During the British Raj, Chichawatni was reputedly
transformed from a small Punjabi village into a relatively modern city by
infrastructure investment and planning decrees, starting in 1918. At the time
of the India-Pakistan Partition of 1947, many aristocratic Indian Muslim
families migrated from Punjabi towns like Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Amritsar and
Firozpur, and settled in towns like Chichawatni, shaping the city's present-day
Muslim elite. Another legacy of the Partition is a large Christian community,
with Christianity being most prominent among poorer residents
