Islamabad: History
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Islamabad History
Capital Development Authority, Islamabad
The capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad is located in the northwest of the country on Potohar Plateau. This area has been significant in history for being a part of the crossroads of the Rawalpindi and the North West Frontier Province. The city was built in 1960 to replace Karachi as the Pakistani capital, which it has been since 1963. Due to Islamabad's proximity to Rawalpindi, they are considered sister cities.
Compared to other cities of the country, Islamabad is a clean, spacious and quiet city with lots of greeneries. The site of the city has a history going back to the earliest human habitations in Asia. This area has seen the first settlement of Aryans from Central Asia, ancient caravans passing from Central Asia, and the massive armies of Tamerlane and Alexander.
To the north of the city you will find the Margalla Hills. Hot summers, monsoon rains and cold winters with sparse snowfall in the hills almost summarize the climate of this area. Islamabad also has a rich wildlife ranging from wild boars to leopards.
After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was felt that a new and permanent Capital City had to be built to reflect the diversity of the Pakistani nation. It was considered pertinent to locate the new capital where it could be isolated from the business and commercial activity of the Karachi, and yet is easily accessible from the remotest corner of the country. A commission was accordingly set in motion in 1958, entrusted with the task of selecting a suitable site for the new capital with a particular emphasis on location, climate, logistics and defense requirements, aesthetics, and scenic and natural beauty.
After extensive research, feasibility studies and a thorough review of various sites, the commission recommended the area North East of the historic garrison city of Rawalpindi. After the final decision of the National Cabinet, it was put into practice. A Greek firm, Doxiadis Associates devised a master plan based on a grid system, with its north facing the Margallah Hills. The long-term plan was that Islamabad would eventually encompass Rawalpindi entirely, stretching to the West of the historic Grand Trunk road.
Islamabad nestles against the backdrop of the Margallah Hills at the northern end of Potohar Plateau. Its climate is healthy, pollution free, plentiful in water resources and lush green. It is a modern and carefully planned city with wide roads and avenues, elegant public buildings and well-organized bazaars, markets, and shopping centers. The city is divided into eight basic zones: Administrative, diplomatic enclave, residential areas, educational sectors, industrial sectors, commercial areas, and rural and green areas.
The metropolis of Islamabad today is the pulsating beat of Pakistan, resonating with the energy and strength of a growing, developing nation. It is a city, which symbolizes the hopes and dreams of a young and dynamic nation and espouses the values and codes of the generation that has brought it thus far. It is a city that welcomes and promotes modern ides, but at the same time recognizes and cherishes its traditional values and rich history.
Islamabad: Ojhri Camp disaster, 1988 (history)
20 years on, Ojhri Camp truth remains locked up
By Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, April 9: Twenty years have passed but the images of destruction caused by the Ojhri Camp disaster are still fresh in the minds of many residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Over 100 men, women and children were killed and many times more were wounded by the missiles and projectiles which exploded mysteriously and rained death and destruction on the twin cities on this day in 1988.
Physical scars of the tragedy may have healed but the nation is unaware till this day what, and who, caused that disaster and why. An investigation was conducted into the disaster but, like in the case of all other probes into national tragedies, its report was not made public.
The then prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo appointed two committees, one military and the other parliamentary, to probe the military disaster. His action so infuriated military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq that he dismissed his handpicked prime minister on May 29, 1988 - the main charge being that he failed to implement Islam in the country.
While the parliamentary committee, headed by old politician Aslam Khattak, went out with the Junejo government, the military committee under Gen Imranullah Khan submitted its report before the government’s dismissal.
Subsequent governments of prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif which followed Gen Zia’s fiery death in a mysterious plane crash on August 17, 1988, also kept Gen Imranullah Khan’s findings under covers.
Some opposition members called for making it public during the last five years of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s military rule but the PML-Q government took the position that it would not be “in the larger national interest”.
Neither political observers expect the PPP and the PML-N doing so even when they have been swept into power again by the people and run a coalition government.
Interestingly, when contacted, leaders of both the parties agreed that the Ojhri Camp inquiry report should be made public but refused to commit to do so.
Junejo’s defence minister Rana Naeem Ahmed had told Dawn in an interview last year that he had received the report but said it did not fix responsibility on any one and declared the huge disaster an accident.
Even then the ISI seized it in a raid on his office the day after the Junejo government was dismissed, he claimed.
“They returned all my belongings, except the briefcase that contained the report,” he said, disclosing that the report was inconclusive and focused just on the causes of the blast.
It was a bright and sunny morning on April 10, 1988, when the citizens of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were startled by huge explosions and swishing sounds as if fireworks were going off.
Thousands of missiles and projectiles soon started raining down on the two cities the Ojhri Ammunition Depot, situated in the densely-populated Faizabad area, blew up.
Officially the death toll was 30, but independent estimates put the figure much higher. Prominent among those killed was a federal minister Khaqan Abbasi whose car was hit by a flying missile while he was on his way to Murree, his hometown.
His son accompanying him was hit in the head. He went into deep coma and died some two years ago after remaining on artificial respiration for 17 years.
The Ojhri Camp was used as an ammunition depot to forward US-supplied arms to Afghan Mujahideen fighting against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. There were reports that a Pentagon team was about to arrive to take audit of the stocks of the weapons and that allegedly the camp was blown up deliberately to cover up pilferage from the stocks.
Some reports said that Ojhri Camp had about 30,000 rockets, millions of rounds of ammunition, vast number of mines, anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, anti-tank missiles, multiple-barrel rocket launchers and mortars worth $100 million in store at the time of blasts that destroyed all records and most of the weapons thus making it impossible for anyone to check the stocks.
Prime minister Junejo had promised to the National Assembly that the inquiry report would be made public and the guilty would be punished but was sacked by Gen Zia.
Senior members of the PPP and the PML-N admit that their governments in the past made no serious effort to make the report public.
A PPP member however claimed that the second Benazir Bhutto government did attempt to do that but failed due to resistance from the “concerned quarters”. There are some elements in the Charter of Democracy, signed by the PPP and the PML-N, which could be pursued to make such reports public, he said.
Naming the roads of Islamabad
What’s in a name? A road to fame!
ISLAMABAD has undergone major transformation in the last few years with the construction of a new road network that has, to a large extent, changed the capital’s landscape.
As well as ease the traffic blues, these carpeted avenues have added to the glitter of what is decidedly, the best planned city in Pakistan and one of the world’s most picturesque capitals.
More recently, two avenues have linked up the entire capital, one of them running directly into twin Rawalpindi as well.
However, not everyone is happy about the christening of the Ninth Avenue. It has been named after former foreign minister Agha Shahi. No-one knows for sure what criteria was employed to make a national recall for Shahi.
Questions have been raised if the honour bestowed on Shahi was not for mere longevity of service. Some have defended Shahi’s term as a bright period for the usually staid Foreign Office and others, who agreed that imposing his name was a questionable move.
The mandarins of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) have never really made an effort to enlighten the denizens of Islamabad on how they determine which road, street, flyover, underpass or a roundabout is named after whom and why.
Perhaps, it is just the nature of the beast: In Islamabad, secrecy is the standard operating procedure, which leads to a deliberate state of inertia to offset any criticism.
In countries, which espouse the virtues of open debate as well as accountability, public avenues cannot be named on whim or personal like. It would make sense for a representative council or committee of citizens to have a say in these matters.
If the CDA’s idea was to name the avenue strictly after a foreign minister, there were certainly candidates more deserving than the long serving Shahi even amongst those still living.
However, presuming that we usually take to honouring people only posthumously, there was and still is a strong case for more illustrious names.
For instance, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto dwarfs most of them even purely as a foreign minister — one of the most distinguished foreign ministers Pakistan has had.
Both times in his stint as foreign minister from 1963-1966 and then 1971-1977 (during which time, as President and then PM, he retained the Foreign Ministry before eventually appointing Aziz Ahmed), Bhutto emerged as the architect of a truly independent foreign policy, which, in the first instance, led to his falling out with military ruler Ayub Khan.
Space constraints do not permit to recount his achievements as even foreign minister but since he overgrew that role to become a giant leader, he deserves a trite more than just naming an avenue after him in the city of bureaucrats.
Therefore, two well-rounded candidates emerge: Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, the country’s first foreign minister, and Aziz Ahmed (not to be confused with the last Pakistani envoy to New Delhi).
Both served with distinction well before they were given the highest office in the Foreign Ministry. But a comparison would perhaps, be unfair, given the knighted Zafrullah’s highly distinguished career and role as author of the newborn state’s foreign policy.
Picked by the Father of the Nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Zafrullah had already made his presence felt by forcefully arguing the case of Muslims in 1947 before the Radcliffe Boundary Commission — at Mr Jinnah’s instance. In October of the same year, he represented Pakistan at the UN General Assembly and advocated the Muslim world’s stand on the Palestinian issue.
He showed his mettle in the seven years he remained the custodian of foreign policy with a flourish for even international issues that raised Pakistan’s profile.
Zafrullah’s efforts materialised into the UN resolutions on Kashmir, which are the basis of the Pakistan’s case and grievance.
Later, he became the first Asian president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He also served briefly as the President of the UN General Assembly.
Aziz Ahmed, on the other hand, is credited with building strong ties with the US that characterized the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations of the Sixties. He gained prominence following the 1965 war with India and his vocal opposition to the Tashkent Declaration. Called out of retirement by Bhutto, he later played a key role in negotiating the famous Simla Agreement.
Among others, Liaquat Ali Khan (more renowned as the first prime minister), Feroze Khan Noon (post-Independence), Gohar Ayub (N-blasts) and Khurshid Kasuri (post 9/11) also served as FMs at turning points in our history but not necessarily, with any discerning acclaim.
In a nutshell, Sir Zafrullah and Aziz Ahmed had better credentials for riding the Ninth Avenue.
The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com
