Danda Shah Bilawal
Danda Shah Bilawal is a village in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located on the road between Karachi and Islamabad. Danda Shah Bilawal is between Islamabad and Mianwali, Chashma, Dera Ismail Khan. Forty people took part in World War I, and two gave their lives. It has a population of 7,000. This village is the trade center for surrounding villages and towns because of its location on main road.
History
This is very old village and has its own interesting history. Its name is combination of the different terms i.e. Danda mean "A small Hill" while Shah come from Hazrat Noori Shah Sultan Bilawal who was a saint who first visited here and then stay. While Bilawal was a Blacksmith who was the native of "Danda" was also Host of Hazrat Noori Shah Sultan Bilawal. So later on this name was change from Danda to Danda Shah Bilawal. It is also said that the grave of a forefather of former president of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is also there in the old graveyard of this village. A lot of people have confirmed about the grave.
Archaeological Importance
This village is also important from archaeological point of view. The ancestors were living there where nowadays are fields. We can easily find out the pots and other things from these site.
Danda Shah Bilawal has also got religious importance for being the native place of Hazrat Shahinshah shahabul shah almaroof Lawa wali sarkar, Hazrat Shah Murad Hamdani and Hazrat Shah Muhammad Amin, Hazrat Inayat Shah Hamdani, Hazrat Peer Anwar Shah Hamdani . There are some other important lines of Sufism exists and a lot of people visit Danda Shah Bilawal each year at anniversary of Peer Shahabul Shah, Hazrat Shah Murad, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Amin, Hazrat Inayat Shah Hamdani, Hazrat Peer Anwar Shah Hamdani, Syed Ahmed Shah Hamdani and Syed Ghulam haider Shah.
Anniversary(Urs-Mubarak) of Hazrat Inayat Shah Hamdani is held on every year on October 1st, at Darbar e Aaliya Hazrat Shah Murad.
Current Sajada Nasheen of Darbar e Aaliya Hazrat Shah Murad is Hazrat Peer Anwar Shah Hamdani and Wali ahid is Hazrat Ali Raza Hamdani.
Land of Soldiers
As par the contribution of its men in army is concerned, many people fought tooth and nail for their country and forced the enemy to lick the dust. This village has got the credit that almost every family has at least one soldier and their graveyards are full of soldiers, both Shaheed and Ghazi. Recently many people of this village are serving in the armed forces. Mr. Ali Khan was awarded by a Military Cross by the British Government for his act of valour and bravery in British Army.
Infrastructure
Danda Shah Bilawal has been granted as one of the ten model villages of Chakwal. Former Chief Minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on the advice of Mr. Khalid Maqbool, the then Governor of Punjab, granted it as model village. In 2008 Mr. Asif Ali Zardari announced the construction of Gambhir dam, which is the largest Small/Medium dam of Pakistan. In the five year reign of Pakistan Peoples Party no work has done on this project. Now the recent government has decided to start the project and an amount of Rs. 1.4 billion has been approved for the construction of Gambhir Dam in constituency PP-23. The Village has three private schools, one girls high school and a boys higher secondary school. In 1989, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the then chief minister of Punjab, announced the formation of boys higher secondary school on the advice of a renowned personality of the village and famous lawyer Advocate Mr. Noor Khan(late) who was then the president of Pakistan Muslim League (N)-Karachi. The village also possess a cricket stadium named "Mian Chilku Stadium" which lies on Danda-Lawa Road.Now its name changed to Shah Bilawal Stadium.
Coordinates: 32°47′N 71°57′E / 32.783°N 71.950°E