History of Karachi

the city’s thoroughfares. Karachi was chosen as the capital of Pakistan, which at the time included modern day Bangladesh, a region located more than 1,000 km (620 mi) away, and not physically connected to Pakistan. In 1947, Karachi was the focus for settlement by Muslim migrants from India, who expanded the city's population and transformed its demographics and economy. In 1958, the capital of Pakistan was moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi and then in 1960, to the newly built Islamabad. This marked the start of a long period of decline in the city, marked by a lack of development.

Karachi had both a municipal corporation and a Karachi Divisional Council in the 1960s, which developed schools, colleges, roads, municipal gardens, and parks. The Karachi Divisional Council had working committees for education, roads, and residential societies development and planning. During the 1960s, Karachi was seen as an economic role model around the world. Many countries sought to emulate Pakistan's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied the city's second "Five-Year Plan" and the World Financial Center in Seoul is designed and modeled after Karachi.

The 1970s saw major labor struggles in Karachi's industrial estates (see Karachi labor unrest of 1972). The 1980s and 1990s saw an influx of refugees from the Soviet war in Afghanistan into Karachi; they were followed in smaller numbers by refugees escaping from Iran. Karachi especially after the 1970s has emerged as one of the largest Pashtun cities in the world with its Pashtun population estimated to be around five to seven million which is more than Peshawar, Kabul or Kandahar easily. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, ethnic and political violence broke out across the city between Muhajir followers of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement fought with ethnic Sindhis Pashtuns Punjabis and state forces. As a result, the Pakistani army was deployed to restore peace