‘Karachi, thou shalt be the glory of the east! Would that I could come again to see you in your grandeur!’ Sir Charles Napier, first British governor of Sindh, 1843.
Napier was the first to see the possibilities of developing Karachi into a port and commercial center. The city as it is today would have pleased him; Karachi is the largest and the most populous city in Pakistan; the commercial and industrial hub of the country. Until the British conquest of Sindh in 1843, Karachi or Kolachi-jo-Kun (Whirlpool of Kolachi), as it was then known, was a small isolated fishing village clustered on the three islands of Manora, Bhit and Baba, in what is now Karachi Harbor. By 1947 Karachi still had a population of only 400,000; it was not until after Partition, and the influx of millions of Muslim refugees from India, that the population grew dramatically. Karachi, then, became the first capital of the new Pakistan, until Islamabad replaced it in 1963. Karachi is the center of education and other cultural and social activities. A great number of prestigious educational institutions are functioning here. It is an ultra-modern city, with most modern cinemas, recreational clubs, hotels and restaurants.
There are beautiful beaches at Sandspit, and Hawke’s Bay. These places are excellent picnic resorts with their tranquil surroundings and provide an atmosphere to rest and relax. The opportunities for yachting, water-skiing and cruising are also available there. The presence of huge and tall buildings has given it a grandeur and majestic appearance.
Karachi has an international airport, a port and two railway stations (Karachi City and Karachi Cantonment), and is connected by the Super Highway and other roads to the rest of the country.
The airport is ten kilometers (six miles) from the city center, which can be reached by taxi, airport coach and the public bus.
Karachi’s three main attractions are its bazaars, architecture, and coastline.
Architecture
Karachi is an unusual mixture of imaginative skyscrapers and solid 19th-century Victorian-Gothic buildings. Three-lined boulevards and narrow dusty alleys make it a city of surprising contrasts. There are architectural reminders of the former British Imperial presence’s. The tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah , the Quaid-e-Azam or ‘Father of the Nation’, is Karachi’s most impressive monument, Jinnah led the movement for a separate Muslim state and at Partition in 1947 became governor-general of Pakistan. He died of tuberculosis one year later.
Even more impressive is the remarkable white-marbled Masjid-e-Tooba, or the Defense Housing Society Mosque; Karachi‘s largest mosque. Its single dome is claimed to be the largest of its kind in the world. Those interested in colonial history and church architecture might enjoy a visit to Holy Trinity Cathedral. There are a number of other 19-century churches in Karachi, including St. Andrew’s Church and St Patrick’s Cathedral. The National Museum of Pakistanis off Dr. Zia-ud-din Ahmed Road. The enthusiast of British social history and architecture will enjoy visiting the Sindh Club on Abdullah Haroon Road. The club was founded in the mid-19th century exclusively for British civil servants and did not accept Indian or Pakistani members until the early 1950s.
The gothic styled Frere Hall, a social and cultural center under the British colonialism, is now a public library.
Other sights included the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence, hills where the dead are traditionally exposed to vultures. The Sindh High Court, on Court Road, is a 19th-century red sandstone building. Opposite it is the late 19th-century SindhAssembly Building, typically colonial in style.
A drive west on I.I. Chundrigar Road takes you past the vast Cotton Exchange Building, followed by the new Habib Bank Plaza, an elegant round building and the second tallest in Karachi. Further along on the left is the 19th-century Greek porticoed State Bank of Pakistan, and beside it the new State Bank Building Beaches and Harbors
The sea is the most romantic of Karachi’s attractions, especially if you sail out into the harbor at sunset to catch and eat crabs in the moonlight, or anchor at Oyster Rocks for a picnic under the stars. You can also stroll along the beaches to watch the giant sea turtles lay their eggs in he sand. By day you can swim and bodysurf on Karachi’s many beaches or ride on the gaily-decorated camels.
The oldest and the beach that attracts the largest public is the Clifton Beach. The main beaches of Karachi are a vast stretch one can reach by taking a connecting bridge from Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road onwards. The first stop is a fork, one going to Hawke’s Bay, that is 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the center of Karachi, with beach huts for rent, complete with cooking facilities, bathrooms and changing spaces and roaring surf. The other fork leads to Sandspit, a nine-kilometer (six-mile) long sandbank that protects the Keamari Harbor from the open sea. From Sandspit a continuous line of beaches stretches west for hundreds of kilometers along the coast of Sindh and Baluchistan to Iran. Sandspit now connects Manora Island, once the island home of the original fishing community of Karachi, to the mainland.
Paradise Point,a gorgeous landscape with craggy cliffs has a long row of habitable huts and some ruins. The French Beach is the most exclusive of Karachi’s beaches and is ideal for surfing. Arora’s Cove and Baleji, two more spectacular and exclusive beaches, are minutes away from French Beach. Bhit and Baba Islands, in the shelter of the Keamari Harbour, take one back to the era of the original fishermen community, involved in little changed methods of work and living. The West Wharf Fish Harbor, at the end of West Wharf Road, bustles with fishermen and boat builders busy with their work. The mouths of the Indus empty into the Arabian Sea southeast of Karachi through channels that wander round thousands of mangrove-covered islands with fecund mangrove swamps. Here fishermen from nearby villages, or from temporary camps on the more remote islands, work in every creek, using all means imaginable to land their catch.
