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Karachi is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Sindh. It is the largest city in Pakistan and 12th largest in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast and formerly served as the country's capital from 1947 to 1959. Ranked as a beta-global city, it is Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre, with an estimated GDP of over $200 billion (PPP) as of 2021. Karachi is a metropolitan city and is considered Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city, and among the country's most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse regions, as well as one of the country's most progressive and socially liberal cities.
Sindh is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province by population after Punjab. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan to the west and north-west and Punjab to the north. It shares an International border with the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east; it is also bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar Desert of Sindh in the eastern portion of the province along the international border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western portion of the province.
West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea.
Sind was a province of British India from 1 April 1936 to 1947 and Dominion of Pakistan from 14 August 1947 to 14 October 1955. Under the British, it encompassed the current territorial limits excluding the princely state of Khairpur. Its capital was Karachi. After Pakistan's creation, the province lost the city of Karachi, as it became the capital of the newly created country. It became part of West Pakistan upon the creation of the One Unit Scheme.
The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India and Dominion of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The partition involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and the Punjab, based on district-wise Hindu or Muslim majorities. It also involved the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Civil Service, the railways, and the central treasury, between the two new dominions. The partition was set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, or Crown rule in India. The two self-governing countries of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 14–15 August 1947.
Gujranwala is the fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of the eponymous district and division. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. A metropolitan hub, it is the fifth-most populous in the country.
The administrative units of Pakistan comprise four provinces, one federal territory, and two disputed territories: the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan; the Islamabad Capital Territory; and the administrative territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. As part of the Kashmir conflict with neighbouring India, Pakistan has also claimed sovereignty over the Indian-controlled territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since the First Kashmir War of 1947–1948. It also has a territorial dispute with India over Junagadh, but has never exercised administrative authority over either regions. All of Pakistan's provinces and territories are subdivided into divisions, which are further subdivided into districts, and then tehsils, which are again further subdivided into union councils.
The former administrative units of Pakistan are states, provinces, and territories which mainly existed between 1947 and 1975 when the current provinces and territories were established. The former units have no administrative function today, but some remain as historical and cultural legacies. In some cases, the current provinces and territories correspond to the former units – for example the province of Punjab includes almost all the territory of the former province of West Punjab.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) around Karachi was the original capital territory of Pakistan. The FCT was created in 1948 from the city of Karachi and surrounding areas as the location for Pakistan's capital following its creation. This move, however, was controversial as the territory was created despite resistance from the local groups in Sindh. The FCT was bordered by the province of Sindh to the northeast and the princely state of Las Bela to the northwest with the Arabian Sea to the south.
The four provinces, capital territory, and two autonomous territories of Pakistan are subdivided into 38 administrative "divisions", which are further subdivided into districts, tehsils, and finally union councils. These divisions were abolished in 2000, but restored in 2008.
Sikhism in Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, although Sikhs form a small community in Pakistan today. Most Sikhs live in the province of Punjab, a part of the larger Punjab region where the religion originated in the Middle Ages, with some also residing in Peshawar in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, is located in Pakistan's Punjab province. Moreover, the place where Guru Nanak died, the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib is also located in the same province.
The official religion of Pakistan is Islam, as enshrined by Article 2 of the Constitution, and is practised by an overwhelming majority of 96.35% of the country's population. The remaining 3.65% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and other religions.
Pakistan is a federal republic with three tiers of government: national, provincial and local. Local government is protected by the constitution in Articles 32 and 140-A, and each province also has its own local-government-enabling legislation and ministries responsible for implementation. District councils and metropolitan corporations are respectively the highest rural and urban tiers of local government in the provinces. Both urban and rural local government have two or three tiers in all provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where councils are not identified as either urban or rural. There are 129 district councils across the four provinces, 619 urban councils made up of one city district, four metropolitan corporations, 13 municipal corporations, 96 municipal committees, 148 town councils, 360 urban union committees, and 1,925 rural councils. Additionally there are 3339 neighbourhood, ‘tehsil’ and village councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There are five high courts of Pakistan, each based in the capital city of the four provinces, plus one in the federal capital, Islamabad. Articles 192 to 203 of the Constitution of Pakistan outline the constitution of the courts, appointment of the judges, their oath of office, and jurisdiction of the high courts.
The city of Karachi is a major transport hub of Pakistan. The Karachi port and airport are major gateways to Pakistan. The Karachi Railway stations transports the major part of Pakistan's trade with other countries.
Karachi is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan. The population of Karachi is estimated to be around 16 million (16,093,786) in 2020. The population and demographic distribution in the megacity has undergone numerous changes over the past 150 years. On 14 August 1947, when it became the capital city of Pakistan, its population was about 450,000 inhabitants However, the population rapidly grew with large influx of Muslim refugees after independence in 1947. By 1951, the city population had crossed one million mark. in the following decade, the rate of growth of Karachi was over 80 percent. Today, the city has grown 60 times its size in 1947 when it became the country's first capital. Although, Islamabad remains the nation's capital since the 1960s, the city's population continues to grow at about 5% per annum, largely thanks to its strong economic base.
The Muhajir people are Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the 1947 independence to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other major urban centres of Pakistan.
Jainism in Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, with several ancient Jain shrines scattered across the country. Baba Dharam Dass was a holy man whose tomb is located near the bank of a creek called near Chawinda Phatic, behind the agricultural main office in Pasrur, near the city of Sialkot in Punjab, Pakistan. Another prominent Jain monk of the region was Vijayanandsuri of Gujranwala, whose samadhi still stands in the city.
Urbanisation in Pakistan has increased since the time of independence and has several different causes. The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. Karachi is its most populous city. In the northern half of the country, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia. Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more. Pakistan is one of south Asia's most rapidly urbanising countries, as of at least early 2024.
Nawab of Junagarh or Junagadh refers to the now defunct ex-lineage of rulers of the princely Junagarh State in British Raj, nowadays Junagadh district in the state of Gujarat in India. There are still several forts and palaces in India which were owned by princely Junagarh family but after Partition of India, this property was claimed by the Indian Government.
References
- ↑ "Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 15, page 8 -- Imperial Gazetteer of India -- Digital South Asia Library". dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
- ↑ "Bernard, Sir Charles Edward, (21 Dec. 1837–13 Sept. 1901), Secretary in Revenue, Statistics, and Commerce Department, India Office from 1888", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, retrieved 2024-08-02
- ↑ "40s and Independence". Historic karachi. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
- ↑ Moir, Zawahir; Moir, Martin (1990). "Old District Records in Pakistan". Modern Asian Studies. 24 (1): 195–204. ISSN 0026-749X.
- ↑ "Karachi and Sindh". DAWN.COM. 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
- ↑ "From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1948: Seventy-five years ago: Karachi to be capital". DAWN.COM. 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
- ↑ "Sarwar, Mohammad, (born 18 Aug. 1952), Governor of Punjab, Pakistan, 2013–15", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, retrieved 2024-08-02
