Khanewal (خانیوال) is a city and the capital of Khanewal District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the 36th largest city of Pakistan by population. Khanewal is named after the earliest settlers here who belonged to the caste ‘Daha’ (A Sub-Caste of Panwar Rajput) and used ‘Khan’ in their names. That is how the city came to be known as ‘khan-e-wal’.

The district contains four tehsils which are as following:

Khanewal, Mian Channu, Kabirwala, Jahanian

Khanewal area was populated by Zayadat Khan, the forefather of the Daha family. It is said that he was originally from Dharwar but then migrated to Bahawalpur. After trying his luck in Bahawalpur, he moved to Pak Pattan. Then in the 1820s, he moved to this region after getting employment under Dewan Sawan Mall. As an employee, he was made responsible for collection and payments from Talamba, Kamalia and Laden. He got famous in the region as Khan and thus this area was named Khanewala. This theory is also supported by an old book named Raesa e Punjab Page. As per that document, the first person to populate this region was Sangar Khan.