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Venue, Travel & Visa Info.
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the financial capital of Pakistan, and the capital of the province of Sindh. It is one of the largest cities in the world by population and the 20th largest metropolitan area in the world, in terms of metropolitan population. It is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, and trade. Karachi is also home to Pakistan's largest corporations, including those that are involved in textiles, shipping, automotive industry, entertainment, the arts, fashion, advertising, publishing, software development and medical research. The city is also a major hub of higher education in South Asia and the wider Islamic world. Karachi was ranked as a Beta world city as of 2008.
Karachi enjoys its prominent position because of its geographical location on a bay, making it the financial capital of the country. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. It was the original capital of Pakistan until the construction of Islamabad and is the location of the Port of Karachi and Port Bin Qasim, one of the region's largest and busiest ports. The city's population increased dramatically at the time of independence, when hundreds of thousands of refugees from India, Bangladesh and other parts of South Asia came to settle in the city.
Karachi city is spread over 3,530 km2 (1,360 sq mi) in area, almost five times bigger than Singapore. It is locally known as the "City of Lights" for its liveliness and the "City of the Quaid", having been the birth and burial place of Quaid-e-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah), the founder of Pakistan, who also made the city his home after Pakistan's independence.
Climate
Located on the coast, Karachi tends to have a relatively mild, arid climate with low average precipitation levels (approximately 250 mm per annum), the bulk of which occurs during the July-August monsoon season. Winters are mild and the summers are hot; however, the proximity to the sea maintains humidity levels at a near-constant high and cool sea breezes relieve the heat of the summer months. Because of high temperatures during the summer (ranging from 30 to 44 degrees Celsius from April to August), the winter months (November to February) are generally considered the best times to visit Karachi. December and January have pleasant and cloudy weather.
Culture
Karachi is home to some of Pakistan's important cultural institutions. The National Academy of Performing Arts, located in the newly renovated Hindu Gymkhana, offers a two-year diploma course in performing arts that includes classical music and contemporary theatre. The All Pakistan Music Conference, linked to the 45-year-old similar institution in Lahore, has been holding its Annual Music Festival since its inception in 2004. The Festival is now a well-established feature of the city life of Karachi that is attended by more than 3000 citizens of Karachi as well as people from other cities. The National Arts Council (Koocha-e-Saqafat) also has musical performances and mushaira (poetry recitations). The Kara Film Festival annually showcases independent Pakistani and international films and documentaries.
Karachi has many museums that present exhibitions on a regular basis, including the Mohatta Palace and the National Museum of Pakistan. Karachi Expo Centre hosts many regional and international exhibitions.
The everyday lifestyle of Karachi differs substantially from that of other Pakistani cities and towns. The culture of Karachi is characterized by the blending of South Asian, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Western influences, as well as its status as a major international business centre. After the partition of Indian subcontinent, Karachi received a large number of refugees from all over India, whose influence is now evident in the city's different sub-cultures. Karachi also hosts the largest middle class stratum of the country
Government
The City of Karachi Municipal Act was promulgated in 1933. Initially the Municipal Corporation comprised the mayor, the deputy mayor and 57 councillors. The Karachi Municipal Corporation was changed to a Metropolitan Corporation in 1976. The administrative area of Karachi was a second-level subdivision known as Karachi Division, which was subdivided into five districts: Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi South, Karachi West and Malir. In 2000, the national government implemented a new devolution plan which abolished the second-tier divisions and merged the five districts of Karachi into a New City District, structured as a three-tiered federation, with the two lower tiers composed of 18 towns and 178 union councils (UC).
The towns are governed by elected municipal administrations responsible for infrastructure and spatial planning, development facilitation, and municipal services (water, sanitation, solid waste, repairing roads, parks, street lights, and traffic engineering), with some functions being retained by the City-District Government (CDG). The third-tier 178 union councils are each composed of thirteen directly elected members including a Nazim (mayor) and a Naib Nazim (deputy mayor). The UC Nazim heads the union administration and is responsible for facilitating the CDG to plan and execute municipal services, as well as for informing higher authorities about public concerns and complaints. Naimatullah Khan was the first Nazim of Karachi and Shafiq-Ur-Rehman Paracha was the first DCO of Karachi, Paracha even served as the last Commissioner of Karachi.
In the elections of 2005, Mustafa Kamal, a visionary leader, was elected City Nazim of Karachi to succeed Naimatullah Khan, and Nasreen Jalil was elected as the City Naib Nazim. Mustafa Kamal was previously the provincial minister for information technology in Sindh. Mustafa Kamal is advancing the development trail and has been actively involved in maintaining care of the city's municipal systems. Mustafa Kamal has completely changed the face of karachi city and started many development projects since than karachi has been converted into a real modern city his aim of making Karachi a new Dubai is up there. Recently Foreign Policy announced top three mayor of the world and one of them is Mustafa kamal as Mayor of the moment There are also six military cantonments administered by the Pakistan Army which do not form part of the City District Government of Karachi.
Health and Medicine
Karachi district is a centre of research in biomedicine. The City is home to at least 30 public hospitals and more than 80 private hospitals, including Institute for Heart diseases, Spencer eye Hospital, Civil Hospital, PNS Rahat, Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, Aga Khan University hospital, Holy family hospital and Liaqat National Hospital, as well as Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center. Tabba Cardiac Medical Center,Patel Hospital, Layton Benovelant Eye Trust, Lady Dufferin Hospital, National Medical Center.
Transportation
The Jinnah International Airport is located in Karachi. It is the largest and busiest airport of Pakistan. It handles 10 million passengers a year. The airport also receives the largest number of foreign airlines, a total of 35 airlines and cargo operators fly to Jinnah International predominantly from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. All of Pakistan's airlines use Karachi as their primary transport hub including PIA - Pakistan International Airlines, Airblue, and Shaheen Air International.
The city's old airport terminals are now used for Hajj flights, offices, cargo facilities, and ceremonial visits from heads of state. U.S. Coalition forces used the old terminals for their logistic supply operations as well. The city also has two other airstrips, used primarily by the armed forces.
The largest shipping ports in Pakistan are the Port of Karachi and the nearby Port Qasim. These seaports have modern facilities and not only handle trade for Pakistan, but also serve as ports for Afghanistan and the landlocked Central Asian countries. Plans have been announced for new passenger facilities at the Port of Karachi.
Karachi is linked by rail to the rest of the country by Pakistan Railways. The Karachi City Station and Karachi Cantonment Railway Station are the city's two major railway stations. The railway system handles a large amount of freight to and from the Karachi port and provides passenger services to people traveling up country.
A project to transform the existing, but non-operational, Karachi Circular Railway into a modern mass transit system has recently been approved by the government. The $1.6 billion project will be financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and will be completed by 2013. The city government has also introduced an initiative to alleviate the transport pains by introducing new CNG buses
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