Daily Times

Trials & Tribulations … 

Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and the country’s first PM, Liaquat Ali Khan, hold a press conference on the eve of Pakistan’s creation in August 1947. (Pic: LIFE)

Trains packed with Muslim refugees arrive in Karachi from India. Thousands were killed along the way in the ensuing violence between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.(Pic: LIFE)

1948: Hindus board a Bombay-bound ship in Karachi to migrate to India. The Hindus of Sindh were least likely to leave Pakistan. But after a riot in Karachi, many residing in the city left, despite an appeal made by Jinnah to stay in Pakistan which he described as a multi-cultural country. (Pic: DAWN)

The founder goes: Thousands attend Jinnah’s funeral. He passed away in September 1948 from tuberculosis.  (Pic: LIFE)

1950: Urdu poet and intellectual Faiz Ahmad Faiz speaking at a literary event organized by the Communist Party of Pakistan. Faiz was arrested and jailed in 1951 for allegedly helping Major-General Akbar Khan plot a ‘communist military coup’ in 1951. He was released in 1957. (Pic: Friday Times)

A street in Lahore in 1950. Pakistan’s economy was extremely weak and poverty was rampant in the early years. (Pic: Frank Hovert)

Karachi, 1951.  In 1951, Pakistan’s wheat, cotton & jute found a huge market in the US. The average GDP of the country dramatically jumped from 3% to 9.5%.(Pic: Rabia Zafar).

A tourist tries out traditional Pashtun shoes at a shop in Peshawar in 1953. (Pic: National Geographic).

Soldiers petrol the streets of Dhaka in East Pakistan in 1954. Riots against imposition of Urdu as a national language had erupted in the Bengali-majority city. Bengali was given the status of a national language after the riots. (Pic: LIFE).

The first Coca-Cola factory in Pakistan. It was set-up in Karachi in 1953. (Pic: TanveerMinir).

Pakistan fast bowler, FazalMahmood, meets fans in London after helping the Pakistan cricket team win its first Test match against England in 1954. Fazal became Pakistan’s first star sportsman. (Pic: Alamy).

Pakistan’s third Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali Bogra in 1954. He was a colourful man but failed to stem the decline of the country’s economy which had begun to deteriorate again in 1953. He was removed in 1955 by the Governor-General. (Pic: Dr. Ghulam NabiKazi). 

1956: A special envelope and stamp issued in March 1956 to celebrate the passing of the country’s first constitution. From being an ‘independent British Commonwealth dominion’, Pakistan became a republic. The country’s name was changed from just Pakistan to Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Interestingly the image around the flag shows a Pakistani man with an English wife and their children. (Pic: Pakistan Stamps).

Karachi’s Hotel Metropolein 1957. It was the country’s first 5-star hotel with air-conditioned rooms, restaurants, a ball room and a cocktail bar. (Pic: NaureenMirza).

A shanty town in Karachi in 1957. By the late 1950s, poverty and corruption had become serious issues in Pakistan. (Pic: Norman Peter).

1957: A church in a Christian-majority village near Gojra in Punjab (Picture LIFE).

Change of guard …

Front page of Dawn the morning after Army Chief Ayub Khan and President IskandarMirza declared the country’s first Martial Law. Both termed the 1956 Constitution as the ‘peddling of Islam for political gains.’ Ayub soon deposed Iskandar as well and became President.

A 1959 Pakistani passport. The Ayub regime changed the country’s name from Islamic Republic of Pakistan to simply Republic of Pakistan. (Pic: Delcampe).

1961: A woman cyclist nears the finishing line during a national athletics event in Karachi. (Shaheen Ahmed).

An ESSO-Pakistan ad in the 1962 edition of Dawn. Pakistan’s economy began to grow appreciably during the early years of the Ayub regime. The economic & industrialization growth rates were the highest in Asia, second only to Japan.  

Special envelop and stamp which were issued after the passage of the 1962 Constitution.

A 1963 tourism brochure highlighting West Pakistan’s scenic northern areas; ancient archeological sites (Mohenjo-Daro); ancient Buddhist sites (Gandhara); and the jungles of East Pakistan. In the early 1960s Pakistan’s tourism industry began to take shape.(Pic: Accapillow).

Muslims and Hindus clash during a riot in Dhaka (East Pakistan) in 1964. East Pakistan had a large Hindu minority. (Pic: Dawn).

1964: Religious scholar and founder of the Jamat-i-Islami (JI), AbulAla Maududi (sitting right), arrives at JI’s headquarters after the Supreme Court overturned a ban on JI which was imposed by the Ayub regime. JI had accused Ayub of promoting secularism and liberalism.  

Ayub Khan consults with his young minister, ZA Bhutto, just before the January 1965 Presidential election. Ayub and his party, the Convention Muslim League, defeated Ms. Fatima Jinnah of the Combined Opposition Party (COP). Ayub won in a majority of the country’s cities, except in Karachi, Hyderabad and Dhaka. He was reelected as President (Pic: PostImage).

A Pakistani tank and soldiers move forward during the country’s war against India in September 1965. The war ended in a stalemate and both countries settled for a ceasefire. But the war did weaken the Ayub regime.

Ad of Pakistani beer brand, Murree. This particular ad appeared in the Sindh Gazette from the late 1930s till the late 1960s. Murree Brewery was established in 1860. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, it became the country’s leading manufacturer of alcoholic beverages.    

Tourists break for a snack near Quetta in 1966. (Pic: Sally Amanda). 

A page from a 1967 Urdu daily advertising films being shown in Karachi’s cinemas. The Ayub regime greatly patronized the Pakistan film industry. The industry began its peak from the mid-1960s onwards.

ZA Bhutto who had a falling out with Ayub, speaks at a rally organized by the leftist National Students Federation (NSF) at a college in Karachi in 1967. The same year he formed the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). (Pic: Dow Days).

Future President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, appeared as a child actor in the 1967 Urdu film, Saalgirah. His family owned Karachi’s famous Bambino Cinema.

A woman pulls a cycle-cart to make ends meet in Lahore. Pakistan’s economy began to deteriorate from 1966 onward, raising poverty levels.(Pic: The Mirror)

The Schism …

Protesting students invade the ground during a Test match in Karachi in 1968. An anti-Ayub movement in 1968 pushed the regime into a corner. Ayub resigned in March 1969. (Picture: Dr. NaumanNiaz)

A besieged Ayub handed over power to General YayahKhan in 1969. Yahya somewhat stabilized the situation in West Pakistan, but East Pakistan continued to spiral out of control. Yahya had a flamboyant personality but history was not on his side. Though he delivered his promise of holding a general election in 1970, Pakistan lost East Pakistan in December 1971 after a vicious civil war there.(Picture: NFO)

Bhutto campaigning for his PPP during Pakistan’s first direct parliamentary election. The PPP swept the election in West Pakistan, whereas the Bengali nationalist party, the Awami League, won a landslide in East Pakistan. (Pic: Dr. Ghulam Kazi). 

East Pakistanis jump on a train leaving for India during the vicious 1971 Civil War in East Pakistan. Thousands were killed in the conflict. India-backed Bengali nationalist militants and West Pakistan backed death squads committed horrendous atrocities against perceived enemies. East Pakistan broke away to become Bangladesh. (Pic: New Yorker).

Amidst all the chaos of 1971, the Pakistan hockey team won the first Hockey World Cup trophy in Barcelona, Spain.  (Pic: Dawn).

Starting over …

1972: Yahya hands over power to Bhutto whose party, the PPP, had won the most seats in the 1970 election.

Destruction caused by 1972’s language riots in Sindh. Sindh’s Urdu-speakers (Mohajirs) protested when the Bhutto regime made the learning of Sindhi at schools (in Sindh) compulsory. (Pic: Herald)

Foreigners enjoy a camel ride on 1972’s Christmas Day in Islamabad. 

One of the original copies of the 1973 Constitution. The Constitution described Pakistan as a ‘Muslim democracy’ and reverted the country’s name back to Islamic Republic of Pakistan.(Pic: SharmilaFaruqui)

Marxist Baloch rebel leader, Sher Mohammad Marri on a mountain in Balochistan in 1973. Baloch separatists began a guerrilla war against the state of Pakistan when the Bhutto regime dismissed the provincial government of Balochistan. The provincial set-up was headed by the Baloch and Pushtun nationalist party, the NAP. Bhutto accused the party of facilitating a Soviet-backed insurgency in Balochistan.  (Picture: Diyaa C).   

Students take a smoke break at Lahore’s Punjab University in 1973 (Picture: Herald).

Ahmadiyya leaders ‘under protective custody’. In 1974, following a clash between Ahmadiyya youth and members of the student-wing of Jamat-i-Islami, religious parties launched a violent movement demanding the ouster of the Ahmadiyya from the fold of mainstream Islam. The Bhutto regime refused, but when the violence intensified, the government allowed the national assembly to constitutionally excommunicate the Ahmadiyya.   

1974: The old Karachi Airport. In the 1970s it was one of the busiest airports in Asia. Karachi was called ‘the gateway to Asia.’ An average of 70 international and local flights would depart and land here daily.  (Picture: Ahmad Suleman Shah).

Students during a 1974 student union election at Lahore’s National College of Arts.The college was a bastion of liberal and left politics.

A leaf from a 1974 tourism brochure/guide to Karachi’s nightlife. Tourism in Pakistan reached a peak in the mid-1970s. The Bhutto regime expanded the Tourism Board and made famous Pakistani-Zoroastrian businessman (and future columnist) Ardeshir Cowasjee, its head.   

1975: Locals and foreigners shop at a traditional bazar in Peshawar. (Picture: Peshawar Past)1975: Locals and foreigners shop at a traditional bazar in Peshawar. (Picture: Peshawar Past)

A cinema in Karachi showing an Urdu film called ‘Playboy.’ The term playboy was often used in the 1960s and 1970s for men who were jetsetters, loved to party and had multiple affairs with women. The Pakistan film industry would begin to decline from the 1980s onward.

In the 1970s various foreign wrestlers toured Pakistan to challenge local champions. Here a Pakistani wrestler fights against an American wrestler in Lahore. The referee is from Europe.

1976: Famous Urdu poet, Ibn-e-Insha, as guest on famous PTV game show, NeelamGhar. The show was hosted by former film actor, Tariq Aziz.

Sneaking up from behind: Bhutto followed by his military chief, Gen Zia(first left) in 1976. Zia would go on to topple his boss in a reactionary military coup in July 1977. (Pic: Dr. Ghulam Kazi).

The special Blue PIA planes which in the 1970s were launched specifically for flights to Scandinavian countries.

Pakistan cricket team boogie at a club during its 1977 tour of the West Indies. Led by Mushtaq Muhammad, the team rose to be become a top side in 1977.

Opening the Pandora’s Box …

July 1977: Zia sizes power. Imposes the country’s third Martial Law. Pledges to make Pakistan ‘a true Islamic state.’

A cop flogs an anti-Zia activist in public in 1978. Dozens of student activists and journalists were publically flogged between 1977 and 1980. (Picture: Dawn)

Jamat-i-Islami (JI) members in Karachi in 1979. JI joined Zia’s first cabinet. Future Jamat chief, Munawar Hassan, is second from left with Prof. Ghafoor (third from left). Prof. Gafoor was against JI joining the Zia regime but he was outvoted by JI’s ‘shoora’.

The Pakistan hockey squad just before the start of the final of the 1978 Hockey World Cup. Pakistan defeated Holland to win its second World Cup title.

Pakistani ace batsman, Zaheer Abbas, and star fast bowler, Imran Khan, during the 1978 Pakistan-India Test series. Imran did not hide his ‘playboy’ image.

Pop musician Alamgir with comedian Moeen Akhtar in 1979. Alamgir would become the country’s leading pop act in the 1980s. Akhtar would bloom into a famous comedian and character actor.

HussainHaqqani as the head of the student union at the Karachi University in 1979. Haqqani would go on to become Pakistan’s Ambassador and a noted author.

ZA Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir, shortly before being arrested in 1979.

The then tiny Islamabad Airport in 1979.

Best friends again: The American contingent parade past spectators at the 1980 ‘Karachi Olympics’. The US had a troubled relationship with Pakistan during the Bhutto regime. Relations got even worse when Zia overthrew Bhutto and introduced draconian laws. However, with the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Union, the US revived its relations with Pakistan. It began to dish out millions of dollars’ worth of aid when Zia agreed to let Pakistan be used by the US for its proxy war against Soviet forces in Kabul.

The Pope meeting Zia during his 1981 visit to Pakistan. The Pope held a rally in Karachi which was attended by thousands of Pakistani Christians.

Nazia&Zoheb performing on TV in 1980. The duo fused disco music with Pakistani ‘filmi’ music. They were banned by the Zia regime in 1982. But the ban was soon lifted and the duo went on to sell millions of albums across the 1980s.

Fiery human rights activist and lawyer, Asma Jahangir, confronting police during an anti-Zia women’s rally in Lahore in 1981.

Karachi in 1982: New hotels and apartment blocks began to go up in urban Pakistan in the early 1980s. Bhutto’s ‘socialist policies’ were reversed and economic liberalization was introduced. The economy was also pumped up by unprecedented aid from the US and Saudi Arabia. More and more people were now able to own cars.

1982: Anti-Soviet Afghan insurgents cross into Afghanistan from their base in Pakistan. (Pic: BBC).

1982: An American visitor with the doorman of a hotel in Peshawar. (Pic: Debby Arem)

Jahangir Khan wins the 1983 British Open Squash championship. Khan propelled himself to the top of world squash rankings.

A newscaster reading the 9 pm news on PTV in 1984. A new dress code was ordered by the Zia regime for women appearing on TV.

Students during a campaign for the 1983 student union election at Karachi University. Violence often erupted between progressive student groups and rightest outfits on the campus. Student unions were banned in 1984. But the violence continued. (Pic: Archive 150)

1984: Pakistan wins its second Olympic hockey title.

New PM, MK Junejo, addressing the nation on TV in February 1985. Zia remained to be the all-powerful President.

1986: Comedians spoof Pakistan hockey team on PTV after its disgraceful performance in the 1986 Hockey World Cup. Pakistan could win just one game in the tournament. The slide of Pakistan’s hockey had begun.

1986: A kid leads an anti-Zia rally in Lahore. He was arrested by the police.

MQM Chief making a speech after the deadly Mohajir-Pashtun clashes in Karachi in 1986. MQM emerged as a party of Karachi’s Urdu-speaking (Mohajir) majority. It protested against the influx of Afghan refugees in the city and alleged that they were bringing in drugs and guns. Crime in the city witnessed a two-fold growth in the 1980s.

A newspaper report on the 1987 bomb blasts in Karachi. This was the first major terrorist attack in the city. The Zia regime accused Afghan intelligence agency for the explosion which took place in Karachi’s busy Empress Market area. Dozens were killed. The war in Afghanistan had finally come to Pakistan.

1987: As the exhilaration of the contradictory economic boom experienced by Pakistan during the Zia regime began to recede, Karachi looked like a city in shambles with a rapidly growing population and a crumbling infrastructure. (Pic: Herald)

The Downward Spiral …

Benazir Bhutto speaking at a large rally during her party’s campaign for the 1988 election. Zia died in a plane crash in August 1988. Democracy returned to Pakistan the same year. Benazir’s PPP won the first post-Zia election.

Poster of Muslim League candidate, Nawaz Sharif, during the 1990 election. Benazir’s government was dismissed by President Ishaq on corruption charges. Nawaz was elected the new PM.

The band Vital Signs led anew pop music explosion in Pakistan.

1991: Princess Diana in Lahore. This was her first visit to Pakistan. (Picture: Tim Graham)

Nawaz with President Ishaq (second left). Ishaq who had dismissed Benazir’s government in 1990 also dismissed the Nawaz regime in 1993 (again on corruption charges). At the same time he also handed in his own resignation.

Logo of Pakistan’s first private TV channel, NTM. It was launched in the 1990s and directly challenged the state-owned PTV’s monopoly.

A sectarian riot in Jhang. Pakistan was engulfed by vicious sectarian clashes in the 1990s – a fall-out of late Zia’s policy of promoting militant religious outfits.

Pakistan won its first Cricket World Cup title in 1992, defeating England in the final. The team was led by Imran Khan. (Pic: ESPNCricInfo).

Benazir was elected PM again in 1993. (Picture: Dr. Ghulam Kazi)

A pop concert at Karachi’s KMC Stadium in 1993. Pakistani pop music flourished in the 1990s.

1993: Jahansher Khan kept Pakistan squash at the top of world rankings.

Karachi, 1995: The city was crippled by ethnic violence and police action against MQM ‘militants’. (Pic: Jang).

Some Australian cricketers enjoy a tonga ride in Peshawar during the Australia team’s 1994 tour of Pakistan.

1998: A bomb goes off near a bus stand in Lahore. Nawaz ordered a crackdown against sectarian militants. He himself faced at least two assassination attempts.

Soldiers arrive at the gates of PTV headquarters in Rawalpindi during Gen Musharraf’s 1999 coup against the Nawaz regime. (Pic: DAWN).

Musharraf meets senior military officers in 2000.

Inside of a new ‘luxury train,’ the Karakoram Express during its inaugural run in 2003.

A performance at the LUX Style Awards in Karachi.  The awards and ceremonywhich are Pakistan’s version of the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys all rolled up in one, were introduced in 2002.

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar bowling against England in the 2003 World Cup. In this game, Akhtar bowled the fastest ball ever recorded in cricket history (161 kph/100.04 mph).

An earthquake devastated Pakistan’s northern areas in 2005. Thousands lost their lives. (Picture: AFP)

Lahore, 2007: Nawaz Sharif returns from exile. From 2006 onward, the once stable and popular Musharraf regime began to weaken due to a rise in terror attacks by extremist outfits and an imploding economy.

Carnage in Karachi during the May 2007 clashes in the city between the pro-Musharraf MQM and anti-Musharraf groups.

Thousands attend Benazir’s funeral. She was assassinated by extremists in December 2007. (Pic: BBC)

A rickshaw in Rawalpindi with late Benazir’s image during the 2008 election. Her party, the PPP, won a majority and formed the first post-Musharraf government.

The Marriot Hotel in Islamabad goes up in flames after being attacked by terrorists. Extremist terror attacks witnessed an unprecedented increase from 2008 onwards.

Pakistan won the 2009 T20 World Cup in England.

In 2011 Imran Khan’s populist centre-right party, the PTI, enjoyed a sudden rise in popularity – especially among urban youth.

Despite a weakening economy and political instability, shopping malls and multiplex cinemas continued to emerge in Pakistan’s main urban centres.

A new beginning?

With Pakistan’s might in hockey and squash fading; and no cricket team willing to visit Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haq became a captain. He slowly began to reconstruct the Pakistan cricket team and by 2016, took it to the top of world rankings.

Banners of various parties in Lahore during the 2013 election. The centrist PML-N swept the election and Nawaz became PM for the third time. (Pic: DAWN).

From 2014, Pakistan military launched a successful wide-scale operation against extremists in the northern areas of Pakistan.

2015: The Chinese President in Pakistan. China plans to invest over $50 billion in Pakistan.

A TV reporter at the site of PTI’s anti-government rally in Islamabad. PTI pushed for PM Nawaz’s ouster (charging him of corruption). In 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed the PM for not declaring a source of income. The PML-N regime remained, though, and elected a new PM.

Pakistani schoolgirl, MalalaYousafzai who was shot in the face by extremists in Swat recovered and went on to become an activist for girls’ education. In 2016 she was given a Nobel Prize.

Documentary filmmaker SharmeenObaid became the first Pakistani to win an Oscar.

From 2009 onwards, the Pakistani cinema began its slow recovery.

On August 14 2017, Pakistan celebrated its 70^th Independence Day anniversary.

Published in Daily Times, August 14^th 2017.