Rawalpindi,commonly known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan. Rawalpindi is only located 9 miles from the city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. In the 1950s, Rawalpindi was smaller than Hyderabad and Multan, but the city’s economy received a boost during the building of Islamabad (1959–1969), when Rawalpindi served as the national capital and its population increased from 180,000 at the time of independence to over 4.5 million in 2007. Rawalpindi is in the northernmost part of the Punjab province, 275 km (171 mi) to the north-west of Lahore. It is the administrative seat of the Rawalpindi District. The total area of the city is approximately 108.8 square kilometres (42.0 sq mi). Rawalpindi is the military headquarters of the Pakistani Armed Forces.
Rawalpindi, named after Raja Pindi, is a bustling city on the northernmost part of the Punjab province, strategically located between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Many tourists use the city as a stop before traveling towards the northern areas. Rawalpindi is a prime destination for the expatriate community of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Numerous shopping bazaars, parks and a cosmopolitan population attract shoppers from all over Pakistan and abroad. The city is home to several industries and factories. Islamabad International Airport is in Rawalpindi and serves both cities.
History
Rawalpindi has been inhabited for thousands of years, it is believed that a distinct culture flourished on this plateau as far back as c. 1000 BC. The material remains found at the site prove the existence of a Buddhist establishment contemporary to Taxila and of a Vedic civilisation. The nearby town of Taxila has another significance; according to the Guinness Book of World Records it has the world’s oldest university - Takshashila University. In Takshashila, 12 miles north-west of Rawalpindi, traces of at least 55 stupas, 28 Buddhist monasteries, 9 temples, a copper plate inscribed with the name Takshashila, a vase with Kharoshthi script among other things have been found.
Sir Alexander Cunningham identified certain ruins on the site of the cantonment with the ancient city of Ganjipur or Gajnipur, the capital of the Bhatti tribe in the ages preceding the Christian era. Graeco-Bactrian coins, together with ancient bricks, occur over an area of 500 ha (2 mi²). Known within historical times as Fatehpur Baori, Rawalpindi fell into decay during one of the Mongol invasions in the 14th century.
It appears that the ancient city went into oblivion as a result of the White Hun devastation. The first Muslim invader, Mahmud of Ghazni (979-1030), gave the ruined city to a Gakhar Chief, Kai Gohar. The town, however, being on an invasion route, could not prosper and remained deserted until Jhanda Khan, another Gakhar Chief, restored it and named it Rawalpindi after the village Rawal in 1493. Rawalpindi remained under the rule of the Gakkhars until Muqarrab Khan, the last Gakkhar ruler, was defeated by the Sikhs under Sardar Milka Singh in 1765. Singh invited traders from the neighbouring commercial centres of Jhelum and Shahpur to settle in the territory.
Early in the 19th century Rawalpindi became for a time the refuge of Shah Shuja, the exiled king of Afghanistan, and of his brother Shah Zaman. The present native infantry lines mark the site of a battle fought by the Gakhars under their famous chief Sultan Mukarrab Khan in the middle of the 18th century. Rawalpindi was taken by Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1818.
British rule
Following the British invasion of the region and their occupation of Rawalpindi in 1849, the city became a permanent garrison of the British army in 1851. In the late 1870s a railway line to Rawalpindi was laid, and train service was inaugurated on 1 October 1880. The need for a railway link arose after Lord Dalhousie made Rawalpindi the headquarters of the Northern Command and the city became the largest British military garrison in British India.
On the introduction of British rule, Rawalpindi became the site of a cantonment and, shortly afterward, the headquarters of the 2nd (Rawalpindi) Division. Its connection with the main railway system by the extension of the North-Western Railway to Peshawar immensely developed its size and commercial importance. The municipality was created in 1867.
Rawalpindi at the beginning of the 1900s became the most important cantonment in the British Raj - the colonial dominion of the Indic or South Asian sub-continent.
The cantonment was a major center of military power of the Raj after an arsenal was established in 1883.[SUP] [/SUP]In 1901 Rawalpindi was the winter headquarters of the Northern Command and of the Rawalpindi military division. It quartered six regiments - one each of British and Native cavalry; two each of British and Native infantry; three companies, one of garrison artillery and two of sappers and miners, including a balloon section; three batteries - one each of horse, field artillery, and mountain; and one ammunition column of field artillery. It has been recently disclosed that the British Government tested poison gas on Indian troops during a series of experiments that lasted over a decade.
Post-independenceThe predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslim refugees from India settled in the Rawalpindi. In the succeeding years, Rawalpindi saw an influx of Muhajir, Pashtun and Kashmiri settlers. In 1959, the city became the interim capital of the country after President Ayub Khan sought the creation of a new planned capital of Islamabad in the vicinity of Rawalpindi. As a result, Rawalpindi saw most major central government offices and institutions relocate to nearby territory, and its population boom.
In 1951, Rawalpindi saw the assassination of the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan in Company Bagh now known as Liaquat Bagh Park (also called Liaquat Garden.) On 27 December 2007, Liaquat Bagh Park’s rear gate in Rawalpindi was the site of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.[SUP][6]](http://www.paklinks.com/gs/#cite_note-bhutto-6)[/SUP] Her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi in 1979.
The famous Murree Road has been a hot spot for various political and social events. Nala Lai, in the middle of city, history describes Nala Lai water as pure enough for drinking but now it has become polluted with the waste water from all sources including factories and houses. Kashmir Road, was renamed from Dalhousie Road, Haider road from Lawrence road, Bank Road from Edwards Road, Hospital Road from Mission Road, Jinnah Road from Nehru Road. Today Rawalpindi is the headquarters of the Pakistani Army. Pakistan Air Force also has an active airbase in the Chaklala region of Rawalpindi.
Boundary and expansionThough Rawalpindi has expanded mostly due to explosive population pressure, Nespak has been given the responsibility to render the urban planning services—analysing available data and other documents like master plans, structure plans, outline development plans and census reports. It is also responsible for defining the geographical features of the city and provides the a rough idea of how the city could be expanded in the next 20 years.
092. government of punjab registered and pindi board affiliated educational institute
) is the yummiest nihari one can ever eat. Hands down! And I dont even eat red meat lol
