List of capitals in Pakistan

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This is a list of capital cities of Pakistan and its current and former provinces, territories, and states.

==National capital==

Islamabad officially became the capital of Pakistan on 14 August 1967, exactly 20 years after the country's independence.{{cite book |last=McGarr |first=Paul |date=2013 |title=The Cold War in South Asia: Britain, the United States and the Indian Subcontinent, 1945-1965 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdGaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107008151 }} The first capital of Pakistan was the coastal city of Karachi in Sindh, which was selected by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Karachi was and still is the largest city and economic capital of Pakistan. It remained the seat of government until 1959, when the military president, Ayub Khan, decided to build a new capital, Islamabad in the north of Pakistan, near the general headquarters of the Pakistani Armed Forces which is in Rawalpindi. During this process, Rawalpindi was the interim capital. It is believed the name of Islamabad was influenced from the Mughal name of the Bengali port city of Chittagong which was Islamabad.{{cite book |last=Muslehuddin |first=ATM |year=2012 |chapter=Arabic |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Chittagong_District|editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}}

In 1962, Dhaka was made the legislative capital of the country due to East Pakistan's high population.{{cite book|title=Pakistan Affairs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFIdAQAAMAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Information Division, Embassy of Pakistan.|page=19}}

The reasons for relocating the capital from Karachi are that it would reflect the diversity of the Pakistani people, it would be separated from the business and commercial activity of Karachi, and also it would be easily accessible from all parts of the country.{{cite web|url=http://www.visitislamabad.net/islamabad/files/file-detail.asp?var=history-of-islamabad|title=History of Islamabad|publisher=Capital Development Authority|access-date=2008-01-03|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512180426/http://www.visitislamabad.net/islamabad/files/file-detail.asp?var=history-of-islamabad|archive-date=2016-05-12}}
linked from {{cite web|url=http://www.islamabad.gov.pk/islamabad/default.asp|title=Visit Islamabad: Islamabad the beautiful|publisher=Capital Development Authority|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012210555/http://www.islamabad.gov.pk/islamabad/default.asp|archive-date=2014-10-12}} The move to Islamabad was not completed until the late 1960s and for some years several government ministries were based in nearby Rawalpindi.