Rawalpindi راولپنڈی

Gulshan Dadan Khan Mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan


Rawalpindi (Urdu: راولپنڈی) is a city in the province of Punjab near the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. Due to its proximity to the capital, Rawalpindi is within the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metropolitan Area, which has a population of over 5 million people. Rawalpindi itself has a population of 3.25 million people (2012 estimate) today.

Evidence of human presence in the Rawalpindi area goes back to around 1000 BC. There was a Buddhist civilization here during this period. During the early part of the 18th century, Rawalpindi served as the base for Shah Shuja, the exiled king of Afghanistan and his brother Shan Zaman. The city came under the Sikh Empire in 1818 and under the British Empire in 1849.

The partition of India and creation of Pakistan saw an exodus of Rawalpindi's Hindu and Sikh populations to East Punjab in India. In return, it received an influx of Muhajir, Pashtun and Kashmiri immigrants.

Rawalpindi bore the dubious distinction of being the city where many high-level assassinations had taken place. The first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated here in 1951 while former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated here in 2007. Her father former Prime Minister Zulkifar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi in 1979.

Visiting Rawalpindi

Being so close to Islamabad, Rawalpindi relies on the capital's international airport as its gateway, with numerous domestic and international flights. The city has its own train station, and receives train services from Islamabad as well as other towns in the surrounding region.

Places of Interest in Rawalpindi

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