Kasur
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| Kasur قصور |
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| General Information | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Punjab |
| Altitude | 218 metres AMSL |
| Area | 3,995 km² |
| Calling code | 049 |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+5) |
| No. of Towns | 12 (Kots) |
| Population | 2375875 1998 |
| density | 595 persons/km² |
| Government | |
| City Mayor (Nazim) | Rana Hayat |
| No. of Union Councils | 26 |
| No. of NGOs Working | |
| Emblem | |
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| Website | |
| Kasur City Website | |
Kasur (Urdu/Punjabi: قصور), the city of Bulleh Shah, located 55 km southeast of Lahore, is one of the oldest cities in Pakistan. Kasur is adjacent to the Indo-Pak Border. It is a major tourist attraction because of the famous guard changing ceremony.
It is famous for its very spicy fish, a sweet dish called Andrassay, Falooda and Kasuri methi. Apart from that, it is also the birthplace of Noor Jehan, the famous Pakistani singer and actress who gained popularity in the 1950's.
There are different traditions about the name of Kasur. One is that the town was founded by Kasur/ Kasu the son of Ram Chander and named after him as Kasurpur. The other tradition tells us that the town was founded by Pathan families of Kabul (The capital of, nowadays Afghanistan) during the period of Mughal King Akbar. The Pathans constructed 12 small forts known as Kot. There were about twelve Kots named after the heads of various families. These names still exist. In Arabic, Kot or fort is known as Kaser (Qaser) and plural of Kaser is Kasur, the name of the town. [1]
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[edit] History
According to legend Kasur was founded by Kusha son of Rama, his twin brother King Lav founded the city of Lahore. Within historical times, Kasur has been alloted by Mongols now called Mughal to Pathans or Afghans of Kabul and remains in the possession of them as a remarkable colony of Pathans, perhaps the most remarkable on this side of the Indus. There is little doubt, however, that the site was occupied by a Rajput town long before the period of the earliest Muslim invasions. There are various traditions about the origin of the name of Kasur.
Kasur District came into existence on July 1, 1976 after being detached from Lahore District. It is named after Kasur town situated 55 Kilometers south of Lahore. It has a glorious past set in spiritual and cultural traditions nurtured by Sufi Saints, like Bulleh Shah musicians like Ustad Ghulam Muhammad and singers like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Noor Jahan. Kasur though not as old as Lahore, is a brother town of Lahore.[2]
Kasur as bordering district and district headquarters town is the most important after Lahore built upon the high bank which marks the termination of the Majha and looking down upon the
Low-Lands of the Satluj Hither. It is a place of great antiquity and is identified by the historians as one of the place visited by the Chinese pilgrim, Howang Tsang in the 7th century A.D but it does no appear in history until late in the Muslim period when it was settled as a Pathan colony from east of the Indus. These migrants entered the town either in the reign of Baber or in that of his grandson Akbar and founded a considerable principality with territory on both sides of the Satluj. When the Sikhs rose to power, they met great opposition from the Pathan of Kasur. The chiefs of the Bhangi confederacy stormed the town in the 1763 and again in 1770 and although they succeeded in holding the entire principality for a while, the Pathan leaders re-established their independence in 1794 and resisted many subsequent attacks also. The town of Kasur was incorporated in the Kingdom of Lahore by Ranjit Singh in 1807 and had been a municipality since 1885.
[edit] Customs and Traditions
Kasur has a glorious past set in spiritual and cultural traditions, nurtured by Sufi Saints like Baba Bulleh Shah, Baba Kamal Chishti, Shah Inayat Qadiri, Imam Shah Bukhari, on one hand and by musicians, singers like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Malka-e-Tarrannam Noor Jehan etc. on the other hand. The important cultural events in the district are the Urs of Baba Bulleh Shah and Urs of Baba Imam Shah Bukhari.[3]
[edit] Tribes and Races
The principal castes and tribes residing in Kasur district are Meo Rajputs belongs to Rajasthan area of India. Arain are descendants from the group of soldiers of Muhammad bin Qasim from Areeha (Jericho) were called by their Arabic name "Areehai", which changed to Arain by the usage in local tongues. Mogul or Mughal belong to Chagatai Genghis Khan 's family, Pathan or Afghan belong to Israil's family, Ansari, Jats, Rajput, Mayo, Kamboh, Dogar, Sheikh,Khojas, Khokhar and others, also live in Kasur.After the partation of the Indian Sub Continant, therein 1947 the refugees from east Punjab settled in this district also belong largely to these tribes and castes. There are artists and artisans of various professions and trades also. They include blacksmiths, carpenters, potters, leather makers, shoe makers, barbers, weavers, and masons. Mazaras (peasants) are generally paid in kind at the time of each harvest. These workers are found from any caste, creed, culture and religion. The Arain and Rajput constitute the majority of the population. About 61 per cent population of the district is Meo Rajput. The next most numerous tribe is Arain consisting of about 30 per cent of the population, Jats with about 05 per cent and Sheikh at 4 per cent, while Sayyed, Mughal, Chagatai, Afghan, Pathan, Ansari, Sheikh and Kamboh comprise lesser percentages and are mostly settled in towns.
[edit] Meo, Indian Cultural Touch In Pakistan
Meo (Hindi: मेव, Urdu: میو) is a prominent Muslim Rajput tribe from Northern India and Pakistan.Meos inhabit a territorial region that falls between the important urban centers of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Mewat, consisting of some adjoining parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, where the Meos have lived for a millennium, was a terrain of peasant radicalism in the pre-independence period. It saw intensive work by the communist leaders such as the historian-activist Kunwar Mohammad Ashraf and others then working with the Indian National Congress. There was a close inter community relationship between the Meos and other peasant-pastoral castes such as the Jats, the Ahirs and the Gujars. In Haryana the Mewat region falls in the districts of Gurgaon and Faridabad.
Meo men are tall and dark, with ponderous turbans woven around their heads, dressed in long flowing robes. The Meos are about a million-strong tribe, a Muslim Rajput community living in southern Haryana and north eastern Rajasthan known for its admixture of Hindu and Islamic customs, practices and beliefs. Only one in ten Meos is able to properly read and write. The Meos have two identities, both of which they are equally proud of. On the one hand, they claim to be Muslims, tracing their conversion to various Sufi saints who began settling in their territory from the eleventh century onwards, and whose shrines or 'dargahs' today dot the entire Mewati countryside. On the other hand, they also claim to be Rajputs, and believe that they are direct descendants of Krishna and Rama. These Hindu deities are respectfully referred to by the Meos as 'dada' or grandfather'.
Almost every Meo village has a mosque, but in many places Meos also worship at Hindu temples. Many Rajasthani Meos still retain mixed Hindu-Muslim names. Names such as Ram Khan or Shankar Khan are not unusual in the Meo tracts in Alwar. The Muslim community of Meos is highly Hinduised. They celebrate Diwali and Holi as they celebrate Ids. They do not marry within ones Gotras like Hindus of the North though Islam permits marriage with cousins. Solemnization of marriage among Meos is not complete without both nikah as in Islam and circling of fire as among Hindus. People with double identities, Meos believe that they are direct descendants of Krishna and Rama even as they claim to be among the unnamed prophets of God referred to in the Holy Quran.
Who is a Meo? Try and insult the Pandun Ka Kara before the Meos, see the angry result and you will get the answer. The Meo version of the Mahabharat called the Pandun Ka Kara, is performed by Mirasis or Jogis to an audience comprised of Meo Muslims, as also non-Meos. The authors, performers and audience are, thus, all Muslim. The Meos regard the Mahabharata clans as the ancestors of their own lineage. The folk epic then is far more than mere "myth" and is central to the cultural identity of the Meo Muslims. It is important to understand what the great epic means to them, how they remake, modify and recreate it and also how in the process they both draw upon, modify and critique the so-called "great tradition" of Vedic and Puranic Hinduism.
Muslim musicians, called Mirasis, dressed in flowing white Kurtas and dhotis and bright crimson turbans. They play a musical rendering of the 'Pandun Ke Kara', the Meo Muslim version of the famous Hindu epic, the Mahabharat, after a brief ode in praise of the Prophet Muhammad and the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer. The entire epic in its Meo form, rendered in the Mewati dialect, consists of some 800 verses or 'dohas', and takes more than three hours to recite. It relates the story of the five Pandava brothers, whom it describes as ancestors of the Meos. Finally, it ends with verses in praise of its composer, an early eighteenth century Meo Muslim called Sadullah Khan. 'Pandun Ke Kada' is the only Muslim form of the Mahabharat that exists. Sadullah Khan is regarded by the Meos as their 'national poet' ('qaumi shair'). Today, barring a few Mirasis, no one else can recite the Pandun Ke Kada.
[edit] Kots (residential areas)
The city of Kasur is an aggregation of fortified hamlets, called kots, small in themselves, but together forming a considerable town. In 1592 Originally there were 12 principal residentil colonies were built under the rule of Mogul Chagatai Genghis Khan's descendant Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar in promulgation with the grace extended from Moguls to Pathans. The names of 12 kots are as fallows:
- Kot Pacca Qila
- Kot Nawan Qila
- Kot Azam Khan
- Kot Ghulam Mohyyulddin Khan
- Kot Murad Khan
- Kot Haleem Khan
- Kot Peeraan
- Kot Fateh Din Khan
- Kot Usman Khan
- Kot Badar-ud-Din Khan
- Kot Ruken Din Khan
- Kot Nawab Hussain Khan
The following residential areas are built latter on.
- Munir Shaheed Colony
- Kot Ghulam Muhammad Khan
- Kot Mir Baz Khan
- Kot Sherbaz Khan
- Kot Abdul Qadir
- Rod Kot
- Dhoor Kot
- Jinnah Colony
- Baghdadia Colony
- Bulley Shah Colony
- Mushtaq Colony
- Gulberg Colony
- Fazal Colony
- Roshan Colony
- Shakoor Colony
- Bhasar Pura
- Salamat Pura
- Din Garh
- Ali Garh
- Niaz Nagar
- Jamat Pura
- Kirshna Nagar
- Basti Chiragh Shah
- Basti Barat Shah
- Basti Qadir Abad
- Basti Babian Wali
- Basti Noor Shah Wali
- Garden View Housing Scheme Steel Bagh
[edit] Weather
The city has extremes of climate; the summer season begins from April and continues till September. June is the hottest month. The mean maximum and minimum temperature for this month are about 40 and 27 degree centigrade respectively. The winter seasons lasts from November to March. January is the coldest month. The mean maximum and minimum temperatures for the coldest month are 20 and 6 degree centigrade respectively.
[edit] Rainfall
Towards the end of June monsoon conditions appear and during the following two and a half months spell of rainy season alternates with intervals of sultry weather. The winter rain falls during January, February and March ranging from 23 to 31 millimeters.Details data on temperature and precipitation is not available for Kasur. These are however, available for the nearest meteorological station Lahore which as close proxy of the district and can be easily found.
[edit] Banks
- Bank Al Habib Railway Road Kasur
- Bank Alfalah Limited
- Habib Bank Limited(2 branches)
- National Bank (2 branches)
- Muslim Commercial Bank Limited (8 branches)
- United Bank Limited
- Allied Bank Limited (2 branches)
[edit] Schools and colleges
- Government Islamia College, Kasur
- Moon Star Public High School Krishna Nager Kasur
- Saint Paul Joseph Christen School
- Kasur Model High School
- Govt. High School Kacha Pacca
- Kasur Public School, Kasur
- Bhatti International Public School
- Main Khara Road, Kasur]
- Dhing Shah Model High School, Khudian
- Sadiq memorial High School, Khudian
- Government Model High School, Kasur
- Government Degree College for Women, Kasur
- Pakistan Model High School, Kasur
- Allama Iqbal Cadit High School, Kasur
- Bank Model High School, Kasur
- Sharif Model High School (Campuses in Bhatta Gorian Wala, Kot Rukin Din Khan Kasur, Muhalla Haji Shah Sharif, Near Khan Mehal Cinma Raiwind Road and Kot Usman Khan)
- Al-Madina Ideal High School Khara Road Kasur
- Pappa Educational Academy of Literature And Sciences Kasur
Beaconhouse Educators, a franchise of the Beaconhouse group, has recently opened up in Kasur, and is providing quality English medium education.
[edit] Developments
[edit] Sui gas supply
In 2004 the work for laying a gas pipe line from Lahore to Kasur was completed, allowing the residents of Kasur access to a gas supply for domestic purposes. But most of the city area has not yet received the gas.
[edit] Mobile service
Almost all of the major Mobile Companies have their stations in Kasur. [citation needed]
[edit] Kasur-Lahore Motorway
The Kasur-Lahore Motorway motorway, a 6-lane highway inaugurated by President Pervez Musharraf is under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. This is particularly important to Kasur's development as many people commute from Kasur to Lahore on a regular basis [citation needed].
[edit] Industries
[edit] Taneries
Kasur is famous in all over the world for producing supreme quality Leather and Leather made ups. Here is some main Tanneries of Kasur.
- Akhtar Tanneries (Exporters of Leather & Leather Garments)
- Yousaf Tanneries (Exporters of Leather garments in Kasur)
- Riaz Tanneries (Exporter of Leather Garments)
- Leader Tanneries (Exporters of Leather Garments)
- Allah Wasaya & Company (Exporters of Leather Garments) www.awleather.com
- Hakim Ali Tanneries (Exporters of Leather Garments)
- Hashmat Tanneries (Leather Garments Exporters)
[edit] Textiles
- Fatima Sharif Textiles (Manufacturers of Canvas and all related items)
[edit] Others
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Kasur District
- Lahore, a brother city of Kasur
- Meo
