Chaman

Chaman
چمن (Pashto)
City
Chaman Gate border between Pakistan and Afghanistan
Chaman Gate border between Pakistan and Afghanistan
Chaman is located in Balochistan, Pakistan
Chaman
Chaman
Location of Chaman
Chaman is located in Pakistan
Chaman
Chaman
Chaman (Pakistan)
Chaman is located in South Asia
Chaman
Chaman
Chaman (South Asia)
Chaman is located in Asia
Chaman
Chaman
Chaman (Asia)
Coordinates: 30°55′20″N 66°26′41″E / 30.92222°N 66.44472°E / 30.92222; 66.44472
Country Pakistan
ProvinceBalochistan
DistrictChaman District
Government
 • TypeMunicipal Corporation
 • MayorSeat Vacant
Elevation
1,338 m (4,390 ft)
Population
 (2023 Census)
 • Total
130,139
 • Rank93rd in Pakistan
6th in Balochistan
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)
Postal code
86000
Area code826
Number of Union Councils13

Chaman (Pashto and Urdu: چمن) is the capital city of the Chaman District in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The city is situated south of the Wesh–Chaman border crossing with the neighbouring Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

Etymology

The name Chaman is thought to be derived from garden in Urdu. There is little verifiable evidence to a singular and apparently unfounded claim that the name partly derived from that of a Hindu trader in the city before the partition, as the area was known as Chaman much before this period.

History

Train station at Chaman near Khojak Tunnel in 1895, by William Henry Jackson

Chaman has been used by NATO forces as a major supply route into Afghanistan since 2000.

Thousands of Afghan refugees enter Pakistan via the Chaman route on a regular basis.

Bombings occurred in 2017, 2020 Chaman bombing, and 2021.

In December 2022, the Afghan Taliban forces launched indiscriminate fire at the Chaman border, twice in a week and caused civilian casualties on the Pakistani side.

In October 2023, the border crossing process was made more stringent, requiring a passport and visa, whereas previously only requiring a national identification card, to cross from Pakistan to Afghanistan. This has resulted in protests in the city.

Climate

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Chaman features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The average annual temperature in Chaman is 19.0 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 232 mm. June is the driest month with virtually no rain rainfall, while January is the wettest month, with an average 65 mm of precipitation.

July is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 31.0 °C. January is the coldest month with an average temperature of 6.4 °C.

Climate data for Chaman
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 13.3
(55.9)		 16.0
(60.8)		 21.2
(70.2)		 27.3
(81.1)		 33.8
(92.8)		 38.7
(101.7)		 39.3
(102.7)		 38.5
(101.3)		 35.2
(95.4)		 29.2
(84.6)		 21.1
(70.0)		 16.8
(62.2)		 27.5
(81.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) 6.4
(43.5)		 9.0
(48.2)		 13.8
(56.8)		 19.5
(67.1)		 24.7
(76.5)		 29.1
(84.4)		 31.0
(87.8)		 29.6
(85.3)		 24.9
(76.8)		 18.9
(66.0)		 12.8
(55.0)		 8.5
(47.3)		 19.0
(66.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −0.4
(31.3)		 2.1
(35.8)		 6.5
(43.7)		 11.7
(53.1)		 15.6
(60.1)		 19.5
(67.1)		 22.7
(72.9)		 20.7
(69.3)		 14.7
(58.5)		 8.7
(47.7)		 3.6
(38.5)		 0.3
(32.5)		 10.5
(50.9)
Source: Climate-Data.org

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Chaman had a population of 130,139. After the capital Quetta, Chaman is Balochistan's fifth-largest city according to the 2017 Pakistani census. The city is located in northern Balochistan.

Languages

Languages of Chaman (2023 Census)
  1. Pashto (98.2%)
  2. Punjabi (0.68%)
  3. Urdu (0.34%)
  4. Others (0.78%)

Religion

Religious groups in Chaman City (1941 & 2017)
Religious
group		 1941: 13–14  2017
Pop. % Pop. %
Hinduism 2,898 43.58% 379 0.31%
Islam 2,812 42.29% 122,263 99.23%
Sikhism 697 10.48% N/a N/a
Christianity 242 3.64% 515 0.42%
Jainism 1 0.02% N/a N/a
Ahmadiyya N/a N/a 49 0.04%
Total population 6,650 100% 123,206 100%

Transport

Passenger train entering the Khojak Tunnel

Located in Balochistan near the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, Chaman railway station is the final stop on Pakistan Railways' Rohri–Chaman Line. The station is serviced daily by the Chaman Passenger train, which runs a 142 km route between Quetta and Chaman.

While Chaman has been proposed as a gateway for cross-border rail connections to Kandahar and onward to Central Asia—supported by various bilateral and Trans-Afghan rail projects—no direct railway services currently operate into Afghanistan. Situated at a vital mountain pass, Chaman has historically served as an important trade stop on the eastern trade routes of the Silk Road.

Trade

Empty fuel trucks crossing border between Afghanistan and Pakistan through Chaman

The town is an important trade point in the Balochistan region, providing a gateway on the trade routes between Afghanistan and Karachi. It underwent development during the martial law period of 1977 - 1985. People of the city import many things like cars, motor bikes and motor rickshaws. Besides, they import Japanese, Chinese and UAE phones, cosmetics, perfumes, and many other consumer goods from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Sports

Kaleemullah is the first Pakistani footballer to play in the United States

Football is the most popular sport in the city, which have produced notable footballers for the Pakistan national football team including Muhammad Essa, Kaleemullah, Mehmood Khan, Jadid Khan Pathan, and Fareed Ullah.

The Chaman Derby between popular clubs Afghan Chaman and Muslim FC, share intense rivalry which have managed to command the highest crowds in Pakistani domestic football.

AFC Chaman and Muslim FC both played in a top-flight Pakistani league. Both clubs have been among the best-attended football clubs in Pakistan. The football clubs' average attendances compared to other clubs in the league in the 2018-19 season:

#Football clubAverage attendance
1KRL FC1,838
2Muslim FC1,626
3AFC Chaman1,548
4Pakistan Army FC933
5NBP FC837
6PCAA FC688
7KPT FC648
8Pakistan Navy FC596
9K-Electric FC572
10SNGPL FC414
11WAPDA FC342
12PAF FC290
13BFC Nushki248
14SSGC FC158

Notable people

Notes

  1. ↑ 1941: Data for the entirety of the town of Chaman, which included Chaman Municipality and Chaman Cantonment.: 13–14 

References

  1. ↑ "Balochistān (Pakistan): Province and Major Cities, Municipalities & Towns". Balochistān (Pakistan): Province and Major Cities, Municipalities & Towns. Citypopulation.de website. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "Eyewitness: 'Heat, dust and desolation'". 2001-09-28. Retrieved 2024-08-03. The Pakistani border of Chaman lies at the foot of the Khozak pass. "Chaman" means garden in Urdu - a name which seems a cruel joke in this drought-ridden landscape.
  3. ↑ ameer.hamza (2011-05-03). "Smuggler's paradise". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2024-08-03. Chaman means 'garden' in Urdu. And, as I will soon witness, there isn't much in the way of gardens out there. The people of Chaman don't like gardens. They like smuggling.
  4. ↑ "Spotlight on 'garden city'". DAWN.COM. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2024-08-03. Unfamiliar with the lie of the land, the first-time visitor to Chaman, which literally means a garden in Urdu, is puzzled by the city's narrow, dusty lanes, howling winds and, above all, bleak and desolate landscape, with no sight of verdure for miles...
  5. 1 2 DHNS. "The Chaman tale!". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  6. ↑ Achakzai, Matiullah (2014-08-25). "Far from the glare, Chaman's Hindus live in peace". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  7. 1 2 "Pakistan Blast Sets NATO Fuel Convoy Ablaze". Voice Of America News website. 31 August 2008. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Mian Saifur Rehman. "Afghan refugees not being harassed". The News International (newspaper). Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  9. ↑ Shah, Syed Ali (2017-07-10). "DPO Killa Abdullah martyred in Chaman blast". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  10. ↑ Shahid, Saleem (2021-03-24). "Three killed, 13 injured in Chaman bomb blast". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  11. ↑ "Afghanistan-Pakistan border shelling kills civilians". BBC News. 2022-12-12. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  12. ↑ ur-Rehman, Zia (July 23, 2024). "When Pakistan Tightened a Border, Thousands of Lives Were Upended". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ "Climate: Chaman on Climate-Data.org website". Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Population by administrative units 1951-1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  15. ↑ "POPULATION AND HOUSEHOLD DETAIL FROM BLOCK TO DISTRICT LEVEL BALOCHISTAN (KILLA ABDULLAH DISTRICT)" (PDF). KILLLA ABDULLAH_BLOCKWISE.pdf. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 3 January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "PBS Pakistan Bureau of Statistics" (PDF). www.pbs.gov.pk. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  17. 1 2 "CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME XIV BALUCHISTAN". Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  18. ↑ "Final Results (Census-2017)". Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  19. ↑ "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2017) TABLE 9 - POPULATION BY SEX, RELIGION AND RURAL/URBAN" (PDF). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  20. ↑ "Rohri–Chaman Line". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
  21. ↑ "Chaman Passenger". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
  22. ↑ "Quetta-Chaman train service restored". The Express Tribune. 2022-09-05.
  23. ↑ Grantham, Andrew. "Chaman – Railways of Afghanistan". Railways of Afghanistan.
  24. ↑ "Chaman". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
  25. ↑ natasha.raheel (2017-04-03). "Balochistan Football Cup winners: Panjgur's story of determination". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  26. ↑ Sohail, Shahrukh (2020-08-09). "FOOTBALL: A LEAGUE FOR PAKISTAN FOOTBALL". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  27. ↑ InpaperMagazine, From (2013-01-13). "In-depth: Pakistan football". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  28. ↑ Raheel, Natasha (2021-09-30). "Balochistan football needs representation: Qadeer". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  29. ↑ Wasim, Umaid (2021-11-26). "Balochistan's boundless passion for football has nowhere to go but an event is keeping the flame alive". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-05-30.