Charsadda District, Pakistan

Chārsadda District
چارسدہ ولسوالۍ
Bala Hisar - Charsadda - Northern Mound.JPG
Bacha Khan Square In Charsadda.jpg
Top: Bala Hisar mound
Bottom: Bacha Khan Square in Charsadda
Location in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Location in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Country Pakistan
Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
DivisionPeshawar
HeadquartersCharsadda
Government
 • TypeDistrict Administration
 • Deputy CommissionerSaad Hussain
 • District Police OfficerN/A
 • District Health OfficerN/A
Area
 • Total996 km2 (385 sq mi)
Population
 • Total1,610,960
 • Density1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
 • Urban270,204
 • Rural1,340,756
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)
Number of Tehsils3
Websitecharsadda.kp.gov.pk

Charsadda District (Pashto: چارسدہ ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع چارسدہ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Prior to its establishment as a separate district in 1998, it was a tehsil within Peshawar District. Pashtuns make up majority of the population of the district. District headquarter is town of Charsadda, which was part of the Peshawar ex-metropolitan region.

Overview and history

The district lies between 34-03' and 34-38' north latitudes and 71-28' and 71-53' east longitudes. Charsadda is located in the west of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is bounded by Malakand District to the north, Mardan district to the east, Nowshera and Peshawar districts to the south and Mohmand district to the west. The district covers an area of 996 square kilometers.

Charsadda was once part of the kingdom of Gandhara, however around 516 BC Gandhara became part of the seventh satrapy or province of the Achaemenid Empire and paid tribute to Darius the Great of Persia, until its overthrow by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.

After the death of Alexander in 323 BC the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya rose to power and brought Gandhara under his sway. According to a popular tradition, Emperor Ashoka built one of his stupas there. This stupa was mentioned by the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hieun Tsang, who visited in 630, according to him Po-Lu-Sha (as he called the stupa) was 2.5 miles (4.0 km) in circumference.

A Brahminical temple to the east and a monastery to the north which according to Buddhist legends was the place where Buddha preached the Law. The name Gandhara disappeared after Mahmud of Ghazni conquered the area and converted it to Islam in 1026.

Bactrian Greeks

This area was also ruled by the Bactrian Greeks between 250–125 BC which was succeeded by the Indo-Greek Kingdom who ruled until 10 AD.

Shabqadar

Shabqadar is a tehsil of District Charsadda 17 miles (27 km) north west of Peshawar. A fort was built here by the Sikhs called Sharkargarh. The town was burnt by Mohmands in 1897 It has since been rebuilt.

Bibi Syeda Dheri

Bibi Syeda Dheri is a site half a mile to the north of Umarzai village in Charsadda tehsil here is a mound 60 ft (18 m) high. Believed to be the site of the stupa erected to commemorate the conversion by Buddha of goddess Hariti who used to devour children of the locality. There is also a shrine of a lady saint Bibi Syeda.

Shar-i-Napursan

Shar-i-Napursan is an archaeological site in Charsadda tehsil near the village Rajjar Excavations have unearthed two distinct settlements of the Buddhist period and two of the Muslim period. Coins of Manander, Hermaeous and Kanishka have been unearthed.

Palatu Dheri

Piedestal of a Buddha statue, with Year 384 inscription, from Palatu Dheri.

Palatu Dheri is another archaeological site near Charsadda tehsil. A mile from Shar-i-Napursan A mound which contains the remains of a stupa, which according to Hieun Tsiang, was built by one Deven and some coins which connect them both to the first century AD have been unearthed Other finds include the image of the goddess Kalika-devi. Three inscribed jars, which were presented by some laymen to "the Community of the Four Quarters", are now in the Peshawar Museum.

Charsadda

The city of Charsadda originally known as Pushkalavati is first mentioned in the Hindu epic story the Ramayana.

Bala Hisar of Charsadda

Bala Hisar was excavated twice by the head of the Archaeological Survey of India, Sir John Marshall, in 1902 and by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1958. According to South Asian Archaeology Research Group of Bradford University Wheeler suggested that Bala Hisar "was founded by the Persians in the sixth century BC as a colony guarding the eastern edge of their empire".

Demographics

At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 1,610,960, of which 817,651 were males and 793,298 females. Rural population was 1,340,756 (83.23%) while the urban population was 270,204 (16.77%). The literacy rate was 50.72% - the male literacy rate was 66.17% while the female literacy rate was 35.04%. 873 people in the district were from religious minorities, mainly Christians. Pashto was the predominant language, spoken by 99.13% of the population.

The population of the district over the years is shown in the table below.

Census Year Population Rural Area Urban Area
1951 282,618 233,233 49,385
1961 364,088 288,330 75,758
1972 513,193 408,129 105,064
1981 630,811 498,977 131,834
1998 1,022,364 829,513 192,851
2017 1,610,960 1,340,756 270,204

Administration

The district is administratively subdivided into 3 Tehsils comprising a total of 58 Union Councils:

Tehsil No. of Union Councils
Charsadda 34
Tangi 12
Shabqadar 12

National Assembly Seats

The district is represented in the National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:

Constituency MNA Party
NA-24 (Charsadda-I) Malik Anwar Taj PTI
NA-25 (Charsadda-II) Vacant PTI

Provincial Assembly Seats

The district is represented in the Provincial Assembly by five MPAs who represent the following constituencies:

Member of Provincial Assembly Party Affiliation Constituency Year
Khalid Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-59 (Charsadda-I) 2018
Shakeel Bashir khan Awami National Party PK-60 (Charsadda-II)
Sultan Mohammad Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-61 (Charsadda-III)
Fazle Shakoor Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-62 (Charsadda-IV)
Mohammad Arif Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-63 (Charsadda-V)

Towns and villages

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-01-13 05:59 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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