Muridke


Muridke, is a city and headquarters of Muridke Tehsil of Sheikhupura District in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 37th most populous city of Pakistan as well 25th of the province Punjab. Muridke is a commercial area situated near the city of Lahore, at an elevation of 205 m.

Geography

It is 215 meters above sea level, with the land around being largely flat. The area is largely agricultural and is serviced by nearby canals.

Temperature

The average temperature is 23 °C. The hottest month is June, at 39 °C, and the coldest is January, at 7 °C.  The average rainfall is 955 millimetres per year. The wettest month is September, at 289 millimetres of rainfall, and the driest is November, at 11 millimetres.

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Muridke had a population of 254,291. The city's population increased nearly ninefold between 1972 and 2017, from 18,507 to 166,652. Between 1998 and 2017, average annual growth was 2.1%, slightly lower than the national average of 2.4%.

Education

is a private boarding school for boys in Muridke. It is situated on the Muridke-Sheikhupura Road. It follows the Cambridge International Examination system.

Landmarks

Markaz-e-Taiba

Muridke is known for being home to the Markaz-e-Taiba, the headquarters of Markaz Dawa wal Irshad or Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent organisation of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, located in the suburb of Nangal Sahdan. The Markaz is a large 200-acre complex that has a range of infrastructure established by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in 1990. Osama bin Laden, the former leader of Al-Qaeda, is believed to have contributed approximately PKR 10 million towards the development of the complex. The complex includes the Umm al-Qura Mosque, a madrasa, a religious preaching centre, residential quarters, a school, a hospital, a market, a garment factory, an iron factory, a woodwork factory, a stable, a swimming pool, a fishfarm, agricultural tracts and various administrative buildings. While it presents itself as a religious and educational institution, multiple international intelligence assessments and security reports have identified it as a hub for indoctrination, militant training and terrorist recruitment. In 2009, following the Mumbai attacks, the Punjab government took over the complex, and JuD continued to operate from there. The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan continued to allocate funds to the organisation.
The complex was targeted in an airstrike conducted by the Indian Air Force as part of Operation Sindoor on the night between on 7 May 2025. The Government of Pakistan has said that the complex is a civilian facility run by the Government.

Notable people