Pakistan is often looked down upon with disdain, courtesy the turmoil that has engulfed the nation. War torn and reeling under severe economic distress; the added woes of terrorism, arising out of jingoism, are the major challenges that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is facing. But not many people know that Pakistan wasn’t always this way. Pakistan stood at a confluence of modernity and progressiveness; it was known for its hospitality and its religious freedom. In the ’60s and ’70s, Pakistan’s elite population (most of them educated in the West) indulged in more liberal acts such as drinking alcohol. Pakistan was also a part of the “hippie trail” all the way from Turkey, en route India, in which Westerners travelled.
Here are 16 powerful images that show the Pakistan of the past:
People lining up at the premier of ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’ at Karachi’s Nishat Cinema in 1984. The theatre was burned down by religious fanatics in 2012.
