Islamabad: The Struggle for Pakistan's Identity
Eman Siddiqui
ABSTRACT new nation-state. This paper focuses on how Pakistan attempted to achieve these "The capital of a country is the focus and goals and how successful it was in the center of the people's ambitions and creating this national identity. desires, and it is wrong to put them in an existing city," Pakistan's President The First Capital General Ayub Khan declared the need for In 1947, British India was partitioned on a new capital for a young Pakistan in the basis of religious demographics. This 1958. General Ayub's desire required led to the creation of the sovereign states bringing about greater national unity by of Pakistan and India - the areas with a rejecting a cultural baggage of the past for Muslim majority population became a a new national identity. This premise part of Pakistan whereas Hindu majority disqualified the cities of Karachi, a British areas became a part of an independent colonial legacy, and Lahore, a link to the India. As a result of this partition, Indian past, for becoming the capital of Pakistan at the time was geographically Pakistan. And so, planned between 1959 divided into two parts: the West wing and and 1963, arose Islamabad. Pakistan the East wing. All major cities previously envisioned that the new capital would used as national capitals and provincial assist in bringing East and West Pakistan capitals, such as Bombay, Calcutta, and together by becoming a symbol of New Delhi, were now a part of India. national pride. Thus, the struggle for Thus, Pakistan faced the task of choosing national identity as symbolized in the a capital for itself from a list of cities that creation of Islamabad became closely tied had not functioned as national capitals to the Pakistani national struggle itself - before. The newly-created Pakistan had inherent in both these struggles was a three main urban centers: Lahore and desire to start anew and fresh and the Karachi in West Pakistan and Dhaka in longing to claim what was uniquely its East Pakistan. Despite the economic and own. This led to an attempt to unfold a demographic weight of the East, distinctively national style of architecture Pakistan's government and military were and urbanism which had two largely dominated by the upper classes of undercurrents: a drive to achieve the West. Friction between the two wings modernity and progress as defined by the started in 1952 with the Bengali West; and the zeal for Islam as it was the Language Movement and the Awami driving force behind the creation of this League was pushing for autonomy as the province of Punjab of the newly-created political voice of the Bengali-speaking country (Yakas 2001). population in the 1960s. With such a Karachi, the only remaining choice, was volatile situation in the East, a much smaller than Lahore at the time. But government dominated by the West it was a bustling, port city convenient for decided that the new capital be located in communication and transport between West Pakistan (Yakas 2001). the two 'wings'. Furthermore, it provided ample opportunities for major growth through commercial development and was fast-growing as the center for industrial enterprise in the region. Thus, Karachi became the first capital of Pakistan (Yakas 2001).
Karachi's Diminishing Importance Karachi emerged as one of the subcontinent's major cities during colonial times. However, colonialism was also the cause of the city's uncontrollable growth and environmental decline. Figure 1 Map showing East and West Karachi bears the scars of the human Pakistan catastrophe that accompanied the (Source: Suburban Emergency Management Program) partition of British India like no other South Asian city. The partition caused the This left the choice between Lahore and transfer of fifteen million people across Karachi. Lahore, a main cultural center of the newly-drawn borders: one of the the region, had a strong political history largest mass migrations of people ever in connected to pre-partition India: it had history. At least one million died during acted as the capital of Punjab for the this exodus. People who settled into the various Indian empires, including the areas bordering the newly created states Ghaznavids in the 12th century, the were able to integrate into the Mughals in the 16th century, and the communities fairly easily because of the British in the mid-19th and early 20th common culture and traditions. The century. But this regional capital for over situation was much different in Karachi. a thousand years had a close proximity to People fleeing what now became central Pakistan's new rival, India. The inherent India chose Karachi as their destination. distrust of its neighbor prevented In terms of culture and religious Pakistan from picking Lahore as its practices, these people had little or national capital. However, Lahore nothing in common with the people of continued to act as the capital of the
157 Sine!, the province in which Karachi was located. Thus, Karachi's sectarian tensions started early on (Harding 2007).
Within a few months of independence, Karachi's population of about 450,000 swelled to over a million inhabitants. It became the center for General Ayub Khan's ambitious industrialization program after his coup d'etat in 1958. This economic expansion led to an ever- 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 19(0 1980 2000 2020 increasing number of immigrants from Figure 2 Trend of Population Growth other parts of the country. The impact of (in millions) in Karachi (Source: Ayub Khan's Green Revolution Wikipedia) technologies also led to the migration of many rural workers to the cities. Karachi, on the other hand, was increasingly With the realization that something had failing to provide adequate and secure to be done soon to improve the situation, housing for a significant proportion of its an authority specifically charged with increasing population. Refugees occupied dealing with the housing crisis was all open spaces including public parks, created in 1951. This new authority was school buildings, and playgrounds. The initially called the Karachi Improvement government of the day was overwhelmed. Trust (KTI) but became the Karachi The housing needs of government Development Authority (KDA) in 1957. officials and civil servants who had KTI developed the Greater Karachi Plan in moved to the new capital put additional collaboration with MRV, a Swedish pressure on the existing infrastructure consultancy firm. The plan aimed to (Harding 2007). create a new administrative center outside Karachi which would be linked to the city by roads. This was to be accompanied by the construction of high- density, ten-storey apartment blocks in the central area of Karachi which would accommodate those who were occupying the central areas. However, the plan remained unimplemented due to a combination of political instability which prevailed in Pakistan until 1958 and because of a lack of funds (Harding 2007).
158 capital from scratch was an unnecessary luxury: Pakistan had its hands full in order to develop its nascent economy and could not afford the creation of a new city. Proponents for the new capital, however, said these arguments did not take into consideration the factor of time - a new town could not be built in a few years and thus, it was possible to prepare the first 5- year-plan in such a way so as to not hurt the country's economy. The proponents also felt that the current situation in Karachi had made the allocation of funds for administrative headquarters compulsory. The government was housed Figure 3 Karachi in the 1950s in old buildings, some not even designed (Source: Pakistani Defense Forum) for this purpose. These buildings were With the growing inability of Karachi to also situated far from each other and so act as the capital because of made the functioning of the overcrowding, sectarian differences, administration inefficient. Creating the political tensions, and its inefficiency to new government buildings in Karachi accommodate the staff and equipment of would have incurred a higher overall cost a central government was the feeling that as well because of the very expensive land the capital was not a place merely to live values. All these factors signaled towards and work. The capital had to symbolize a city designed exclusively for becoming the spirit of the people of the country. capital (Yakas 2001). There was also an understanding that the "A Common Platform" capital city should aid towards the better organization and administration of the When Pakistan's first Martial Law newly created state, represent the will of Administrator and second President the people of the country, and become a General Ayub Khan came into power in symbol of the new state towards which all 1958, he embarked on an ambitious, Pakistanis turn to for unity. All these centrally planned program for the reasons hinted towards the need for a industrialization and modernization of new capital for Pakistan (Yakas 2001). Pakistan. The idea of a new administrative center near Karachi was These aims for the new capital met with abandoned and the Greater Karachi Plan adequate opposition from economic was shelved. Instead he decided that divisions inside and outside the country. there should be an utterly modern and The critics of the idea felt that building a
159 entirely new capital of Pakistan at a site difference in physical, economic, and near the town of Rawalpindi on the social environments between the two Pothwar Plateau (Harding 2007). He 'wings' of the country produced the need asserted: for the creation of national unity on political grounds. This desired political "The capital of a country is the focus and unity demanded the establishment of a the center of the people's ambitions and powerful administration in order to desires, and it is wrong to put them in an slowly decrease the differences and focus existing city. It must have a color of its on features that people living in East and own and character of its own. And that West Pakistan shared - the most character is the sum total of the important of which was Islam. Such a aspirations, the life and the ambitions of powerful administration realized the the people of the whole of Pakistan. With need for a national symbol and such a the two provinces of Pakistan, as symbol would obviously be the new separated as they are from each other, capital for the state (Yakas 2001). you want to bring the people on a common platform. The thing to do is to The rhetoric, thus, focused on the new take them to a new place altogether" capital's symbolic role in the (Vale 2008: 147-148). consolidation of national identity in bringing together the two 'wings' on a "common platform". It was highly unclear, though, how the linguistic, ethnic, and geographic gulfs between East and West Pakistan could be bridged when such a platform was situated to reconfirm the political and economic dominance of the western wing (Vale 2008).
A Military Mind While General Ayub Khan's public justifications for a new capital centered on the city's role in the consolidation of a post-independence national identity, it Figure 4 Map showing Rawalpindi was certain that there were other forces (Source: Wikimedia Commons) pushing for this move. It was not coincidental, then, the leading forces for General Ayub Khan's reasoning to the this move were the country's top military public for the creation of a new capital men. The creation of a new capital was was based on the new city's iconic role in becoming less a consequence of the bringing together national identity after independence of Pakistan and more of the independence. Furthermore, the vast
160 military takeover of 1958 by General instead of towards it. But the component Ayub Khan. There were other reasons that was the most developed in the that interested the military mind more interior, and hence, the deciding factor for (Vale 2008). the location was the army - Rawalpindi was the headquarters of the Pakistan Army. The move to the high plains was, thus, a move to a much safer location. There was an added advantage to the central location for travel to and from East Pakistan, the other half of this incredulously shaped country which had one thousand miles of India between its two "wings". In terms of transportation links, both real and imagined, the new Islamic leadership was also very interested in the new location's place on the historic trade route linking the great capitals of west Asia and the Arab world. Figure 5 General Ayub Khan inspecting a new site in Islamabad (Source: drug- Adding to the geopolitical and trafficking.blogspot.com) geostrategic attraction of the new capital's positioning was its closeness to Karachi, although the country's economic the sensitive and disputed border areas of hub, seemed very vulnerable to several Kashmir, where Pakistan and India have internal and external threats. Tensions fought several wars, the first one as early with India were still high and an attack as 1947. The new site was also a safe from the sea could not be ruled out distance away from the border Pakistan completely. The President also found that shared with the Indian province of the bureaucracy and civil service in Punjab. Considering all these reasons, the Karachi were exposed to political new site seemed befitting as a kind of a instigators, corrupting influences, and a national citadel (Vale 2008). strong hold by the influential business and mercantile community. By taking it General Ayub Khan's rationale did not north to a physically and morally rely on these kinds of reasons, however healthier climate, General Ayub Khan alluring they were to a military mind but intended to give his government a new on how the new capital would be "the clean standpoint (Vale 2008). focus and the center of the people's ambitions and desires" (Vale 2008: 147). The shift of the capital into West Pakistan's interior seemed bizarre at first: The City of Islam the capital was being moved away from Pakistan was initially a dominion in the the country's most developed region
161 Commonwealth of Nations. With the NAFaruqi, later to become its chairman, adoption of a new constitution in 1956, published the following note on the Pakistan took on the title of Islamic project and its outlook: Republic of Pakistan. With this newly jj j . • t , ... "Through a new country we, as a people, added emphasis on Islam, at a meeting in to J > v v > are an old nation, with a rich heritage. February I960, the cabinet decided to to .. , , , , , Inspired by a historical past ... NWe are] name the new capital Islamabad - the r J V v. J eager to build a new city which, in city of Islam . With such advancements, to J addition to being an adequate and ideal the situation in Pakistan became such that , . .. seat of government, should also reflect there became an irrevocable connection our cultural identity and national betweeu. n th.1e ide. i a ofc purit-y andi th.1 e , ... „_. ej , a j AU , aspirations" fMumtaz 1985: 184-185]. glorification of Islam. As Imran Ahmed f v j puts it, "Islamabad attempts to naturalize Designing the Dynapolis the new nation-state of pakistan; through The master plan for Islamabad was the rhetoric attached to the choice of site, designed by Doxiadis Associates, the firm through the choice of ^t^ through the established by Constantinos Apostolou reference to a supposed Islamic geometry Doxiadis, a notable Greek town planner in its grid layout; through the Islamic and father of Ekistics. The approval of the references of its architectural styles, and master plan took place in May 1960. The through the network of Sector mosques" goal of the master plan was to allow
[Vale 20°8: 147]. Much like the pakistani Rawalpindi and Islamabad to grow at the national struggle itself was the struggle to same time through the siting of Islamabad conceive and execute the creation of on a fan-shaped area rammed between a Islamabad. Ahmed reflects that "In wall of steep hills and the existing city of Islamabad, the ideological agenda and its Rawalpindi. This was a tacit criticism of vitalizing narrative in architecture and nearly all of the designed capitals that urbanism has two roots: the urge to came before Islamabad, such as Westernization, where nationhood with Washington, Canberra, New Delhi, its ostensibly colonial origins is taken as a Chandigarh, and Brasilia, and were sign of modernity and progress; and a wm designed as bounded areas and presented to fundamentalism, where the religious as static entities which would eventually community of Islam is the original and be filled out. Doxiadis, on the other hand, omniscient source of the pakistani promoted Islamabad as a 'dynapolis' - a identity" [Vale 2008: 147]. With city endlessly expanding in a linear fan Islamabad, the Government of pakistan shape from an initial fixed point. Thus, promised the people a modern and pure Islamabad would begin with one node in white city to the north. the top corner of the fan and, with time,
T, n .. , ^ , . A .. rrr^A^ spread to the southwest in one direction. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) ^ Because it was being created near an was constituted in September 1960.
162 existing city, it would be a two-nucleus The grid was then chosen but the dynopolis and because growth would be question arose as to what kind of grid - guided and unidirectional, the two nuclei the elongated city blocks of the past, would spread in space and form a square blocks, straight or curved streets. dynamic metropolis (Doxiadis 1965). According to Doxiadis, various considerations showed that the traditional elongated city block was a rational product of the fact that the block consists of plots which are in two rows of the same orientation. He added that unless the form of the landscape compels one to, there was no need for the main roads to be curved. Thereafter, not only the basic form of a grid was chosen, but also the basic form of squares which by conception (of a grid of squares) are all equal; these were the cells of the city (Doxiadis 1965).
In choosing the grid, Doxiadis used historical precursors as well: Mohenjo Daro, one of the first cities in history was Figure 6 Towards a dynamic based on a typical rectangular grid; metropolis (Source: Islamabad: The Lahore, a prime example of Moghul Creation of a New Capital) planning, was based on a two-axial Doxiadis felt that a linear form could not system. Thus, both present day be envisaged in dealing with a two- requirements and the cities of the past led nucleus metropolis. He found the need to to the same conclusion: full respect for a work with forms whose dimensions in geometric grid. This gridiron layout two directions crossing each other at a divided Islamabad into sectors according right angle would not differ much. This to urban functions (Doxiadis 1965). led to the basic form of a concentric city with a pattern of radial and circular streets - very similar to a naturally growing settlement - or to a pattern of a grid of streets crossing each other at right angles The circular was excluded because Doxiadis thought that suited a static city and not a growing one (Doxiadis 1965).
163 Figure 8 View of model along Capitol Avenue with the administrative center in the background and the civic center to the left of the avenue (Source: Islamabad: The Creation of a New Capital)
Doxiadis started to rethink the sequence Figure 7 The forms of the past (Source: of building priorities and criticized the Islamabad: The Creation of a New Capital] planners of previously designed capitals for beginning design with "government Islamabad's capital complex acted as the buildings, the monumental areas and the culmination point of a long axial way high income dwellings" (Vale 2008: 149). named Capitol Avenue by Doxiadis "now "This process," Doxiadis continued, known as Jinnah Avenue). The Capitol "cannot lead to success for it is imperative Avenue was intended to act as a that the lower income groups - those ceremonial route ending at the capitol which can build a city are settled first. If complex where the President and the this is overlooked, the result is a Parliament were neighbors in Islamabad's composite settlement consisting of a elevated zone of government buildings, central monumental part and several depicting Pakistan's Parliamentary other non-coordinated areas, including republic form of government where both several with slums" (Vale 2008: 149). the Parliament and the President are Instead, he claimed, "we must start by elected by the people (Vale 2008). covering needs, and not by building monuments" (Vale 2008: 149). He thus, initiated a certain rethinking of the sequencing of building priorities, but his design did nothing to challenge previous attitudes toward the privileged position and the isolation of the capitol complex.
164 The process was adjusted but this part of complex. Planner Richard Meier, in the product remained routinely similar to looking back at the first twenty-five years the past ones (Vale 2008). of the development of Islamabad, saw the convergence of a need to elevate the status of the government with the systems of rank in the military and the bureaucracy in the birth of most of Islamabad's structure. In his view, the rectilinearity of the plan was reinforced by the capital city wanting a processional way that leads to the seat of power and a classification based upon squares imposed by the long view lines (Vale 2008). Meier then adds,
"The rank of a person could determine the section of the city in which he would live. In the military hierarchy, ordinary soldiers were assigned places in the Figure 9 The metropolitan area of barracks on the periphery, but each level Islamabad (Source: Islamabad: The above merited increasing levels of Creation of a New Capital) privileges. Non-commissioned officers Islamabad initially became a city only deserved a bit more space, according to dominated by the institutions of the rank, and junior officers needed an government administration because other extra room for a servant, but those at the functions, such as housing, were directed top of the pyramid were allotted quarters towards Rawalpindi. As of 1968, the new for four servants. Civil ranking could capital could be described as "a little exactly parallel the military, except that administrative island, neatly separated the unskilled workers were granted 1 U from the crowds of the big cities" (Vale room flat roofed raw brick hutments 2008: 149) and affording "the feeling of instead of barracks! Islamabad's socio• complete isolation from life in the rest of economic segregation was not carried out the country" (Vale 2008: 149). A system in quite such rigid terms, but its of eight housing types correlated with inhabitation was initiated on the civil service ranks was designed to expectation that all comers to the city include, at the least, a narrow range of would be assigned a residence according income groups in each of the city's to their salary and that, with the residential sectors. Provision was also exception of the high government officials made for exclusively high end residential and diplomats already provided with sectors in the areas closest to the capitol special housing, all other would be
165 expected upon promotion to change the National Museum and the National house and settle into a higher class of Arts Gallery. The Government Hostel and community" (Vale 2008: 151). the Secretariat Complex were designed by Italian architects Ponti, Fornarolli and "Public order in a capital city," Meier Rosselli. Kenzo Tenge from Japan continues, "was easier to understand if designed the Supreme Court, and like lived next to like" (Vale 2008: 151). following an international competition, This privileged treatment for residential Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay built the districts became even more obvious when King Faisal Mosque. A team of architects it came to the capitol complex. A new working under the Colombo Plan was administration's desire to advance public responsible for the municipal offices, order was established through the schools, housing, and markets in various medium of urban design, exactly like sectors. Derek Lovejoy and Partners from designed capitals built before and after Britain were responsible for the city's Islamabad (Vale 2008). extensive landscaping. Other famous The Architectural Conflict international architects involved were The most prominent public buildings of Arne Jacobsen from Denmark and Louis Islamabad are a great illustration of the Kahn and Edward Durrell Stone from the conflicting and changing ideals that have US. All of them prepared a number of defined a great deal of contemporary proposals for the Parliament Building and architecture in Pakistan: professional the President's House, with Stone's design architects like to push the envelope being eventually built (Malik 2003). towards what they consider to be modern When the Parliament building was first whereas the people of Pakistan have an proposed in 1962, for instance, it was affinity for architecture that reminds suggested that, "if the Parliament House is them of their Islamic heritage. then to be built ... the building will be of a Unlike Chandigarh and Dhaka where Le substantial size and in order to be Corbusier and Louis Kahn prepared the architecturally impressive, it will have to master plans and also designed the major be carefully designed to reflect our past buildings, Doxiadis, not in any case culture, at the same time utilizing modern known as an architect, did not design any methods of construction" (Mumtaz 1985: major buildings in Islamabad. Unlike the 187). Arne Jacobsen's uncompromising other two capitals, a panel of 'modern' design for the Parliament international 'signature' architects of the building was criticized for not being time was assigned the task of designing 'national' and the Capital Development the major buildings of Islamabad. Robert Authority suggested that some "Islamic Mathew Johnson-Marshall from Britain features be incorporated in the form of prepared the overall plan of the some arches in the cylinder, a dome administrative sector and also designed
166 above the cylinder, or some additions to arrangement of the buildings, yet, wanted the fore-courtyard" (Mumtaz 1985: 187). aesthetics that looked "native to the soil" (Mumtaz 1985: 187). He stated that the Louis Kahn replaced Arne Jacobsen but buildings of Islamabad should be a even his final designs were not accepted reflection of the pride that the people of because of their failure to reflect the Pakistan take in their long and beautiful demand of Pakistan to introduce Islamic architectural heritage - he wanted the architecture in Islamabad's public buildings not to look like they were cheap buildings. Edward Durrell Stone was then copies of buildings build somewhere else contacted because of his love for Mughal but like buildings that were inherently architecture and the spirit of grandness Pakistan's own. Mughal buildings casted. There was a strong sentiment, thus, connecting the In consistency with his understanding of desire for Islamic architecture to the Mughal concepts, Stone designed a layout subcontinent's Mughal past. This feeling for the capitol complex with a formal was verified by the chairman of the CDA, symmetry. At this complex, the NAFaruqi who said that "since we have President's Secretariat is flanked by the lost the best specimens of our Parliament building and the Foreign architecture in Delhi and Agra, we are Office. The pyramidal design of the anxious to have some semblance of our President's Secretariat consists of architectural treasure. It is the form that receding tiers with white walls and matters and not the details such as the louvered windows. The Parliament use of precious stones, etc., which are no building takes a similar tiered form. Both longer available" (Mumtaz 1985: 187). the Parliament and the Foreign Office are Mr.Faruqi's eagerness to have the Islamic given austere facades (Mumtaz 1985). heritage of architecture reflected in the Although the exterior of all three public buildings of Islamabad led him to buildings was stripped of any consider Stone for the design of all four ornamentation, they are all connected by buildings in the most prominent square of means of very extensive landscaping. The Islamabad: the Supreme Court, the interior of the Parliament building, Parliament building, the Foreign Office, however, is very reminiscent of Mughal and the President's Secretariat (Stone's ornamentation. The ceilings and walls are designs for the Parliament building and decorated by means of geometric patterns President's Secretariat were chosen). and calligraphy. Mr.Faruqi reminded that "there is a grave dissatisfaction in the Government and among our people regarding the architecture of the public buildings put up so far in Islamabad" (Mumtaz 1985: 187). He insisted on a modern internal
167 Figure 10 Stone's Parliament Building (right) and President's Secretariat (left) (Source: Architecture in Pakistan) Figure 12 The Secretariat Complex (Source: Architecture in Pakistan)
The Government Officers' Hostel designed by the same team of Italian architects attains its architectural integrity from an organic unity of form, structure, function, and materials. The building also makes use of barrel vaults as lightweight sun protection in the form of a ventilated double roof, though barrel vaults are not a common form of traditional construction in the region. Also present is the traditional courtyard. The bricks used have the traditional slim proportions but Figure 11 Interior of Parliament are without the accompanying thick bed building (Source: www.urbanpk.com) of lime mortar. The so-called Mughal The Secretariat Complex designed by Garden in one of the courts is only loosely Italian architects Ponti, Fornarolli, and derived from the traditional form Roselli is a grouping of buildings into a (Mumtaz 1985). well-integrated unity. The use of water and terraces at many levels is reminiscent of Mughal landscaping. The spaces are self-defined in a series of quiet enclosures which flow into each other through the building masses (Mumtaz 1985).
Figure 13 Government Officers' Hostel (Source: Architecture in Pakistan)
The Supreme Court building is flanked by the Secretariat Complex to the south and
168 President's House and the Parliament in this proje9t with modern form and building to the north. Designed by te9hnology. Figure 14 Supreme Court Figure 15 King Faisal Mosque (Sour9e: www.urbanpk.9om) (Sour9e: Wikipedia) An international 9ompetition was held in Conclusion 1970 9alling for designs for a Grand With a s9eni9 lo9ation in the foothills of National mosque. 169 d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in terms hard to say whether this is because of the of division of urban functions and an modernity brought about by Islamabad. anthropomorphic plan form. As far as the Similarly, given the generally dominant major buildings of Islamabad are modern ideology and foreign training of concerned, the architecture attempts to architects at the time, it is hard to say if conform to the country's Islamic roots the few local architects would have done through geometric layouts, landscaping, things differently (Malik 2003). and interior ornamentation. The majority With respect to lifestyle and urban of the design elements, however, are very environment, Islamabad does not relate much like the Modernist and Brutalist much to the country in which it exists. In architecture of the time. All the major fact, it is least accessible to the vast government buildings are very similar to majority of the people of Pakistan. what Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier were Unfortunately, it is a city designed and doing in Dhaka and Chandigarh built by and for the government, to be respectively - monumental forms and inhabited by those who govern. It thus, simple construction and materials such as manifests the ambitions and goals of the brick and concrete; the drama of politicians and decision makers who grandiose geometrical forms; and assumed power after independence and "honesty of materials." of the international planners and Hiring foreign architects and planners architects that were hired to design the had as much to do with the desire to undo city. Islamabad in its present form shows the old stigma of "backwardness" as it not only the prevalent ideas of the time was by the lack of local architects and but also what kind of impact political planners capable of undertaking projects constraints and vested interests have on of such elaborateness. Foreign design (Malik 2003). consultants and their ideas of planning and design, methods and materials of Islamabad neither produced a uniform construction, and dependence on foreign urban character for Pakistan nor did it aid substantiated this move of lead to any sense of national identity. It architecture and urban planning from the did however create a fragmentary hybrid environmentally more appropriate local character in a deliberate attempt to break to the ill-affordable and energy-intensive away from history. It has not done much international modern. It was only later to improve architecture and urban design that the issues of the nature and or provide any direction for the future relevance of modernity and (Malik 2003). modernization came forward and still Cities are a realization of the culture and need to be addressed today. While those civilization of the people who build them in the urban professions in Pakistan seem and manifest the choices they make as a to more culturally and socially aware, it is society about the built environment they 170 want to live in. Islamabad was not Islamabad." GBER Vol. 3 No. 1 (2003): successful in showing how Pakistan 68-80. Print. learned from its history and in using Mumtaz, Kamil Khan. Architecture in Pakistan. Singapore: Concept Media contemporary technologies to deal with Pvt Ltd, 1985. Print. the spatial needs of its population. Vale, Lawrence J. Architecture, Power, and Islamabad may well be able to compete National Identity. 2nd ed . New York: with other capitals when it comes to Routledge, 2008. Print. monumental chutzpah but missing is the Yakas, Orestes. Islamabad The Birth of a dense urban web, the variety, the hustle Capital. Karachi: Oxford University and bustle. It does what a lot of other Press, 2001. Print. Illustration Credits cities designed purposefully as an Ayub Khan inspecting a new site in expression of identity rather than simply Islamabad. 2010. Photograph. Web. 14 a good place to live and work do. Most of Mar 2012. 171 King FaisalMosque. 2007. Photograph. Wikipedia. Web. 14 Mar 2012. 172