Saidū Sharīf (Pashto/Urdu: سيدو شريف) is the capital of the Swat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The city also serves as the capital of the Malakand Division. It was named after Saidu Baba, a prominent leader of the former state of Swat.
Saidu Sharif
سيدو شريف | |
|---|---|
 View of Saidu Sharif | |
  Saidu Sharif Location within Pakistan  Saidu Sharif Saidu Sharif (Pakistan) | |
| Coordinates: 34°45′0″N 72°21′26″E / 34.75000°N 72.35722°E | |
| Country |  Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| District | Swat District |
| Elevation | 970 m (3,180 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 65,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
Saidu Sharif is the hub of several official buildings, and archeological sites such as the Swat Museum, the mausoleum of Saidu Baba, Royal residential palace of the former Wali-e-Swat, and the archaeological remains of the Butkara Buddhist Stupa.
Etymology edit
The older name of Saidu Sharif was Baligram. In 1835, Akhund of Swat, a Sufi saint commonly known as Saidu Baba, settled here, renaming the city to Saidu Sharif.[2]
Climate edit
Saidu Sharif has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) under the Köppen climate classification. The average annual temperature in Saidu Sharif is 19.3 °C, while the annual precipitation average is 894 mm. November is the driest month with 22 mm of precipitation, while August is the wettest one with average precipitation of 134 mm.
June is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 29.2 °C while January is the coldest one with an average temperature of 7.5 °C.
| Climate data for Saidu Sharif | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 13.0 (55.4) |
15.9 (60.6) |
20.3 (68.5) |
25.8 (78.4) |
31.8 (89.2) |
36.8 (98.2) |
35.4 (95.7) |
33.6 (92.5) |
32.3 (90.1) |
28.0 (82.4) |
21.8 (71.2) |
15.3 (59.5) |
25.8 (78.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 7.5 (45.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
14.3 (57.7) |
19.3 (66.7) |
24.6 (76.3) |
29.2 (84.6) |
29.0 (84.2) |
27.7 (81.9) |
25.6 (78.1) |
20.4 (68.7) |
14.5 (58.1) |
9.3 (48.7) |
19.3 (66.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.1 (35.8) |
4.8 (40.6) |
8.3 (46.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
17.4 (63.3) |
21.6 (70.9) |
22.6 (72.7) |
21.9 (71.4) |
18.9 (66.0) |
12.9 (55.2) |
7.3 (45.1) |
3.4 (38.1) |
12.8 (55.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 81 (3.2) |
98 (3.9) |
125 (4.9) |
89 (3.5) |
45 (1.8) |
30 (1.2) |
130 (5.1) |
134 (5.3) |
64 (2.5) |
48 (1.9) |
22 (0.9) |
28 (1.1) |
894 (35.3) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org[3] | |||||||||||||
Education edit
The largest college in the district is P.G Jahanzeb College which was built in 1952. It offers intermediate studies and BSc and MSc degrees to both male and female students.[4] Saidu Medical College is another college which was built here in 1998. This college ranks third in the government medical colleges in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[5] Moreover, there are numerous schools in Saidu Sharif. One of them is the Govt: Wadudia High School .On 7 July 2010, the first university of the district was established in this area.[6][7]
Archeological sites edit
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One of the most important Buddhist relics in Swat is near the museum. The stupa, which dates from the second century BC, was possibly built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to house some of the ashes of the Buddha. In subsequent centuries, it was enlarged five times by encasing the existing structure in a new shell.
Italian excavators working in 1955, exposed the successive layers of the stupa, each layer illustrating a stage in the evolution of building techniques.[8]
Swat Museum edit
Swat Museum is a museum located on the road connecting Mingora and Saidu Sharif.[9]
The museum contains Gandharan statuettes and friezes depicting the lives of the Buddha along with seals, small reliquaries and other treasures, mostly from Butkara No 1 and Odigram. Additionally, there are pre-Buddhist artefacts, and an ethnographic gallery with traditional carved Swati furniture, jewelry and embroideries.[10] A recent discovery, includes a stone ‘board’ game found at the Buddhist Complex of Amluk-Dara, of a sort still played in the valley today.[11]
Administrative divisions edit
Saidu Sharif is an administrative unit, known as union council or Ward in tehsil Babuzai, of the Swat district.
According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013[12] Swat District has 214 Wards: 170 Village Councils and 44 Neighbourhood Councils.
Saidu Sharif is Territorial Ward, which is further divided into three Neighbourhood Councils:
- Saidu Sharif i (Neighbourhood Council)
- Saidu Sharif ii (Neighbourhood Council)
- Saidu Sharif iii (Neighbourhood Council)
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "POPULATION AND HOUSEHOLD DETAIL FROM BLOCK TO DISTRICT LEVEL: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2018-01-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
- ^ Ahmed, Akbar (2013-02-27). The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8157-2379-0.
- ^ "Climate: Saidu Sharif". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ "Jahanzeb College – Saidu Sharif Swat". Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ Swat, S. M. C. "SMC Swat". www.smcswat.edu.pk. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ "UNIVERSITY OF SWAT – Aspiring for Quality Education". Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ Ashfaq, Mohammad (2017-12-20). "Swat varsity gets permanent VC after two years". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ "Saidu Sharif I (Swat, Pakistan) / Pierfrancesco Callieri ; contributions by Domenico D'Alterio, Gérard Fussman, and Antonello Stella". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ "Swat Museum". is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
- ^ Swat Museum - Museum in Mingora & Saidu Sharif. LonelyPlanet.com
- ^ Khaliq, Fazal (April 27, 2017). Board game in Swat museum becomes focus of attention. Dawn.
- ^ "THE KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 2013" (PDF). GOVERNMENT OF THE KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA. 2013. p. 92.