Soldier Bazar.. One of the oldest societies in Karachi

Soldier bazar is one of the oldest civilization of Karachi, it is near Jamshed Town in Karachi in Garden East area. The beautiful thing is that most of the people from different religious backgrounds are living there peacefully, 99% of the population is Muslim but Hindus, Christians even people from different sectorial background Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Muhajir, Balochi, Parsi, Memon and some other famous casts of Karachi all are living in one area with peace and brotherhood.

As a street photographer and story writer,It is always my desire to visit Soldier bazar because of its old heritage and different types of people. So I got a chance in last month of june, It was a hot day, we were on our city tour with I AM KARACHI team to explore the famous places of Karachi, soldier bazar is a beautiful place covered with old heritages, When I enter the area, I noticed that mostly people who are living and go there are living their life below the poverty line, as the front market is full of Lundaa (Old things).

Carts of Lunda (Old Clothes) at Soldier Bazar

During our discussion with locals there, It was surprising to know that one shopkeeper FAHEEM who was running the Chicken shop told us that, "There is no mobile snatching and robbery activities in Soldier Bazar, you are free to roam on the streets on whatever time of the day, no one will dare to loot you even touch for no reason, this is one of the peaceful society in Karachi."

Faheem Malik at his Chicken shop

Picture of a cage at Chicken shop.

It was 12:00 am in the morning and our team were excited to collect as much possible information about Soldier bazar, the best part was that we had no fear of snatching of our valuables, all of us were roaming on the streets holding cameras in our hands tension free, every shopkeeper and local pedestrians  welcomed us and gave the first hand knowledge, at the starting point of Soldier Bazar there is a Ganne k Juice Wala (Sugarcane Juice) who is the most preferred drink of summers season for the whole locality.

Sugarcane juice seller pouring juice in his unique way


On the right side of the road besides the shop of Sugarcane juice, there is an old building of Imtiaz Khan, we were sitting there enjoying the desi juice and wondering how old this building was soon after that some people sitting at the floor of the building called us and introduce us to the owner, the untold story was really interesting and many of us were unaware of that, Imtiaz Khan was the recent owner of this old building and the only son of Bahadur Khan who worked with Britisher's in 1929, he used to sell grass to earn his living

Palette at the old building since 1924

Still Imtiaz is living his life peacefully in Soldier Bazar, no matter what happened, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

Imtiaz Khan, Building Owner

According to him people come here to relax and share their whole day thoughts, also those who have cattle's also take them here to feed them along with a good company.

Locals sitting with cattle at afternoon to relax

The local citizens sitting at the traditional Takht (Bed) also welcomed us and share first hand knowledge about Soldier Bazar and this building.

Main Road From where Soldier Bazar Starts

Gulistan Muhammad Shafi road is the starting point of Soldier Bazar, where mostly beggars have occupied the place on footpaths, while this footpath is also shop for someone where they sell their goods, when I was walking on the streets I found a little girl sitting quietly and trying to break some nuts which she had in her hands with the help of a stone, she was happy by breaking the nuts and eating it.

Slum girl Pooja on the streets of Soldier Bazaar

Well while going through the markets of Soldier Bazar I had taken different photos, the main building of the front market is an old one.

There is a church located at Soldier Bazar, named St. Lawrence, the father of the church allowed us to visit from inside and take the pictures of the beautiful building.

Picture of church from behind.

Picture of church from Inside. Submitted By: Manal Khan

Picture of the church from the front entrance.

Picture taken from the right back extreme of church

There is also a Hanuman Temple at soldier bazar, which is around 1500 years old, when we are on our way to the temple by asking different peoples, when we reach the entrance it was like a tunnel that proceeds to the temple, a lady was sitting there, she was old and dull her eyes face and neck were surrounded with wrinkles, but her eyes were witness of the history.

She welcomed us but she was little frightened to share details, but soon she started to tell us that this is the first Temple who gets spiritual literature from India and later on it get distributed in whole province of Sindh. We tried to capture the pictures from inside but couldn't get permission due to security reasons.

Entrance of Temple at Soldier Bazar

Inner view of Entrance, Where Ganga has her small shop of Religious Idols

Ganga The old lady of Temple at Soldier Bazar

There are lot more places to visit at soldier bazar, I explored some famous ones and the great people who took the prominent place in my heart forever, but one building really grabbed my attention because it was just in centre of the road and divides it.

Moyyedi Manzil aka Lal Building the famous building at Soldier Bazar