Pakpattan is the city of the great Sufi Saint Baba Nasreen of Chisti. The original name of Pakpattan was "Ajodhan". It was renamed Pakpattan after it was used for the first time by Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakar. The word Pakpattan consists of two words "pak" and "pattan" meaning "clean dockland" (Pattan means a dockland or place where ships or boats stop). The city was given this name by Saint Baba Farid. It is said, once Saint Farid having ablution on the bank of the River Sutlej, one local man told the Saint that this water is unclean and this place is dirty then Saint Farid replied to him "no it's clean water and a clean place' in the local language "Pak Pattan'. However, Mughal emperor Akbar first declared its name 'Pakpattan'.
The main reason of the fame of this city is due to Sufi Baba Farid. Basically he is the man who renamed Ajodhan as Pakpattan. Before his arrival at Pakpattan, there were at least 30,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Pakpattan. He came to Pakpattan on the orders of his Murshad (teacher) Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki for preaching of Islam.
After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh conquered Pakpattan District. During the period of British rule, Pakpattan district increased in population and importance.
On 6 July 1910, First Rail Link was established to Pakpattan. 345.7 km (213.4 mi) long Lodhran - Kasur section was opened. This section was later dismantled during World War I, reconstructed and opened again between 1923 and 1924. On 15 April 2002, a new Karachi to Lahore express railway via Pakpattan was introduced. The name of the train is Fareed Express.[4]
At the time of the 2017 census, Pakpattan had a sex ratio of 965 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 52.70% - 62.44% for males and 42.69% for females. 288,992 (15.84%) lived in urban areas. 515,533 (28.26%) were under 10 years of age.[6] In 2023, the district had 344,744 households and a population of 2,136,170.[1]
At the time of the 2023 census, 95.42% of the population spoke Punjabi and 3.5% Urdu as their first language.[10]
According to the 1998 census, the predominant first language[11] is Punjabi, spoken by 95.9% of the population, followed by Urdu with 3.7%.[12]: 17 Haryanvi, also called Rangari, is spoken among Ranghar, Rajput, while the Meo have their own language which is called Mewati
Agriculture
The Pakpattan District is known for the fertility of its soil and most of the population of Pakpattan district makes a living on agriculture. The main crops are wheat, rice, cotton, maize (corn), sugar cane, etc. The primary fruits and vegetables that are harvested are mango, guava, carrots, potatoes, oranges and okra.
^1941 figures are for Pakpattan tehsil of the former Montgomery District, which roughly corresponds to present-day Pakpattan district. Historic district borders may not be an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
^"Mother tongue": defined as the language of communication between parents and children, and recorded of each individual.
^1998 District Census report of Pakpattan. Census publication. Vol. 52. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 1999.
