Zira (Punjabi: ) is a town and a municipal council in Ferozepur district in the Indian state of Punjab. The neighbourhood of Zira, had been for many years a wasteland, when in 1508 Ahmad Shah came from Gugera and founded Zira Khas. He was driven out by Sher Shah Suri, during whose rule nearly all the villages of this ilaqa were located. Mohar Singh was, in turn driven out by Diwan Mohkam Chand, Ranjit Singhs General, and the ilaqa was added to the Lahore Demense. It was afterwards divided into two portions, of which the eastern portion, which preserved the name, Zira, was made over to Sarbuland Khan, a servant of the Lahore Government, and the western portion, to which the name, ilaqa Ambarhar, was given was made an appanage of Kanwar Sher Singh, son of the Punjab sovereign. At a later date, Sher Singh obtained the possession of the whole ilaqa and abolished the subdivision of Ambarhar. [2] It is unclear when, exactly, the municipality was founded one source indicates The Municipality Committee, Zira, was constituted in 1876[3] while another says 1867.[4] Zira was one of the two tehsils of Punjab, (the other one being Ferozepur), that was part of a controversy during the partition of India. Sir Cyril Radcliffe created the boundary between India and Pakistan just days before the partition. A draft of the Award was supposedly sent to Evan Jenkins, the provincial governor of Punjab by George Abell, Lord Mountbatten of Burma's private secretary, with a preliminary description of the Punjab boundary. This draft showed the Ferozepur and Zira tehsils being allotted to Pakistan. During partition Zira city had a Muslim majority by 51% Sikhs making up 35% and Hindus 14%. When violence erupted in most Ferozepur Zira area was very quiet because most of the residents treated each other like brothers. Many Sikh residents were really close to there Muslim friends and did not want them to leave, but due to so much problems in the Ferozepur area they had no choice to leave.[5] The final version of the boundary however awarded the areas to India. This led Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, to proclaim that the Award of the Boundary Commission was unjust, incomprehensible and perverse. He, however, agreed to abide by it.[6] The dispute was settled in 1960 as part of an agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan.
