Lahore is the second largest city in Pakistan with a population of roughly 8.5 million. The traditional capital of Punjab for a thousand years, it had been the cultural center of Northern India extending from Peshawar to New Delhi.
This preeminent position it holds in Pakistan as well. The people of Lahore, when they want to emphasize the uniqueness of their town say “Lahore, Lahore aye” (”Lahore is Lahore”). Lahore is the city of poets, artists and the center of film industry. It has the largest number of educational institutions in the country and some of the finest gardens in the continent.
Apart from being the cultural and academic centre of the country, Lahore is the showcase for Mughal architecture in Pakistan. For more than 200 years, beginning from about 1524 AD, Lahore was a thriving cultural centre of the great Mughal Empire. Mughal Emperors beautified Lahore, with palaces, gardens and mosques.
The original citadel city is situated one mile to the south of the river Ravi. The walls of the city, when they were still standing, gave it a shape of a parallelogram. The total area inside the walls encompassed roughly 461 acres of land. The city is slightly elevated above the plain, and has a high ridge within it, running east and west on its northern side. The whole of this elevated ground is composed of the accumulated debris of many centuries.
The origins of Lahore are shrouded in the mists of antiquity but Lahore is undoubtedly ancient. Legend has it that it was founded about 4,000 years ago by Loh, son of Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Reminiscence of its hoary past are the remains of a subterranean temple attributed to Rama, in the northern part of the Royal Fort. Historically, it has been proved that Lahore is at least 2,000 years old.
Hieun-tasng, the famous Chinese pilgrim has given a vivid description of Lahore which he visited in the early parts of the 7th century AD. Lying on the main trade and invasion routes to South Asia, Lahore has been ruled and plundered by a number of 
dynasties and hordes. Muslim rule began here when Qutub-ud-din Aibak was crowned in Lahore in 1206 and thus became the first Muslim Sultan of the subcontinent. It waxed and waned in importance during the Sultanate.
However, it touched the zenith of its glory during the Mughal rule from 1524 to 1752. The Mughals, who were famous as builders, gave Lahore some of its finest architectural monuments, many of which are extinct today.
It was Akbar’s capital for 14 years from 1584 to 1598. He built the massive Lahore Fort on the foundations of a previous fort and enclosed the city within a red brick wall boasting 12 gates. Jahangir and Shah Jahan (who was born in Lahore) extended the fort, built palaces and tombs, and laid out gardens.
Jahangir loved the city and he and his wife Noor Jahan are buried at Shahdara. Aurangzeb (1658-1707), gave Lahore its most famous monument, the Badshahi Masjid (Royal Mosque) and the Alamgiri gateway to the fort.
During the eighteenth century, as Mughal power dwindled, there were constant invasions. Lahore was a suba, a province of the Empire, governed by provincial rulers with their own court. These governors managed as best they could though for much of the time it must have been a rather thankless task to even attempt. The 1740s were years of chaos and between 1745 and 1756 there were nine changes of governors. Invasions and chaos in local government allowed bands of warring Sikhs to gain control in some areas.
Lahore ended up being ruled by a triumvirate of Sikhs of dubious character and the population of the city invited Ranjit Singh to invade. He took the city in 1799. Holding the capital gave him enough legitimacy to proclaim himself the Emperor. Descriptions of Lahore during the early 19th century refer to it as a “melancholy picture of fallen splendor.”
The British, following their invasion of Lahore in 1849, added a great many buildings in “Mughal-Gothic” style as well as bungalows and gardens (see ATP post on Lawrence Gardens). Early on, the British tended to build workaday structures in sites like the Fort, though later they did start to make an effort to preserve some ancient buildings. The Lahore Cantonment, the British residential district of wide, tree-lined streets and white bungalows set in large, shaded gardens, is the prettiest cantonment in Pakistan. Since Independence in 1947, Lahore has expanded rapidly as the capital of Pakistani Punjab.
Today, Lahore can be best described as a city that is just so wonderful, so very fabulous, that every nook and corner of the city speaks of a certain vibrance, a certain zeal, a spirit of life, which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Perhaps it is the maturity of the city, which manifests itself in the various parts of Lahore. It is present in the monuments, in the bazaars, in the old buildings lining the Mall, or in the vast expanses of the sports grounds in the Cantonment. But most vividly, this great Lahori spirit is visible in the people of Lahore, the Zinda dilan-e-Lahore.
Lahore is a city of culture, of history, of an unrivaled charm that sets it apart from every other city on earth. It seems that great Lahori spirit has invaded and saturated this city over the centuries, to the effect that Lahore today is not just a city, not just a place in one corner of this planet, but a whole universe in itself. There is an old saying, that in every Lahori, there is a Mughal prince.
The description of the pure Lahori spirit conveniently evades the mind, adding to the mysteries of this city. At best, it can be said that this spirit pervades the citadel and the slum alike. The city has known ages of cultural, intellectual, musical, literary and humanistic evolution, which has consequently led to the fermentation and over fermentation of this rich brew we call Lahore. Few cities of the world, if indeed any, can lay claim to such a wonderful past or present.
All this makes Lahore a truly rewarding experience. The buildings, the roads, the trees and the gardens, in fact the very air of Lahore in enough to set the mind spinning in admiration. Many a poet has written about this phenomenon one experiences in the environs of Lahore. When the wind whistles through the tall trees, when the twilight floods the beautiful face of the Fort, when the silent canal lights up to herald the end of another chapter in history, the Ravi is absorbed in harmony, mist fills the ancient streets, and the havelis come alive with strains of classical music, the spirit of Lahore pervades even the hardiest of souls.
Raza Noor has a passion for exploring the history of Lahore, which he does on his dedicated Lahore website and also on Metroblogging Lahore.
Miraj Khalid (late), he was from Lahore and had reputation of honest politician. Lahore has always been a center of mass mobilization. Minar-e-Pakistan and Mochi Gate are the places where any political movement shows its public strength. Just take the recent example of MQM’s expansion in Pakistan and they are giving great importance to their Lahore mobilization on August 14, 06.
Here I also want to mention Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan (Late) from Muzzaffargarh, who struggled throughout his life for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
Aziz saab. Interesting question. Though, I think that as you yourself said the real issue is defining ‘great’ politician. Its too subjective a choice. If one wanted to say ’successful’ politician and make that about anyone - whether we consider them to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - who was successful in mobilizing political (whether electoral or not) support, then one could get to some interesting empirical judgments.
I am not convinced Jinnah was a ‘Karachi’ politician. In the sense that his political stomping ground and his political influences were much more Bombay. This is not to undermine Karachi’s importance. Its just that at that time Karachi was not a major political center. ZAB would probably have called himself a Larkana politician and much of his political impulses were Larkana based. But I think there is enough Clifton in Bhutto and his politics for his politics to be seen as Karachi politics. Again, greatness is in the eyes of the beholder and will leave that to the ranters. But that he was ‘successful’ of that there is no doubt. Probably the clearest Karachi politician in Altaf Hussain, even when he sits in London. Again, this is not about good and bad, this is about whose politics stems from the city and its realities. Of course, Karachi has had other streams of politics at other times … for example, during the Ayub days, the politics of resistance in West Paksitan was centered in Karachi, the Jamaat had much intellectual influence in this politics even though it later failed to convert it into electoral influence. But again, there was clearly a politics that flowed from Karachi and from its realities that influenced the national discourse greatly.
As for other cities, I think Peshawar has a track record of very successful political leaders, especially in the NAP and now ANP, whose politics was predominantly defined by Peshawar.
Coming to Lahore, my first thought was to go way back to Ranjit Singh. Clearly a politician par excellence and very successful. But he was actually from Gujranwalla. Right before partition there were actually a number of very successful Lahore politicians, especially amongst the Unionists, because this was the seat of provincial power. Again, great or not, who knows… but certainly successful. Read Ayesha Jalal’s book ‘The Sole Spokesman’ for much more on them and their impact on not just the Punjab but on what Jinnah did and why. Again, like them or not, and for good and for bad, their politics clearly flowed from Lahore when Lahore was the center of a larger Punjab.
The modern day ‘Lahore’ politician in terms of success would be Nawaz Sharif I guess… dubiouso n greatness but certainly his success in politics (even if you consider it externally constructed) surprised everyone, even himself. I would like to believe that Aitizaz Ahsan (like him or not, but he is consistent in his politics) embodies a certain ‘Lahore school’ of politics. Mubashir Hassan is another one in that ‘Lahore school’ who comes to mind. If you broaden this to mean politics writ large, I would say Lahore has upheld a significant tradition of political action and activism, especially of so called ‘progressive’ politics…. the whole ‘Viewpoint’ crowd, the WAF movement, Asma Jehangir, much of the Human Rights Commission … all of these are predominantly ‘Lahore’ political voices (there are similar streams elsewhere, especially in Karachi). In fact, one could go on a limb and argue that the Lahore reception that Benazir got when she first came back had less to do with Benazir or even with Bhutto, and was much more a ‘Lahori’ statement of being fed-up with Zia; Benazir just happened to be there to ride the wave.
So, whether there are great politicians from Lahore or not (probably not), there is clearly a great political tradition is Lahore that does live one… I would even go as far as to say… and without taking away even the slightest credit from Sialkot, that the ‘politics’ of Faiz is very much influenced by and is a great influence on this stream of the politics of Lahore. Obviously, there are many other streams of politics in Lahore too…. but this is just a comment, not a dissertation
My point is that Lahore may be many things, but it is not apolitical. Far from it. In fact, no place in Pakistan is. We may not have democracy in Pakistan, but there is absolutely no dearth of politics!
While recounting the great qualities of Lahore we forgot to mention one thing. And that is the great sense of humor of Lahoris. They seem to have a unique ability to look at the lighter side of life and give expression to it. For example who else could have coined the pejorative but hilarious term Lota for politicians who change loyalties. It has become a household world now in Pakistan.
Zuberi sahib, when I mentioned Jinnah I was not thinking of his ethnicity. I was only thinking of the city he was associated with. For that matter, even Z.A. Bhutto was a product of Karachi. I am aware, though, that defining a “great politician” can be very subjective.
But I don’t see any harm in people taking pride in the cities they call their own or the cities taking pride in their distinguished sons or daughters.
Aziz Sahib, very interesting that you named Jinnah. I read the comments earlier and smehow it wasn’t Jinnah’s name that popped into my head as one that I would attribute so closely to Karachi, but Liaqat Ali Khan’s. Its not because I think Jinnah was a lesser leader than Liaqat Ali Khan, but because somehow Jinnah seems to stand above the provinical divides in my worldview. His name was never used in ethnic politics (unlike the Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah/General Ayub Khan election ordeal).
On a second thought, it is interesting that this is even a question that we care to answer. This has graduated the Karachi vs Lahore debate to a new level.
Politicians it may not have (I am sure it does) but Lahore has been at the center of politics for as long as one can remember. From the Mughal emperors, to Jinnahs Pakistan Resolution in 1940 to Benazirs “Lahore Address” after her return post Zia (forgive me for putting this in the same post as the others but just making a point).
Every city has its pros and cons but Lahore does have culture, history, literature, and passion like few other cities in Pakistan. I am a ardent Karachiite but as a Pakistani can proudly say “Lahore Lahore Hai”.
There is a great compilation of short stories put together by Bapsi Sidhwa called the “Writings on Lahore” which really highlights the magical history of lahore.
MSK,
By the way, I am not a Karachiite. But that does not diminish the importance of Karachi. It simply reflects on my rustic (paindoo) background.
Now to your question, has any Pakistani city other than Lahore produced a great politician? Straight away I can think of one from Karachi. Mohammad Ali Jinah! Now, please, let’s hear the name of the nominee from Lahore.
I do think that Lahori’s have a charming enthusiasm about, lets call it ‘pride’ in their city . and as you say its deserved. I do hope this will not become one of those silly Karachi v. Lahroe things and do not think you intend it. I think people from karachi also have fierce pride in their city. they just express it differently. I say powewrr to all, lets all be proud of where we come from without trying to prove we are better than others.
your real question is more interesting. has Lahore produced a great politician? But has ANY Pakistani city produced one? has any city been given the chance to produce one?