Federal Capital Territory (Pakistan)

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) around Karachi was the original capital territory of Pakistan. The FCT was created in 1948 from the city of Karachi and surrounding areas as the location for Pakistan's capital following its creation. This move, however, was controversial as the territory was created despite resistance from the local groups in Sindh. The FCT was bordered by the province of Sindh to the northeast and the princely state of Las Bela to the northwest with the Arabian Sea to the south.

History

Karachi became the first capital of the new country of Pakistan in 1947. The FCT was created in 1948 to enable the federal government to operate from a nationally-held territory. At that time it had a population of 400,000 people which began to increase rapidly because of the political focus on the city and the fact that it was the major commercial seaport for western Pakistan. When the territory was absorbed into the province of West Pakistan, the city had a population of about 1.9 million.

The main ethnic groups in this region before the partition of the Indian subcontinent consisted of several small linguistic and religious groups such as Sindhi Hindus, Sindhi Muslims, Baloch Makranis, Gujarati communities, which included Parsis, Hindus, Sunni Muslims, Ismaili Muslims, Daudi Bohras, Marwari Muslims, Kacchi Muslims, and a large number of local Christian communities. A considerable number of Sindhis and Balochs resided in sporadic villages in this region.