Before the capital

Exactly 64 years ago, Islamabad was officially declared as the new capital of Pakistan on August 1, 1960. When Gen Ayub approved the establishment of the new capital of Pakistan in a special meeting of his cabinet held near Shakarparian, local villagers started celebrating in the hope of becoming residents of the newly-formed capital. Unfortunately, their happiness turned to grief when the government ordered them to vacate the village.

A prominent notable of Shakarparian village, Raja Allah Dad Khan, tried his best to convince the authorities that instead of relocating about 50,000 villagers to other districts, they should be accommodated in the new capital – but all in vain. Today, Raja Sahib's family mansion is part of the Lok Virsa and a cafe has been established in place of his other mansion.

Eighty-four other villages, including Biju, Roparan, Jabo, Pahalan, Thattha Gujran, and Patan, etc, also faced a similar fate at the time of establishing Islamabad. Around 45,000 acres of land were acquired from these villages to prepare the master plan of Islamabad, while residents were forced to relocate to Rawalpindi, Multan, Sahiwal, Wahari, Jhang and other parts of the country.

The New Katarian that we see today in the Satellite Town of Rawalpindi reminds us of the village of Katarian which was settled in what is now Constitution Avenue and the Foreign Office building in the G-5 sector. Similarly, there was a village 'Dhok Jeevan', on which today’s E-11 sector is constructed.

In the past, the Rawal temple was the centre of religious activities in Rawal village, where the Rawal Dam was constructed. There were two more holy temples in the Rawal village, one of which was the Gurukal temple. However, after the construction of the Rawal dam, these holy places of worship were also submerged. Similarly, there was a Samadhi of a Hindu Jogi, near the present Rawal Chowk.

There was a Simli village at the site of the present Simli Dam, which was named after Princess Simli Divi, the beautiful daughter of Raja Duryodhan. The Hindu king, whose capital was ancient Taxila, is also mentioned in the Mahabharata. The ancient village of Kuri was named after Kuri Devi, the grandmother of Simli Devi, and therefore, today’s Kuri Road came into existence. Unfortunately, during the construction of the present Sector E-11, an ancient Dharamshala was razed to the ground. The historic Golra temple located just behind the Pir of Golra Sharif's mansion is also suffering from severe disrepair.

In the present Shahullah Ditta town, there are the historical mysterious caves where Shiv Maharaj had stayed during the visit to Katas Raj. Shri Ramachandra had also spent some days of his 14-year exile in these caves. Attributed to the Buddha, the great philosopher of the world, Kautilya Chanakya, had written his famous books Arth Shastra and Chanakya Niti while staying here. Before the partition, a Hindu Sadhu had established a garden in front of holy caves which today remains a beautiful memory in the minds of elderly locals.

For the residents of Islamabad who are fond of hiking, trails one, two, three etc need no introduction, but in the past, they were known by their ancient historical names. For example, the name of trail six near Faisal Masjid was called Dara Kwani connecting the village Temba with the beautiful valley of Talhar. Faisal Masjid was built in the territory of Temba village. There is a forest in Margalla hills, which some people while attributing to Buddha give the name Budhu Ban. Through these passes or today's trails, Taxila, the historical city of Gandhara civilization is connected.

As a student of history, it is a matter of great concern for me that, while our rulers established a world-renowned modern capital in the form of Islamabad, they have completely neglected the ancient history and rich socio-religious cultural heritage of the land of Islamabad.

The writer is a member of the

National Assembly and patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council.

He tweets/posts @RVankwani