Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Cities Of Pakistan


Karachi

Karachi, city (1998 pop. 9,269,265), largest city and former capital of Pakistan, SE Pakistan, on the Arabian Sea near the Indus River delta. The capital of Sind prov., it is Pakistan's chief seaport and industrial centre, a transportation, commercial, and financial hub, and a military headquarters. It has a large automobile assembly plant, an oil refinery, a steel mill, shipbuilding, railroad yards, jute and textile factories, printing and publishing plants, media and entertainment industries, food processing plants, and chemical and engineering works. Karachi airport is one of the busiest in Asia. Karachi has a university and other educational institutions; the national museum, with a fine archaeological collection; and the tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah , founder of Pakistan.

An old settlement, Karachi was developed as a port and trading centre by Hindu merchants in the early 18th cent. In 1843 it passed to the British, who made it the seat of the Sind government. Steady improvements in harbour facilities made Karachi a leading Indian port by the late 19th cent., while agricultural development of the hinterland gave it a large export trade. Karachi served as Pakistan's capital from 1947, when the country gained independence, until 1959, when Rawalpindi became the interim capital pending completion of Islamabad.




Lahore

Lahore, city (1998 pop. 5,063,499), capital of Punjab prov., E central Pakistan, on the Ravi River. It is the second largest city of Pakistan. A railway and air transport centre near the Indo-Pakistani border, Lahore is a banking and commercial city that markets the products of the surrounding fertile agricultural area. The city is home to c.20% of Pakistan's industrial producers; manufactures include textiles, rubber, iron, and steel. Handicrafts, especially gold and silver work, also flourish. According to Hindu legend, Lahore was founded by Loh, or Lava, son of Rama, the hero of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. In 1036 it was conquered from a Brahman dynasty by the Muslim Turkish Ghaznavids, who made it the capital of their empire in 1106. It passed in 1186 to the Ghori sultans, also from Afghanistan. India's first Muslim emperor, Kutb-ud-din Aibak, was crowned in Lahore in 1206 and is buried there. The city, which suffered Mongol raids in the 13th and 14th cent., entered the period of its greatest glory in the 16th cent., when it became one of the capitals of the Mughal empire. Lahore declined after the reign of Aurangzeb; it was annexed in 1767 by the Sikhs, who, under Ranjit Singh, made it their capital. It passed to the British in 1849.

When Pakistan won independence in 1947, Lahore became the capital of its West Punjab; from 1955 to 1970 it was the capital of the entire province of West Pakistan, composed of all provinces in the western wing; and upon the province's dissolution it became the capital of Punjab prov. The architectural remains of the Mughal period, although imperfectly preserved, are among the most splendid of Mughal art . Especially notable are the palace and mausoleum of Emperor Jahangir and the Shalimar gardens, just outside the city; only three sections of the gardens remain of the original seven that had symbolized the divisions of the Islamic paradise. Other landmarks include the Pearl and Golden mosques, the tomb of Ranjit Singh, and the Wazir Khan mosque, which contains the finest known examples of khashi, or inlaid pottery. Lahore's museum of Indian antiquities, which figures in Rudyard Kipling's Kim, is among the most noted in the East. The city's educational facilities include the Univ. of the Punjab (1882), Pakistan's oldest university; several affiliated colleges; and a university of engineering and technology. Lahore also has an atomic research institute.

Islamabad

Islamabad, city (1998 pop. 524,500), capital of Pakistan, NE Pakistan, just NE of Rawalpindi, the former interim capital. Construction of Islamabad [city of Islam] as the capital, replacing Karachi, began in 1960. There are light manufacturing industries. Points of interest include Pakistan House, the home of the president; the national assembly building; the National Univ.; the Grand National Mosque; and the botanical gardens. The nearby Murree Hills serve as a summer resort as well as summer headquarters for many diplomatic missions. Also near the city are the historical ruins of Taxila.

Quetta

Quetta, city (1998 pop. 560,307), capital of Baluchistan prov., W central Pakistan, at an altitude of c.5,500 ft (1,675 m), ringed by mountains. Deriving its name from the Pashto word kawkot [fort], it commands the entrance through the strategic Bolan Pass into Afghanistan and is a trade centre for Afghanistan, Iran, and much of central Asia. The city's cottage industries produce textiles, foodstuffs, and carpets.

The city was occupied (1876) by the British following the Second Afghan War, and it gained prominence as the seat of British resident Sir Robert Sandeman. It became a strongly garrisoned British military station. Much of the present city was rebuilt after a disastrous earthquake in 1935. Quetta has a military staff college (est. 1907) and a geophysical observatory. Like many major Pakistani border cities, Quetta was a magnet for some of the millions of Afghan refugees who fled after the 1979 Soviet invasion; the refugees who remain have swelled the local population to an estimated 2 million people. As a result of war and ongoing fighting in Afghanistan, Quetta has become a centre for arms and drug smuggling and a base for ousted Taliban leaders.

Peshawar

Peshawar, city (1998 pop. 988,005), capital of the North-West Frontier Province, NW Pakistan. A road and rail centre near the famed Khyber Pass, Peshawar is an important military and communications centre, the historical terminus of the Grand Trunk Road of India, and the major depot for trade with Afghanistan. Local handicrafts and farm produce from the surrounding fertile agricultural valley are sold in the many bazaars of the city. Industries include food processing and the manufacture of steel, cigarettes, firearms, textiles, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and paper.

The city, once called Purushapura, was the capital of the ancient Greco-Buddhist centre of Gandhara . The Kushan leader Kanishka (2d cent. AD) made it his capital. For centuries, it was the target of successive Afghan, Persian, and Mongol invaders. It was named Peshawar [frontier town] by the Mughal emperor Akbar . A favourite residence (18th cent.) of the Afghan Durrani rulers, it was taken by the Sikhs (early 19th cent.), from whom the British captured it in 1848. It became an important outpost of British India and was a base for British military operations against Pathan tribes. During the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) it was the centre of relief operations for Afghan refugees and the command centre of the coalition of guerrilla groups intent on expelling the Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

Peshawar has a museum containing Buddhist relics and Gandhara sculpture, a 2d-century Buddhist stupa bearing an inscription by Kanishka, and a university (1950) with several affiliated colleges. The Bala Hisar fort, still used as military headquarters in the early 21st century, dates to at least the 15th century.


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