Wazirabad

Administration

The city of Wazirabad is subdivided into 12 Union Councils. Prior to 2023, Wazirabad was the headquarters of Wazirabad Tehsil and an administrative subdivision of Gujranwala District. In 2023 Wazirabad Tehsil was elevated to Wazirabad District which was then subdivided into tehsils.{{cite web |access-date=7 December 2025 |archive-url=https://www.scribd.com/document/857226216/creation-of-new-district-wazirabad-in-supression-of-all-previous-notifications-orders-pdf |archive-date=2025-07-01 |url-status=dead

History

The city was founded by Shaikh Ilam-ud-Din Chinioti, better known by his title Wazir Khan, who was the governor of Punjab during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, in the 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. He built an entirely new town, with a straight, broad bazaar running through it and side streets at right angles.

British rule

During British period, 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.

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 1903–04, 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. 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.

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.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2023 census, Wazirabad has a population of 152,624.

Health

The city contains a Family Welfare centre which is part of Pakistan’s population welfare program.{{cite web |access-date=7 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240828105144/https://pwd.punjab.gov.pk/wazirabad |archive-date=28 August 2024 |url-status=dead

Colleges and universities in Gujranwala

• University of the Punjab, Gujranwala Campus
• Allama Iqbal Open University
• Virtual University of Pakistan
• GIFT University
• Government College Gujranwala
• University of Central Punjab

Notable residents

• Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi, Islamic scholar
• Fazal Ilahi Wazirabadi, Islamic scholar and freedom fighter
• Hamid Nasir Chattha, former Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan
• Iftikhar Cheema, retired judge and Member National Assembly for 3 tenures
• Nisar Ahmed Cheema, Ex-DG Health Punjab and Member National Assembly
• Jawwad S. Khawaja, 23rd Chief Justice of Pakistan
• Atif Aslam, singer
• S. A. Rahman, fifth Chief Justice of Pakistan
• Shaikh Nazrul Bakar, civil servant
• Noon Meem Rashid, progressive poet
• Munnu Bhai, writer
• Razia Butt, writer
• Krishan Chander, writer
• Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, writer, poet, and journalist
• Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi, Muslim theologian, orator and revivalist leader
• Mazhar ul Islam, writer
• Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, film songs lyricist
• Allah Bakhsh, painter, artist
• Shaukat Manzoor Cheema, politician

References

References

1. "PAKISTAN: Provinces and Major Cities". Citypopulation.de website.
2. "Gujranwala District - Population Detail Blockwise (Wazirabad City and Tehsil used to be part of Gujranwala District per the Census of Pakistan in 2017)".
3. "Tehsils & Unions in the District of Gujranwala".
4. Shakirullah. (2015-12-31). "The So-Called “Faringees” of the Sikh Army and the Monumental Grave of Colonel Canora at Haripur, Pakistan". Pakistan Heritage.
5. "Wazirabad".
6. (August 2025). "Population by administrative units 1951-1998". [[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]] }}{{Dead link.