Mianwali District

The town of Mianwali was made tehsil headquarters of Bannu District then part of Dera Ismail Khan Division of Punjab province of British India. The population of Mianwali, according to the 1901 census of India, was 3,591. In November 1901, the North-West Frontier Province was carved out of Punjab and the tehsils of Mianwali and Isa Khel, and were separated from Bannu District (Bannu became part of NWFP). A new district was made with the headquarters in Mianwali city and placed in Punjab. The district became a part of Rawalpindi Division. There were four tehsils: Mianwali, Isa Khel, Bhakkar, and Layyah. Layyah was included in the Muzaffargarh District in 1909. The district became a part of Sargodha Division in 1963. Bhakkar Tehsil was separated from Mianwali and was made a separate district inside Sargodha Division w.e.f. 01-07-1982. Out of the three tehsils, Pashto is spoken in Isa Khel. On January 14, 2023, CM Pervaiz Elahi announced that Mianwali and Bhakkar districts upgraded to divisional status, carved from the Sargodha Division. Newly formed Talagang district from the northern Rawalpindi Division would also be part of the division. ==Geography==

Mianwali district covers an area of . The area in the north is a continuation of the Pothohar Plateau and the Kohistan-e-Namak. Southern side of the district is a part of Thal desert. Indus River flows through the district. Climate Mianwali district has an extreme climate with a long hot summer season and dry cold winters. Summer lasts from May to September and winter lasts from November till February. June is the hottest month with average temperature of 42 °C (highest recorded temperature was 52 °C); in winter, the average temperature can be as low as 3 to 4 °C, particularly in December and January. The average rainfall in the district is about 385 mm. ==Administration==

The municipal committee was founded in December 1993 and has remained operational since then. The district is administratively divided into three tehsils 7 Municipal Committees and 51 union councils: == Urban areas ==

Language {{Pie chart At the time of the 2023 census, 73.69% of the population spoke Saraiki language, 11.35% Pashto, 7.79% Punjabi, 3.5% Hindko and 3.15% Urdu as their first language. Population {{Historical populations As of the 2023 census, Mianwali district has 296,339 households and a population of 1,798,268. The district has a sex ratio of 104.32 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 62.87%: 77.58% for males and 47.63% for females. 454,517 (25.31% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 363,453 (20.21%) live in urban areas. Religion As per the 2023 census, Muslims made up almost the entire population with 99.32%, although there is a small mainly urban minority of Christians numbering 11,951. ==People==

• Mian Sultan Zikria - Famous sufi saint from the Mianwali district • Hazrat pir Syed Gulam Rabani shah Gillani . Qamar Abad sharif Isakhel • Hazrat pir Syed Muhammad Saleem Shah Gillani . Qamar Abad sharif Isakhel • Amjad Khan Niazi - Retired Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy. • Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan - Chief of the Awan tribe, Nawab of Kalabagh, Former Governor of the West Pakistan. • Tilok Chand Mehroom – Urdu poet • Jagannath Azad – Urdu-Speaking poet of Hindu academic. • Imran Khan Niazi – Former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, twice elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Mianwali and served as the 22nd Prime minister of Pakistan . • Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi – Folk singer • Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi – religious and political leader of Pakistan • Misbah-ul-Haq – Pakistani cricketer • Sher Afgan Niazi – Former Minister of Law and Member of Parliament • Sardar Khan Niazi – Chief Editor and publisher of Daily Pakistan, Daily The Patriot, Daily Pak Watan, Daily Action, Daily Nawa-e-Nawabshah, Monthly Naya Rukh, and also Chairman of the Pakistan Group of Publications. • Shadab Khan – Pakistani cricketer. • Aqeela Asifi – Afghan refugee and teacher who has educated thousands of other Afghan refugee children in Mianwali • Lt. Gen. Amir Abdullah Niazi - Commandent Army Eastern Command III Corps in East Pakistan • Lt. Gen. Muhammad Aslam Shah- Corps Commander Pakistan Army • Lt. Gen. Zarar Azim- Corps Commander Pakistan Army • Maj. Gen. Sanaullah Khan Niazi - Two-star Major-General rank officer of Pakistan military, GOC Malakand, who embraced martyrdom in Pakistan's War on terrorism. • Maj. Gen. Javed Sultan Khan- Two star Major-General rank officer of Pakistan military, GOC Kohat, who embraced martyrdom in Pakistan's War on terrorism. • Maj. Gen. Hidayatullah Khan Niazi- Two-star Major-General rank officer of Pakistan military • Maj. Gen. Inayatullah Khan Niazi- Two-star Major-General rank officer of Pakistan military • Maj. Gen. Rafiullah Khan Niazi- Two star Major-General rank officer of Pakistan military • Air Vice Marshal Abdul Razzaq Anjum- Two-star Air Vice Marshal of Pakistan Air Force • Sher Shah Awan , commander of an ambushed platoon in the Burma Campaign where despite his shattered leg he crawled at the enemy to continue to fight • Ayla Malik- Politician ==Places of interest==

in Mianwali Salt range section, which was closed in 1992.) • Mari Indus railway station • Kalabagh Dam • Jinnah Barrage • Chashma Barrage • Namal Lake • Kundian Railway Station • Daud Khel Railway Station • Mari Indus Railway Station ==See also==