Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the province of Pakistan and Peshawar is a district and capital of KPK. Peshawar is situated in the east of Islamabad, which is the capital of Pakistan. Peshawar is the 6th massive city of Pakistan, comprising a population of 1970042 dwellers.
The article has all the data regarding the city, Peshawar.
Community
It estimated in 2007 that Peshawar had a community of 1.97 million residents.
Language of Peshawar
Peshawar’s primary language is Pashtu. 91% of the population speak Pashto. In contrast, the rest of the 9 percent of the population speak Hindko, Urdu, and English.
Transportation
Peshawar is linked with all important cities of Pakistan through National Railways and Highways. However, it is connected with the other regions via AirPort.
Roads
The Peshawar is associated with Rawalpindi, Karachi, Islamabad, Khanewal, and Quetta via Highways and Motorways. Whereas
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) of Peshawar also correlates with the other areas of this city. It is linked to Rawalpindi, Karachi, Balochistan, and Punjab via railways.
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Peshawar Airport
Bacha Khan International AirPort connects Peshawar’s people with other regions such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, European countries, America, and Bahrain.
Weather of Peshawar
Peshawar’s weather is dry and scorched in summers, while in winters, Peshawar is extremely cold.
Festivals
Peshawar’s people celebrate many Festivities; likewise, Eid -ul- Adha, Eid -ul- Fitr, Basant, Independence Day, and many other wedding ceremonies.
Agriculture
Peshawar has great agricultural lands. The district’s main crops are tomato, rice, potato, corn, chili, and wheat. The significant fruits of the community contain Banana, Mango, Grapes, and Guava. Also, Peshawar has 29 percent of forests.
Sports
Numerous games are played by people, including cricket, snooker, football, volleyball, the Olympics, and table tennis. Peshawar Zalmi is the native cricket team of Peshawar who participates in every Pakistan Super League tournament (PSL).
As Peshawar is a historic city, so it also contains some landmarks and famous places;
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Famous Places of Peshawar
Qissa Khwani Bazaar
The Qissa Khwani Bazaar is a bazaar in Peshawar. Qissa Khwani means the ‘storyteller.’
History of Qissa Khwani Bazaar
Dilip Kumar, an Indian film actor, was born in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on the 11th of December in 1922, and he was from the Awan family. Raj Kapoor, the actor, was also born in Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Furthermore, Shah Rukh Khan’s kin still resides in the bazaar.
On the 23rd of April, in 1930, almost 400 defenseless protesters were shot by the British government’s troopers in Qissa Khwani Bazaar’s massacre. The killings ignited revolts across British India and hurled the just-formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement into significance.
Kapoor Haveli
Kapoor Haveli is known as the famous edifice in the city of Peshawar nowadays. It was once the residence of the Indian Kapoor family. It was built before the separation of India between 1918 and 1922.
Prithviraj’s son, Raj Kapoor, and his younger brother were born in the Kapoor haveli. The Kapoors are known as the Punjabi Hindus.
After the separation of Pakistan and India in 1947, the Hindus left the city and the building. A local soul from Charsadda town in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan purchased this building in an auction and sold it to Peshawar in 1968.
Chowk Yadgar
Chowk Yadgar, which means “Memorial Square,” is prominent in Peshawar’s former walled city. Chowk Yadgar is situated at the intersection of various main highways and markets found in the old town.
Chowk Yadgar is formerly known as the Hasting’s Square as this was the first “Dome Shaped” memorial at that square or yard. Chowk Yadgar was initially built in 1883 in remembrance of Colonel C. Hastings.
Shaji ki Dheri
Shaji-ki-Dheri is the area of an old stupa known as Kanishka stupa. It is approximately 6 kilometers away from Peshawar, Pakistan. Excavations of Shaji ki Dheri were done by an American archaeologist named David Brainard Spooner 1908-09 for an Archaeological questionnaire.
David Spooner publicized a paper containing all the data regarding excavations at Shaji-ki-Dheri.
Pashto Academy
Pashto Academy is an institution for language regulation. This Academy is established at the University of Peshawar. Pashto Academy has the responsibility for the standardization, advancement, and improvement of the Pashto language among the people. The support of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Government made the establishment of Pashto Academy possible in 1955 with the help of Maulana Abdul Qadir, the first director of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pashto Academy is an exploration and publication institution concentrating on Pashto linguistic growth and study. Pashtun culture, history, literature, and the arts are researched and studied by the Academy.
Before its foundation, the Pashto Academy has yielded over 500 magazines in Pashto, including modern literature, classical texts, critical literature, translations in Pashto, scientific works, journals, research publications, booklets, and Pashto lexicon.
The Academy authorizes a library that is the ocean of knowledge, including printed Pashto books, articles, rare texts, photographs of well-known philosophers and poets, and media. Therefore, the Pashto Academy also authorizes a museum and an art gallery inaugurated in 2009, which portrays Peshawar’s cultural heritage.
The Government of Pakistan has also set up a Research Cell inside the Academy that administers studies on the life and struggles of Khushal Khan Khattak, considered one of the most significant poets of classical Pashtun.
Qasim Ali Khan Mosque
The Qasim Ali Khan Mosque is a 17th-century mosque in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This holy place is situated in Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Mohallah Baqir Shah. During Emperor Aurangzeb’s supremacy, this mosque was built by Qasim Ali Khan, who was an administrator and a news writer in the government of Kabul. The story of its manufacturing is the embodiment of mythology.
Qasim Ali Khan was the first engineer who set a path through the Khyber Pass and was later appointed as the governor of Peshawar and Kabul.
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Mahabat Khan Mosque
The Mahabat Khan Mosque is a 17th-century mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan. This mosque was built during the supremacy of the Mughals in the year 1630. The mosque was named after the Mughal Governor of Peshawar named Nawab Mahabat Khan, also known as Ali Mardan Khan.
The mosque is built by a white marble facade, which makes this mosque an iconic Peshawar sight. The minarets of the Mahabat Khan Mosque were often used in the time of Sikhs for hanging criminals. Five criminals per day were suspended from the minarets. In short, the Minarets were used as an alternative for the gallows.
The Mahabat Khan Mosque is 30,155 square feet in size. Its open courtyard has a centrally-located ablution corner. Also, it contains a single row of compartments separating the exterior walls.
Bala Hissar Fort
Bala Hissar is a historic and memorable fortress tracked down in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The fort was used as a royal habitat for the Durrani Empire in 1747 when Ahmad Shah Durrani was Peshawar’s conqueror. The Sikhs captured Peshawar in March 1823 and reconstructed the fortress. Therefore, the British East India Company rebuilt the fort’s outer walls.
The word Bālā Hissār means ‘high or elevated’. This word is derived from Dari Persian. The Historian Hussain Khan stated that this title was given by Timur Shah Durrani, The Afghan Emperor. The Sikhs renamed the fort as Sameer Garh in 1834. Samīr was another name for Mount Kailash, an elevated peak in Tibet deemed holy in Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism.
Furthermore, this title did not become prominent as Bala Hissar. So, it was soon replaced again by the name “Bala Hissar.”
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