Old pictures of Pakistani Cities

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Karachi

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Karachi 1961: Brand new buildings and roads in the city began to emerge in the 1960s. The government of Field Martial Ayub Khan that came into power through a military coup in 1958 unfolded aggressive industrialisation and business-friendly policies, and Karachi became a natural city for the government to solidify its economic policies.

The II Chundgrigar Road in 1962: It was in the 1960s that this area began to develop into becoming Karachi’s main business hub. It began being called ‘Pakistan’s Wall Street.’

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1963: Construction underway of the Habib Bank Plaza on Karachi’s II Chundrigarh Road. The building would rise to become the country’s tallest till the 2000s when two more buildings (also in Karachi) outgrew it.

Saddar area in 1965: Trendy shops, cinemas, bars and nightclubs began to emerge here in the 1960s and it became one of the most popular areas of Karachi. With Karachi’s regeneration as an economic hub, its traditional business and pleasure ethics too returned that consisted of uninterrupted economic activity by the day and an unabashed indulgence in leisure activities in the evenings.

A Pakhtun rickshaw driver at Karachi’s Clifton Beach in 1962. Though the Ayub regime moved the capital to the newly built city of Islamabad, the economic regeneration enjoyed by Karachi during the Ayub regime’s first six years attracted a wave of inner-country migration to the city.

A large number of Punjabis from the Punjab province and Pakhtuns from the former NWFP (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) began to arrive looking for work from the early 1960s onwards.

 

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.Karachi

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A 1963 newspaper clipping with a report on how Pakistani pop fans gate-crashed their way into a bar at the Karachi Airport where members of the famous pop band The Beatles were having a drink. They had arrived in Karachi to get a connecting flight to Hong Kong.

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A local pop band playing at a nightclub in Karachi in 1968: It was during the Ayub regime that the term ‘City of Lights’ was first used (by the government) for Karachi as brand new buildings, residential areas and recreational spots continued to spring up.

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Western tourists shopping in the city’s Saddar area in 1966.

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A donkey-cart owner and his son in Lyari (1967): Karachi once again became a city of trade, business and all kinds of pleasures, and yet, the industrialisation that it enjoyed during the period and the continuous growth in its population began to create economic fissures that the city was largely unequipped to address. The economic disparities and the ever-growing gaps between the rich and the poor triggered by the Ayub regime’s lopsided economic policies became most visible in Karachi’s growing slums.

Karachi’s ‘Three Swords’ area in 1974. It was ‘beautified’ during the Bhutto regime but today has become a busy and congested artery connecting Clifton with the centre of the city. It was during the Bhutto government that the city’s first three-lane roads were constructed (Shara-e-Faisal), dotted with trees; the Clifton area was further beautified; foundation of the country’s first steel mill laid (in Karachi); and the construction of a large casino started (near the shores of the Clifton Beach) to accommodate the ever-growing traffic of European, American and Arab tourists.

 

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Most Karachiites would go through the motions of traveling to work or study by the day, and by night they would plunge into the various chambers of its steamy and colourful nightlife …

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From ‘elitist’ nightclubs …

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… to seedy ‘low/middle-income’ dance and drink joints, Karachiites looked to escape a melancholic existence by heading towards the city’s many recreational outlets in the 1970s.

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A 1973 press ad (in DAWN newspaper) of one of Karachi’s many famous nightclubs of the 1970s, The Oasis.

Nishat Cinema 1974: Cinemas in Karachi were usually packed with people in the 1970s.

Playland 1975: One of Karachi’s most famous recreational and amusement areas for families was the (now defunct) Playland.

 

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Prosperity, piety, plunder​

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The American contingent parade past spectators at the 1980 ‘Karachi Olympics’: Zia’s dictatorship managed to strengthen itself soon after the Soviet forces invaded neighbouring Afghanistan in December 1979. Once the US resolved to oppose the Soviet invasion, it (along with Saudi Arabia), began pumping in an unprecedented amount of financial and military aid into Pakistan.

Foreigners enjoy a cruise on the waters of Karachi’s Kemari area in 1982.

Future US President Barak Obama visited Karachi as a visiting university student and stayed with a roommate of his in Karachi (1981).

 

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"Saddar, Karachi – A glimpse into the vibrant heart of 1950s. Pakistan, where history, culture, and elegance thrived."

In the 1950s, Saddar was the bustling center of Karachi, alive with colonial-era architecture, busy markets, cozy cafés, and a blend of eastern and western influences. It was the place where traditions met modernity, where people from all walks of life gathered, and where the soul of the city truly beat.

The vintage charm, the classic cars, and the timeless streets made Saddar a true symbol of Karachi’s golden days.

A walk through Saddar in the 1950s was like stepping into a vibrant story of dreams, elegance, and beginnings.

 

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Karachi, 1960's

Shaheen complex Signal , Saifee House ..

 

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Drive-in-Cinema , Karachi, Pakistan..1980's
ڈرائیو ان سنیما، کراچی، پاکستان..

 

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Drive-in-Cinema , Karachi, Pakistan..1980's
ڈرائیو ان سنیما، کراچی، پاکستان..

View attachment 120420

That's looks big cenema -car park, the cars looks compared to Bombay's one.
Sir, It's still "a secret" for today's generation, the quality of life having been lived in South Asia by their elders, atleast till 1990

 

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Karachi

 

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Bandar Road in front of Khaliq Din Hall, Karachi.

 

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Karachi, Street near Ahram Bagh

 

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Karachi 1950's
Burns Road

 

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Karachi Saddar

 

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NJV High School, Bandar Road, Karachi..

 

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