Questions about Islamabad

Jayzee · May 6th, 2006, 12:32 PM

I have a few questions for you regarding living in Islamabad:

1. How is the law and order situation in Islamabad? Do you have a lot of robberies and car snatching as is the case in Karachi and Lahore? Which areas of Islamabad are considered good or bad as far as security goes?

2. Is this true that houses in the diplomatic enclave area, where all the embassies are located, are usually cheap? (price range would be nice)

3. How is the overall situation of rishwat (bribe) and sifarish (nepotism) in Islamabad?

4. How is the Islamabad police? Is it mostly fair, or mostly corrupt?

lollypop_man · May 6th, 2006, 12:53 PM

its the paradise city. thats how i remember it from early 90s. its the best city in pak as far as law and order. good luck.

dewani teri · May 6th, 2006, 01:02 PM

are you moving there jayzee?

Jayzee · May 11th, 2006, 02:23 PM

Come on people, no body with any experiences regarding Islamabad? I dont think if this topic has anything to do with traveling, but more with life and living conditions in Islamabad. But I guess I cant challenge the mods.

princess, I wish, but not rightnow.

Mehnaz · May 11th, 2006, 03:24 PM

Majority of threads that deal with relocating, moving to another city and living requirements/expenses normally end up in this forum since they are more suitable here as opposed to the General forum. A redirect link is still in the General forum for this thread, which means people can see the topic in General and respond to it if they wish.

niyal · May 11th, 2006, 05:02 PM

1) yea there are robberies now n then .. as far as security all are the same .

2) no i do not think they are cheap .. as far as i know they range prolly from 1 karoor onwards

3) the overall situation is ok . sometimes if u go out with cousins to shakarparian the police does not let u go without making their day .

safairish is not that openly done.. but people use their links

4) police is always corrupted ( i guess)

Uncle Stalker · May 11th, 2006, 07:16 PM

Islamabad used to be a nice place, back in the 80s and the early 90s.
Thats when I last went there.

Things have changed now - on a scale of 1 - 10 , I would say it has gone to 6.5 from a previous position of 8 / 9. Police have become a little toooo agressive for comfort, thanks to Rallies and political stunts. During the last chaos in ISB, my brother was caught between the police on one side and the rioters on the other... luckily he made it to safety just in time, with just a broken windshield - thanks to a fist sized stone that crashed through.

Karachi and Lahore would rank at between 4 and 5 now, on a similar scale.

yusuf1982 · May 14th, 2006, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jayzee

I have a few questions for you regarding living in Islamabad:

1. How is the law and order situation in Islamabad? Do you have a lot of robberies and car snatching as is the case in Karachi and Lahore? Which areas of Islamabad are considered good or bad as far as security goes?

2. Is this true that houses in the diplomatic enclave area, where all the embassies are located, are usually cheap? (price range would be nice)

3. How is the overall situation of rishwat (bribe) and sifarish (nepotism) in Islamabad?

4. How is the Islamabad police? Is it mostly fair, or mostly corrupt?

From my point of view, law n order situation is a bit better here than most cities. But you will still have problems vacating a stubborn pakistani tentant if you own property and rent it to a local!!! The courts will do nothing and take forever, but as far as law and order, its probably the best (in pak). If you are keen to park your car in proper places etc at the right times, your car wont be stolen, less its a mehran parked in a busy area! All the F sectors, E7, G6 and I8 seem to be some of the nicer areas in my opinion. Diplomatic enclave is a bit cheeper than most areas when it comes to purchasing, but the rent might be a big higher as your competing with foreigners who like to pay in foreign currency. plus its a really boring quiet area with nothing to do and inconvenient to move to and from very often. There are no private houses, only apartments in the range of 80-130 lakh for a 2 bedroom, furnished or unfurnished as well.

Im not sure how the bribe situation works but its not really a big deal if your not into big things.

The police, I would have to say the new Islamabad Traffic Police, most people will hate them because even the educated and wealthy people drive like assholes and they get ticketed fairly often. But their trying hard to restore order in traffic laws and reduce accidents and teach the ignorants BASIC driving etiquette and rules.

Haris · May 17th, 2006, 06:54 AM

Islamabad is heaven compared to Karachi or Lahore. I agree back in the 90s things were much much better and the overall rating has slipped downwards due to the rapid rise in population and hence traffic and crime and of course pollution. Prices too have followed an upward trend.
The police is basically the same, it's still Pakistani police, but often they are better due to better and strict checks. Crime has surely increased from how it was in 90s. Still no comparison with Karachi or Lahore. Same goes for other govt organizations.

rimsh · May 19th, 2006, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jayzee

I have a few questions for you regarding living in Islamabad:

1. How is the law and order situation in Islamabad? Do you have a lot of robberies and car snatching as is the case in Karachi and Lahore? Which areas of Islamabad are considered good or bad as far as security goes?

2. Is this true that houses in the diplomatic enclave area, where all the embassies are located, are usually cheap? (price range would be nice)

3. How is the overall situation of rishwat (bribe) and sifarish (nepotism) in Islamabad?

4. How is the Islamabad police? Is it mostly fair, or mostly corrupt?

i would say its the best place to live in pak, as for your 4th questions - just know the names and titles of all your family member in Army and Airforce and you'll do just fine

khanabadoshpk · May 20th, 2006, 09:17 AM

Islamabad is perhaps the best city in Pakistan. People are literat, nice and easy going. Law and order situation is quite good. Police is nice and friendly. Atomosphere is pleasant. I love Islamabad. I really miss Islamabad.

Sadaf · May 22nd, 2006, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jayzee

I have a few questions for you regarding living in Islamabad:

1. How is the law and order situation in Islamabad? Do you have a lot of robberies and car snatching as is the case in Karachi and Lahore? Which areas of Islamabad are considered good or bad as far as security goes?

- Law and order situation is way better than in any part of the country. There are sometimes news of car robbery cases in G sectors. But no one will come to youwith a gun in his hand and ask you to leave the vehicle. They'll steal only if its parked outside in dark. not in day light.

2. Is this true that houses in the diplomatic enclave area, where all the embassies are located, are usually cheap? (price range would be nice)

- Houses in that area are waaaaaaaay too expensive. The last time I knew the land price for a 20 marla plot was above 1 crore in G-10 sector. I dont know about the prices now after the earthquake, but they have come down a bit. Buying a plot or a readymade house in F or E sector requires lots and lots of cash. If you're thinking about renting the place, then let say, you'll get a 2 bedroom portion for about 50,000 a month in a posh area. (again I am not sure about the prices after earthquake)

3. How is the overall situation of rishwat (bribe) and sifarish (nepotism) in Islamabad?

- Well, these things are always there. You can not eliminate these from our society at all. But however, honest people like us get their jobs done if they follow the procedure. You dont have to pay anything out of nowhere to get that done. The procedure might be long, but you dont have to pay bribe if you dont want to. Same goes for sifarish.

4. How is the Islamabad police? Is it mostly fair, or mostly corrupt?

- my husband knows the chief of the police personally, he's a really honest person and he's doing a great job with the police. He cant tolerate any unfair officers in the police. If you experience any difficulties regarding issues with the police you can reach him. He'll take care of it. Also he has direct instruction from the PM ke kisi ko na choro regardless of what and whoever they are.

-

Jayzee · May 24th, 2006, 09:25 PM

Thanks so much everybody, this is really awesome information. So it sounds like its not as bad as lets say karachi, where mobile phones and cars are robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight.
A friend told me that they were releasing some new sectors near the new islamabad airport where plot prices were as low as 300,000 rupees for a 250 sq. yard plot. Can somebody please verify that? It almost sounds too good to be true.

Unreal · May 26th, 2006, 05:10 PM

man i think it was the best place ever, i lived there for 10 yrs (turned 10 when I moved to US in 1997, which I think is the biggest mistake I made).

anyways... I still remember I use to live in G-9 sector, and i use to go to Bahria College (best school EVER, I think there is one in Karachi too)...

there are sooo many parks in that city, specially the Japanese park (zoo rite next to it), jasmine garden, Picnic spot (dump@$$e$ started building houses there when I left).

daamnee koo (spelling) is the best place ever, it takes about 1-2 hour to climp the hill, and on a cloudy day its soooo beautiful.

make sure u go to BLUE AREA

onething i didnt like about islamabad is, at night someone is inside, i still remember after 8-9 pm most of the people were at their places, no one outside.

jeeezz i miss that city sooo much. now its been 8 yrs i never went back. but someday i will, my uncle told me it didnt change at all, i hope he is rite... i dont want it to change, such a beautiful nature... came to US, hardly noticed any difference. I mean many poeple here (where I live) mostly came from Lahore or Karachi, and they all said that they saw a big diff when they came here, but i didnt see any.

Sadaf · May 26th, 2006, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unreal

onething i didnt like about islamabad is, at night someone is inside, i still remember after 8-9 pm most of the people were at their places, no one outside.
.

Things have changed now

People go out and party till late now, you'll even find people on Pir Sohawa BBQ spot at 1:00 am