A small village on the Karachi-Lahore railway line during 1865 was named Montgomery after Sir Robert Montgomery, and then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab was made the capital of the Montgomery District. Its name was reinstated as Sahiwal in 1967 after the Sahi clan of Kharal Rajpoots who are the native inhabitants of this area.The city is in the densely populated region between the Sutlej and Ravi rivers. It currently is the administrative center of Sahiwal district, and previously was that of the former Sahiwal division. Sahiwal is approximately 180 km from the major city Lahore and is the city between Lahore and Multan. With a population of 207,388 (1998 Pakistan Census), it is the 14th largest city in the Punjab and the 22nd largest city in Pakistan.
