To what extent did the influence of the British Raj prove to be beneficial for Karachi?

I’d like to thank the First Secretary of Pakistan in Iran, Mr. Syed Moazzam H. Shah, for allowing me to interview him and thereby giving me some of his invaluable time.

Furthermore, for all those who answered my questionnaire, I am greatly appreciative.

The following people in particular demand recognition for their in-depth answers. In alphabetical order: Asghar Hayat Khan, Ayisha Arshad, Haroun Sharif, Hiba Khan, Krishna Shivram, Murtaza Shah, Paul Philip Gomes, Rishil Mehta, Saleem Raza, Sarah Ali, Sina Nek Akhtar, Sohail Ikram and Uzma Javed.

Karachi, previously a fishing village, and now the largest city of Pakistan, was annexed by the British in 1839 from the Talpurs. The British developed Karachi’s infrastructure, ports, education, city planning and architecture, judiciary, police, municipality and commerce practically from scratch. Rail travel, which held a commercial and military value, was possible by 1864, and rendered otherwise lengthy journeys into a few days. It was also used as a means of communication with the rest of the world. The development of the Karachi port was arguably the most advantageous to both the British and the Karachiites as it was utilized for overseas trade and travel. The increase in trade as a result of the development of the port, was enormous, and helped establish Karachi as one of the premier seaports and trading sites in the world. Prior to the arrival of the British in the region, education was not very common. The British established numerous schools and universities in Karachi, which were run by missionaries and imparted an English education. Education given in contemporary Karachi is still based on Britain’s O/A Levels and Matriculation system. English was also made the official language of Pakistan. The British also instilled law and order in the country, introduced the English judicial system as opposed to the previous panchayat one, and implemented a regular police system. Karachi has been planned by the British as a city befitting the Empire, and the remnants of imperial architecture in the city are still left. Numerous clubs, gymkhanas, schools, old houses, offices, and hospitals are left from when the British Raj had control over Karachi. Due to efforts the British had taken to develop Karachi, it has been linked to the modern world. However, many in contemporary Pakistan feel that the British were motivated to do so because of their own interest.

Karachi, although a city with comparatively no history as opposed to that of other legendary Pakistani cities like Lahore, a replica from the Mughal era or Larkana, which accommodates remnants of the Harappan civilization, revels in a glorious two-century long past which the British Empire gave birth to, and nurtured. Sprung from a fishing village, Karachi is now one of the most populated metropolitan cities in the world, harboring over 10 million people in its vicinity.

Educated in the English school system, within reach of the global media, and living in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has created a deep sense of confusion in most Karachiites from the middle and upper echelons of society. There is a sense of being stuck in the past, as Karachiites suffer from an identity crisis and dwell upon the have beens and the could have been. They look for answers for what has caused this turmoil by looking back into the past, when the region was ruled by the British. To what extent did the influence of the British Raj prove to be beneficial for Karachi; can it be blamed for modern-day Karachi’s problems?

‘Karachi, thou shalt be the glory of the East! Would that I could come again to see you in your grandeur!’ Sir Charles Napier, first British Governor of Sindh, had prophesized about Karachi in 1843.

Napier was the first to put faith in Karachi and develop it into a port and commercial center. Until the British annexation, Karachi was a small fishing village which was under the feudal confederacy of the Talpurs. The English first entered the area when they established a factory in 1799 in Karachi, which was closed the following year. At the Battle of Miani in 1839, the Talpurs ceded Karachi to the British. As Karachi was strategically positioned on the sea and was near the Indus River, it attracted the attention of the British as it could consequently serve for trading purposes to other areas in the subcontinent and overseas.

Although many large fortunes were accumulated in the subcontinent by the British by exploiting the resources of the Indian subcontinent, nevertheless, they can be merited for doing general good for the city of Karachi. Although the British administration has laid the framework for nearly everything in contemporary Karachi, this essay aims to look at their influence on the infrastructure, ports, education, city planning and architecture, judiciary, police, municipality and commerce of Karachi.

The British changed the face of Karachi from a petite village to a metropolitan by building numerous roads, canals, implementing the railway system and ameliorating the port, which connected Karachi to the rest of the subcontinent and world.

A grand legacy left by the British to Karachi is undoubtedly the railway system. The railway industry was a matter of profit for the Empire, as many of the British came to invest in it. Scinde Railway Company was established in 1855, and in conjunction with the East India Company, lay a 110 mile rail from Karachi to Kotri to simultaneously establish communication between Sindh, Punjab and Central Asia. In 1853, Karachi was also connected to Multan via an experimental steamer service. A miniature track was laid from Kiamari to the Karachi Cantt Station, which was the first railway in Sindh, early in 1859. Due to railway construction, rail travel across the nation was possible by 1864, rendering otherwise lengthy journeys into a few days.

In order to lay the railway tracts in India a British civil engineer Rowland Stephenson, along with his unit, studied the topography, labour, timber, legal aspects and prospective market of the subcontinent. Applying Victorian railway technology in Karachi was no mean feat. Although the British played the role of engineers, skilled workmen and overseers, the Sindhis and Balochis were generally employed as laborers. These men built embankments, bridges and culverts over marshlands, the Indus River and channels and cut tunnels through the partly rocky terrain of Sindh. These obstacles were overcome under the supervision of the British while numerous natives were trained so that they could maintain what they had accomplished with regards to the railway tracts, traffic and institutions. The railway was truly transformed into an industry which employed thousands of people in one way or another, and helped expand trade and commerce.

The Railways not only held a commercial value, but also a military one. After the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the Raj decided to have a unified rail network in order to position troops easily around the nation. The then Commissioner-In-Sind, Frere, said that ‘a railway connecting the Karachi port and the Punjab would be of great strategic importance in the eventuality of Britain’s military involvement in and around Central Asia.’

After the railway industry was taken over by the government in 1907, the railways proved to be quite profitable. With the invention of the electric locomotive in 1908, transportation was further enhanced for Karachiites. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it acquired many of the railway lines. They architectural manner of the Karachi railway stations are described as a ‘magnificent eccentric assembly of venetian arches, oriental domes and gothic towers,’ which when combined, creates a Saracenic-Gothic ambiance.

According to economics historians, railways were intended to promote British products in India while simultaneously controlling potential anti-colonial resistance movements. With whatever intention the railways were constructed, they undeniably bestowed numerous economic, social, cultural and political benefits to Karachi.

Prior to the arrival of the British, the Karachi port was utilized for overseas trade to and from Bombay, Calicut (Kolkata), Daman, Gwadar and Muscat. Fifty merchant’s boats and 100 boats altogether belonged to the port. Sir Charles Napier, the premier Governor of Karachi, planned to develop and make it an unparalleled port and city. Napier ordered the widening of the harbor entrance to a depth of 25 ft, the constructing of the docks, and building timber piers for small vessels at Kiamari.

Later, landing-place for passengers and goods, causeway and railway connexions were also established by the Harbor Board. In 1874, in order to shelter anchored ships from the force of the waves, the Manora breakwater was erected. The Karachi Harbor Works also began and in 1886, steamers and barges were used as transportation between Kotri and Multan. In 1887, the Karachi Port Trust was set up to look after the administration of the port.

Not only did the British develop the Karachi seaport for launching a sea passage to India by establishing direct trade between Europe and Asia, but also for their own good so as to be able to crush any political upheavals.

Originally, under the Talpurs, Persian was the official language; this changed when the British entered the region. The first vernacular-medium English school in Sindh, called the Government English School, was established in 1853 in Karachi. In 1851, Karachi’s premier public library, the General Library, was opened to the public. The arrival of the British into the subcontinent saw the already well developed Indian languages being standardized by creating grammars and dictionaries.

As the Muslims were wary of the English education detrimentally influencing their children, the first institution was opened up to the matriculation stage in 1885 primarily to promote English education amongst the Muslims and make them more loyal to the British. This was Sindh Madrassat-ul-Islam, which was established “to impart secular education with an elementary knowledge of religion”.

The St Patrick’s school, which was built in 1861, and run by missionaries as a mixed school, was made a boys only institution the following year due to few girls enrolling. An article that featured in the Imperial Gazetteer in the 1920’s adds to this outlook: “There is yet great hesitation on the part of both Hindu and Mahomedan parents to give their daughters a liberal course of study”

Bell Hooks claims that “It is difficult not to hear in Standard English always the sound of slaughter and conquest.” In Pakistan and India, the national language is English, but not language spoken by the majority; Pakistan’s national language is also Urdu, and as Karachi is situated in the province of Sindh, its provincial language is Sindhi. Thus, the inclusion of English into the education of the Karachiites was debatable. English was described as the “mask which hides the loss of so many tongues” A slavish mentality was implanted in the natives’ minds as their first language and culture was deemed deficient compared to that of the English which enabled that the small English speaking group could exercise power over the larger group of non-English speakers.

Karachi, in fact, the entire Pakistan’s contemporary university system is inherited from the British. The first college in the province, the Sind Arts College, was opened in 1887. Universities were first established after the Sepoy Rebellion, but it is questionable whether this was an act of goodwill, or done to generate a class of reliable natives with British mindsets. Although education was open to the elite, literacy rates remained pitiable during the entire period of British rule, especially amongst the Muslims, and only after independence was there slight improvement in these rates.

Karachi under the Talpurs was a walled village and its inhabitants consisted of fishermen and mariners. John Porter, who evaluated the Arabian coast in 1775 wrote that “Crotchey town was fortified by … mud walls with two cannons mounted on tower.... The streets were so narrow that no more than two horsemen could ride abreast. Sanitary conditions were poor.” However, the above source has its limitations as it was written by an Englishman who would obviously look down upon Karachi before it was under Western influence. Another source, which is written by a native at a much later date and also cannot be relied upon blindly, supports the above statement: “Prior to its annexation, Karachi … had grown organically with narrow streets and small semi-public, semi-private spaces contained within mud brick architecture.”

Before the arrival of the British, commercial, residential and religious buildings were amalgamated for the convenience of both Hindus and Muslims. Karachi was divided into districts with mosques and temples as the foci, with the Friday market at the core. The British, famous for their divide and rule policy, applied the ‘dual’ city plan on Karachi; they divided Karachi into the black, which accommodated the Karachiite mercantile population and the white town, which was fashioned after English industrial cities and where natives were not allowed.

The segregation between the two communities was firmly regulated via land ownership rights, and upper class Indians were only allowed to reside in the ‘white’ areas after WWI.

The British modeled Karachi’s architecture after that of ancient Rome, which epitomized British authority and was used to earn the reverence and awe of the natives. Karachi architecture was composed of different styles: neo-Gothic, Indo-Gothic (Frere Hall), Tudor style (Gymkhana), Italian Renaissance (Sind Club), Classical style (Cantt station). Indo-Saracenic or AngloMughal (Mohatta Palace) style, a blend of European and Islamic styles of architecture emerged with the rise of Indian nationalism.