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Lalamusa
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Lala Musa (/lɑːləmuːsʌ/; Punjabi: لالہ موسٰے; Urdu: لالہ موسیٰ) is a city, located in the Kharian tehsil of Gujrat district, in Punjab, Pakistan. With a population of 121,036 in 2023, it is the 66th most populous city in Punjab and the 99th most populous in Pakistan.[2]
Key Information
History
[edit]Toponymy
[edit]According to local legend, the city was inhabited by members of the Arain tribe, and the city was named after two brothers from the same tribe, named Lālah (لالہ) and Mūsá (موسٰی) who settled in the old city.[3]
Geography
[edit]Lalamusa is situated on the Grand Trunk Road (National Highway 5). It is geographically located at latitude (32.7 degrees) 32° 42' 0" North of the Equator and longitude (73.96 degrees) 73° 57' 35" East of the Prime Meridian on the Map of the world and lies at an altitude of about 250 meters.
It also has major neighbouring cities such as Kharian (16 km) and Gujrat (22 km).[2]
Demographics
[edit]Population
[edit]| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 17,954 | — |
| 1961 | 22,633 | +2.34% |
| 1972 | 35,430 | +4.16% |
| 1981 | 46,626 | +3.10% |
| 1998 | 59,996 | +1.49% |
| 2017 | 91,566 | +2.25% |
| 2023 | 121,036 | +4.76% |
| Sources:[4] | ||
According to 2023 census, Lalamusa had a population of 121,036.
Transport
[edit]This city is connected through the Grand Trunk Road (National Highway 5) which allows it to be linked to major cities like Islamabad (96.313 miles/155km to the west) and Lahore (92 miles/148km to the east).
A railway station (Lala Musa Junction Station) also serves the city for longer journeys operated by Pakistan Railways with around 20 trains travelling throughout the country.[5]
Government institutions
[edit]The Punjab Local Government Training Academy is situated in Lalamusa.[6]
Cultural and leisure sites
[edit]Public parks
[edit]Lala Musa has a number of public parks and nature reserves like Fatima Jinnah park, Haji Asgar park, etc.
Notable people
[edit]- Roshan Ara Begum was a vocalist belonging to the Kirana gharana (singing style) of Hindustani classical music. She is also known by her honorific title Malika-e-Mauseeqi (The Queen of Music) and The Queen of Classical Music in both Pakistan and India.
- Javed Chaudhry is a columnist and journalist from Lala Musa, who is known for his infamous column 'Zero Point'.
- Qamar Zaman Kaira is a senior leader of Pakistan People's Party and a former federal information minister and governor of Gilgit-Baltistan.[7]
- Alam Lohar, a Punjabi folk singer, belonged to Lalamusa. He died in a road accident on 3 July 1979 and was buried in a city graveyard.[8]
- Arif Lohar is a famous folk singer who is also from Lalamusa.
- Suri Sehgal, an Indian-American scientist and philanthropist, grew up in Lala Musa city before the partition of Punjab between India and Pakistan.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Population of Lalamusa per 2023 census of Pakistan". Citypopulation.de (Denmark) website. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Tehsils & Unions in the District of Gujrat (see Lalamusa I, II and III under Tehsil 'Kharian')". National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ Ashuftah, Ishaq (1988). لالہ موسی، لالہ موسی ہے – Lālah Mūsá, Lālah Mūsá hai (in Urdu). Lālah Mūsá Ikaiḍamī. p. 16. OCLC 28764989.
آج جس جگہ لالہ مُوسٰی کی آبادی ہے یاد رہے کہ وُہ اس شہر کی اصل نہیں ہے بلکہ جسے "پرانا لالہ مُوسٰی" کہا جاتا ہے وہی اصل شہر تھا اور وہاں ارائیں طبقہ آ کر شروع میں آباد ہُوا۔ اس گاؤں نما قصبہ میں دو بھائی لالہ اور مُوسٰی نامپ رہا کرتے تھے۔ جن کے نام پر اس شہر کا نام رکھا گیا۔
- ^ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
- ^ "Lala Musa Railway Station Time Table of Pakistan Railways Trains". Urdupoint website. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ "Punjab Local Government Training Academy, Lalamusa". Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Gurmani, Nadir (17 May 2019). "PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira's son killed in a road accident (in Lalamusa)". Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ "Aalam Lohar - Biography". UrduWire.com website. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ University, © Stanford. "Oral history with Suri Sehgal, 2016 October 23". The 1947 Partition Archive - Spotlight at Stanford. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
External links
[edit]Lalamusa
View on GrokipediaHistory
Etymology
The name "Lalamusa" derives from the two brothers Lālah and Mūsá, members of the Arain tribe who are said to have settled the area, with "Lala" serving as a Punjabi term meaning "elder brother," while "Mūsá" is a common proper name of Arabic origin referring to Moses.[6] Local folklore preserves this origin story, attributing the town's naming to these siblings as a reflection of early Arain community bonds in the region.[6] In early colonial records from the British Raj era, the town appears as "Lala Musa," often in railway and administrative documents, highlighting its role as a transportation hub.[7] Post-1947, official Pakistani documents standardized the spelling as "Lalamusa," as seen in census reports and district gazetteers, reflecting phonetic adaptations in Urdu script and modern administrative usage. This evolution underscores the town's connection to broader Arain tribal settlements in Punjab.[6]Pre-Partition Era
Lalamusa, located in the Gujrat district of Punjab, remained a sparsely populated rural area during the Sikh Empire (1799–1849), characterized by small agricultural communities engaged in farming along the fertile plains.[8] Following the British victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the Battle of Gujrat in 1849, the region came under direct colonial administration, marking the beginning of gradual infrastructural and economic changes. The town itself was nearly deserted prior to colonial railway developments, with limited settlements focused on subsistence agriculture.[9] The establishment of Lalamusa as a railway junction in 1880 transformed the area into a strategic transport hub. The Sind–Sagar Railway opened a metre-gauge branch line from Lala Musa to Malakwal that year, spanning 37 miles, which was later converted to broad gauge on 10 February 1886 and integrated into the North Western State Railway system.[10] This connection to the main Karachi–Peshawar line facilitated trade, troop movements, and settlement, attracting English families and local traders to the previously underdeveloped site. By the early 20th century, the junction had solidified Lalamusa's role in regional connectivity, boosting commerce in grains and textiles.[11] The First World War significantly impacted Lalamusa's local economy and demographics as part of the broader Punjab recruitment drive. Gujrat district, including tehsils near Lalamusa such as Kharian, supplied thousands of soldiers to the British Indian Army, with Punjab overall contributing over 335,000 men, leading to labor shortages in agriculture but also influxes of remittances that temporarily stimulated rural economies.[12] Post-war, the region experienced social unrest and economic strain from returning veterans and disrupted trade routes. During the Second World War, Lalamusa and surrounding areas faced agrarian challenges amid Punjab's wartime economy, including severe food shortages, rationing, and inflation that eroded local purchasing power and heightened dependence on colonial supply chains through the 1940s. These pressures exacerbated pre-existing socio-political tensions in the lead-up to the 1947 partition.Post-Independence Developments
The 1947 Partition brought significant upheaval to Lalamusa, with the railway junction serving as a critical point for refugee trains amid widespread violence in Punjab. Incidents included attacks on trains near the station and diversions due to riots in nearby Gujrat, contributing to demographic shifts through Hindu and Sikh migrations to India and Muslim influxes from across the border. Several villages, such as Dhama, Verowal, and Kazian, were incorporated into the town's boundaries post-Partition, expanding its area.[13][14] Following the partition of India in 1947, Lalamusa, benefiting from its established position as a railway junction on the Grand Trunk Road, continued to serve as a vital transportation hub in the newly formed Pakistan, facilitating connectivity across Punjab.[9] In 1953, the Punjab Local Government Academy (PLGA) was established in Lalamusa as the Village Agriculture and Industrial Development Training Institute, marking an early post-independence initiative to support rural and urban development training in the region; this institution was later upgraded to its current status in 2001 to enhance capacity building for local government staff.[15] During the 1980s, Lalamusa was elevated to municipal committee status under the Punjab local government framework, enabling formalized urban administration and services such as sanitation and street lighting. By the 2000s, infrastructure saw significant expansion, including upgrades to the PLGA campus with modern facilities like academic blocks, hostels, and IT centers to bolster training for Punjab's Local Government and Community Development Department.[15] As of 2023, the PLGA campus in Lalamusa received further upgrades as part of a rehabilitation project to support climate-resilient training programs.[15]Geography
Location and Topography
Lalamusa is a town in the Kharian Tehsil of Gujrat District, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is geographically positioned between the Jhelum River to the northwest and the Chenab River to the southeast, within the broader alluvial landscape of the Punjab plains. The town's central location facilitates connectivity to surrounding regions, lying approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Gujrat city and 40 kilometers southwest of Jhelum city.[16][17][18][19] The precise coordinates of Lalamusa are 32°42′13″N 73°57′31″E, placing it in a region characterized by relatively low elevation of around 256 meters above sea level. This positioning contributes to its role as a key settlement in the district, historically influenced by its strategic placement along ancient trade routes.[20][21] Topographically, Lalamusa features flat alluvial plains formed by sediment deposits from the Indus River system, which dominate the Punjab's doab regions between the Jhelum and Chenab. These expansive, level terrains, composed of fertile loamy soils, are ideally suited for agricultural activities such as wheat and rice cultivation. The urban layout of Lalamusa is linearly developed along the Grand Trunk Road (National Highway 5), which runs through the town and shapes its commercial and residential expansion.[22][23]Climate and Environment
Lalamusa features a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa), characterized by distinct seasonal variations influenced by its location in the Punjab plains. Summers are intensely hot, with average high temperatures reaching around 39°C (103°F) in June, and occasional peaks exceeding 45°C during heatwaves. Winters are mild and relatively dry, with average lows dipping to about 5°C (41°F) in January, rarely falling below 3°C. The topographical flatness of the surrounding plains contributes to relatively uniform rainfall distribution across the region.[24][25] Precipitation in Lalamusa averages approximately 942 mm annually, with the majority occurring during the monsoon season from July to September, when monthly totals can exceed 170 mm in peak months like July. This seasonal pattern results in about 98 rainy days per year, primarily driven by southwest monsoon winds, while the rest of the year remains predominantly dry. The reliance on these monsoon rains underscores the area's vulnerability to variability in precipitation patterns.[24] Environmental challenges in Lalamusa include growing water scarcity, exacerbated by dependence on the nearby Jhelum River for supply amid fluctuating river flows and regional overuse. As of 2025, national water shortages, including low levels in dams like Mangla on the Jhelum due to Indus Waters Treaty issues, have intensified scarcity in Punjab's canal-irrigated areas, including Gujrat district. Local authorities in Punjab have implemented various conservation initiatives during the 2020s to address groundwater depletion and pollution.[26][27]Demographics
Population Growth
The population of Lalamusa has shown steady growth since Pakistan's independence, reflecting broader trends in Punjab's urbanizing regions. According to the 1951 census, the town recorded a population of 17,954 residents.[28] By the 1981 census, this had increased to 46,626, indicating a significant post-partition expansion.[1] The 2017 census reported 91,566 inhabitants, while the most recent 2023 census tallied 121,036, establishing Lalamusa as the 66th most populous city in Punjab and the 99th in Pakistan overall.[1] This growth corresponds to an average annual increase of approximately 2.5% from 1981 to 2023, primarily driven by urbanization as rural residents sought opportunities in the town's strategic location along major transport routes. The decadal growth rates have varied, with a notable acceleration in recent decades due to improved infrastructure and economic pull factors in Punjab. Migrations from surrounding rural areas have contributed to this overall expansion. Projections based on Punjab's urban trends estimate Lalamusa's population reaching approximately 140,000 by 2030, assuming sustained annual growth rates aligned with provincial patterns of 2-3%.[29] These forecasts underscore the town's evolving role as a mid-sized urban center amid Pakistan's rapid demographic shifts.| Census Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1951 | 17,954 |
| 1981 | 46,626 |
| 2017 | 91,566 |
| 2023 | 121,036 |
