Lalkurti

Lalkurti, literally meaning 'red shirt', is a locality in the heart of Rawalpindi cantonment in Pakistan. Places with the same name are also present in many other garrison cities of Pakistan and India such as Peshawar, Kanpur, Ambala, Meerut and Delhi.

Located to the south of Mall road, ^[1] Lalkurti Rawalpindi is a bazaar and a residential area of British colonial era.

Importance of Lalkurti in the history of Rawalpindi and Pakistan lies in its once being the hub of Pakistan's military and political activities, especially in the 1960s. The first session of the third National Assembly of Pakistan [1] was held on 8th June 1962 at Ayub Hall, Lalkurti Rawalpindi.^[2]

Population

Lalkurti has a population of around 100,000, which includes a majority of Punjabis/Pothoharis and a minority of Urdu speaking Mohajirs, Kashmiris and Pathans. Besides Muslim majority, a significant minority of Christians and a very small number of Hindus also live in Lalkurti. Once a serene and green suburb of Rawalpindi, Lalkurti has over the years become congested and chaotic.

History

The name Lalkurti (red shirt) is thought to have been derived from red colored dress which was worn by the troops of Royal British Indian Army who worked in the shooting ranges of the cantonment. The red coloured dress made the workers of the shooting ranges more easily visible to the shooters and avoided any accidents. Lalkurti is considered to have originated as the colony of those red shirted workers of the British Indian Army. The shooting ranges were situated to the south of British Military Hospital (now called Combined Military Hospital), in the present day Harley street area.

Present day NUST building- relevance to parliamentary history of Pakistan

The building hosting NUST, situated at the junction of Tameez-ud-din road (formerly called the Church road) and Mamoon Jee road, has a special historical significance. It was here in its 'Ayub Hall' that the national legislative assembly sessions were held for some time in the sixties [2]. The capital had been shifted from Karachi to Islamabad but the building for National Assembly of Pakistan had not been constructed by then. Ayub Hall has been named after Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, former president of Pakistan.

Later this building i.e. the present day NUST building, also housed the prestigious National Defence College (NDC) of the Pakistan Armed Forces for quite some time before the college was upgraded to National Defence University (NDU) [3] and shifted to its present location in Islamabad.

General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq also hosted his first press conference in its auditorium after overthrowing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977.

Important landmarks

It is located adjacent to the General Headquarters (GHQ) of Pakistan army and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), a major tertiary care hospital of Pakistan Armed Forces.

The other important landmarks in the area include:

Military College of Signals (MCS) [4]
Army Public College of Management Sciences [5] (APCOMS)
Ordnance Mess
Military Veterinary Hospital (MVH)
Canteen Stores Department's (CSD) shopping complex [6]
Head-office of Additional Inspector General (AIG) Police Rawalpindi region.[7]
Head-office of National University of Science and Technology (NUST) [8].

Schools and colleges

National University of Science and Technology (NUST) [9]

Army Public School and College [10]

Army Public College of Management Sciences [11](APCOMS)

Military College of Signals [12]

Presentation Convent girls School,[13] where Benazir Bhutto also studied for some time.^[3]

Federal Government Technical High School

Federal Government Girls' High School

SLS Montessori [14]

Saint Catherine's High School

F G Boys' High School-Number 1

Moody's School

Mosques, churches and temples

There are four to five mosques and a couple of churches (St. Joseph's Cathedral and Christ Church) in the locality. The Christian minority and the Muslims have always lived in exemplary cohesion.

There are a few temples in Lalkurti which are a reminder of the Hindu population that lived here before partition. These temples are now in disuse and have been annexed into the neighbouring houses. The only temple being used for worship by a small presently existing Hindu population is the Balmik temple.^[4]

Mosques

Jamia Masjid Hanafiah

Markazi Jamia Masjid

Madinah Masjid

MVH, Bilal Masjid

Cinema

There is also one very old cinema house in a dilapidated state known as Tasweer Mahal.

Hotels and Restaurants

Pearl Continental Hotel [15], Shalimar Hotel [16] and Hotel De-Mall are with in a distance of one kilometer from Lalkurti's centre

Usmania restaurant

Parks

Sarwar park is at a distance of less than 1 kilometer from Lalkurti chowk, just across the Mall road

502 Workshop park is one and a half kilometers from Lalkurti chowk.

Museum

Army museum is situated next to the CSD shopping complex, on Iftikhar Janjua road (formerly called Napier road). It exhibits vintage arms and ammunitions, relics of past wars, war paintings and belongings of the Pakistani war heroes. [17] The entrance of the museum is befittingly guarded by an imposing statue of Late Subedar Khudadad Khan VC, the first South Asian recipient of the Victoria Cross. [18]

Library

Army Central Library, Iftikhar Janjua road. Situated one kilometer from Lalkurti Chowk.

Banks and Post office

Habib Bank Limited,[19] Khadim Hussain road (Old name: Gough road)

MCB Bank Limited, (Muslim Commercial Bank) [20] Aziz Bhatti road (Old name: Clyde road)

National Savings, Alamgir road [21]

Post office, Arif Jan road [22]

Airport, Railway station, Bus stand

Islamabad International Airport is at a distance of six kilometers. [23]

Pakistan Railways' Rawalpindi Railway station is at a distance of three kilometers. [24]

Daewoo Express Bus service terminal is at a distance of seven kilometers. [25]

References

1. http://www.pindionline.com/Mapspage.asp?name=Lalkurti

2. http://www.na.gov.pk/history.htm

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto

4. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C10%5C21%5Cstory_21-10-2006_pg11_7