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the headquarters of the district, but in 1859 it was abandoned in the favour
of Muzaffargarh. Khangarh contained four tehsils: Rangpur, Khangarh with
its headquarters at Muzaffargarh, Kinjhar and Seetpur. In 1859, the Kot
Addu tehsil was separated from Layyah and added to this district; and the
name was then accordingly changed from Khangarh to Muzaffargarh and
was attached to the Multan Division. In 1861, the Tehsil Rangpur was
abolished. The talukas of Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur were joined to
Jhang, and the rest of the tehsil was attached to the Tehsil Muzaffargarh.
The Tehsil Kinjhar was abolished and its talukas added to Muzaffargarh. The
Tehsil Seetpur was moved to Alipur.
Before annexation, the cis-Indus tract was included in the government of
Diwan Sawan Mal. At the first arrangements of the district the trans-Indus
tehsils of the old Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu districts were formed into the
District Dera Ismail Khan, with headquarters at Bannu. The cis-Indus
tehsils, that is, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Layyah and till 1859 the Tehsil Kot
Addu of Muzaffargarh, formed the District Layyah, with headquarters at
Layyah. This arrangement, though in many respects more convenient than
the later one, was set aside in 1861, as the charge of so long a border was
considered too heavy for the Deputy Commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan. The
northern portion of the two districts was then formed into the District Bannu,
the southern into the District Dera Ismail Khan. The original division was
longitudinal; the Indus being the boundary, the new division was transverse,
sections of the country on both sides of the Indus being included in each
district.

The new district of Dera Ismail Khan consisted of five tehsils. Of these, Dera
Ismail Khan, Kulachi and Tank were trans-Indus. and Layyah and Bhakkar
cis-Indus. On the breaking up of the old District Layyah on January 1, 1861,
the headquarters of the commissionership were transferred from Layyah to
Dera Ismail Khan, which, from being an outstation, became the capital town
of the division. The new Tehsil Layyah included the southern part of the old
Tehsil Mankera broken up in 1853-54, when the Chaubara, Nawankot and
Maujgarh talukas were transferred to Layyah; the village of Paharpur
transferred from the Tehsil Kot Addu in 1861, and a strip of riverside villages
transferred from the Tehsil Sanghar (now Taunsa) in 1869. In 1874, Sukhani
and six other villages were transferred from the Tehsil Sanghar of Dera Ghazi
Khan to Layyah.
On the separation of the North-West Frontier Province from the Punjab, a
further reconstitution took place, and on November 9, 1901 the District
Mianwali was formed out of the four tehsils of Isa Khel, Mianwali, Bhakkar
and Layyah; the former two being taken from Bannu, and the latter two from
Dera Ismail Khan. The headquarters was fixed at Mianwali, the Bhakkar and
Layyah tehsils forming a sub-division, with headquarters at Bhakkar, and
the district was included in the Multan Division.

On April 1, 1909 Tehsil Layyah was transferred to District Muzaffargarh, and
became its sub-division.

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