Natives Jetty, Karachi

By the 1920s, Karachi's port had become one of the most commercially significant in the British Empire — by 1910, it was said to already be handling more wheat than any other port in the British Empire. In direct response to this growth, the Karachi Port Trust published a General Plan of Jetties and Yards in 1920, laying out an ambitious program of expansion of the West Wharf through land reclamation. The "Native Jetty," probably next to the "Native Jetty Bridge" was a living public space, probably located at the West Wharf on what is now Tamizuddin Khan Road. It was always crowded with locals who came for swimming, boating, fishing, and feeding birds. The tradition of feeding kites and other birds near the bridge dated back to the Hindu residents of Karachi who initiated the ritual, and it was later continued by the Muslim population.