Sialkot - WikiHQ

Sialkot (Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the 12th most populous city in Pakistan as well as the 7th largest city in Punjab. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined by Jammu in the north east, the districts of Narowal in the southeast, Gujranwala in the southwest and Gujrat in the northwest.

Sialkot is believed to be the successor city of Sagala, the capital of the Madra kingdom which was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 326 BCE. It was made capital of the Indo-Greek kingdom by Menander I in the 2nd century BCE — a time during which the city greatly prospered as a major center for trade and Buddhist thought. In the 6th century CE, it again become capital of the Taank Kingdom, which ruled Punjab for the next two centuries. Sialkot continued to be a major political center until it was eclipsed by Lahore around the turn of the first millennium CE. Under the Mughal Empire, especially Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb's reign, Sialkot became known as a great centre of Islamic scholarship and thought, and attracted scholars because of the widespread availability of paper in the city.

Sialkot city was the birthplace of the Islamic poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, a leading figure of the Pakistan Movement. The city has been noted for its entrepreneurial spirit and productive business climate which have made Sialkot an example of a small Pakistani city that has emerged as a "world-class manufacturing hub." The relatively small city exported approximately $2.5 billion worth of goods in 2017, or about 10% of Pakistan's total exports. The city has been labeled as the Football manufacturing capital of the World, as it produces over 70% of all footballs manufactured in the world. Sialkot International Airport; Pakistan's first privately owned public airport is located 14km west of Sialkot.

History

Ancient

Founding

Sialkot was the likely capital of the Madra kingdom Sagala, Sakala (), or Sangala () mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic of ancient India, as occupying a similar area as Greek accounts of Sagala. The city may have been inhabited by the Saka, or Scythians, from Central Asia who had migrated into the Subcontinent. The region was noted in the Mahabharata for the "loose and Bacchanalian" women who lived in the woods there. The city was said to have been located in the Sakaladvipa region between the Chenab and Ravi rivers, now known as the Rechna Doab.

Greek

The Anabasis of Alexander, written by the Roman-Greek historian Arrian, recorded that Alexander the Great captured ancient Sialkot, recorded as Sagala, from the Cathaeans, who had entrenched themselves there. The rebuilt city was shifted slightly from the older city, as rebuilding on exactly the same spot was considered inauspicious.

Under Menander's rule, the city greatly prospered as a major trading centre renowned for its silk. the text offers an early description of the city's cityscape and status as a prosperous trade centre with numerous green spaces. Following his conversion, Sialkot developed as a major centre for Buddhist thought.

Ancient Sialkot was recorded by Ptolemy in his 1st century CE work, Geography,

Alchon Huns

Around 460 CE, the Alchon Huns invaded the region from Central Asia, forcing the ruling family of nearby Taxila to seek refuge in Sialkot. Sialkot itself was soon captured, and the city was made a significant centre of the Alchon Huns around 515, during the reign of Toramana. During the reign of his son, Mihirakula, the empire reached its zenith. The Alchon Huns were defeated in 528 by a coalition of princes led by Prince Yashodharman who recorded the city's name the She-kie-lo. Xuanzang reported that the city had been rebuilt approximately 15 li, or 2.5 miles, away from the city ruined by Alexander the Great. During this time, Sialkot served as the political nucleus of the North Punjab region. The city was then invaded in 643 by princes from Jammu, who held the city until the Muslim invasions during the medieval era.

Medieval

Around the year 1000, Sialkot began to decline in importance as the nearby city of Lahore rose to prominence. Following the fall of Lahore to the Ghaznavid Empire in the early 11th century, the capital of the Hindu Shahi empire was shifted from Lahore to Sialkot. Ghaznavid expansion in northern Punjab encouraged local Khokhar tribes to stop paying tribute to the Rajas of Jammu.

Sialkot became a part of the medieval Sultanate of Delhi after Muhammad of Ghor conquered Punjab in 1185. Sialkot was then quickly laid siege to by Khokhar tribesmen, and Khusrau Malik, The area had been captured by the Ghauri prince Taj al-Din Yildiz, but was recaptured by Sultan Iltutmish in 1217. before being driven out by Iltutmish's forces towards Uch Sharif. During the 13th century, Imam Ali-ul-Haq, Sialkot's most revered Sufi warrior-saint, arrived from Arabia, and began his missionary work in the region that successfully converted large numbers of Hindus to Islam, thereby transforming Sialkot into a largely Muslim city. The saint later died in battle, and is revered as a martyr.

Sialkot became capital of Punjabi warlord and ruler Jasrat Khokhar's kingdom in the early 15th century. Jasrat Khokhar conquered most of Punjab from the Delhi sultanate in a series of campaigns between 1421 and 1442. He also conquered Jammu after defeating its ruler Bhim Dev in 1423.

Sialkot was captured by the armies of Babur in 1520, when the Mughal commander Usman Ghani Raza advanced towards Delhi during the initial conquest of Babur. Babur recorded a battle with Gujjar raiders, who had attacked Sialkot, and allegedly mistreated its inhabitants. In 1525–1526, Alam Khan, uncle of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, invaded from Afghanistan and was able to capture Sialkot with the aid of Mongol forces.

Pre-modern

Mughal

Abdul Hakim Sialkoti was a 16th-17th century Mughal-era Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and Islamic philosopher from Sialkot. He became the most influential Islamic scholar in the Mughal imperial court, and taught in the imperial madrassa. After Abdul Hakim Sialkoti's death in 1656, his son Maulvī Abdullah became chief scholar of Sialkot, and his madrassa became a centre of learning.

During the early Mughal era, Sialkot was made part of the subah, or "province", of Lahore. sometime in the early 16th century. He is said to have met Hamza Ghaus, a prominent Sufi mystic based in Sialkot, at a site now commemorated by the city's Gurdwara Beri Sahib.

During the Akbar era, Sialkot's pargana territory was placed in the jagir custodianship of Raja Man Singh, who would repair the city's fort, and sought to increase its population and develop its economy. In 1580, Yousuf Shah Chak of Kashmir sought refuge in the city during his exile from the Valley of Kashmir. Paper-makers from Kashmir migrated to the city during the Akbar period, and Sialkot later became renowned as the source of the prized Mughal Hariri paper – known for its brilliant whiteness and strength.

During the reign of Jahangir, the post was given to Safdar Khan, who rebuilt the city's fort, and oversaw a further increase in Sialkot's prosperity. During the Shah Jahan period, the city was placed under the rule of Ali Mardan Khan. Rahmat Khan was then placed in charge of the city, and would build a mosque in the city. Under Aurangzeb's reign, Sialkot became known as a great centre of Islamic thought and scholarship, and attracted scholars because of the widespread availability of paper in the city.

Post-Mughal

Following the decline of the Mughal empire after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Sialkot and its outlying districts were left undefended and forced to defend itself. In 1739, the city was captured by Nader Shah of Persia during his invasion of the Mughal Empire. The city was placed under the governorship of Zakariya Khan, the Mughal Viceroy of Lahore, who in return for the city promised to pay tribute to the Persian crown. bravery, on which Muhammad Shah ordered to make a "Chhatri" to honour Rao Bal Kishan at Karnal which still can be found.

In the wake of the Persian invasion, Sialkot fell under the control of Pashtun powerful families from Multan and Afghanistan – the Kakazai and Sherwanis. Sialkot was crept upon by Ranjit Deo of Jammu, who pledged nominal allegiance to the Mughal crown in Delhi.

Modern

British

thumb|upright|left|[[Muhammad Iqbal, the philosopher-poet credited inspiring the Pakistan Movement, was born in Sialkot in 1877.]]

Sialkot, along with Punjab as a whole, was captured by the British following their victory over the Sikhs at the Battle of Gujrat in February 1849. During the British period, an official known as The Resident who would, in theory, advise the Maharaja of Kashmir would reside in Sialkot during the wintertime.

During the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the two Bengal regiments based in Sialkot rebelled against the East India Company, while their native servants also took up arms against the British.

The British-Raj fought in The Second Boer War (1899-1902). A POW camp was located in Sialkot and it held many detained Boer Prisoners-of-War.

In 1877, the Sialkot native poet Allama Iqbal, who is credited for inspiring the Pakistan Movement, was born into a Kashmiri family that had converted to Islam from Hinduism in the early 1400s. He is considered to be one of the leading Islamic thought leaders and Islamic revivalists of the 20th century, and is also widely regarded as having animated the pulse for the Pakistan Movement.

In August 1947, nine years after Iqbal's death, the partition of India gave way to the establishment of Pakistan, a newly independent Islamic state in which Iqbal is honoured as the national poet. He is also known in Pakistani society as ' () and as (). The anniversary of his birth (Yom-e Weladat-e Muḥammad Iqbal), 9 November, is observed as a public holiday in Pakistan.thumb|Iqbal Manzil, the residence of Allama Iqbal.

Sialkot's modern prosperity began during the colonial era. The city had been known for its paper making and ironworks prior to the colonial era, The slogan became a battle cry and greeting for the Muslim League, which was struggling for an independent country for the Muslims of South Asia, when World War II ended and the independence movement geared up.

The first communal riots between Hindus/Sikhs and Muslims took place on 24 June 1946, a day after the resolution calling for the establishment of Pakistan as a separate state. Sialkot remained peaceful for several months while communal riots had erupted in Lahore, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Rawalpindi. In 1966, the Government of Pakistan awarded a special flag of Hilal-e-Istaqlal to Sialkot, along with the cities of Lahore and Sargodha, for their brave resistance against the opposing armed forces. Historians estimate that the armored battles in the Sialkot sector, such as the Battle of Chawinda, were among the largest tank battles in the entire history, outmatched only by a few World War II tank battles, including the Battle of Kursk.

Geography

Climate

Sialkot features a humid subtropical climate (Cwa) under the Köppen climate classification, characterized by four different seasons. The post-monsoon season from mid-September to mid-November remains relatively hot during the daytime, but nights are considerably cooler, with low humidity. In the winter, from mid-November to March, daytime temperatures vary from mild to warm, accompanied by occasional heavy rainfalls. Furthermore, temperatures in winter may drop to , but maxima are very rarely less than .

Cityscape

Sialkot's core is composed of the densely populated old city, while north of the city lies the vast colonial era Sialkot Cantonment – characterised by wide streets and large lawns. The city's industries have evolved in a "ribbon-like" pattern along the cities main arteries,

Religion

Sialkot is a religiously homogenous city with 96 percent of its population being Muslim and following Islam. The principal minority is Christians who make up 3.77 percent of the population. During the 13th century, Imam Ali-ul-Haq, Sialkot's most revered Sufi warrior-saint, arrived from Arabia, and began his Dawah in the region that successfully converted large numbers of the native population to Islam, thereby transforming Sialkot into a largely Muslim city. The saint later died in battle, and is revered as a Shahid by the locals.

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|+ Religious groups in Sialkot City (1868−2023)