Quetta

The Quetta valley has been a corridor between the Indus plain and the Iranian plateau for as long as there have been routes through it; Mehrgarh, one of the earliest farming settlements in South Asia, lies at the foot of the Bolan Pass to the south-east. The town itself grew around a small mud fort — the name comes from a Pashto word for a fort — and belonged at different times to the Mughals, the Safavids, the Afghan rulers of Kandahar and the khans of Kalat.

British forces occupied Quetta during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, and in 1883 a lease agreement with the Khan of Kalat brought the town under British administration. Anxiety about Russian influence in Afghanistan turned the town into a major garrison guarding the Bolan and Khojak passes: a cantonment was laid out, the army's staff college was moved here from India in 1907, and the railway was driven up the Bolan gorge and through a long tunnel under the Khojak. A civilian town of traders, many of them Hindu and Parsi, grew beside the barracks.

On 31 May 1935 an earthquake destroyed the city and killed tens of thousands of people, among the deadliest in South Asian history; Quetta was rebuilt largely on low-rise lines. Partition in 1947 changed its population again, and it became the capital of Balochistan province in 1970. The Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979 brought large numbers of Afghan refugees, and the city has since grown rapidly and been marked by the province's insurgency and by sectarian attacks on its Hazara community.

Quetta is the meeting point of several peoples rather than the city of any one of them. Pashtuns predominate in and around the city, with Baloch and Brahui communities, a large Hazara population descended from migrants who came from central Afghanistan from the late 19th century, Punjabi and Urdu-speaking settlers, and Afghan families who arrived after 1979. Pashto, Balochi, Brahui, Hazaragi and Urdu are all heard within a few streets of each other.

Tribal custom shapes much of social life. Hospitality, the protection of guests and loyalty to the tribe are central to both Pashtun and Baloch codes, disputes are often settled by councils of elders rather than courts, and sardars, the tribal chiefs, retain considerable authority. Dress is a plain marker of origin: the very loose Baloch shalwar and turban, the Pashtun cap and waistcoat, and Baloch women's dresses with their dense mirrored embroidery across the front pocket and cuffs.

Music runs through Baloch tradition in the form of sung epics accompanied by the suroz, a bowed string instrument, while Pashto song and the attan circle dance belong to the northern side of the city's culture. Baloch Culture Day on 2 March fills the streets with dress and dancing. Sport is dominated by cricket, and Quetta's franchise in the national Twenty20 league has a devoted following. The Hazara community has produced a striking number of Pakistan's footballers.

About 1.7 million people live in Quetta, making it by far the largest city in Balochistan and the province's centre of government, trade, health care and education. Work comes from provincial administration, the large military presence, transport and cross-border trade with Afghanistan through Chaman, coal mining in the district around it, and the fruit trade: the valley's apples, apricots, grapes, peaches, pomegranates and almonds are sold across Pakistan and give the city its name as the fruit garden of Pakistan.

The rhythm of the day is set by the bazaar, which opens in the middle of the morning and stays busy into the evening, and by prayer times; Friday afternoon is quiet. Households in the older districts live in single-storey compounds, while Satellite Town and newer suburbs are built in blocks. Winter brings gas shortages and heating costs, and power cuts are frequent all year.

The city's problems are severe. Water is the worst: the valley's aquifer has fallen sharply as tube wells have multiplied, and much of the city depends on tankered supply. Security shapes daily movement, with checkpoints, walls and closed roads around sensitive districts, and the Hazara community in particular has lived under protection after repeated attacks. Air quality is poor in winter, and unplanned growth on the valley floor continues.

Quetta eats the food of Balochistan and of the Afghan borderlands. Sajji is the dish the city is known for: a whole lamb or chicken, salted and skewered, roasted slowly upright beside a fire until the fat renders and the skin crisps, then served with rice or with kaak, a thick bread baked around a hot stone. Landi, meat salted and dried in the sun during winter, is a Pashtun speciality of the north of the province and is cooked later with rice.

Afghan and Central Asian influences are strong. Kabuli pulao, rice cooked with lamb and topped with carrots and raisins, is everywhere, as are tandoor breads baked to order, and the Hazara districts add mantu, steamed dumplings filled with minced meat and topped with yoghurt, and noodle and pulse soups suited to the cold. Karahi and tikka are the other staples of the roadside grills.

Tea is the city's habit rather than a drink: milky sweet tea and green tea with cardamom are poured through the day in tea houses that function as offices and meeting rooms. The other pleasure is fruit. The valleys around Quetta grow apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, peaches, pomegranates, melons and almonds, sold fresh through the summer and autumn and dried for the rest of the year in the shops along Jinnah Road, alongside pistachios and pine nuts brought across the border.