Islamabad

Capital of Pakistan from 1967 (replacing Karachi), in the Potwar district, at the foot of the Margala Hills, at the head of navigation of the Jhelum River and immediately northwest of Rawalpindi; population (1998) 529,200, (2007 calc) 834,400. The city was designed by Constantinos Doxiadis in the 1960s, and its Arabic name means ‘city of peace’. The Federal Capital Territory of Islamabad has an area of 907 sq km/350 sq mi and a population (1998 est) of 799,100. Islamabad is the centre of an agricultural region in the Vale of Kashmir.

Landmarks include the Shahrazad Hotel and National Assembly building (designed by US architect Louis I Kahn). Islamabad is the home of two universities: Quaid-i-Azam University (1965) and Allama Iqbal Open University (1974), the largest in Pakistan. Other notable buildings include the folk and heritage museum and the shrine of Bari Imam. The territory also includes a national park which is the home of the Atomic Research Institute, the National Health Centre, and an Olympic village

The city is divided into eight largely self-contained districts, each with a specific function; government buildings are in the centre, surrounded by commercial, residential, educational, industrial, and green zones.