Wah (city)

Wah Punjabi: واہ
City
Wah Location within Punjab, Pakistan
Coordinates: 33.783184°N 72.723076°E / 33.783184; 72.723076
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Division	Rawalpindi Division
District	Rawalpindi District
Tehsil	Taxila Tehsil
Population  (2019)
• Total	410,000
Time zone	UTC+5 (PKT)
Postal code	47000
Area code	0514

Wah Cantonment (Punjabi: واہ چھاونی; Urdu: واہ کینٹ) (also known as Wah Cantt) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 17th most populous city in Punjab and 24th most populous city in Pakistan with a population of 400,733 people It is located on the historic Grand Trunk Road. Wah Cantt has constantly maintained the highest literacy rates in Pakistan, exceeding 99%. It spans over 14,433 Acres or 58 square kilometers and has the highest number of educational institutes per square mile in the whole country.

Wah Cantt is frequently referred to as the "City of Education" due to its highly dense academic infrastructure. The city hosts over 120 educational institutions packed into a relatively small area, which fuels the city's exceptionally high literacy rate. It was termed as a "Model Education City" by Shaukat Aziz, Prime Mnister of Pakistan. The city is located on the Potohar Plateau, and is located 30 km (19 mi) northwest of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metrolpolitan Area.

Its Twin City is the historic Taxila, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Living in Wah Cantt means being within a few minutes' drive away from one of the most important archaeological treasures on earth. The revered ancient ruins of the Gandhara Civilization—including Sirkap, Jaulian Buddhist Monastery, Dharmarajika Stupa and Mohra Muradu sit right next door. Taxila in the early centuries became a prominent centre of Buddhist scholarship and served as one of the world's most vital ancient crossroads, fusing Persian, Greek, Mauryan, and Central Asian cultures over thousands of years.

Wah Cantonment

Main article: Wah Cantonment

The majority of the city includes the Wah Cantonment, a cantt area in Punjab province located towards north of Pakistan.

Demographics

According to a census taken in 2019, the population of Wah, including the cantonment, is around 410,000. The population of the cantonment is a little above 300,000. Wah is the 24th largest city of Pakistan. The majority of the people speak Punjabi, while the main ethnic groups are Pashtun, Arain, Gujjar, and Awan.

University

Main article: University of Wah

The University of Wah is a private university located outside the military camp. It is one of the best universities in Punjab.

Education

Wah literacy rate is approximately 100% and highest literacy rate in Pakistan known as city of education. This small city has two chartered universities, one medical college, one engineering college and many other technical schools and colleges. Students from Wah Cantt can be found studying at many of the top institutes of Pakistan and abroad. Historically, many surrounding places show links of the area to its past as the neighboring ancient town of Taxila had been a seat of learning for thousands of years. The Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said "Wah Cantt possessed ideal education and health facilities and I am impressed with the 100% literary rate in the city". It was also titled as "The Island of excellence" 120 educational institutes serve over 170,000 students.