Place:Islamabad, North-West Frontier, Pakistan

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Islamabad is the capital city of Pakistan, and is administered by the Pakistani federal government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. It is the ninth-largest city in Pakistan. Built as a planned city in the 1960s, it replaced Rawalpindi as Pakistan's capital. Islamabad is noted for its high standards of living, safety, and abundant greenery.

The master plan for the city was designed by Greek architect Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis and divides the city into eight zones, including administrative, diplomatic enclave, residential areas, educational and industrial sectors, commercial areas, as well as rural and green areas which are administered by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation with support from the Capital Development Authority. Islamabad is known for the presence of several parks and forests, including the Margalla Hills National Park and the Shakarparian. It is home to several landmarks, with the most notable one being the Faisal Mosque, the largest mosque in South Asia and the fifth-largest in the world. Other landmarks include the Pakistan National Monument and the Democracy Square.

Islamabad is a Gamma+ city as rated by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It has the highest cost of living in Pakistan, and its populace is dominated by middle and upper middle class citizens.^[1]

The city is home to twenty universities, including Bahria University, Quaid-e-Azam University, PIEAS, COMSATS University and NUST. The city is rated as one of the safest in Pakistan, and has an expansive RFID-enabled surveillance system with almost 2000 active CCTV cameras.^[2]

History

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Early history

Islamabad Capital Territory, located on the Pothohar Plateau of the northern Punjab region, is considered one of the earliest sites of human settlement in Asia. Some of the earliest Stone Age artefacts in the world have been found on the plateau, dating from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Rudimentary stones recovered from the terraces of the Soan River testify to the endeavours of early man in the inter-glacial period.^[3] Items of pottery and utensils dating back to prehistory have been found.

Excavations by Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Lone reveal evidence of a prehistoric culture in the area. Relics and human skulls have been found dating back to 5000 BCE that indicate the region was home to Neolithic peoples who settled on the banks of the Swaan River,^[4] and who later developed small communities in the region around 3000 BCE.

The Indus Valley civilization flourished in the region between the 23rd and 18th centuries BCE. Later the area was an early settlement of the Aryan community which migrated into the region from Central Asia.^[4] Many great armies such as those of Zahiruddin Babur, Genghis Khan, Timur and Ahmad Shah Durrani crossed the region during their invasions of the Indian subcontinent.^[4] In 2015–16, the Federal Department of Archaeology and Museums, with the financial support of National Fund for Cultural Heritage, carried out initial archaeological excavations in which unearthed the remains of a Buddhist stupa at Ban Faqiran, near the Shah Allah Ditta caves, which was dated to the 2nd to the 5th century CE.

Construction and development

When Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the southern port city of Karachi was its provisional national capital. In 1958, a commission was constituted to select a suitable site near Rawalpindi for the national capital with particular emphasis on location, climate, logistics, and defence requirements, along with other attributes. After extensive study, research, and a thorough review of potential sites, the commission recommended the area northeast of Rawalpindi in 1959.^[5] In the 1960s, Islamabad was constructed as a forward capital for several reasons. Karachi was also located at the southern end of the country, and exposed to attacks from the Arabian Sea. Pakistan needed a capital that was easily accessible from all parts of the country. Karachi, a business centre, was also considered unsuitable partly because of intervention of business interests in government affairs.^[6] The newly selected location of Islamabad was closer to the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the disputed territory of Kashmir in the north.^[4]

Greek firm of architects, led by Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis, designed the master plan of the city based on a grid plan which was triangular in shape with its apex towards the Margalla Hills. The capital was not moved directly from Karachi to Islamabad; it was first shifted temporarily to Rawalpindi in the early 60s, and then to Islamabad when essential development work was completed in 1966. Such world-renowned architects as Edward Durell Stone and Gio Ponti have been associated with the city's development.^[7]

Recent history

Islamabad has attracted people from all over Pakistan, making it one of the most cosmopolitan and urbanised cities of Pakistan. As the capital city it has hosted a number of important meetings, such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in 2004.

In October 2005, the city suffered damage due to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake which had a magnitude of 7.6. Islamabad has experienced a series of terrorist incidents including the July 2007 Siege of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), the June 2008 Danish embassy bombing, and the September 2008 Marriott bombing. In 2011, four terrorism incidents occurred in the city, killing four people, including the murder of the Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer.

Construction of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus, the region's first mass transit line, began in February 2014 and was completed in March 2015. The Rawalpindi Development Authority built the project at a cost of approximately Rs 24 billion, which was shared by both the Federal government and the provincial government of Punjab.

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