Rawalpindi, city (1998 pop. 1,406,214), NE Pakistan. It occupies the site of an old village inhabited by the Rawals, a tribe of Yogis. A railroad junction and an important industrial and commercial center, the city has an oil refinery, gasworks, an iron foundry, railroad yards, a brewery, sawmills, and factories making tents, textiles, hosiery, pottery, and leather goods. Sikhs settled the area in 1765 and invited nearby traders to live in Rawalpindi. After the British occupied the
Punjab (1849), it became a major British military outpost. In 1919 a peace treaty ending the Third Afghan War was signed by British and Afghan representatives at Rawalpindi. The city, strategically located astride the road between the Punjab and Kashmir, is Pakistan's army headquarters. From 1959 to 1970, it was the interim capital of Pakistan. Six colleges affiliated with the Univ. of the Punjab, a polytechnic school, a police training institute, and an armed forces medical college are in Rawalpindi.
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