SEE
SINDH (Karachi, Greater Karachi)
Sindh Province (Mehran locally) name “Sindh” is derived from the Indus River that passes almost through the middle of the entire province. Boundaries: Balochistan – west, Punjab – north, Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan – east, and Arabian Sea – south. The capital is Karachi. Most are Muslim, with sizable Hindu, Ahmadiyya, Christian, Parsi and Sikh minorities.
Sindh’s first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. The culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE with well-planned grid cities and sewer systems.
Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro World Heritage Site. Meaning ‘Mound of the Dead Men”, it is an archaeological site built around 2500 BCE. It was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world’s earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.
It is situated on a ridge in the middle of the floodplain of the Indus River Valley, around 28 kilometres (17 mi) from the town of Larkana. Subsequent flooding has since buried most of the ridge in silt deposits.
The Harappan Civilization spanned much of what is now Pakistan and North India, extending westwards to the Iranian border. Mohenjo-daro was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably sophisticated civil engineering and urban planning. Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout with rectilinear buildings arranged on a grid plan. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. A “weak” estimate of a peak population is around 40,000.
The Citadel – a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39 ft) high – is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. The city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller wells. Wastewater was channeled to covered drains that lined the major streets. Some houses, presumably those of more prestigious inhabitants, include rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace (known as a hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories.
Mohenjo-daro had no series of city walls, was fortified with guard towers, it is postulated that Mohenjo-daro was an administrative center.
Over 700 wells (one for every three houses) are present alongside drainage and bathing systems, unheard of when compared to other civilizations at the time, such as Egypt or Mesopotamia. The circular brick well design is credited to the Indus civilization. Sewage and wastewater for buildings at the site were disposed of via a centralized drainage system that ran alongside the site’s streets emptying into the Indus River.
The city could have been flooded and silted over, perhaps six times.
Artifacts. Bronze and copper figurines and bowls indicate they knew the lost wax technique. Shell-working, Copper tablets with an untranslated Indus script.
Mother Goddess Idol. Discovered in 1931, 18.7 cm tall and is currently on display at the National Museum of Pakistan, in Karachi. Bronze statuette “Dancing Girl”, 10.5 centimetres (4.1 in) high[41] and about 4,500 years old,
Seven-stranded necklace. 4,500 years old, S-shaped clasp with seven strands, each over 4 ft long, of bronze-metal bead-like nuggets which connect each arm of the “S” in filigree. Each strand has between 220 and 230 of the many-faceted nuggets, and there are about 1,600 nuggets in total. The necklace weighs about 250 grams.
Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta World Heritage Site 1981. Makli Necropolis is one of the largest funerary sites in the world, spread over 10 kilometres near the city of Thatta. There are 500,000 to 1 million tombs built over the course of a 400 year period. Makli Necropolis features several large funerary monuments belonging to royalty, various Sufi saints, and esteemed scholars. Outstanding testament to Sindhi civilization between the 14th and 18th centuries.
Karez System Cultural Landscape. Tentative WHS (12/04/2016). The Karez system of the Balochistan desert is an ancient and still functional community-based water management system in an arid landscape. Karez originated in the 1st millennium BC in Persia and travelled east and westward along the Silk Route, throughout the Muslim world arriving in China during the Han dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD) and in Balochistan somewhat earlier. Used in India, western China, Middle East and North Africa.
Karez, its communities and their lands and pastures combine to form an organically evolved cultural landscape in a harsh environment.
Karez are constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by sloping tunnels carrying large quantities of subterranean water by gravity and without need for pumping. The vertical shafts are for maintenance and water is used only when it emerges from the tunnels. Karez allow water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without loss of much of the water to evaporation. The system is resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and to deliberate destruction in war. It is almost insensitive to the levels of precipitation, delivering a flow with only gradual variations from wet to dry years. A karez is environmentally sustainable as it has no additional energy requirement and, thus, has low life cycle operation and maintenance costs.
Karez are owned and maintained by the community who buy shares in it or “shabanas”, 24-hour cycles. A karez, depending upon its size, may have anywhere from 18 to 32 shabanas distributed between its shareholders, with individual claims ranging from the right to a few minutes to a week of water. A shareholder, or shareeq, is entitled to the standing of a country gentleman in the community and may sit in a jirga and weigh in on collective decisions. In this way the system of water access, distribution and use is closely linked to social structures and community identity. Although a karez system is expensive to construct, its long-term value to the community, and thereby to the group that invested in building and maintaining it, is substantial.
Today, though the system is under threat, there are approximately 1053 functioning karezes in Balochistan having more than 22,000 lps discharge, irrigating 27,000 ha in 2012. Another 270 karez are not functioning but could be restored to use. They are located in the northwest corner of Balochistan bordering with Afghanistan and Iran. A group of four representative karez is being proposed for inclusion on the Tentative List:
1. Spin Tangi Kareze, District Quetta
2. Chashma Achozai Kareze, District Quetta
3. Ulasi Kareze, District Pishin
4. Kandeel Kareze, Muslim Bagh, District Killa Saifullah
Nagarparkar Cultural Landscape. Tentative WHS (12/04/2016). Located at the southern limit of the vast Thar desert, where old stabilized sand dunes and the flat alluvial plain meet the marshy, tidal mudflats of the Runn of Kutch, and the Arabian Sea. Until as late as the 15th c. this area was covered by the Arabian Sea which extended northwards to the pink granite Karunjhar hills. Today these hills in the eastern part of the Runn surround the area of Nagarparkar and form the only raised, dry land in this dramatic locale. Areas to the west and east which were formally sea are now alluvial marshland and brackish ponds, part of the Runn of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary and RAMSAR site.
The Nagarparkar landscape was an important centre of Jain religion and culture for centuries. The Jains were maritime merchants and financial advisors to the Rajputs, the Mughals and the Sultans of Delhi. They dominated trade and commerce in the region through the port of Parinagar, believed to have been founded in the 5th c. BC. Traces of port facilities are still visible in the nearby village of Dotar, or Doo ptar meaning two landing places.
The Karunjhar hills were a place of pilgrimage called Sardhara where there is a Jain temple of Mahadeve and a ritual pool. The hills contain many sacred spaces associated with Jain munis, followers of Lord Mahavira and Parsanatha, where Yogis and Jain munis prayed and practiced austerity.
The wealth of the Jain community was reflected in the richness of their temples. The towns of Nagarparker, Gori, Viravah, Bodhesar, contain remains of numerous Jain temples dating from the 12th to 15th centuries which appear to be the high point of Jain culture. The Temple at Gori is an excellent example; built on a high platform and reached by a series of steps carved into the rock, it is made of huge stone slabs and grand columns expertly carved with objects of Jain worship. The temple is built in the classical Jain style, with one main temple surrounded by 52 smaller shrines, each housing one or more images of Jain prophets. The interior of Gori temple was adorned with paintings of Jain religious imagery which are older than any other frescos in the Jain temples of North India. Apart from this fabulously carved temple, there is a cluster of three other temples at Bodhesar built in 1375 AD and 1449 AD. Two temples with corbelled domes are built of kanjur and redstone, and are finely carved. The third temple, which is raised on a platform, is believed to have been built by a Jain woman.
Other significant Jain temples and remains of religious institutional buildings and water tanks are found in the villages of Nagarparkar, including the outstanding “bazaar” temple, Bodhesar, Viaravah, Kasbo and Gori.
The Jain influence declined due to the shifting of the sea. Originally the Nagarparkar area was on the edge of an open marine gulf which gradually turned into an estuary as silt was deposited by the Indus River system. This was augmented by major tectonic events which led to the westward migration of channels of the Indus and the transformation of the Rann of Kutch into saline mudflats and land locked the area of Nagarparkar.
The changes in the coastline and trade routes caused the Jain population to decline significantly in the 19th century and the last remaining Jain community left the area in 1947 at Partition. The faith still thrives in Indian Rajasthan across the border and many of the temples there, all of them named Godiji Parshwanath, trace their ancestry to much earlier religious centres such as Gori in Nagarparkar.
It illustrates the evolution of an important religious and commercial settlement of Jain maritime trade along the north coast of the Arabian Sea, from a thriving centre to collapse due to the forces of environmental change. The towns show an array of Jain religious architecture.
Port of Banbhore. Tentative WHS (30/01/2004) is a city dating to the 1st century BCE located on the N-5 National Highway, east of Karachi, between Dhabeji and Gharo. It dates back to the Scytho-Parthian era and was later controlled by Muslims from the 8th to the 13th century, after which it was abandoned. Remains of one of the earliest known mosques in the region dating back to 727 AD are still preserved in the city.
Three distinct periods: Scytho-Parthian (1st century BC to 2nd century AD)
Hindu-Buddhist (2nd century AD to 8th century AD), and early Islamic (8th century AD to 13th century AD). The city was gradually deserted after the 13th century due to change in the course of the Indus.
Archaeology. The city consisted of an enclosed area surrounded by a stone and mud wall. The citadel was divided into eastern and western sections by a fortified stone wall in the center. The eastern part contains ruins of a mosque with an inscription dating to 727 AD, sixteen years after the conquest of Sindh, indicating the best-preserved example of the earliest mosques in the region. Remains of houses, streets, and other buildings have been found both within and outside the citadel. Contemporary stone buildings from the three periods are also uncovered in the area including a palatial stone building with semi-circular shape, a Shiva temple from the Hindu period, and a mosque. Three gateways to the citadel were also uncovered during excavations.
Bhanbhore Port. Bhanbhore was a medieval port city deriving its wealth from imported ceramic and metal goods, an industrial sector, and trade. The city was strategically located at the mouth of the Indus, linking it with rest of the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians and international traders in the Indian Ocean. Archaeological findings show a half-submerged anchorage structure with solid stone foundation, which may have been used for berthing cargo boats. However, the port was abandoned when the Indus river shifted its position and the creek was silted.
Rani Kot Fort, Dadu. Tentative WHS (14/12/1993) is a historical Talpur fort near Sann, Also known as The Great Wall of Sindh, it is believed to be the world’s largest fort, with a circumference of approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi). The fort’s ramparts have been compared to the Great Wall of China connecting several bleak mountains of the Kirthar hills along contours.
Ranikot Fort is 90 kilometres to the north of Hyderabad on the Indus highway (N55). A rugged 21 kms road reaches Sann Gate, the eastern gate of the fort. Sann is a rail head on the Kotri-Larkana line of the Pakistan Railway. The fort is inside Kirthar National Park.
17th century saw its first construction that were reconstructed by the Talpur dynasty in 1812. It was the last home of the Amirs of Sind, when they were brought under the colonial rule of the British Empire.
The wall has several bastions, 3 semi-circular. Inside is the smaller “Miri Fort”, 3 km from the Sann gate, the palace of the Mir royal family. The fort is built in a zig-zag form, with four entry gates in the shape of a rhomboid, two gates are crossed diagonally by the Sann river.
KHAIRPUR*
Faiz Mahal. Castles, Palaces, Forts
Herbarium and Botanical Garden
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Bundle Island
Mouth of the Indus Islands
Tar Desert Corner (Virawah)
Rohri Hills: Kot Diji Fort (Fort Ahmedabad)
Umarkot: Umarkot Fort
Kirthar NP
Khuddi Island Lighthouse
Lakes: Haleji Lake, Keenjhar Lake
Cities of Asia and Oceania
LARKANA
MIRPUR KHAS
NAWABSHAH
SUKKUR Sukkur Airports (SKZ)
HYDERABAD (pop 1,732,693)
The second-largest city in Sindh and 8th largest in Pakistan, it was founded in 1768. It is about 150 kilometres (93 mi) inland of Karachi. The industrial sector contributes 25% to the GDP of Pakistan with 75% of Sindh’s industry in the Karachi-Hyderabad region. Industries includes: textiles, sugar, cement, manufacturing of mirror, soap, ice, paper, pottery, plastics, tanneries, hosiery mills and film. There are hide tanneries and sawmills. Handicraft industries, including silver and gold work, lacquer ware, ornamented silks, and embroidered leather saddles, are also well established. Hyderabad produces almost all of the ornamental glass bangles in Pakistan, as well as layered glass inlay for jewelry.
Hyderabad is surrounded by fertile alluvial plains, and is a major commercial center for the agricultural produce of the surrounding area, including millet, rice, wheat, cotton, and fruit.
Sindh Museum
Paco Qillo, This fort was constructed around 1768 when the city of Hyderabad was founded and in 2017 the fort still exits in natural shape. Used by Mir Fateh Ali Khan as residence and court in it, a Haram and other buildings were added to accommodate the ruling family and his relations. Mosques were built. it was gradually swarmed with shabby and odd buildings of the working class. Blasts destroyed most of the buildings and houses and in 1857, the British razed most of the remaining buildings to ground to making room to accommodate troops and military stores.
THATTA. Thatta was the medieval capital of Sindh for three successive dynasties. Several monuments remain. Thatta’s Makli Necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is site of one of the world’s largest cemeteries and has numerous monumental tombs built between the 14th and 18th centuries designed in a syncretic funerary style characteristic of lower Sindh. The city’s 17th century Shah Jahan Mosque is richly embellished with decorative tiles, and is considered to have the most elaborate display of tile work in the South Asia.
Ibn Sumar, from Multan, founded the Sumra dynasty, which ruled from Thatta from 1051 for the next 300 years. The Shia population was granted special protection.
In 1351, the Samma Dynasty, of Rajput, seized the city and made it their capital. The Makli Necropolis rose as a funerary site.
In 1520, Shah Beg of the Arghun-Tarkhun dynasty, from Afghanistan took control but fell into disarray in the mid 1500s and asked for aid from the Portuguese in 1555. 700 Portuguese soldiers arrived in 28 ships when Isa Tarkhun had already emerged victorious. After the Tarkhuns refused to pay the Portuguese soldiers, the Portuguese plundered the town, robbing its enormous gold treasury, and killing many inhabitants. Despite the 1555 sack of Thatta, it remained one of the richest cities of the Orient.
In 1592, Thatta was governed by the Mughal Empire based in Delhi, which lead to a decline in the city’s prosperity. Shah Jahan, while still a prince, sought refuge in the city from his father Emperor Jahangir. In 1626, Shah Jahan’s 13th son, Lutfallah, was born in Thatta. The city was almost destroyed by a devastating storm in 1637. As a token of gratitude for the hospitality, Shah Jahan bestowed the Shah Jahan Mosque to the city in 1647 as part of the city’s rebuilding efforts. The Indus River silted in the second half of the 1600s, and the seaport was abandoned. Thatta remained Sindh’s largest economic centre, and its largest centre for textile production. In the mid 1700s, Thatta fell into neglect, as the Indus river also began to silt. In the early 19th century Thatta had declined to a population of about 20,000, from a high of 200,000 a century before. In 1920, the estimated population of the city was 10,800.
Historical Monuments at Makli. World Heritage Site. See above.
Shah Jahan Mosque. Tentative WHS: (14/12/1993). It is a heavy brick structure of simple construction built upon a stone plinth, with heavy square pillars and massive walls, is centred around a courtyard 169′ X 97′. The prayer chamber is of a similar size. Both are covered by large domes. On the north and south two aisled galleries open by means of arcades onto the courtyard. Ninety three domes cover the entire structure, and are probably the cause of a remarkable echo, which enables the prayers in front of the Mibrab to be heard in any part of the building. The mosque contains the most elaborate display of tile-work in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. The two main chambers, in particular, are entirely covered with them. Their domes have been exquisitely laid with a mosaic of radiating blue and white tiles. Stylish floral patterns, akin the seventeenth century Kashi work of Iran, decorate the spandrels of the main arches and elsewhere geometrical designs on square tiles are disposed in a series of panels.
Shah Jahan Mosque features extensive tile work that displays Timurid influences introduced from Central Asia.
KARACHI (pop 17 million)
The largest city in Pakistan and the twelfth largest in the world. Capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh. Ranked as a beta-global city, the city is Pakistan’s premier industrial and financial centre, with an estimated GDP of $164 billion (PPP) as of 2019, Karachi is Pakistan’s most cosmopolitan city, linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse, as well as one of Pakistan’s most secular and socially liberal cities. With its location on the Arabian Sea, Karachi serves as a transport hub, and is home to Pakistan’s two largest seaports, the Port of Karachi and Port Bin Qasim, as well as Pakistan’s busiest airport, Jinnah International Airport (KHI).
History. The city was founded in 1729 and drastically increased in importance with the British East India Company in the mid 19th century who transformed the city into a major seaport, and connected it with their extensive railway network. In 1949, the population was 400,000 when hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from India arrived. The city experienced rapid economic growth following independence, attracting migrants from throughout Pakistan and South Asia. The 2017 population was 16,051,521. Karachi is one of the world’s fastest growing cities, and has communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi is home to more than two million Bangladeshi immigrants, a million Afghan refugees, and up to 400,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar.
Today. Karachi is now Pakistan’s premier industrial and financial centre with an economy worth $114 billion. Karachi collects more than a third of Pakistan’s tax revenue, has 30% of Pakistani industrial output and its ports handle 95% of Pakistan’s foreign trade. Approximately 90% of the multinational corporations operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi. Karachi is considered to be Pakistan’s fashion capital.
Known as the “City of Lights” in the 1960s and 1970s for its vibrant nightlife, it developed high rates of violent crime, but went from the world’s 6th most dangerous city for crime in 2014, to 105th by early 2021.
Chaukhandi Tombs, Karachi. Tentative WHS (14/12/1993). An early Islamic cemetery 29 km east of Karachi. Noted for their elaborate sandstone carvings, similar in style to the elaborate tombs at the Makli Necropolis near Thatta, and are built in the funerary architectural style typical of lower Sindh. Mainly Baloch, they were mainly built during Mughal rule sometime in the 15th and 18th centuries when Islam became dominant.
The more elaborate graves are constructed with a buff-colored sandstone, preserved in the arid local climate. A typical sarcophagus consists of six vertical slabs covered by a second sarcophagus consisting of six more similar vertical slabs but smaller in size, giving the grave a pyramid shape. The upper box is further covered with four or five horizontal slabs and the topmost construction is set vertically with its northern end often carved into a knob known as a crown or a turban. The tombs are embellished with geometrical designs and motifs, including figural representations such as mounted horsemen, hunting scenes, arms, and jewelry.
Baba Bhit Island.
Transportation. Karachi Cantonment Station, Shalimar Express (Karachi-Lahore), Sindh (Karachi, Greater Karachi)
National Museum of Pakistan
State Bank Museum and Archives
TDF MagnifiScience Museum
Quaid-e-Azam House. (also known as Flagstaff House), it is dedicated to the personal life of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. It was designed by British architect Moses Somake. The former home of Jinnah, who lived there from 1944 until his death in 1948. His sister, Fatima Jinnah lived there until 1964. The building was later acquired in 1985 by the Pakistani government and conserved as a museum.
Wazir Mansion (Quaid-i-Azam Birthplace Museum) is a former family home in the Kharadar district, the birthplace of the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was built during 1860-1870 with stone masonry. Jinnah was born in 1876 and spent 16 years of his childhood and youth here. Inaugurated as a museum in 1953, it was renovated in 2010 as a three-storey building with a library and museum galleries.
Mohatta Palace. Built in 1927 in the posh seaside locale of Clifton as the summer home of Shivratan Mohatta, a Hindu Marwari businessman from Rajasthan. Built in the tradition of stone palaces of Rajasthan, it used pink Jodhpur stone in combination with the local yellow stone from nearby Gizri. Mohatta used it for two decades before the partition of India, after which he left for the new state of India.
With an area of 18,500 sq ft, its facade is trimmed with windows, stone brackets, spandrels, domes, balustrades with floral motifs and exquisite railings. There are nine domes. The palace is solely teak wood with a polished staircase, long corridors and doors opening within doors. The “barsati” (terrace) had a beautiful family temple dedicated to the Hindu God, lord Shiva. Each corner has octagonal towers.
The government acquired the building in 1947 and converted into a museum devoted to the arts of Pakistan in 1999.
Boat Shaped Mosque
Grand Jamia Masjid (under construction)
Masjid-e-Tooba
New Memon Mosque
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Habib Bank Plaza. Modern Architecture Building. On I. I. Chundrigar Road, it is the head office of Habib Bank. It was the tallest building in Asia in 1963-68 and the tallest building in South Asia until 1972, It remained the tallest building in Pakistan for four decades until the 29 floor and 116m tall MCB Tower was built.
Karachi Safari Park
Karachi Zoo
PIA Planetarium
French Beach
Lucky One Mall
Zainab Market
Zamzama Park. Urban Legend. A 26 acre park and posh locality located in Clifton Town. It has jogging tracks, walking paths, roller blading enclosure, refreshment stand, playground and bonzai centre. It is a highly developed commercial area with residential accommodation as well. Famous branded shops are in this area.
Gora Qabaristan Cross. In 2014 a giant 43m high cross, was constructed just inside the Gora Cemetery wall. The construction was paid for by a Christian businessman, Parvez Henry Gill.
The Gora Cemetery (literally White (man’s) graveyard) is Karachi’s only operational Christian cemetery. Opened in 1843 on 20 acres, in 2016 it had 300,000 bodies registered to be buried here but space for only 3,000 graves, which means each grave has been used one hundred times over its history. In May 2002, the mutilated body of American journalist Daniel Pearl was found in the graveyard. No one knows how it was dumped there. The wall separating the Protestant and Catholic parts was removed.
Two Swords. Two monuments in Karachi are Teen Talwar and Do Talwar (three and two swords). Jutting out from the two main roundabouts on main Clifton Road, the swords are made of white marble. Erected in 1973 in an upscale (posh) locality, it is now congested. Swords were the electoral symbol of Bhutto’s party and they symbolised the emergence of the Bhutto government. ‘Unity, Faith, Discipline’, were inscribed on each of the Three Swords.
Both the monuments were erected on asphalt roundabouts with grass, flowers and palm trees. By the 1990s, Clifton Road had transformed. It became extremely congested; trees were uprooted for apartment blocks, shopping centres and advertising. Both had smog and dust on them. The grass was brown and the palm trees gone. Posters and graffiti covered the swords. Traffic increased, the size of both reduced and traffic signals mounted. Religious inscriptions appeared and then sectarian graffiti of various extreme groups. They got a complete make-over.
It’s a favourite rallying point of the city’s liberal civil society groups protesting against various human rights violations.
Pakistan Maritime Museum
Pakistan Air Force Museum
Nomad Mania Pakistan
Borders
Pakistan (sea border/port)
Afghanistan-Pakistan
Iran-Pakistan
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars:
Pakistan Intercity Railway Experience
NOMAD MANIA Pakistan – Sindh (Karachi, Greater Karachi)
World Heritage Sites
Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro
Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta
Tentative WHS
Chaukhandi Tombs, Karachi (14/12/1993)
Karez System Cultural Landscape (12/04/2016)
Nagarparkar Cultural Landscape (12/04/2016)
Port of Banbhore (30/01/2004)
Rani Kot Fort, Dadu (14/12/1993)
Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta (14/12/1993)
Islands
Baba Bhit (Karachi)
Bundle Island
XL
Mouth of the Indus Islands
Tar Desert Corner (Virawah)
Airports: Sukkur (SKZ)
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Khairpur: Faiz Mahal
Ranikot: Ranikot Fort
Rohri Hills: Kot Diji Fort (Fort Ahmedabad)
Umarkot: Umarkot Fort
World of Nature: Kirthar NP
Lakes
Haleji Lake
Keenjhar Lake
Botanical Gardens: Khairpur: Herbarium and Botanical Garden
Lighthouses: Khuddi Island Lighthouse
Cities of Asia and Oceania
LARKANA
MIRPUR KHAS
NAWABSHAH
SUKKUR
KARACHI World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Karachi (KHI)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Karachi Cantonment Station
Shalimar Express (Karachi-Lahore)
Sindh (Karachi, Greater Karachi)
Museums
National Museum of Pakistan
State Bank Museum and Archives
TDF MagnifiScience Museum
House Museums/Plantations
Quaid-e-Azam House
Wazir Mansion
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Mohatta Palace
Religious Temples
Boat Shaped Mosque
Grand Jamia Masjid (under construction)
Masjid-e-Tooba
New Memon Mosque
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Modern Architecture Buildings: Habib Bank Plaza
Zoos
Karachi Safari Park
Karachi Zoo
Planetariums: PIA Planetarium
Beaches: French Beach
Malls/Department Stores: Lucky One Mall
Markets: Zainab Market
Urban Legends: Zamzama Park
Religious Monuments: Gora Qabaristan Cross
Monuments: Two Swords
Maritime/Ship Museums: Pakistan Maritime Museum
Aviation Museums: Pakistan Air Force Museum
HYDERABAD
Museums: Sindh Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Paco Qillo
THATTA
World Heritage Sites: Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta
Tentative WHS: Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta (14/12/1993)
Religious Temples: Shah Jahan Mosque
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SINDH other – Hyderbad and Sukkur
SUKKUR
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Nagarparkar area (Sindh extreme southeast) – M@P. See above.
Safed Koh Panhandle (Parachinar) XL
Waziristan North and South XL
Vestiges of the Past
Kot Diji. An ancient forerunner of the Indus Civilization beginning in 3300 BCE. The remains consist of two parts; the citadel area on high ground (about 12 m), and outer area. Located about 24 kms south of Khairpur on the east bank of the Indus opposite Mohenjo-daro.
Moenjodaro see above
Chotiari Wetlands Complex. 30-35 km northeast of Sanghar, 18,000 ha, 60 m above sea level. The complex includes the Thar Desert sand hills on east, north, north-east and south-east, and Nara Canal on the west and south. Many fresh and brackish water bodies (1-200 ha.). Hot arid climate to 40°C during May and June.
Several threatened species: caracal and white- backed vulture, Indian wolf, hog deer, marbled teal, Pallas’s fish eagle, imperial eagle, saker falcon, houbara bustard, Sindh babbler and Indian marsh crocodile. The Nara Canal Wetlands Area includes Soonhari, Sadhori and Sanghriaro Lakes, an important bird area.
Chotiar Dam is at the end of Nara canal, near Achro city
Deh Akro II Wildlife Sanctuary. 46 km northeast of Nawabshah City, 205 sq km. The wetland complex is a unique example of desert wetland ecosystem and rare and endangered wildlife.
It is a natural wetland with 32 lakes, desert, wetland, marsh and agricultural lands. 18 mammals, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, and 101 birds. The fauna includes waterfowl, crocodiles, otters and fish.
The water of five lakes has drinking water quality, the other 31 lakes and the depth varies from 15 m to 2-3 m – important for fish feeding and spawning.
The south-west is agricultural – patches of irrigated agricultural fields lying adjacent to the desert. The north-east is the Nara Desert – sand dunes with well developed herbs/shrubs and trees.
Keti Bunder South Wildlife Sanctuary. In the Indus Delta and the Ochito and Hajamro creek, the mangrove forests are key forest and ecological features. The remaining part are 195 villages with 27,405 people and 4,000 households. Also sand dunes and water channels.
49 winter season bird species: little egret, cattle egret, greater flamingo, greater egret, and common coot. summer breeder’s birds are herons, egrets, waders, pelicans and raptors. Birds are decreasing especially due to pollution, habitat loss, deforestation, invasive species, agriculture intensification, urbanization, industrialization, human-avian negative interactions, and climate change.
90% of people are in fishing as fishermen, boat owners and workers, helpers in factories, transporters, merchant shops and drivers of fish carrier vehicles.
Kirthar NP
Manchar Lake
NOMAD MANIA Pakistan – Sindh other (Hyderabad, Sukkur)
M@P: Pakistan – Nagarparkar area (Sindh extreme southeast)
XL
Safed Koh Panhandle (Parachinar)
Waziristan North and South
World Cities and Popular Towns
Sukkur
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Shalimar Express (Karachi-Lahore)
Vestiges of the Past
Kot Diji
Moenjodaro
World of Nature
Chotiari Wetlands Complex
Deh Akro II Wildlife Sanctuary
Keti Bunder South Wildlife Sanctuary
Kirthar NP
Lakes: Manchar Lake
Rivers: Indus River
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BALOCHISTAN
Archaeological Site of Mehrgarh. Tentative WHS (30/01/2004)
Hingol Cultural Landscape. Tentative WHS (12/04/2016). Hinglaj Mata Mandar is an ancient but living cultural landscape located in Hingol National Park on the Makran coast of the Arabian Sea, approximately 190 km west of Karachi. The famous ancient Hindu religious place is in a mountain cave on the bank of the Hingol River. It predates the Arab invasion and the advent of Sufism. The goddess Shaktior Sati, the female principal of Hinduism is worshipped. Hindus believe that the head of goddess Sati fell in the area of Hinglaj Mata when her body was dismembered by Vishnu and it has remained a revered pilgrimage site for Hindus. Local Muslims also revere the place, calling it Nani Mandar, and serve as custodians of the cave temple.
It is the largest National Park of Pakistan with an area of 6,190km2. The park is named for the Hingol River which flows through it, forming an estuary as it enters the Arabian Sea. Hingol National Park contains a diverse range of landscapes from the depths of the Arabian Sea to the intertidal, beaches and the estuary of the Hingol River to the Dhrun Mountains with its highest point at 1,580 m. Large tracts of the park are covered with drift sand and can be classified as coastal semi desert with arid montane and rugged mud rock formations along the coast. These mud rock formations are a mass of east-west folds, created by the northward thrust of the Indian Ocean plate under the continental crust, characterized by deep and barren rocky gullies, steep cliffs and caves.
The shrine is located in one of these natural caves on a stream leading to the Hingol River. There is no temple structure, just a low mud altar and a small stone worshipped as the goddess. Throughout the year, thousands of Hindus visit with 5,000 in the month of April
Worshippers also visit the mud volcanoes which are a special feature of the park. In the subduction zones and the Makran coastal area where three major tectonic plates – namely Eurasian, Arabian and Indian plates meet. There are about ten locations in Hingol and Hinglaj area having clusters of mud volcanoes, the most important being Chandragup and Khandewari volcanoes, sacred to the followers of the Vedas who pause there on their pilgrimage to Sri Mata Hinglaj.
Hingol NP
Ziarat Juniper Forest. Tentative WHS (12/04/2016). These forests are spread around mountainous area of Ziarat and Mount Zarghoon – 1,181 to 3,488m elevation. The climate is temperate and semi-arid. The Pashtun juniper occurs between 2000 and 3,000 meters elevation along ridge tops and on moderate to steep slopes (18º to 30º). They grow mostly in dense, open, and pure stands without stratification. The age of the oldest trees is 5000 to 7000 years, for which they are called living fossils. Slow-growing and long-lived, they’ve been harvested for firewood, timber, and various medicinal and aromatic plants and have declined with little regeneration. Increasing human population, overgrazing by livestock, illegal timber cutting, overharvesting of firewood and juniper seeds, periodic droughts, attack on weakened trees by parasitic fungi and the mistletoe and climate change.
In 2013 the forest was declared a biosphere reserve.
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Astola Island
Balochistan southwest extreme (Jiwani). XL
Balochistan western panhandle (north of Taftan) XL
Dasht NP and Wild Life Sanctuary
Hazarganji-Chiltan NP
Ormara Lighthouse
Ormara Beach
Hanna-Urak Waterfall
Gondrani Cave City
Cities of Asia and Oceania
QUETTA (pop 1.001 million 2017)
The provincial capital and largest city of Balochistan (10th largest in Pakistan). In 1935, Quetta had developed into a bustling city with a number of multi-storey buildings and was called “Little London”. The epicenter of the earthquake was close to the city and destroyed most of the city’s infrastructure, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Quetta is at an average elevation of 1,680 metres (5,510 feet) above sea level. It is known as the “Fruit Garden of Pakistan.
Located in northern Balochistan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the road across to Kandahar, Quetta is a trade and communication centre between the two countries. The Bolan Pass route which was once one of the major gateways from Central Asia to South Asia. Quetta played an important role militarily for the Pakistani Armed Forces in the intermittent Afghanistan conflict.
The immediate area has long been one of pastures and mountains, with varied plants and animals relative to the dry plains to the west. The city has a Pashtun plurality followed by Balochs, Hazaras, Brahui, Punjabis and Muhajir people.
Quetta Airport (UET)
Museum of Geology
Quetta Archeological Museum
Bolan Mosque
NOMAD MANIA Pakistan – Balochistan (Quetta, Gwadar, Pasni, Chaman, Khost)
Tentative WHS
Archaeological Site of Mehrgarh (30/01/2004)
Hingol Cultural Landscape (12/04/2016)
Ziarat Juniper Forest (12/04/2016)
Islands: Astola
XL
Balochistan southwest extreme (Jiwani)
Balochistan western panhandle (north of Taftan)
Airports
Gwadar (GWD)
Turbat (TUK)
World of Nature
Dasht NP and Wild Life Sanctuary
Hazarganji-Chiltan NP
Hingol NP
Rivers
Dasht River
Hingol River
Zhob River
Lighthouses: Ormara Lighthouse
Beaches: Balochistan: Ormara Beach
Waterfalls: Hanna-Urak Waterfall
Caves: Gondrani Cave City
Cities of Asia and Oceania
QUETTA World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Quetta (UET)
Museums
Museum of Geology
Quetta Archeological Museum
Religious Temples
Bolan Mosque
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++PUNJAB SOUTH (Multan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal)
Derawar and the Desert Forts of Cholistan. Tentative WHS (12/04/2016). The Cholistan desert, or Rohi, is the western part of the Thar desert, It was once watered by the Hakra river and home to an Indus Valley culture based on agriculture dating from 4000 – 600 B.C. when the river changed its flow and subsequently vanished underground. Since then the Cholistan area has been a stark and inhospitable desert environment at the edge of empires.
The medieval forts are a dozen structures, some standing and some deteriorated and some dating from pre-Mughal times, but all restored and expanded from the 16th to 18th century by powerful local clans. Derawar fort is the best surviving example. Other forts include (roughly from north to south) Meergarh, Jaangarh, Marotgarh, Maujgarh, Dingarh, Khangarh, Khairgarh, Bijnotgarh and Islamgarh, forming a network across the desert landscape to protect and enable the desert caravan routes; mercantile routes from central Asia to the heartland of the sub-continent and pilgrimage routes between Mecca and India.
Derawar fort was built in the 9th c. by a Rajput ruler of Bhatti clan. and from the 19th century, it was the desert abode of the Nawabs of Bahawalpur until the 1970s. The fort survived intact due to this constant occupation. The fort is a massive and visually stunning square structure built of clay bricks. The walls are 1500m long and up to thirty meters high. There are forty circular bastions, ten on each side, which stand 30 m high and are visible across the desert for many miles. Each is decorated with intricate patterns in cut brick work. There are remains of structures inside the fort, may richly decorated with tile and fresco work; the Moti or Pearl Mosque stands nearby and the cemetery of the Nawabs of Bahawalpur filled with ornate and elaborate graves.
Derawar and the other forts illustrate the variety of the forms found from square brick structures with circular corner bastions, to square walls completely faced with semi-circular towers, to rectangular and even hexagonal shaped enclosures with angle bastions and square enclosures within an outer wall with multiple bastions. All of these varied forms date from the 16th to late 18th centuries. All these forts are clustered within an area of only. 250 km N-S and 100 km E-W to the east of the historic cities of Bahawalpur and Yazman.
The explanation for this group of fortifications across the flat sands of the Rohi is presumed to be access to water, protection and control of these important water resources and their relationship to the caravan routes across the desert. Derawar, for example, is located at a critical point in the desert where it is possible to access deep water deposits which are all that remains of the ancient Hakra River. As a result, for many centuries Derawar has been an essential stopping and watering point for all caravans entering the great desert on route to trading entrepots to the east.
Tomb of Bibi Jawindi, Baha’al-Halim and Ustead and the Tomb and Mosque of Jalaluddin Bukhari. Tentative WHS (30/01/2004). This consists of 5 monuments at the South-West corner of Uch Sharif- representing the town’s most exceptional architecture. The oldest are the fourteenth century AD tomb and mosque of the Central Asian Sufi Jalaluddin Bukhari. The brick-built tomb measures 18 x 24 meters, its carved wooden pillars support a flat roof and it is decorated with glazed tiles in floral and geometric designs. The ceiling is painted with floral designs in lacquer and its floor covered with the graves of the saint and his relatives an interior partition provides purdah for those of his womenfolk. Its mosque consists of a hall, measuring 20 meters by 11 meters, with 18 wooden pillars supporting a flat roof. It was built of cut and dressed bricks and further decorated, internally and externally, with enamelled tiles in floral and geometric designs. These structures were joined by a series of domed tombs; the first is said to have been built for Baha’ al-Halim by his pupil, the Suharwardiya Sufi saint Jahaniyan Jahangasht (1307-1383 AD), the second for the latter’s great grant daughter, Bibi Jalwindi, in c.1494 and the third for the latter’s architect. They all have three tiers, an octagonal base supporting a zone of transition surmounted by a dome and are richly decorated with carved timber, cut and moulded brick, and blue and white faience mosaic tiles. The basement walls taper and are supported by 8 engaged tapering corner towers. The eroded nature of the three clearly allows their profile, construction and decorated interiors to be seen.
Derawar Fort
Lal Suhanra NP
Cities of Asia and Oceania
BUREWALA
KHANEWAL
SAHIWAL
BAHAWALPUR (pop 763,000). The 11th largest city in Pakistan, it was founded in 1748, and ruled by the Abbasi family of Nawabs until 1955. The Nawabs left a rich architectural legacy, and Bahawalpur is now known for its monuments dating from that period. The city also lies at the edge of the Cholistan Desert, and serves as the gateway to the nearby Lal Suhanra National Park. Bahawalpur Airport (BHV)
Bahawalpur Museum
Noor Mahal (palace)
Bahawalpur Zoo
MULTAN
On the bank of the Chenab River, Multan is Pakistan’s 7th largest city and is the major cultural and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan’s history stretches deep into antiquity. The ancient city was site of the renowned Multan Sun Temple, and was besieged by Alexander the Great during the Mallian Campaign. Multan was one of the most important trading centres of medieval Islamic India, and attracted a multitude of Sufi mystics in the 11th and 12th centuries, earning the city the sobriquet City of Saints. The city, along with the nearby city of Uch, is renowned for its large number of Sufi shrines dating from that era.
Tomb of Hazrat Rukn-e-Alam, Multan. Tentative WHS (14/12/1993). The tomb, built in 1320-24 A.D., lies inside Multan Fort. This elegant building is an octagon with a diameter of 15′ 9ù and a side measuring 20’6″. It is the first octagonal tomb in the South Asia subcontinent. The special features in the construction of the Shrine are the tapering walls, horizontal wooden beam embedded at the exterior of brick work and a wooden frame built with horizontal and vertical beams. The carved wooden Mehrab is a delicate and intricate piece of work, which is the earliest specimen of its kind in the whole South Asian subcontinent. The structure is built entirely in red brick, the whole exterior elaborately decorated with glazed tile panels in string-courses and merlons. The colours used are Indian blue, persian blue and white, which contrast with the red of the finely dressed bricks. The enamelled tiles have relief patterns, raised from half an inch to two inches from the background. The octagonal second storey is elaborately decorated with geometric, floral and arabesque designs. It is further beautified by calligraphic motifs, brick design in relief pattern of caustic tiles and ornamental brick work.
Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam. Tentative WHS (30/01/2004). In Multan in the northwestern edge of the Multan Fort, the mausoleum of the Sufi saint was built between 1320-24. It is considered to be the earliest example of Tughluq architecture, and is one of the most impressive shrines in the Indian subcontinent. The shrine attracts over 100,000 pilgrims to the annual urs festival that commemorates his death.
It has three entrances, a western-facing mihrab, and an original main entrance on the southern axis that featured a small vestibule.[4] The main entrance has since been shifted to the east, in an attempt to align the shrine’s axises with Mecca, in accordance with orthodox interpretations of Islam.
Multan had strong links to Persia and Afghanistan – links which are reflected in the heavy influence of Central Asian and Persian architectural styles found at the tomb, such as the use of brick, glazed tiles, and wooden roofs. The shrine represents the culmination of Multani funerary architecture T
The mausoleum is three-tiered, octagonal, 15 metres in diameter, and features walls 4 feet thick. The octagonal first tier is buttressed by small minaret-shaped towers in each of its 8 corners that provide support to the structure.
The mausoleum is built entirely of red brick, bounded with beams of shisham wood, which have turned black over the centuries. The exterior is elaborately ornamented with carved wooden panels, carved brick, string-courses and battlements. Buttresses, turrets, and crenellations at the top of the shrine reflect the influence of Tughluq military architecture on even non-military buildings
The exterior is further embellished with regional-style tile-work in floral, arabesque, and geometric motifs with dark blue, azure, and white tiles – all of which contrast the deep red finely polished bricks. The white dome is decorated with blue tile-work along its lower perimeter.
The shrine’s vast interior features no internal buttresses, nor any interior structural elements to support the interior space, which results in a vast interior space. The carved wooden mihrab is considered to be one of the earliest examples of its genre. The sarcophagus of Rukn-e-Alam is surrounded by the graves of 72 of his relatives, which allude to the 72 martyred companions of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
Multan Airport (MUX)
Multan Museum
Shahi Eidgah Mosque
RAHIM YAR KHAN/SADIQABAD (pop 421,000 2017). The 17th largest city of Pakistan. Rahim Yar Khan Airport (RYK)
Bhong Mosque
HARAPPA
Archaeological Site of Harappa. Tentative WHS (30/01/2004). About 24 km (15 mi) west of Sahiwal. it is a small crossroads town of 15,000 people today. The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Indus Valley Civilisation centred in Sindh and the Punjab, and then the Cemetery H culture. The city had 23,500 residents occupying 150 hectares with clay brick houses at its greatest extent from 2600 BC – 1900 BC).
The ancient city of Harappa was heavily damaged under British rule, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the construction of the Lahore–Multan Railway. In 2005, a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artifacts during the early stages of building work.
Archaeological Museum.
NOMAD MANIA Pakistan – Punjab South (Multan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal)
Tentative WHS
Archaeological Site of Harappa (30/01/2004)
Derawar and the Desert Forts of Cholistan (12/04/2016)
Tomb of Bibi Jawindi, Baha’al-Halim and Ustead and the Tomb and Mosque of Jalaluddin Bukhari (30/01/2004)
Tomb of Hazrat Rukn-e-Alam, Multan (14/12/1993)
Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam (30/01/2004)
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Derawar: Derawar Fort
World of Nature: Lal Suhanra NP
Rivers
Indus River
Sutlej River
Cities of Asia and Oceania
BUREWALA
KHANEWAL
SAHIWAL
BAHAWALPUR
Airports: Bahawalpur (BHV)
Museums: Bahawalpur Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Noor Mahal
Zoos: Bahawalpur Zoo
MULTAN World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Multan (MUX)
Museums: Multan Museum
Religious Temples: Shahi Eidgah Mosque
RAHIM YAR KHAN/SADIQABAD
Airports:; Rahim Yar Khan (RYK)
Religious Temples: Bhong Mosque
HARAPPA
Tentative WHS: Archaeological Site of Harappa (30/01/2004)
Museums: Harappa: Archaeological Museum
