Peshawar District Explained

Peshawar District
Native Name:Urdu: {{nq|ضلع پشاور‎
Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|پېښور ولسوالۍ‎
Settlement Type:District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Map Caption1:Location of Peshawar District in Pakistan
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Pakistan
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Subdivision Type2:Division
Subdivision Name2:Peshawar
Established Title:Established
Seat Type:Headquarters
Seat:Peshawar
Government Type:District Administration
Leader Title:Deputy Commissioner
Leader Name:N/A
Leader Title1:District Police Officer
Leader Name1:N/A
Leader Title2:District Health Officer
Leader Name2:N/A
Area Total Km2:1518
Population As Of:2023
Population Total:4758762
Population Rural:2,900,465
Population Urban:1,905,884
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:PST
Utc Offset1:+5
Blank Name Sec1:Languages
Blank Info Sec1:Pashto, Hindko
Total Type:Total

Peshawar District (Pushto; Pashto: پېښور ولسوالۍ, {{nq|ضلع پشور‎, Urdu: {{nq|ضلع پشاور‎) is a district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is the city of Peshawar, which is also the capital of Khyber Paktunkhwa.[1]

History

This district and the city has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. It was once the center of Gandhara and has subsequently been ruled by Persians, Greeks, Buddhists, Kushans, Afghans, Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs and the British. The original district of Peshawar was a district of the North-West Frontier Province of British India.[2]

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the old Peshawar District became Peshawar Division comprising the current districts of Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera. In July 1988, the former Charsadda tehsil was separated and attained the status of a separate district. In 1990, the Nowshera tehsil also was upgraded to the status of a district. Under the latest revision of Pakistan's administrative structure, promulgated in 2001, Peshawar was also given the status of a city district.

Demographics

Population

As of the 2023 census, Peshawar district has 690,976 households and a population of 4,758,762. The district has a sex ratio of 103.99 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 53.28%: 64.91% for males and 41.09% for females. 1,355,625 (28.54% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 1,905,975 (40.05%) live in urban areas.[3]

Language

At the time of the 2023, 93.07% of the district’s population spoke Pashto, 3.79% Hindko, 1.8% Urdu and 0.55% Punjabi as their first language.[4] Due to the settlement of Afghan refugees and language shift Pashto has gained ground at the expense of Hindko.

According to linguists, the nearly-extinct Tirahi language was likely spoken in the region before the arrival of the Afghans.[5] [6]

Religion

Muslims make up the majority in Peshawar. Peshawar once had significant minorities of Hindus and Sikhs living in the small towns and Peshawar city, but most fled during Partition. 1,800 Hindus and 1,400 Sikhs remain in the district. Christians however have continued to grow.

Religion! colspan="2"
1941[7] 2017[8] 2023[9]
335,87186.27%4,300,9374,713,00499.21%
33,5518.62%1,8111,8220.04%
15,4543.97%1,4810.03%
2,6180.67%25,12533,2490.70%
Zoroastrianism5~0%
Others1,8350.49%2,5618270.02%
Total Population389,329100%4,331,9594,750,388100%
Religious
group! colspan="2"
1881[10] 1891[11] 1901[12] 1911[13] 1921[14] 1931[15] 1941[16] [17]
546,117654,443732,870807,788836,222898,683769,589
39,32135,41740,18335,36748,14442,32151,212
4,0884,7424,2885,6047,6528,9746,890
3,1039,12511,31816,19615,32624,27124,030
39374649205924
3004300
00000218
42101170
Others3000000
Total population592,674703,768788,707865,009907,367974,321851,833

1897 Report

According to the 1897 records during the British Raj, most people living in Peshawar valley were Pathans and belonged to an agricultural community but there was also large number of Punjabi and Hindkowan communities living in the valley; all three ethnolinguistic groups religiously belonged to Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. Most people in the Peshawar city spoke and understood Urdu. Elite belonging to small towns such as big feudal Khan families, traders and almost all of Hindus also spoke Urdu. Persian was also spoken by elites of the Peshawar city and by traders from Kabul. Majority of the population of the district especially the agriculturists and Pathans only spoke Pashto.

92% of the total population of Peshawar Valley followed Islam and remainder 8% followed Hinduism, Sikhism and other religions. People belonging to these minority religions primarily lived in major cities such as Peshawar, Charsadda (now in the Charsadda District) and Hoti (now in the Mardan District) and mostly in cantonment areas of these cities. 97% of the population living in rural towns practiced Islam.[18]

Education

Peshawar District has many universities for various disciplines starting from Humanities, General Sciences, Sciences, Engineering Sciences to Medical Sciences, Agriculture Sciences and Management Sciences. Currently, there are nine medical colleges of which two are in the public sector, including Khyber Medical University, and seven in the private sector, which all are recognised and approved by Pakistan Medical and Dental Association.

The first public sector university was the University of Peshawar[19] which was established in 1950. The University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar[20] and the University of Agriculture, Peshawar[21] were also established in 1980 and 1981 respectively. The first private sector university CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences,[22] started functioning in 1986. Soon after, another university by the name of Brains[23] Institute and post graduate college was established. In 1995, a public sector management institute named as Institute of Management Sciences[24] was established, which became degree awarding institute in 2005.

In 2001, four (4) new private sector universities started working in Peshawar. The name of these universities are Qurtuba University,[25] Sarhad University of Science and IT,[26] Fast University, Peshawar Campus[27] and City University of Science and IT.[28] Gandhara University[29] was established in 2002 while Abasyn University[30] was created in 2007. In 2007, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established first public sector medical university, Khyber Medical University[31] [32] and the district also has 2 public sector medical colleges, one is Khyber Medical College and one for girls named as Khyber Girls Medical College.[33]

The first women university was established in 2012, when Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University[34] started working while private sector IQRA National University[35] was also established in 2012.

Apart from excellent range of universities, Peshawar district also has huge numbers of further education (Post School) institutes both in public and private sectors. The most renowned are Islamia College Peshawar, which was established in 1913 and was upgraded to become university in 2008 and Edwardes College Peshawar, which is the oldest of all institutions in the district started functioning in 1900.

State of Education in Peshawar

According to Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017 published by Alif Ailaan, Peshawar ranks 4th in Pakistan in terms of primary school infrastructure while it ranks 52nd in Pakistan for middle school infrastructure. In terms of education score, Peshawar ranks 64th in Pakistan with having a relatively low retention score. Beyond Primary Readiness in Peshawar is on the lower side as it ranks 62nd in Pakistan.

The main issues reported in Taleem Do! App for district Peshawar are overcrowded class rooms and lack of class rooms in schools.

Girls’ education is also one of the most reported issues in the app, with main focus on lesser number of Girls schools and also schools located at long distances.

Issues of lack of teachers, non-availability of science labs and lack of High Schools were also reported.

Issues regarding the high fee collections in private schools was also reported on multiple occasions.

Administration

The district Peshawar is administrated by Deputy commissioner who is chief administrative, land revenue officer and the representative of government in district. DC is assisted by Additional Deputy commissioner and Assistant commissioner. Peshawar is divided into seven tehsil which are further divided into village council (rural areas) and neighbourhood council (urban areas). There are total 357 councils in peshawar district out of which 130 are neighbourhood councils and 227 are village councils.Each tehsil has its own government known as tehsil municipal administration having an elected tehsil council and tehsil chairman except Peshawar city tehsil which is administrated by a city local government which is composed of an elected city council and an elected mayor.

Tehsils of Peshawar District

  1. Peshawar City Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل پشاور شہر)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|پېښور ښار تحصیل)
  2. Shah Alam Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل شاہ عالم)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|شاه عالم تحصیل)
  3. Mathra Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل متھرا)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|متهرا تحصیل)
  4. Chamkani Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل چمکنی)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|چمکني تحصیل)
  5. Badabher Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل بڈبھیر)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|بډبیر تحصیل)
  6. Peshtakhara Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل پشتخرہ)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|پشتخرې تحصیل)
  7. Hassan Khel Tehsil (Urdu: {{nq|تحصیل حسن خیل)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|حسن خېل تحصیل)
    • Frontier Region Peshawar (Urdu: {{nq|سرحدی علاقہ پشاور‎)(Pushto; Pashto: {{script/Arabic|پېښور سرحدي سیمه)

Neighbourhood and Village Councils of Peshawar District

1. Peshawar City TehsilVillage Councils = 9 Neighbourhood Councils =121 Total Councils = 130.2. Badhaber tehsilVillage Councils = 37 Neighbourhood Councils = 0 Total Councils = 37. 3. Chamkani tehsilVillage Councils = 42 Neighbourhood Councils = 4 Total Councils = 46. 4. Shah Alam tehsilVillage Councils = 41 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 43. 5. Pishtakhara tehsilVillage Councils = 34 Neighbourhood Councils = 2 Total Councils = 36. 6. Mathra tehsilVillage Councils = 53 Neighbourhood Councils = 1 Total Councils = 54.7. Hassan KhelVillage Councils = 11 Neighbourhood Councils = 0 Total Councils = 11.

Each Village and Neighborhood Council is composed of 7 Members which are as given below

1. Chairman of VC or NC

2. Vice Chairman of VC or NC

3. General Councilor

4. Women Councilor

5. Youth Councilor

6. Worker and Peasant Councilor

7. Minority Councilor

These members are elected by voter directly through local elections

Provincial Assembly Seats

According to new delimitation list made by election commission of Pakistan the district Peshawar is represented in provincial assembly through 14 constituencies. Currently all seats are empty because assembly is dissolved and new elections are going to happen soon.

Member of Provincial Assembly Constituency
assembly dissolved PK-69 Peshawar-I
assembly dissolved PK-70 Peshawar-II
assembly dissolved PK-71Peshawar-III
assembly dissolved PK-72 Peshawar-IV
assembly dissolved PK-73 Peshawar-V
assembly dissolved PK-74 Peshawar-VI
assembly dissolved PK-75 Peshawar-VII
assembly dissolved PK-76 Peshawar-VIII
assembly dissolved PK-77 Peshawar-IX
assembly dissolved PK-78 Peshawar-X
assembly dissolved PK-79 Peshawar-XI
assembly dissolved PK-80 Peshawar-XII
assembly dissolved PK-81 Peshawar-XIII
assembly dissolved PK-82 Peshawar-XIV

National Assembly Seats

The district is represented in the Pakistan National Assembly by five (5) members.[36]

Constituency Member of National Assembly
NA 28 Peshawar I Vacant
NA 29 Peshawar II Vacant
NA 30 Peshawar III Vacant
NA 31 Peshawar IV Vacant
NA 32 Peshawar V Vacant

See also

Bibliography

External links

34°N 116°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: District Health Profile Peshawar District (PDF). paiman.jsi.com. 2017-12-20.
  2. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V20_117.gif Peshawār District - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 20, p. 111.
  3. Web site: 7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1 . www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  4. Web site: 7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11 . .
  5. Turner . R. L. . 1934-01-01 . Review of Report on a Linguistic Mission to North-Western India . Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland . 66 . 4 . 801–803 . 10.1017/S0035869X00112675 . 25201006.
  6. Web site: Strand . Richard . 2001 . Indo-Âryan-Speaking Peoples of the Hindu-Kush Region . Nuristan.
  7. Web site: CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME X NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE . 14 October 2021.
  8. Web site: Pakistan Census 2017 District-Wise Tables: Peshawar . Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  9. Web site: 7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 9 . Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  10. Web site: Census of India, 1881 Report on the Census of the Panjáb Taken on the 17th of February 1881, vol. II. . saoa.crl.25057657 . 16 June 2024 . 1881 . 17.
  11. Web site: The Punjab and its feudatories, part II--Imperial Tables and Supplementary Returns for the British Territory . saoa.crl.25318669 . 22 June 2024 . 1891 . 14.
  12. Web site: Census of India 1901. [Vol. 17A]. Imperial tables, I-VIII, X-XV, XVII and XVIII for the Punjab, with the native states under the political control of the Punjab Government, and for the North-west Frontier Province. ]. saoa.crl.25363739 . 25 February 2024 . 1901 . 34.
  13. Web site: Census of India 1911. Vol. 13, North-west Frontier Province : part I, Report; part II, Tables. . saoa.crl.25394102 . 23 September 2021 . 1911 . 306.
  14. Web site: Census of India 1921. Vol. 14, North-west Frontier Province : part I, Report; part II, Tables. . saoa.crl.25430163 . 2 February 2023 . 1921 . 344.
  15. Web site: Census of India, 1931, vol. XV. North-west frontier province. Part I-Report. Part II-Tables . saoa.crl.25793233 . 7 February 2023 . Mallam . G. L. . Dundas . A. D. F. . 1933 . Peshawar, Printed by the manager, Government stationery and printing, 1933. . 373.
  16. Web site: Census of India, 1941. Vol. 10, North-West Frontier Province . saoa.crl.28215543 . 23 September 2021 . 1941 . 22.
  17. Web site: CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME X NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE. 14 October 2021.
  18. Book: The Church Missionary Review, Volume 48. Church Missionary Society. 1897. Cornell University. 0815797613. 757.
  19. Web site: University of Peshawar. UoP. CITS. University of Peshawar. 2017-12-04.
  20. Web site: University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan. www.uetpeshawar.edu.pk. 2017-12-04.
  21. Web site: The University of Agriculture, Peshawar-Pakistan. www.aup.edu.pk. 2017-12-04.
  22. Web site: CECOS – University of Information Technology and Emerging Sciences. www.cecos.edu.pk. en-US. 2017-12-04.
  23. Web site: The Brains Institute Peshawar. 2020-09-26. www.brains.edu.pk. en-US.
  24. Web site: IMSciences. www.imsciences.edu.pk. en-gb. 2017-12-08.
  25. Web site: Qurtuba University Peshawar. www.qurtuba.edu.pk. 2017-12-08.
  26. Web site: Sarhad University. www.suit.edu.pk. en. 2017-12-08.
  27. Web site: FAST-NUCES Peshawar National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences. pwr.nu.edu.pk. en-US. 2017-12-08.
  28. Web site: CUSIT: City University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar. www.cityuniversity.edu.pk. 2017-12-08.
  29. Web site: Gandhara University Peshawar Pakistan: Home Page. www.gandhara.edu.pk. 2017-12-08.
  30. Web site: Abasyn University. abasyn.edu.pk. en. 2017-12-08.
  31. Web site: Khyber Medical University Committed to Excellence in Medical Education and Research. www.kmu.edu.pk. en. 2017-12-09.
  32. News: University status for Khyber Medical College planned. Newspaper. the. 2011-09-21. DAWN.COM. 2017-12-12. en-US.
  33. Web site: Pakistan Medical & Dental Council > About Us > Recognized Medical/Dental Colleges. Council. Pakistan Medical & Dental. www.pmdc.org.pk. en-US. 2017-12-09. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120116114959/http://www.pmdc.org.pk/AboutUs/RecognizedMedicalDentalColleges/tabid/109/Default.aspx. 2012-01-16.
  34. Web site: Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar. SBBWU. ITC. www.sbbwu.edu.pk. 2017-12-09.
  35. Web site: IQRA NAtional University Peshawar, Hayatabad. www.inu.edu.pk. en-GB. 2017-12-09.
  36. News: Report . Bureau . 2002-08-09 . PESHAWAR: Peshawar gets 4 NA, 11 PA seats . en-US . DAWN.COM . 2017-11-30.