JHANG, Jan 31: The demand to rename Jhang Sadar as Mighiana, the name by which the town was known till 1954, is gaining strength. Most of Sial tribesmen inhabiting vast areas of the town and its suburbs since centuries have started raising their voice at official and unofficial forums in favour of reviving the town’s ancient name.

The demand has received impetus from the recent renaming of certain mega cities in a neighbouring country with which we share certain common traditions, history and cultural heritage.

In the recent past, Jhang and Mighiana were two separate towns at a distance of three miles from each other. The Government Degree College for Boys, located almost in the centre, was at an equal distance from Jhang and Mighiana, which would obviously provide equal benefit to both towns.

The town of Jhang in north was the old Walled City, which once was the seat of governance in the centre, while three miles towards south lay the town of Mighiana, which housed the district headquarters.

All head offices of the district such as the deputy commissioner’s office, SP office, district courts, treasury tehsil office, DHQ hospital, district jail police lines, sessions courts, company bagh, circuit house, officers club and all residences of government officers were situated in Mighiana.

There were two railway stations, situated close to each town, bearing the names of Jhang and Mighiana.

The history and the gazetteer of the Jhang district reveals that the area was ruled by the Noul tribe between 1206 and 1460, followed by the Sials.

The town of Mighiana was founded by Sial ruler Megha Khan, who had his headquarters at the present day Pindi Mohalla. Megha Khan was famous for his magnanimity and benevolence which attracted a large population, particularly the Hindus living in rural areas, to come and settle in the newly-constructed Mighiana town.

During the reign of the Sials from Megha Khan to Ahmed Khan in 1801, there was a complete peace and serenity in and around the towns of Mighiana and Jhang. But during the Sikh era, who succeeded Sials, there was lawlessness and unrest in rural areas which resulted in mass migration of people to Mighiana town, whose population increased by leaps and bounds.

Britishers made Mighiana their district headquarters, although the name of the district was Jhang. Mighiana had its own identity as being the seat of administration and the centre of trade and business. The small town, founded by Megha Khan, had now become a big town.

Known lawyer and intellectual Mehr Munawar Sultan Mighiana said that if cities like Sahiwal and Attock could retain their old names then why not Mighiana.