Punjab, Pakistan

Location of Punjab, Pakistan and the extent of the Indus Valley Civilisation sites in and around it

The oldest evidence of life in Pakistan has been found in Soan River valley. It was here that some of the earliest signs of humans have been discovered during the excavations of prehistoric mounds.[31] Tools up to two million years old have been recovered in the Potohar plateau. In the Soan River, many fossil bearing rocks are exposed on the surface.

Punjab was part of the Indus Valley Civilization, more than 4000 years ago.[32]

The main site in Punjab was the city of Harrapa. The Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan and eventually evolved into the Indo-Aryan civilisation. The Vedic civilisation flourished along the length of the Indus River. Punjab during the Mahabharata times was known as Panchanada.[33][34] Although the archaeological site at Harappa was partially damaged in 1857 when engineers constructing the Lahore-Multan railroad used brick from the Harappa ruins for track ballast, an abundance of artefacts have nevertheless been found. Punjab was part of both classical Western Eurasian empires including the Achaemenid, Macedonian, Kushan, Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek and Hindu Shahi empires, as well as Indo-Gangetic (North Indian) empires such as the Maurya and Gupta empires.[35][36][37] Agriculture flourished and trading cities (such as Multan and Lahore) grew in wealth.

Punjab was part of the Vedic Civilization

The city of Taxila, founded around 1000 BCE,[38] was reputed to house one of the earliest universities in the world. One of its instructors was the Mauryan statesman and philosopher Chanakya. Taxila was a major centre of political control, intellectual discourse and trade between the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Maurya Empire. Taxila is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, valued for its archaeological and religious history.

Gandhāra was an ancient kingdom situated in the northwestern region of Pakistan, in the Peshawar valley and Potohar plateau with its capital at Taxila in modern northwestern Pakistan. Gandhara existed since the time of the Rigveda (c. 1500–1200 BC),[39][40] as well as the Zoroastrian Avesta, which mentions it as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth, created by Ahura Mazda. Gandhara was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC. Later it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 327 BC, it subsequently became part of the Maurya Empire and then the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda (RV 1.126.7[39]) and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenid Persia. The primary cities of Gandhara were Puruṣapura (Peshawar), Takṣaśilā (Taxila), and Pushkalavati (Charsadda). Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect, usually called Gāndhārī. The language used the Kharosthi script, which died out about the 4th century.

The Achaemenid Persian empire included Gandhara and western Punjab, administered through the satrapies of Gandāra, Hindush and Sattagydia.

Alexander's Indian Campaign

Having conquered Drangiana, Arachosia, Gedrosia and Seistan in ten days, Alexander the Great (known in Urdu as 'Sikander-e-Azam') crossed the Hindu Kush and was thus fully informed of the magnificence of the country and its riches in gold, gems and pearls. However, Alexander had to encounter and reduce the tribes on the border of Punjab before entering the luxuriant plains. Having taken a northeasterly direction, he marched against the Aspii (mountaineers), who offered vigorous resistance, but were subdued. Alexander then marched through Ghazni, blockaded Magassa, and then marched to Ora and Bazira. Turning to the northeast, Alexander marched to Pucela, the capital of the district now known as Pakhli. He entered Western Punjab, where the ancient city of Nysa (at the site of modern-day Mong) was situated. A coalition was formed against Alexander by the Cathians, the people of Multan, who were very skilful in war. Alexander invested many troops, eventually killing 17,000 Cathians in this battle, and the city of Sagala (present-day Sialkot) was razed to the ground. The Battle of the Hydaspes was fought astride the Jhelum River in western Punjab against the regional chieftain Porus, and the Siege of the Malli Tribe which occurred at the confluence of the Indus and Hydaspes Rivers near modern Multan (during which Alexander suffered a near-fatal arrow wound). Alexander left Punjab in 326 B.C. and continued to campaign down the course of the Indus River in modern-day Sindh and Baluchistan.

The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom covering most of the Punjab. The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the subcontinent early in the 2nd century BC. The city of Sirkap founded by Demetrius combines Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the two cultures. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (Milinda). He had his capital at Sagala in the Punjab (present-day Sialkot). The Indo-Greeks were involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism'. Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and their rule, especially that of Menander, has been remembered as benevolent.

The Indo-Scythian king Maues invaded Indo-Greek territories in Punjab and established an Indo-Scythian empire. Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila around 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. The Indo-Scythians ultimately established a kingdom in the northwest south Asia, based near Taxila, with two great Satraps, one in Mathura in the east, and one in Surastrene (Gujarat) in the southwest. The Indo-Scythians seem to have been followers of Buddhism, and many of their practices apparently continued those of the Indo-Greeks.

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty with its capital at Taxila, Punjab. Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian kingdom, was a ruler of Seistan in what is today eastern Iran, probably a vassal or relative of the Apracarajas. Around 20–10 BCE, he made conquests in the former Indo-Scythian kingdom, perhaps after the death of the important ruler Azes. Gondophares became the ruler of areas comprising Arachosia, Seistan, Sindh, Punjab, and the Kabul valley. The temple of Jandial, Taxila is usually interpreted as a Zoroastrian fire temple from the period of the Indo-Parthians.

The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. Around 75 CE under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises they gained control of Gandhara and other parts of what is now Pakistan. The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Gandhara's culture peaked during the reign of the Kushan ruler Kanishka the Great (128–151). The cities of Taxila (Takṣaśilā) at Sirsukh and Peshawar were built. Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread to Central Asia and the Far East across Bactria and Sogdia, where his empire met the Han Empire of China. Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia. Under Kanishka, Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims eager to view the monuments associated with many Jatakas. The Hephthalite Huns captured Gandhara around 451, and did not adopt Buddhism, but in fact "perpetrated frightful massacres." Mihirakula became a "terrible persecutor" of the Buddhist religion.[41] During their rule, Hinduism revived itself and the Buddhist civilisation in Gandhara declined.

Persian miniature of Mahmud of Ghazni (orange robe) shaking a Muslim Shaykh's hand. Mahmud was the first Muslim ruler to take Punjab in its entirety.

Modern painting of Bulleh Shah (1680–1757), a Punjabi Muslim Sufi poet who has hugely impacted the region

The Punjabis followed different faiths throughout history, mainly a non-Brahmanical form of Hinduism and Buddhism,[42] however Islam had the biggest impact on the region culturally.

Parts of Punjab first came into contact with Islam after the Umayyad Caliphate commander Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir in 711 and expanded into southern Punjab.

The first incursion into Northern Punjab occurred in the 11th century by the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni who was the first Muslim ruler to conquer the Punjab in its entirety.

The Punjab region thereafter became an important region of learning and culture in the eastern Islamic world attracting scholars, artisans and poets.

Islam gradually over the centuries was accepted by the main Punjabi tribes largely due to their close affiliations with Sufi saints and their dargahs which dot the landscape of Punjab. One such saint was Data Ganj Baksh, an 11th-century Iranian Sayyid mystic from Ghazni now buried at Data Darbar in Lahore. Another equally important saint for Punjabis was the Punjabi Muslim Fariduddin Ganjshakar also known reverentially as Bābā Farīd or Shaikh Farīd. He is widely considered to be one of the earliest proponents of Punjabi as the language of poetry. Farīd laid the basis for a vernacular Punjabi literature and ultimately a Punjabi identity.

After the Ghaznavids, Punjab became a part of different Muslim Empires like the Ghurids and later the various Delhi Sultanates which consisted mostly of Turkic peoples, Persians and Afghans as the leading elites in co-operation with some local Punjabi tribes and others.[43] The area finally became part of the Mughal Empire when the Turco-Mongol ruler Babur invaded in 1524.

The Punjab region rose to significance in the Mughal Empire when Lahore became the capital for the royal family in 1585,[44] the legacy of which is seen today in its rich display of Mughal architecture all over modern day Punjab, Pakistan.

The Mughals left an indelible mark on the landscape of Punjab from 1556 to 1739 by commissioning the construction of great gardens, forts, tombs, baths and mosques such as the Shalimar Gardens,[45] Lahore Fort, Tomb of Jahangir, Tomb of Nur Jahan, Shahi Hammam, Akbari Sarai, Wazir Khan Mosque, and the Badshahi Mosque, all situated in Lahore, as well as Hiran Minar and others elsewhere in Punjab. Akbar established two of his original twelve subahs (imperial top-level provinces) in Punjab:

• (northern) Lahore Subah, bordering Kabul (Afghanistan), (later) split-off Kashmir, (Old) Delhi and Multan subahs
• (southern) Multan Subah, bordering Kabul, Lahore, (Old) Delhi, Ajmer, Thatta (Sindh) subahs, the Persian Safavid empire and shortly Qandahar subah.

After the death of the last great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, in 1707, Mughal authority significantly weakened but didn't totally vanish despite Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. The centralised authority that had existed during Aurangzeb's rule and the rule of his predecessors was now largely in the hands of governors and Nawabs (semi autonomous rulers) who gave their nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor at Delhi.

This would change however in 1752, when Nader Shah's general Ahmad Shah Durrani who was ruler of the Durrani Afghans, defeated Mir Mannu, the last Mughal governor of Punjab. The Mughal emperor ceded control of the subahs that constituted Punjab namely the Lahore and Multan subahs over to Ahmad Shah Durrani.

In 1758 Raghunath Rao, a general of the Hindu Maratha Empire, conquered Lahore and Attock. Timur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of Ahmad Shah Durrani, was driven out of Punjab. Lahore, Multan and Kashmir subahs were under Maratha rule for the most part.[46] In Punjab and Kashmir, the Marathas were now major players.[47][48]

The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 1761, Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas and reversed their gains in the regions of Punjab and Kashmir by re-consolidating control over them.[49]

Badshahi Mosque with damaged minarets during Sikh rule

Ranjit Singh's Empire

In the mid-fifteenth century, the religion of Sikhism was born. During the Mughal empire, many Hindus increasingly adopted Sikhism. The Sikhs became a formidable military force after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and challenged the Mughals and later the Durrani Afghans for power in Punjab. After fighting Ahmad Shah Durrani in the later eighteenth century, the Sikh Misls took control of Punjab and its capital Lahore was captured by the Bhangi Misl. In 1799 Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sukerchakia Misl, defeated the Bhangi Misl and captured Lahore thereby proclaiming himself as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at the age of 21. Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and formed a sophisticated Sikh Empire which lasted from 1799 to 1849. Ranjit Singh modernized his Sikh Khalsa army by using Franco-British principles and by employing veterans of the Napoleonic Wars to train the infantry in European style. Ranjit Singh expanded his empire so that by his death in 1839 his empire included most of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir.

Ranjit Singh was not without opponents who challenged his authority in the regions he had conquered. He faced huge opposition from Nawab Muzaffar Khan, Azim Khan, Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Mir Painda Khan. In 1818 Nawab Muzaffar Khan was killed by the Sikhs at the Battle of Multan after putting up stout resistance for many years. Azim Khan was the governor of Kashmir from 1812 until 1819 when Ranjit Singh captured it for himself. In 1823 Azim Khan took control of Peshawar and with support from Pashtun tribesmen faced off against the encroaching Khalsa army in the Battle of Nowshera. He abandoned his troops whilst they regrouped to continue fighting until they were defeated. Azim Khan retreated to Kabul where he died shortly thereafter due to grief. Syed Ahmad Barelvi was an Indian Muslim who declared Jihad against the Sikhs by garnering support from local Pashtun tribesmen and attempted to create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Sharia.[50] In 1821 Syed Ahmad Barelvi spent two years organizing popular and material support for his Punjab campaign. In December 1826 Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi and his followers clashed with Sikh troops at Akora Khattak, with no decisive result. Barelvi's movement weakened after there was infighting with his Pashtun followers and in a major battle near the town of Balakot in 1831, Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Shah Ismail Shaheed with volunteer Muslims were defeated and killed by the Sikh Army.[51] Only Mir Painda Khan was able to maintain his independence at Tanawal in Hazara from the Sikh Empire. From about 1813 he began a series of rebellions against the Sikhs which continued throughout his lifetime inflicting defeats on the Sikhs whilst also losing territory to them before being poisoned in 1844. James Abbott, British officer and deputy commissioner at Hazara in 1851, described Mir Painda Khan as "a chief renowned on the border, a wild and energetic man who was never subjugated by the Sikhs".[52]

The Faisalabad Clock Tower was built during the rule of the British Empire

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death in the summer of 1839 brought political chaos and the subsequent battles of succession and the bloody infighting between the factions at court weakened the state. Relationships with neighbouring British territories then broke down, starting the First Anglo-Sikh War; this led to a British official being resident in Lahore and the annexation in 1849 of territory south of the Satluj to British India. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, the Sikh Empire became the last territory to be merged into British India. In Jhelum 35 British soldiers of the HM XXIV regiment were killed by the local resistance during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[53]

In 1947 the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious lines into West Punjab and East Punjab. Western Punjab was assimilated into the new country of Pakistan, while East Punjab became a part of modern-day India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees.

The part of the Punjab now in Pakistan once formed a major region of British Punjab, and was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs up to 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.[54]

Migration between Eastern and Western Punjab was continuous before independence. By the 1900s Western Punjab was predominantly Muslim and supported the Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After independence, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while Muslim refugees from India settled in the Western Punjab and across Pakistan, having fled pogroms that almost entirely depopulated Eastern Punjab of its Muslim population.[55]

At the Wagah border ceremony

Since the 1950s, Punjab industrialised rapidly. New factories were established in Lahore, Sargodha, Multan, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Wah and Rawalpindi.

Agriculture continues to be the largest sector of Punjab's economy. The province is the breadbasket of the country as well as home to the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, the Punjabis. Unlike neighbouring India, there was no large-scale redistribution of agricultural land. As a result, most rural areas are dominated by a small set of feudalistic land-owning families.

In the 1950s there was tension between the eastern and western halves of Pakistan. To address the situation, a new formula resulted in the abolition of the province status for Punjab in 1955. It was merged into a single province West Pakistan. In 1972, after East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh, Punjab again became a province.

Punjab witnessed major battles between the armies of India and Pakistan in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Since the 1990s Punjab hosted several key sites of Pakistan's nuclear program such as Kahuta. It also hosts major military bases such as at Sargodha and Rawalpindi. The peace process between India and Pakistan, which began in earnest in 2004, has helped pacify the situation. Trade and people-to-people contacts through the Wagah border are now starting to become common. Indian Sikh pilgrims visit holy sites such as Nankana Sahib.

Starting in the 1980s, large numbers of Punjabis migrated to the Middle East, Britain, Spain, Canada and the United States for economic opportunities, forming the large Punjabi diaspora, resulting in growing economic ties between Punjab and these countries.

Punjab features mountainous terrain near the hill station of Murree.

Punjab's landscape consists mostly consists of fertile alluvial plains of the Indus River and its four major tributaries in Pakistan, the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers which traverse Punjab north to south – the fifth of the "five waters" of Punjab, the Beas River, lies exclusively in the Indian state of Punjab. The landscape is amongst the most heavily irrigated on earth and canals can be found throughout the province. Punjab also includes several mountainous regions, including the Sulaiman Mountains in the southwest part of the province, the Margalla Hills in the north near Islamabad, and the Salt Range which divides the most northerly portion of Punjab, the Pothohar Plateau, from the rest of the province. Sparse deserts can be found in southern Punjab near the border with Rajasthan and near the Sulaiman Range. Punjab also contains part of the Thal and Cholistan deserts. In the South, Punjab's elevation reaches 2,327 metres (7,635 ft) near the hill station of Fort Munro in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Sunset in Punjab, during summer

Most areas in Punjab experience extreme weather with foggy winters, often accompanied by rain. By mid-February the temperature begins to rise; springtime weather continues until mid-April, when the summer heat sets in.

The route from Dera Ghazi Khan to Fort Munro

The onset of the southwest monsoon is anticipated to reach Punjab by May, but since the early 1970s, the weather pattern has been irregular. The spring monsoon has either skipped over the area or has caused it to rain so hard that floods have resulted. June and July are oppressively hot. Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46 °C, newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51 °C and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat. Heat records were broken in Multan in June 1993, when the mercury was reported to have risen to 54 °C. In August the oppressive heat is punctuated by the rainy season, referred to as barsat, which brings relief in its wake. The hardest part of the summer is then over, but cooler weather does not come until late October.

Recently the province experienced one of the coldest winters in the last 70 years.[59]

Punjab's region temperature ranges from −2° to 45 °C, but can reach 50 °C (122 °F) in summer and can touch down to −10 °C in winter.

Climatically, Punjab has three major seasons:[60]

• Hot weather (April to June) when temperature rises as high as 110 °F (43 °C).
• Rainy season (July to September). Average rainfall annual ranges between 96 cm sub-mountain region and 46 cm in the plains.
• Cooler/ Foggy / mild weather (October to March). Temperature goes down as low as 40 °F (4 °C).

Weather extremes are notable from the hot and barren south to the cool hills of the north. The foothills of the Himalayas are found in the extreme north as well, and feature a much cooler and wetter climate, with snowfall common at higher altitudes.

The province is home to over half the population of Pakistan, and is the world's fifth-most populous subnational entity, and the most populous outside China or India.Punjabis are a heterogeneous group comprising different tribes, clans (Urdu: برادری‎) and communities. In Pakistani Punjab, non-tribal social distinctions are primarily based on traditional occupations such as blacksmiths or artisans, as opposed to rigid social stratifications.[62]

Punjab has the lowest poverty rates in Pakistan, although a divide is present between the northern and southern parts of the province.[14] Sialkot District in the prosperous northern part of the province has a poverty rate of 5.63%,[63] while Rajanpur District in the poorer south has a poverty rate of 60.05%.[18]

The major and native language spoken in the Punjab is Punjabi (which is written in the Shahmukhi script - one of the oldest scripts used for writing Punjabi) and Punjabis comprise the largest ethnic group in the country. Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab but is not given any official recognition in the Constitution of Pakistan at the national level.

Saraiki is mostly spoken in south Punjab,[65] and Pashto, spoken in some parts of north west Punjab, especially in Attock District and Mianwali District near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A demonstration by Punjabis at Lahore, Pakistan, demanding to make Punjabi as official language of instruction in schools of the Punjab.

The use of Urdu and English as the near exclusive languages of broadcasting, the public sector, and formal education have led some to fear that Punjabi in Pakistan is being relegated to a low-status language and that it is being denied an environment where it can flourish. Several prominent educational leaders, researchers, and social commentators have echoed the opinion that the intentional promotion of Urdu and the continued denial of any official sanction or recognition of the Punjabi language amounts to a process of "Urdu-isation" that is detrimental to the health of the Punjabi language[66][67][68] In August 2015, the Pakistan Academy of Letters, International Writer's Council (IWC) and World Punjabi Congress (WPC) organised the Khawaja Farid Conference and demanded that a Punjabi-language university should be established in Lahore and that Punjabi language should be declared as the medium of instruction at the primary level.[69][70] In September 2015, a case was filed in Supreme Court of Pakistan against Government of Punjab, Pakistan as it did not take any step to implement the Punjabi language in the province.[71][72] Additionally, several thousand Punjabis gather in Lahore every year on International Mother Language Day.

Hafiz Saeed, chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD) has questioned Pakistan's decision to adopt Urdu as its national language in a country where majority of people speak Punjabi language, citing his interpretation of Islamic doctrine as encouraging education in the mother-tongue.[73] The list of thinktanks, political organisations, cultural projects, and individuals that demand authorities at the national and provincial level to promote the use of the language in the public and official spheres includes:

• Cultural and research institutes: Punjabi Adabi Board, the Khoj Garh Research Centre, Punjabi Prachar, Institute for Peace and Secular Studies, Adbi Sangat, Khaaksaar Tehreek, Saanjh, Maan Boli Research Centre, Punjabi Sangat Pakistan, Punjabi Markaz, Sver International
• Trade unions and youth groups: Punjabi Writers Forum, National Students Federation, Punjabi Union-Pakistan, Punjabi National Conference, National Youth Forum, Punjabi Writers Forum, National Students Federation, Punjabi Union, Pakistan, and the Punjabi National Conference.
• Notable activists include Tariq Jatala, Farhad Iqbal, Diep Saeeda, Khalil Ojla, Afzal Sahir, Jamil Ahmad Paul, Mazhar Tirmazi, Mushtaq Sufi, Biya Je, Tohid Ahmad Chattha and Bilal Shaker Kahaloon, Nazeer Kahut[74][75][76]

The population of Punjab (Pakistan) is estimated to be 97.21% Muslim with a Sunni Hanafi majority and Shia Ithna 'ashariyah minority. The largest non-Muslim minority is Christians and make up 2.3% of the population. The other minorities include Ahmadiyya, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Baháʼís.

Map of the Pakistani Punjab divisions

When the divisions were restored as a tier of government in 2008, a tenth division – Sheikhupura Division – was created from part of Lahore Division.

Main entrance to The University of Sargodha

A women's college in Rawalpindi

University of the Punjab

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

King Edward Medical University, Lahore

• Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore
• Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan
• COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore
• COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal
• Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi
• Ghazi University D.G.Khan, D.G.Khan
• Government College University, Lahore
• Government College University, Faisalabad
• Gujranwala Medical College, Gujranwala
• The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur
• King Edward Medical College, Lahore
• Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore
• Lahore College for Women University, Lahore
• National College of Arts, Lahore
• National Textile University, Faisalabad
• Sargodha Medical College, Sargodha
• University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
• University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi
• University College of Agriculture, Sargodha
• University of Education, Lahore
• University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
• University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila
• University of Gujrat, Gujrat
• University of Health Sciences, Lahore
• University of the Punjab, Lahore
• University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore
• University of Sargodha, Sargodha
• Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore
• Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, Multan
• NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan
• Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering & Technology, Multan
• Women University Multan, Multan
• Nishtar Medical College, Multan
• Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan

Badshahi Masjid in Lahore

• Beaconhouse National University, Lahore
• Forman Christian College, Lahore
• GIFT University, Gujranwala
• Hajvery University, Lahore
• Imperial College of Business Studies, Lahore
• Institute of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pak-AIMS, Lahore
• Lahore School of Economics, Lahore
• Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore
• Minhaj International University, Lahore
• National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences, Lahore
• Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design, Lahore
• Sargodha Institute of Technology, Sargodha
• University of Central Punjab, Lahore
• University of Faisalabad, Faisalabad
• University of Health Sciences, Lahore
• University of Lahore, Lahore
• University of Management and Technology, Lahore
• University of South Asia, Lahore
• University College Lahore, Lahore
• University of Wah, Wah Cantonment
• HITEC University, Taxila Cantonment
• Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan
• Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan
• Multan Medical and Dental College, Multan
• Lahore Garrison University, Lahore[91]

Religious fairs are held on special days of Islamic significance like Eid ul-Adha, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, Shahb-e-Barat, Ashura, Laylat al-Qadr and Jumu'ah-tul-Wida. The main activities on these special occasions are confined to congregational prayers and rituals. Melas are also held to mark these occasions.

Punjab is famous for various shrines of Sufi saints and Data durbar in particular

The fairs held at the shrines of Sufi saints are called urs. They generally mark the death anniversary of the saint. On these occasions, devotees assemble in large numbers and pay homage to the memory of the saint. Soul inspiring music is played and devotees dance in ecstasy. The music on these occasions is essentially folk and appealing. It forms a part of the folk music through mystic messages. The most important urs are: urs of Data Ganj Buksh at Lahore, urs of Sultan Bahu at Jhang, urs of Shah Jewna at Jhang, urs of Mian Mir at Lahore, urs of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar at Pakpattan, urs of Bahaudin Zakria at Multan, urs of Sakhi Sarwar Sultan at Dera Ghazi Khan, urs of Shah Hussain at Lahore, urs of Bulleh Shah at Kasur, urs of Imam Bari (Bari Shah Latif) at Rawalpindi-Islamabad and urs of Shah Inayat Qadri (the murrshad of Bulleh Shah) in Lahore.

A big fair/mela is organised at Jandiala Sher Khan in district Sheikhupura on the mausoleum of Syed Waris Shah who is the most loved Sufi poet of Punjab due to his classic work, Heer Ranjha. The shrine of Heer Ranjha in Jhang is one of the most visited shrines in Punjab.

Badshahi Mosque, built by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb at Lahore

Exhibitions and annual horse shows in all districts and a national horse and cattle show at Lahore are held with the official patronage. The national horse and cattle show at Lahore is the biggest festival where sports, exhibitions, and livestock competitions are held. It not only encourages and patronises agricultural products and livestock through the exhibitions of agricultural products and cattle but is also a colourful documentary on the rich cultural heritage of the province with its strong rural roots.

Vaisakhi, also called Besakhi, is a harvest festival to celebrate harvesting the wheat crop. Colourful festivals are held at the time of Besakhi when farmers are free to enjoy their leisure time.[92] Various literary festivals and fairs are organised in many places.[93] [94][95]

Basant is a seasonal festival and is celebrated as a spring festival of kites.[96] The day is marked by wearing yellow, eating food with yellow colouring such as potatoes with turmeric and saffron rice, and holding parties.[97]