Kalan Bazaar

Kalan Bazaar کلاں بازار
Bazaar
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
City	Rawalpindi

The Kalan Bazaar (Urdu: کلاں بازار) is a bazaar located in Rawalpindi. Before British Raj, it used to be a weaponry hub.^[1][2]

The bazaar now has fancy garments, jewellery, electronics, flowers and shrouds.^[3]

History

Kalan is a Persian word for 'big' – hence it's called 'Big Bazaar'.^[1]

Before independence of Pakistan in 1947, 'over 95% of the shops were then owned by Hindus and Sikhs, with Muslim owners making up a tiny percentage'.^[1] It was a vast marketplace of tented shops to protect the shopkeepers from the harsh sunlight of Punjab's summers. In the vicinity, there were dense forests on either side of this bazaar and the shopkeepers would move their merchandise under the shade of trees in extremely hot weather conditions.^[1]

When Rawalpindi was made a military cantonment under the British Raj in 1863, the shop owners were allowed to convert their makeshift stalls into concrete shops. Thereafter, the tented shops totally disappeared, but the 'Kalan Bazaar' name has stuck to this day.^[1]

The historical importance of Kalan Bazar was so great that President Richard Nixon, who came to Pakistan during the presidency of General Ayub Khan, paid a special visit to it.^[1]

In addition, the dignitaries like Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Fatima Jinnah, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Mumtaz Daultana, Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, Ataullah Shah Bukhari, Mufti Mahmood, Shah Ahmad Noorani, Agha Shorish Kashmiri, Ghulam Ullah Khan, and Ehtisham ul Haq Thanvi took the time and made sure that they come to visit this important bazaar at different times after 1947.^[1]

References

1. Qaiser Shirazi (24 March 2022). "Remembering Kalan Bazaar's glorious past". The Express Tribune newspaper. Archived from the original on 29 July 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
2. Tanzil-ur-Rehman Jilani (2 October 2022). "راولپنڈی جوکبھی ایک خوابیدہ شہر تھا - تاریخ دنیا میگزین Rawalpindi was once a sleepy city (translated into English)". Dunya Sunday Magazine (Dunya TV Network). Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
3. "Kalan Bazaar - Tempers fray over space for parking". Dawn newspaper. 27 February 2011. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2025.

Further reading

• Khan, Ali (2015). RawulPindee - The Raj Years