Raiwind
Raiwind is a town in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of the Nishter Town subdivision of Lahore District[1] and is located at 31°15'16N 74°13'4E with an altitude of 203 metres (669 feet) and lies about 25 km from Lahore, the capital of the Punjab.[2] The history of the town dates back to the pre-partition days before 1947. Raiwind also houses one of the biggest railway track workshops of Pakistan. The city flourished in the early 90's in Nawaz Sharif's regime when an industrial zone was set up in the west of the city. Later Mr. Nawaz Sharif selected the vicinity of the town as his home, making it even more notable for the world outside.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the town gained more prominence when Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhary Pervez Elahi established Sunder Industrial Estate in the vicinity of the town, a few kilometres away from the heart of the town. Recently Raiwind has been included in the administrative jurisdiction of the Provincial Capital, Lahore.
History
During British Rule Raiwind was part of the tehsil of Lahore, the town was a junction on the North-Western Railway where the line from Delhi via Bhatinda joined that from Multan to Lahore.
The population according to the 1901 census was 1,764. Before the Ferozepore-Bhatinda Railway was opened, it was an important centre of the local trade in agricultural produce; and it possessed two cotton-ginning factories and a cotton-press, which give employment to 203 people.[3] Following independence in 1947 the railway links eastwards were no longer functional.
Preaching convention
Every year a Muslim preaching convention is held here. This gathering lasts for 3 days and then groups of 3 to 15 people in a tablighi jamaat are made to go around the world to preach the message of Allah. This movement was initiated by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi, who died in 1944. Hundreds of thousands of people attend this religious gathering yearly. Presently it is headed by Haji Abdul Wahab, and in India, Maulana Mohammed Sa'ad Kandhalvi, the great grandson of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi, heads the movement. Beginning the year 2007, this congregation is being held twice a year in Pakistan.
