017
|-
!
!
!
!
|-
| Islam 15px
| 1,245
|
| 35,067
|
|-
| Hinduism 15px
| 447
|
| 233
|
|-
| Sikhism 15px
| 183
|
|
|
|-
| Christianity 15px
| 15
|
| 473
|
|-
| Ahmadiyya 15px
|
|
| 4
|
|-
! Total population
! 1,890
!
! 35,547
!
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religious groups in Quetta–Pishin District (British Baluchistan era)
! rowspan="2" |Religious<br>group
! colspan="2" |1901
! colspan="2" |1911
! colspan="2" |1921
! colspan="2" |1931
! colspan="2" |1941
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
! Islam 15px
| 96,600
|
| 106,702
|
| 103,456
|
| 107,945
|
| 113,288
|
|-
! Hinduism 15px
| 11,752
|
| 13,746
|
| 22,300
|
| 26,718
|
| 28,629
|
|-
! Christianity 15px
| 3,743
|
| 4,564
|
| 6,139
|
| 7,370
|
| 5,441
|
|-
! Sikhism 15px
| 1,798
|
| 2,430
|
| 4,848
|
| 5,255
|
| 8,787
|
|-
! Zoroastrianism 15px
| 151
|
| 137
|
| 151
|
| 161
|
| 73
|
|-
! Judaism 15px
| 43
|
| 47
|
| 16
|
| 15
|
| 11
|
|-
! Jainism 15px
| 0
|
| 9
|
| 8
|
| 32
|
| 7
|
|-
! Buddhism 15px
|
|
| 12
|
| 159
|
| 40
|
| 42
|
|-
! Tribal
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
|-
! Others
| 0
|
| 1
|
| 5
|
| 5
|
| 11
|
|-
! Total population
! 114,087
!
! 127,648
!
! 137,082
!
! 147,541
!
! 156,289
!
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="11" |
|}
Agriculture and farming
The main crops in the area are wheat, barley, corn (maize), potatoes, grapes, apple, pomegranate, almond, apricot, plum and peach which are grown in the valleys. Sheep and goats are also herded.
Notable people
- Qazi Muhammad Essa, Senior Leader of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-e-Azam
- Jennifer Musa, Politician and Social worker
- Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Diplomat, former Pakistani Ambassador to United States
- Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice Pakistan Supreme Court
See also
- Khanozai
- Barshore
- Killa Abdullah
- Districts of Pakistan
- Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
- Districts of Punjab, Pakistan
- Districts of Balochistan, Pakistan
- Districts of Sindh, Pakistan
- Districts of Azad Kashmir
- Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan
References
Bibliography
External links
- Pishin District at www.balochistan.gov.pk
- Pishin District at www.balochistanpolice.gov.pk
- District Development Profile 2011