History
Karachi became the first capital of the new country of Pakistan in 1947. The FCT was created in 1948 to enable the federal government to operate from a nationally-held territory. At that time it had a population of 400,000 people which began to increase rapidly because of the political focus on the city and the fact that it was the major commercial seaport for western Pakistan. When the territory was absorbed into the province of West Pakistan the city had a population of about 1.9 million.
The main ethnic groups in the FCT were Sindhis and Baluchis. However these were soon outnumbered by Muhajir refugees who had left India for Pakistan. This change in the ethnic make-up of the city would result in considerable tensions and violence propagated by ethno-nationalists.
Read more about this topic: Federal Capital Territory (Pakistan)
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“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)