Daska
Daska (Urdu: ڈسکہ), is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is the capital of Daska Tehsil one of four tehsils of Sialkot District.[2] It is the 50th largest city of Pakistan by population.
Daska ڈسکہ | |
|---|---|
City | |
  Daska  Daska | |
| Coordinates: 32°20′N 74°21′E | |
| Country |  |
| Province |  |
| Division | Gujranwala |
| District | Sialkot |
| Tehsil | Daska |
| Government | |
| • MNA | Iftikharul Hasan Shah |
| • MPA | Zeeshan Rafique |
| Elevation | 217 m (712 ft) |
| Population | |
| • City | 175,464 |
| • Rank | 50th, Pakistan |
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
| Calling code | 052 |
| Number of towns | 1 |
| Postal Code | 051010 |
Daska was founded during the reign of Shah Jahan, and was initially named Shah Jahanabad, according to Mughal revenue records.[3] It was later renamed Daska as it is das (“ten”) kos (Mughal unit of distance) from Sialkot, Pasrur, Gujranwala, and Wazirabad.[4] During the Afghan Durrani invasion of the 18th century, Daska was ruined and its inhabitants forced to seek shelter in the nearby mudfort of Kot Daska.[5] Daska was later repopulated during the Sikh era.[6] Daska was captured by Ranjit Singh in 1802 and made part of the Sikh Empire.[7]
In the 1929, Daska was the site of Hindu-Sikh riots when Akali Sikhs attempted to seize control of Gurdwara Sant Wayaram Singh that the local Hindu community claimed was built to be a dharamsala.[8] In August 1947, 5,000 refugees from surrounding areas gathered at Daska Camp for 2 weeks before being escorted to the Indian border by the Pakistani Military. Daska is famous across all Pakistan for manufacturing of agriculture instruments.It was once the biggest Tehsil of Pakistan with almost 400 villages were part of it.Being surrounded by big industrial cities such as Gujranwala and Sialkot,Daska has very healthy employment rate and business opportunities are there to avail. Surprising thing is that urban area of Daska is no more than 3KM in length but still it manages to hold the title of an industrial city which contributes a lot in national economy. Mughal,Kashmiri,rajpoot,Arain and Malik tribes are prominent in urban area and several jatt tribes are in majority in rural areas. A Central canal BRB flows through its center which makes the surrounded area fertile and rich for crops. Since early 1990s Syed Iftakhar-Ul-hassan had been the political face of Daska who remained member of provincial and national assembly for several time.
References
- "PAKISTAN: Provinces and Major Cities". PAKISTAN: Provinces and Major Cities. citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- Tehsils & Unions in the District of Sialkot – Government of Pakistan Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- Commissioner, Pakistan Office of the Census. Population Census of Pakistan, 1961: Dacca. 2.Chittagong. 3.Sylhet. 4.Rajshahi. 5.Khulna. 6.Rangpur. 7.Mymensingh. 8.Comilla. 9.Bakerganj. 10.Noakhali. 11.Bogra. 12.Dinajpur. 13.Jessore. 14.Pabna. 15.Kushtia. 16.Faridpur. 17.Chittagong Hill tracts.
- Gazetteer of the Jhang District: 1883. 1883.
- Gazetteer of the Jhang District: 1883. 1883.
- Gazetteer of the Jhang District: 1883. 1883.
- bahādur.), Muḥammad Laṭīf (Saiyid, khān (1891). History of the Panjáb from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time. Calcutta Central Press Company, limited.
- Nijjar, Bakhshish Singh (1996). History of the United Panjab. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-7156-534-4.
- Page, Co-Director Media South Asia Project Institute of Development Studies David; Page, David; Singh, Anita Inder; Moon, Penderel; Khosla, G. D. (2002). The Partition Omnibus. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-565850-7.