Karachi: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Some of the world's first settlements sprang up on the banks of the life-supporting Indus River (in the Sindh area where Karachi resides) and its tributaries. These included Kot Diji, just south of Sukkur, during the 4th millennium BC, and subsequently the Indus Valley civilisation, which reached its peak at Moenjodaro.

Sindh was annexed to the Persian Empire by Darius I in the 6th century BC. In 326 BC it was invaded by Alexander the Great, who captured or founded some of the towns along the Indus River. Soon afterwards, when the Greeks pulled out, the Mauryan dynasty stepped in, and they ruled the whole of Sindh until the early 2nd century BC. Little is recorded of Sindh's history from then until AD 622, when a Brahmin dynasty took hold of the region for nearly a century.

The arrival of Arab forces under Mohammed bin Qasim in 711 established Islam on the subcontinent. Sindh remained under the Abbasid caliphate until 874 and under Arab domination until the indigenous Muslim dynasty of the Sumras seized power in about 1058. They gave way in the mid-14th century to the Samma dynasty. After the Sammas' defeat around 1520, Sindh was ruled by the Arghuns and then the Turkhans until Mughal emperor Akbar, himself born in Umarkot in Sindh, defeated the Turkhans in 1592. Mughal rule was to last in lower Sindh until the early 18th century.

Karachi's importance as a natural harbour at the mouth of the Indus was not lost on the British, but its isolation by vast areas of desert clearly stunted the imaginations of earlier rulers. It was a neglected possession of the Khan of Kalat until 1789, when it was ceded to the Talpurs of Balochistan. Although the Talpurs erected a mud fort, Karachi remained a small fishing village until 1839, when the British showed interest in Sindh (about 18 years before the 1857 Indian Uprising).

When General Dyer advocated its conquest, Sir (later Lord) Charles Napier sent HMS Wellesley to Karachi. On its approach the Talpur rulers ordered a display of cannon fire for the visitors. This possibly misinterpreted welcome brought about the capture of the town without bloodshed on 3 February. Four years later, with Karachi as their naval base, the British had annexed all of Sindh and shifted the capital here from Hyderabad, with Napier as the first governor.

By 1847 Karachi's population was 50,000 and construction took on a rapid pace. Streets were laid, highways and railways constructed, port facilities improved and Gothic and Victorian buildings erected, such as Frere Hall, the Sindh High Court and the Sindh Assembly Building. From the mid-19th century, Karachi overshadowed Hyderabad as the commercial, educational and administrative centre of Sindh.

Local soldiers in Karachi supported the 1857 First Indian War for Independence but the revolt was quickly suppressed by the British.

Modern History

The nation of Pakistan has only existed for sixty years, since 1947 when the cry for freedom had become deafening and London accepted it would have to hand back the jewel in Britain's imperial crown - India - to its people. Under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Muslims eventually persuaded the British that they would have to hand over two countries, India and Pakistan; so the British drew a line on a map to demarcate the two new countries. It may have made sense on paper but on the ground it resulted in a nightmare, leading to what was probably the largest movement of humankind in history.

Karachi was Pakistan's capital from 1947 until the new city of Islamabad replaced it in 1959. In 1971, after a bloody war, East Pakistan broke away from the new nation and became Bangladesh.

The disputed territory of Kashmir (since partition, both India and Pakistan have attempted to gain control of the region) is an issue that continues to dominate foreign policy Pakistan-wide. There have been two wars for Kashmir: one in 1947-8, the other in 1965; and the Kashmiri people continue living in a society rife with human rights abuses and occupation.

General Musharraf came out triumphant in the 1999 coup when Nawaz Sharif (then Prime Minister) attempted to sack him as the army chief, and Musharraf has solidified his position as the ruler of Pakistan since.

Recent History

General Musharraf's position as leader of Pakistan sometimes seems unassailable. While the possibility of an internal army putsch can't be ruled out, the history of the Pakistani army suggests that its internal discipline is strong enough to withstand a challenge from within.

Despite ongoing problems of corruption, human rights abuses, military repression and poverty, Musharraf has been saved by the fact that Pakistan is a frontline state in the 'war on terror', although this 'client-state' position can be tenuous. The United States might claim to prefer Pakistan to be a parliamentary democracy, but as long as Islamabad remains a loyal ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, Washington seems quite willing to do business with a nuclear-armed, military government.

Many visitors to Pakistan expect it to be packed with Islamic revolutionaries. In fact, Islamic extremists have usually been on the fringes of Pakistani society, but events like the March 2006 bomb explosion in Karachi (or suspected suicide bomb in Peshawar, 2007) show that the war in Iraq is not making life any safer.

In 2005 a tragic earthquake, the epicentre of which was in Kashmir, left around 80,000 dead in Pakistan alone, and millions homeless.

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