Saidu Sharif

Saidū Sharīf (Pashto/Urdu: ) is the capital of the Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city also serves as the capital city of the Malakand Division. It was named after Saidu Baba, a prominent leader of the former princely state of Swat.

Saidu Sharif is the hub of several official buildings, and archeological sites such as the Swat Museum, the tomb of Saidu Baba, Royal Residential Palace of the former Wali-e-Swat, and the archaeological remains of the Butkara Buddhist Stupa. It is also home to the Govt. Girls Degree College, Govt. Jahanzeb College, DIG, DC, and the Commissioner House.

Old name of the city
Since the ancient Buddhist era, the name of Saidu Sharif was "Baligram". Akhund Abdul Ghaffur, commonly known as Saidu Baba, settled here in 1835. From then onwards, the town was called "Saidu Sharif". However, there is still a region in the southwest of Saidu Sharif which is called 'Baligram'

Climate
Saidu Sharif has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) under the Köppen climate classification. The average annual temperature in Saidu Sharif is 19.3 °C, while the annual precipitation average is 894 mm. November is the driest month with 22 mm of precipitation, while August is the wettest one with average precipitation of 134 mm.

June is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 29.2 °C while January is the coldest one with an average temperature of 7.5 °C.

Swat Museum of Saidu Sharif

Swat Museum is located on the eastern side of the G.T. road, equidistant between Mingora and Saidu Sharif. Aided by Japanese contributions, the museum has undergone a rejuvenation to its seven galleries. These galleries now contain compilation of Gandhara sculptures taken from various Buddhist sites within Swat. The galleries have been reorganized and accompanied by informative labels, effectively depicting the narrative of Buddha's life journey.

The Swat Museum also hosts an array of artifacts that offer a glimpse into the ancient Gandhara Civilsation. Those artifacts contain Terracotta figurines, utensils, beads, precious stones, coins, weapons and various other metal objects. The ethnographic section displays the finest examples of local embroidery, carved wood, and tribal jewelry. It is also under renovation with funds from the Pakistani-Italian debt swap agreement.

Education
The largest college in the district is P.G Jahanzeb College which was built in 1952. It offers intermediate studies (only to males) and BSc and MSc degrees to both male and female students. Saidu Medical College is another college which was built here in 1998. This college ranks third in the government medical colleges in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Moreover, there are numerous schools in Saidu Sharif. One of them is the Govt: Wadudia High School .On 7 July 2010, the first university of the district was established in this area.

In the last few years, Swat has seen great changes in all aspects of its society including an increase in education, modern health care centers and a new university, along with private sector colleges.

Archeological sites

One of the most important Buddhist relics in Swat is near the museum. The stupa, which dates from the second century BC, was possibly built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to house some of the ashes of the Buddha. In subsequent centuries, it was enlarged five times by encasing the existing structure in a new shell.

Italian excavators working in 1955, exposed the successive layers of the stupa, each layer illustrating a stage in the evolution of building techniques.

Administrative divisions
Saidu Sharif is an administrative unit, known as union council or Ward in tehsil Babuzai, of the Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013. District Swat has 67 Wards, of which total amount of Village Councils is 170, and Neighbourhood Councils is 44.

Saidu Sharif is Territorial Ward, which is further divided into three Neighbourhood Councils:
 Saidu Sharif i (Neighbourhood Council)
 Saidu Sharif ii (Neighbourhood Council)
 Saidu Sharif iii (Neighbourhood Council)

See also 
 Battle of Saidu
 Swat District
 Babuzai
 Hidden Treasures of Swat, Book on Saidu Sharif Heritage

References 

http://www.saidusharif.com

https://archive.today/20130915044603/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Swat

Populated places in Swat District
Cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa