Gujrat
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- This article is about a city in Pakistan. For the Indian state see Gujarat.
Gujrat (Urdu/Punjabi: گجرات) is a city in Pakistan located in Gujrat District in the Punjab Province.
History
Gujrat is a city of historical significance.It is believed, by the historians, to exist in the time of Alexander the Great. It was Gujrat's Raja Porus who put up a fierce battle to the Alexander's invasion at the bank of river Jehlum. The greek historians have distorted the history to suit their purpose and showed that Raja POrus was defeated but some neutral scholars report that it never happened. In "Cultural History of Indus Basin", Chaudhry Ehtzaz Ahsan showed that Raja Porus was never defeated by the troops of Alexander. Rather, after a fierce battle, Alexander and his already weakened and tired army decided to retreat. This gave an opportunity to the commondos of Raja Porus who launched sporadic attacks at night which further caused major damage to already exhausted army and it was during these nigh raids that Alexander was injured by a dagger soaked in poison which later resulted in his death. Dr Ahmad Hussain Qilah dari authored "Tareekhay Gujrat" which is an authentic document on the history of this city. Gujrat was also a major city in the times of Mughal empire. The Mughal Kings, Princes and Princesses have been recorded to travel through the district en-route to Kashmir. It is reported that when King Jahangir died while he was travelling back from Kashmir, the news was not released to avoid any unrest in the empire, his intestines and other abdominal organs were taken out and buried at a place in Gujrat. To this date every year a festival is held at that place which is commonly known as "Festival of Jahangir". In the heart of the city a Fort stands which was built by Mughal Kings. This Fort has a "Bath Room " commonly known as "Bath Room of Akbar". There is a myth that this Bath Room was heated with only one little lamp but i have not been able to confirm this. There are many other historical buildings and ruins in the vasts of the district. In the times of Shair Shah Suri a road was built to link the City of Gujrat to Jalal Pur Jattan, an other major town of the district, and to this date it exists and along the road there is a stepped well, also built by the administration of Shair Shah Suri.Qalah Hafiz Hayat is an other histoircal ruin and worth seeing. A few miles east to Jalal Pur Jataan there is a place where there are some very ancient graves 9 yards in length. According to a tradition these are the graves of some semetic propehts and their sons but again we do not have any archeological evidence to support this.Location
Gujrat city is situated 120 Km. north of Lahore. It is bounded on the north by Jhelum, on the south by Gujranwala, on the west by Mandi-Bahauddin, and on the east by Azad Kashmir. It is located near the Chenab river. The city is sarrounded by hundreds of villages.
Political Importance
Gujrat has produced many famous political personalities. A few of them are: 1. Sir Nawab Fazal Elahi ( Founder of Zamindar Degree College, He realised the need of educating the masses of his district and with the massive public support he launched an organisation and built this first degree college in the region completley funded by the public.)
2.Bahawal Bukhsh, Father of Chaudhry Ahsan Aleeg and Grand Father of Chaudhry Ehtazaz Ahsan, a giant political figure before partition. He won the election on All India Muslim League's ticket.
3. Fazal Elahi Chaudhry, former President of Pakistan
4. Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi
5. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
6. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Chief Minister, Punjab
7. Mian Afzal Hayat, former caretaker Chief Minister, Punjab
8. Mian Imran Masood (MPA), Minister of Education, Punjab
9. Chaudhry Aitezaz Ahsan (MNA)
9. Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtaar
8. Daswandi Khan, He held several meetings with Muhammed Ali Jinnah. Daswandi Khan is told to have died in 1949 - a year after Jinnah had passed (Daswandi Pura).
9. Hakeem Chiragh Ali (1898-1979) is a famous figure in the field of advocacy. He was one of the few member of Muslim League before partition. When M. Ali Jinnah visited Gujrat, he stayed and had lunch at Mr Hakeem's residence (Faiz-e-illahi Manzil) with other famous leader of that time.
Shaheeds of Gujrat
1. Maj Aziz Bhatti, NH (Highest Militery Award in Pakistan)
Gujrat, An agricultural city
The fields of Gujrat produce one of the best rice crop of the world. Thanks to the wonderful canal system, Gujrat is producing sugarcane, wheat, gram and wide range of pulses and vegetables. There also exist big forests on the sarroundings of Gujrat.
Industry
Gujrat is the largest fan producing city of Pakistan.Gujrat is also known in the world for its clay with which Gujratis produce quality pottery since ages. Apart from agriculture and clay the city is well known for its furniture manufacturing skills. Gujratis have mastered the skills of conditioning the wood and producing world class furniture having immaculate finish. Over last few decades Gujrat has also attained a name in export of electric fans.
Gujrat has a unique status throughout the Punjab due to some of its manufacturing capabilities and productions. There are about 1,059 cottage level and small/medium/large scale industrial units operating in the district. Jalalpur Jattan is a large town of Gujrat, where several small and large textile industrial unit have been established.
There are many other industrial units and factories engaged in manufacturing of electrical goods (Fan), Electric Motors, Earthen Utensils, Shoes, Rubber Tyre Tube, Sanitary Ware ,Rice refining Mills and Furniture. The high quality furniture made here have been used in National and Provincial Assemblies.
The story of emergence of electric fan manufacturing industry in Pakistan is one of those heroic efforts made by a few enterprising individuals who, starting with nothing in early 1940s, struggled against all odds and turned this concern into a most efficient industry in Pakistan.
This is an industry on which all Pakistanis can rightly be proud of. It does not owe its success to any foreign collaboration or any from the Government, but only to its own people whose constant research for maintaining good quality and devising new methods and techniques of production have now resulted in a product which we can rightfully claim as among the best in the world.
There are now over five hundred fan manufacturing units operating in Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore and a few other cities. Except for a few, the rest falls into the category of cottage industry. These small units form the real backbone of this industry. They provide employment to a large number of people and all put together account of more than 90 percent of the domestic market.
Communication
Gujrat, situated beside the grand trunk road and main railway track is directly connected with the major cities like provincial and central metropolises of the country.
Road-Links: The district has a total metalled road-length of 1019 kilometres. The district is linked with Gujranwala, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin districts through metalled roads. There is another road, which leads to Bhimber (Azad Kashmir).
Rail-Links: The main Peshawar-Karachi railway line passes through Gujrat district. The district is linked with Jhelum and Gujranwala districts through railway network. The nearest junctions are Wazirabad Jn. and Lalamusa Jn. The following trains have their stay over here: Tezgam, Awam express, Khyber Mail, Subuk Raftar (Rail car), Subuk Kharam (Rail car), Jaffar express, Queeta express, Sialkot express and Lahore-Peshawar passenger train.
New Look of Gujrat
Since the last few years, city has seen many new plazas, shopping malls, restaurants and marriage halls built on it. More are under construction. Few amongst them include:
1. Sarwar Gold Plaza
2. Al-Jannat Marriage Hall
3. AFC (Al-Najam Fried Chicken) restaurant
4. Qand Fishaan Sweets and Marriage Hall
5. Rehman Marriage Hall
6. State Life Tower
7. Usmania Restaurant
8. Faisal Hotel and Restaurant
9. Sufi Hotel and Restaurant
10. Family Mart shopping center
11. Qasr-e-Noor Marriage Hall
12. Bandhan Marriage Hall
13. R B Shopping Mall
14. HFC(Halal Fried Chicken)
15. KFC
16. Pacer shopping Mall
and many others.
Under Construction
1. Pace
2. Aleena Center
3. Shopping Mall
Education Institutes
Gujrat houses dozens of schools, private and public. The city also has a university and few colleges. A list of premier education institutions in the city of Gujrat is given below:
1.Gujrat University
2.Zamindar Degree College
3.Zamindar Science College
4.Government Degree College for Women ( Fawarah Chauk)
5.Government Inter College for Women
6.Government Comprehensive High School
7.Government Normal High School
8.Government Zamindar High School
9.Public High School
10.Mission High School
11.Sweedish Technical Institute
12.Government Vocational and technical School
13. Beaconhouse School System
14. The City School
15. Dar-e-Arqam Schools
16. Moon Light School System
17. The Crescent National High School
18. Jinnah International Public School
19. Municipal Model High School(for boys)
20. E-tech College of Information Technology
21. Chenab Group of Colleges (Commerce & Information Technology)
22. Gujrat College of Commerce
23. Ajmeeri College of Information Technology and Commerce
24. Cambridge School of Pakistan
and many other schools and colleges.
Hospitals
1.Aziz Bhatti Shaheed District Hospital2-Allah Dad Cheema Hospital ( frist purely surgical hospital in the district)
3.Gujrat Hospital
4.Family Polyclinic
and many other medical centers representing several different sub-specilaities.
Doctors
1.Dr Nisar Ahmed Cheema, MBBS, FRCS. The first qualified surgeon in the city who opened his practice more than 2 decades ago, and served the many people who did not have access to surgical service before, and had to travel to Lahore and other big cities.2.[Late]Dr Akram Mirza MBBS, One of the foremost physician in the city and treated thousands of patients
3.[Late]Dr Syed Zulfikaar MBBS, One of the pioneer in medical practice in the city.
4.Dr Shaukat Hussain Shirazi MBBS
5.Dr Capt. Sarwar MBBS
6.Dr Ikram Ullah 7.Dr Najeeb Ullah SH MBBS'' and many more, in the recent few years Gujrat has become heaven for Dcotors.
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