West Punjab
# West Punjab

West Punjab (Punjabi: ‎لہندا پنجاب‎; Urdu: مغربی پنجاب) was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. It was established from the western-half of British Punjab, following the independence of Pakistan. The province covered an area of 159,344 km sq (61523 sq mi), including much of the current Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Territory, but excluding the former Princely state of Bahawalpur. Lahore, being the largest city and the cultural centre, served as the capital of the province. The province was composed of four divisions (Lahore, Sargodha, Multan and Rawalpindi) and was bordered by the state of Bahawalpur to the south-east, the province of Baluchistan to the south-west and Sind to the south, North-West Frontier Province to the north-west, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the north. It shared International border with Indian state of East Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir to the north-east. It was dissolved and merged into West Pakistan upon creation of One Unit Scheme, in 1955.

## History

The creation of Pakistan in 1947 led to the division of the Punjab Province of British India into two new provinces. The largely Sikh and Hindu East Punjab became part of the new nation of India while the largely Muslim West Punjab became part of the new nation of the Dominion of Pakistan. The name of the province was shortened to Punjab in 1950. West Punjab was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhary Muhammad Ali. When that province was dissolved, the area of the former province of West Punjab was combined with the former state of Bahawalpur to form a new Punjab Province.

## Government

The offices of Governor of West Punjab and Chief Minister of West Punjab lasted from 15 August 1947, until 14 October 1955. The first Governor was Sir Francis Mudie with Iftikhar Hussain Khan as the first Chief Minister. Both offices were abolished in 1955, when the province of West Pakistan was created. The last Governor of West Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, became the first Governor of West Pakistan.

| Tenure | Governor of West Punjab |
| - | - |
| 15 August 1947 – 2 August 1949 | Sir Francis Mudie |
| 2 August 1949 – 24 November 1951 | Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar |
| 24 November 1951 – 2 May 1953 | Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar |
| 2 May 1953 – 24 June 1954 | Mian Aminuddin |
| 26 September 1954 – 26 November 1954 | Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah |
| 27 November 1954 – 14 October 1955 | Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani |
| 14 October 1955 | Province of West Punjab dissolved |
| Tenure | Chief Minister of West Punjab | Political Party |
| 15 August 1947 – 25 January 1949 | Iftikhar Hussain Khan | |
| 25 January 1949 – 5 April 1952 | Governor's Rule | |
| 5 April 1952 – 3 April 1953 | Mian Mumtaz Daultana | Pakistan Muslim League |
| 3 April 1953 – 21 May 1955 | Malik Firoz Khan Nun | Pakistan Muslim League |
| 21 May 1955 – 14 October 1955 | Abdul Hamid Khan Dasti | |
| 14 October 1955 | Province of West Punjab dissolved | |

## Demographics

### Religion

Religions in West Punjab, Pakistan region $(1941)^{:42}$

At Independence there was a Muslim majority in West Punjab with a significant Hindu and Sikh minority. Nearly all of these minorities left West Punjab for India, to be replaced by large numbers of Muslims fleeing from the opposite direction.

Religion in the Districts & Princely States of West Punjab, Pakistan region $(1941)^{:42}$ :

| District/ Princely State | Islam | Islam | Hinduism | Hinduism | Sikhism | Sikhism | Christianity | Christianity | Jainism | Jainism | Others | Others | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| District/ Princely State | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Lahore District | 1,027,772 | 60.62% | 284,689 | 16.79% | 310,646 | 18.32% | 70,147 | 4.14% | 1,951 | 0.12% | 170 | 0.01% | 1,695,375 | 100% |
| Multan District | 1,157,911 | 78.01% | 249,872 | 16.83% | 61,628 | 4.15% | 14,290 | 0.96% | 552 | 0.04% | 80 | 0.01% | 1,484,333 | 100% |
| Lyallpur District | 877,518 | 62.85% | 204,059 | 14.61% | 262,737 | 18.82% | 51,948 | 3.72% | 35 | 0% | 8 | 0% | 1,396,305 | 100% |
| Bahawalpur State | 1,098,814 | 81.93% | 174,408 | 13% | 46,945 | 3.5% | 3,048 | 0.23% | 351 | 0.03% | 17,643 | 1.32% | 1,341,209 | 100% |
| Montgomery District | 918,564 | 69.11% | 210,966 | 15.87% | 175,064 | 13.17% | 24,432 | 1.84% | 49 | 0% | 28 | 0% | 1,329,103 | 100% |
| Sialkot District | 739,218 | 62.09% | 231,319 | 19.43% | 139,409 | 11.71% | 75,831 | 6.37% | 3,250 | 0.27% | 1,470 | 0.12% | 1,190,497 | 100% |
| Gujrat District | 945,609 | 85.58% | 84,643 | 7.66% | 70,233 | 6.36% | 4,449 | 0.4% | 10 | 0% | 8 | 0% | 1,104,952 | 100% |
| Shahpur District | 835,918 | 83.68% | 102,172 | 10.23% | 48,046 | 4.81% | 12,770 | 1.28% | 13 | 0% | 2 | 0% | 998,921 | 100% |
| Gujranwala District | 642,706 | 70.45% | 108,115 | 11.85% | 99,139 | 10.87% | 60,829 | 6.67% | 1,445 | 0.16% | 0 | 0% | 912,234 | 100% |
| Sheikhupura District | 542,344 | 63.62% | 89,182 | 10.46% | 160,706 | 18.85% | 60,054 | 7.04% | 221 | 0.03% | 1 | 0% | 852,508 | 100% |
| Jhang District | 678,736 | 82.61% | 129,889 | 15.81% | 12,238 | 1.49% | 763 | 0.09% | 5 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 821,631 | 100% |
| Rawalpindi District | 628,193 | 80% | 82,478 | 10.5% | 64,127 | 8.17% | 9,014 | 1.15% | 1,337 | 0.17% | 82 | 0.01% | 785,231 | 100% |
| Muzaffargarh District | 616,074 | 86.42% | 90,643 | 12.72% | 5,882 | 0.83% | 227 | 0.03% | 0 | 0% | 23 | 0% | 712,849 | 100% |
| Attock District | 611,128 | 90.42% | 43,209 | 6.39% | 20,120 | 2.98% | 1,392 | 0.21% | 13 | 0% | 13 | 0% | 675,875 | 100% |
| Jhelum District | 563,033 | 89.42% | 40,888 | 6.49% | 24,680 | 3.92% | 893 | 0.14% | 159 | 0.03% | 5 | 0% | 629,658 | 100% |
| Dera Ghazi Khan District | 512,678 | 88.19% | 67,407 | 11.59% | 1,072 | 0.18% | 87 | 0.01% | 106 | 0.02% | 0 | 0% | 581,350 | 100% |
| Mianwali District | 436,260 | 86.16% | 62,814 | 12.41% | 6,865 | 1.36% | 358 | 0.07% | 23 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 506,321 | 100% |
| Shakargarh Tehsil | 149,600 | 51.32% | 116,553 | 39.98% | 20,573 | 7.06% | 4,779 | 1.64% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 291,505 | 100% |
| Biloch Trans–Frontier Tract | 40,084 | 99.6% | 160 | 0.4% | 2 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 40,246 | 100% |
| Total | 13,022,160 | 75.06% | 2,373,466 | 13.68% | 1,530,112 | 8.82% | 395,311 | 2.28% | 9,520 | 0.05% | 19,534 | 0.11% | 17,350,103 | 100% |
| Note: Territory comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, Pakistan. |||||||||||||||

### Language

The official language of West Punjab was Urdu but most of the population spoke Punjabi. The linguist George Abraham Grierson in his multi volume Linguistic Survey of India (1904–1928) considered the various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken in North, West, and South of Lahore in what is now Pakistani Punjab, as constituting instead a distinct language from Punjabi. (The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.) Grierson proposed to name this putative language "Lahnda", and he dubbed as "Southern Lahnda" the coherent dialect cluster now known as Saraiki spoken in Multan Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur division and "North Lahnda" now known as Potwari spoken in Rawalpindi division and "Western Lahnda" now known as Hindko spoken in the regions bordering Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

## Contemporary usage

The term is often used to refer to the Pakistani Punjab.

