Preserved in the ever-changing sprawl of cities are moments of history – sometimes to provide inspiration for the present, at others to provide lessons for the future. Dawn brings together moments in time from the four provincial capitals, captured at the same spot today as they were photographed years ago.

Peshawar: No more postcards

Peshawar is said to be among the oldest cities of South Asia. Some accounts suggest that the present walled city of Peshawar was built atop the ruins of a 7,000-year-old civilisation, traces of which have been unearthed at ‘Gor Ghatree’.

Mountstuart Elphinstone, the first Englishman who visited Peshawar in the early 19th century compared the outskirts of the city to England in his letters back home. However, things have changed for the worse as one struggles to find something worth capturing for a postcard picture (read for Facebook or Twitter) for overseas friends and relatives.

The photo below is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically. Black and white photo is Ghanta Ghar Bazaar in 1930 and coloured photo is the same in 2013.

The fabled Qissa Khwani Bazaar, in addition to being battered by militants is one massive heap of filth and open (albeit choked) drains. The road that passes along the length of the Balahisar Fort remains jammed most hours of the daytime, unaffected by a couple of traffic cops helplessly flailing their thin arms like untrained swimmers in a riotous river. Conservationists fear that the fantastic Gor Ghatree, literally at a stone’s throw from the landmark Ghanta Ghar Bazaar, site now faces a major threat due to the construction of a wedding hall with its perennially seeping toilets and sewage lines.

The photo below is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically. Black and white photo is Balahisar Fort in 1870 and coloured photo is the same in 2013.

It may be an understatement to say that Peshawar is out of sync with anything even remotely concerned with development.

The provincial capital with a population of nearly four million must in fact be vying to clinch the top position in the category of the least developed, least planned and least clean cities of the world.

Haze enveloped environs, broken-down infrastructure, milling motorbikes and rickshaws and inconsiderate bureaucracy devoid of any semblance of vis-ion now welcome visitors to the capital city of the erstwhile North-western Frontier. — Nasser Yousaf

Lahore is (still) Lahore

Lahore is a city with an embarrassment of riches. It is a metropolis where Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Christians once shared a common heritage in language, education and history. It is a city of Mughal relics which boasts of treasures like the famous Lahore Fort, the Shalimar Gardens and Shaadra where the legendary queen of the Emperor Jehangir is buried.

It is also a city of great mosques like the magnificent Badshahi Masjid opposite which is located the famous diamond market which once boasted of ensnaring the most beautiful dancing girls in the whole of India. One of them apparently captivated a Neapolitan called Faletti who was so infatuated that he chucked away his passport and built a hotel which still carries his name.

Some of the old colonial red sandstone buildings with their spacious verandas, jalousies, high ceilings and sprawling lawns still exist and it is a delight to walk through those lawns with their sprinklers, neat hedges and rose gardens. It is also a city of gates — Bhatti, Shah Almi, Mochi, Masti, Kashmir, Raushnai, Yakki, Akbari, Delhi and Taxali… to name a few. It was, and to some extent still is, a city of learning and scholarship.

The photo below of Anarkali Bazaar is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically.

Lahore was not just a city of gardens and tombs. It is an urban settlement of glaring contrasts. On the one hand, there is the old city, a crumbling ruin, dirty and neglected, drenched with culture and memories. And on the other, a beautiful, developed, well-laid out metropolitan delight with clean roads, parks and manicured lawns. The crime rate has been controlled and there is evidence to suggest that the population is not plagued with quite the same sense of insecurity as in the perilous port city. However, prosperity has caught up with the place. Massive traffic jams, a high rate of pollution, falling standards and the never-ending desire to indulge in conspicuous consumption has given the bourgeoisie an unfortunate image. — Anwar Mooraj

Quetta: ‘Little Paris’ lost

Gone are the days, when Quetta was called ‘Little Paris’ owing to its unique geographical location and scenic beauty. It was developed by the British as a garrison town in 1876 and was rated as the best one in undivided India. It was reconstructed after the devastating earthquake in 1935, which razed the city to the ground. Now, the mountain-ringed town is home to around three million people.

Quetta's mild and pleasant summer attracted tourists from across the country and overseas. Families from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore used to visit the city to enjoy its lovely weather and shopping attractions. However, this is not the case anymore. Now rampant incidents of targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom, rocket attacks and bombings have forced even the people of this erstwhile vacation spot to spend their vacations in other cities.

The photo below is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically. Black and white photo is Regal Chowk in 1930 and coloured photo is the same in 2013.

It is hard to believe now that there was a time when Quetta was a very popular destination for the foreign tourists including Americans and the British in the early 1960s, who usually stayed at Lourdes Hotel and Imdad Hotel.

A strong feeling of community and brotherhood, peace and security and a liberal culture were some of Quetta’s claims to fame. Irrespective of linguistic, ethnic, religious and sectarian differences, people had cordial relations with each other.

Live and let live was the city’s unofficial motto. However, a decade-long spree of violence has overshadowed the city’s diversity and tolerant values.

Apart from rising anarchy, the multi-ethnic-and-linguistic city is faced with a host of social issues as well.

The photo below is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically. Black and white photo is Jinnah Road in 1934 and coloured photo is the same in 2013.

Parks have been replaced by security forces' resting and deployment places and the city's beautiful military cantonment has become … almost a no-go area for common citizens as a result of looming security threats. Now the whole city gives the impression of neglect and disrepair. Congested roads with a poor sewerage system and broken footpaths compound the problems of the citizens.

The Paris of the past is now a faded memory. Only the desert of the now exists. — Syed Ali Shah

Karachi: Romance in ruins

Karachi has come a long, long way from 1946, when it was a tiny fishing village of around 300,000 inhabitants, to its present status of a huge, sprawling modern metropolis with a population of over 20 million people. This megacity is home to different religions, and a number of communities, each with its own customs, language, dialect and culinary delights, blending into a brew of multi-ethnic and multi-cultural diversity.

Elphinstone Street had been considered the most important part of Saddar even after partition, and the ebb and flow on the road was the very pulse of the city. Cold cuts and liqueur chocolates could be bought from the English Cold Storage where gentlemen doffed their solar toupees or felt hats in the presence of ladies. The ABC with a picture of Chiang Kai-shek hanging on the wall of the dining room was the king of the Chinese restaurants. Cuban cigars were bought from Rodrigues and Co. For the young at heart there was the Manhattan Soda Fountain which doled out iced milkshakes with exotic titles and one often heard the gauche outpourings of an adolescent’s heart.

The photo below of Elphinstone Street / Zaibunnissa Street is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically.

For the dashing bachelor who just couldn’t master the quickstep and tango there was the Abbas School of Dancing. And the chap with an insatiable thirst headed for one of the many bars and saloons with their swing doors and blaring radios. Night clubbers with more sophisticated tastes and fat wallets flocked to the Casino in the Central Hotel which was run by a white Russian named Arty, where Stefan Eros and his Hungarian Serenades brought the flavour of Central Europe. Its successor Le Gourmet in the Palace Hotel played host to the rich and powerful. For those who preferred something more risqué and salacious, there were the fading continental blondes adept in the art of striptease who entertained customers at the Excelsior and the Oasis.

Jehangir Kothari Parade, one of the most famous landmarks of Karachi, was constructed on land presented to the citizens of Karachi by Seth Jehangir Hormusji Kothari whose generosity and philanthropy was legendary. The place was simply drenched with references of elderly folks enjoying cool sea breezes and romantic walks on the beach when the sea was about to swallow a big red sun.

The photo below of Jehangir Kothari Parade is interactive. Drag the green handle in the middle to reveal more or less of the before or after image. Alternatively, you can simply click anywhere on the image to move the slider automatically.

This was the golden age of Karachi. Life was peaceful and orderly. The rule of law prevailed. There was no wallet and wristwatch (read mobile phones in the present context) snatching, no Taliban to terrorise the populace, no suicide bombers, no gang wars or ethnic strife, no kidnappings or armed thugs on motorcycles collecting protection money. People minded their own business. Girls cycled to school. Churches and mosques were not attacked or vandalised. Business prospered. A dollar cost four rupees and a pound cost six. Those were the days when no citizen of this blighted republic ever thought of migrating to another country. The future looked bright.

Today, the city appears to be standing on its head. In the absence of a proper, well-organised mass transit system, there are massive traffic jams and pollution levels often hit alarming levels. Criminals operate with impunity, secure in the knowledge they will be protected by their patrons. There is too much tension and uncertainty. — Anwer Mooraj