BAHAWALPUR

BAHAWALPUR / بہاول پور

Silver Jubilee of the Nawab Sadiq Mohammad Khan V.
Panjnad Dam and portrait of the Nawab.
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 03.03.1949,
Face value: 3 Pakistani pies.
Printed byPrinted by De La Rue & Co. Ltd., Basingstoke (England).
Printing: Recess.
Size: 36 x 31 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 22.
- Scott No. 22.
- StampWorld No. 22.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 39.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 18.

The Bahawalpur state (Urdu: بہاولپُور) was founded in 1609 by Nawab Bahawal Khan Abbasi. On February 22, 1833, Abbasi III entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British, by which Bahawalpur was admitted as a princely state of British India. After various vicissitudes, it remained independent until its voluntary incorporation into Pakistan on October 7, 1947, under Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V Bahadur, but remained an autonomous entity till October 14, 1955. Immediately after its accession to the Pakistani state, the Hindu and Sikh minority communities migrated to India, while Muslim refugees from India settled in the city of Bahawalpur and the region. The Royal House of Bahawalpur is said to be of Arabic origin and claims descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, progenitor of the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad and Cairo.

The Panjnad dam (Urdu: پنجند), on the river of the same name, was opened in 1929. It is located west of the city of Bahawalpur. It has three canals: Panjnad canal, Abbassia canal, and Abbassia link canal. These canals irrigate Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts and the northern Sindh area.