‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, will it though?
I’m a traveler and I like to visit new places but the thing that I find most fascinating about places are their names. Because names have a story, a historical record of why and how it came into being. Discovering names, their story and history is the journey that one likes to take. In this post I’d like to take you through the story of my city Islamabad that although doesn’t have a very long history, but is rich with names for places.
But before diving into that, let’s see how Islamabad looked like a few decades ago.
Image above shows Islamabad terrain before development work. (1950s)
Image above shows how Islamabad looks as of today. (2019)
The architecture and plan of Islamabad was designed by a Greek architect-engineer and town planner Dr. Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis.
Image above shows Dr. Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis (1913-1975) presenting his first ideas for the Master Plan of Islamabad.
In the early 1950s, two areas were suggested to establish the new capital of Pakistan: one to the north of Rawalpindi and another outside Karachi – which was Capital of Pakistan at that time. Ayub Khan (then President of Pakistan) decided upon the place that was near Rawalpindi. On February 24, 1960 it was named Islamabad - which means the City of Islam.
Image above shows the master plan of Islamabad.
Islamabad Capital Territory in its master plan was divided into eight zones: Administrative Zone, Commercial District, Educational Sector, Industrial Sector, Diplomatic Enclave, Residential Areas, Rural Areas and Green Area. By Zones, Islamabad city was divided into: Zone I, Zone II, Zone III, Zone IV, and Zone V.
Coming back to the naming conventions that Islamabad has followed over the years, some of them are as follows:
‘Aabpara’ – a very famous market and one of the oldest places of Islamabad relates to two historical backgrounds, one of it being named after the first child (a Bengali girl) born in that area who was named Aabpara and another of it being a place with many water fountains that are now extinct.
Image above shows a view of Aabpara Market.
Two of the most famous markets in Islamabad are Super Market (F-6 Markaz) and Jinnah Super Market (F-7 Markaz). Naming of which has a funny story, Super Market was named by the local traders in the start when there was no Jinnah Super Market at that time. Years later, when F-7 Markaz Market was developed the traders named it Jinnah Super Market – marking it as a superior and better version of the previously posh market of Islamabad. Jinnah being the name of Founder of Pakistan was added to show the superiority over the older market.
F-8 sector of Islamabad was once called - Giddar Ghota, when there was no population and due to abundance of jackals in that area. Back at that time Islamabad was still under development stages. Giddar literally meaning Jackal in local language. In the early development days, courts and police offices were moved to F-8 sector markaz (market) and although it was later renamed to Ayub Market it is still known by many locals as Kutchery – literal translation of courts, in the local language.
Khadda market in G-7 sector which is now a famous auto market, was previously a wholesale bazaar located in a lower area, or a khadda (which means ditch) and thus the name Khadda Market stayed.
Image above shows a view of Islamabad from Margalla Hills.
Then there are Laal Quarters – located in G6 and G7 sectors, quarters for lower level government employees in the early days. The place took after the name because they were all colored red. (Laal is a Urdu/Hindi word for Red color)
Karachi Company in G-9 – The company working on the construction there in the early days was from Karachi so the laborers working at the area asked wagon walas to drop them at the ‘Karachi Company’ and from then on it has become ‘Karachi Company’.
Peshawar Mor - used to be an exit leading to Peshawar since not much existed after it during the early times of Islamabad.
Image above shows present day Peshawar Mor (Interchange)
Many of the names were given to establish important associations including. Ramna – referring to the areas that fall under the G series refers to a sub-district in Bangladesh. A name given at the time East Pakistan was still a part of Pakistan and meant to acknowledge its importance.
Similarly, Shalimar, which refers to the F-series gives due respect to Lahore by invoking the Shalimar gardens and similar importance has been ascribed to Mehran invoking Sindh and Indus river.
The master plan of Islamabad had places colour coded. For public offices, courts and other such buildings, the colour was mauve and for the area that was going to be a centre and host the commercial buildings the colour was blue. Thus emerged the names Mauve Area and Blue Area.
There was even a green area in the initial plan – the area around Shakarparian which could be recognized by the greenery around it, was accordingly coloured green and got the name Green area. However, the name disappeared over time along with the greenery in the area.
The name Shakarparian itself is derived from two words of Potohari language, Shakar meaning sweet and parian from parao which means a place to rest of stop during long journeys. The old Gakhar tribe leaders settled here before Indo-Pak partition in 1947.
Image above shows aerial view of Shakarparian hill park and Pakistan monument
The roads which are continuously expanding also follow interesting naming conventions, mostly now being named after historical and important people of the past. One of the most beautiful roads in Islamabad, passing along the foot of the Margalla hills is officially called Khayaban-e-Iqbal – named after Poet of the East Allama Iqbal. But rarely anyone know it is called Khayaban-e-Iqbal and is now famously known as Margalla Road because of its presence at the foothills of Margalla.
Image above shows a view from Margalla road on a rainy day.