# Islamabad Capital Territory
**Islamabad Capital Territory** (ICT) is the federal territory of Pakistan that contains the national capital, [Islamabad](https://www.edgepedia.org/islamabad), and is administered directly by the federal government rather than by any province. The Constitution of 1973 declares its status as a distinct territory not forming part of any province.[1](https://sacgb.gov.pk/Judgments/judgements-2021/44.%20Final%20judgment%20in%20Muhammad%20Kamal%20case%20with%20additional%20note%20by%20Justice%20Wazir%20Shakeel%20sb%2017.08.2021.pdf) The territory covers about 906 square kilometers at the foothills of the Margalla Hills, adjacent to [Rawalpindi](https://www.edgepedia.org/rawalpindi), and its local government framework has been reshaped repeatedly since 2015, most recently by a 2024 amendment act, a court ruling, and a January 2026 ordinance.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) • [3](https://ecp.gov.pk/storage/uploads/DeDQzlkJISJlHEo25HDVd75i98zcFOFqaCKq7Wpd.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Status | Distinct federal territory under the 1973 Constitution, not part of any province; administered by the federal government[1](https://sacgb.gov.pk/Judgments/judgements-2021/44.%20Final%20judgment%20in%20Muhammad%20Kamal%20case%20with%20additional%20note%20by%20Justice%20Wazir%20Shakeel%20sb%2017.08.2021.pdf) |
| Area | Capital site declared 906.5 sq km in 1963; urban area 220.15 sq km and rural area 466.20 sq km[4](https://www.cda.gov.pk/planningAndDesignWing) • [2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) |
| Population | 2,006,572 at the 2017 census, with density 2,207 persons per sq km; stated in June 2026 to exceed 2.4 million[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) • [5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697) |
| Planning | Master plan by the Greek firm Doxiadis Associates, approved by the Federal Cabinet on 26 October 1960; development entrusted to the Capital Development Authority (CDA)[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) |
| Local government | Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 created 50 Union Councils and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad[6](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/aboutIslamabad) |
| Recent legal changes | 2024 Amendment Act (Act No. XVIII of 2024); ECP ruled a 2024 amendment to Section 15 unconstitutional; ICT Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026 of 10 January 2026 changed the structure of local government and the mode of elections[7](https://humenglish.com/latest/ecp-orders-local-government-elections-in-islamabad/) • [8](https://www.app.com.pk/national/ecp-orders-immediate-lg-elections-in-islamabad-declares-certain-clauses-unconstitutional/) • [3](https://ecp.gov.pk/storage/uploads/DeDQzlkJISJlHEo25HDVd75i98zcFOFqaCKq7Wpd.pdf) |
| Proposed reform | June 2026 proposal for an elected ICT Assembly, a locally accountable chief executive, and six specialized authorities, with the federal government retaining law and order and master planning[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697) |
## Origins and territory
Islamabad was built as a planned city in the 1960s to replace Karachi as Pakistan's capital. A commission constituted in 1958 selected a site northeast of Rawalpindi with emphasis on location, climate, logistics, defense requirements, aesthetics, and natural beauty, and the Federal Cabinet approved the site at the foothills of the Margalla Hills.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) The master plan was prepared by Doxiadis Associates and approved on 26 October 1960. It divided the metropolitan area into three major parts: Islamabad, the National Park (Islamabad Park), and Rawalpindi with its [Cantonment](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonment); later ordinances separated Rawalpindi and its cantonment from the capital's plan in 1963, when the capital site area was declared 906.5 square kilometers.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) • [4](https://www.cda.gov.pk/planningAndDesignWing)
The Capital Development Authority was established in 1960, first by an executive order of 24 June 1960 entitled the Pakistan Capital Regulation, superseded by the CDA Ordinance issued on 27 June 1960, which gave the master plan legal backing and charged the authority with planning, developing, and providing municipal functions for the capital.[9](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/cdaOrdinance) • [2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) The plan divides the city into eight zones, including administrative, diplomatic enclave, residential, educational, industrial, commercial, and rural and green areas, on a grid-iron pattern of neighborhoods called sectors.[10](https://www.mci.gov.pk/Welcome/explore_islamabad) • [4](https://www.cda.gov.pk/planningAndDesignWing)
The territory's present boundaries took shape in stages. In 1981, two of the master plan's four zones, Islamabad Proper and Islamabad Park, were named the Federal Capital Area, later the Islamabad Capital Territory, and the area was allocated one seat in the National Assembly.[11](https://www.dawn.com/news/1066085/dawn-features-14-june-2004) The 1973 Constitution had already fixed its status as a distinct territory outside the provincial system.[1](https://sacgb.gov.pk/Judgments/judgements-2021/44.%20Final%20judgment%20in%20Muhammad%20Kamal%20case%20with%20additional%20note%20by%20Justice%20Wazir%20Shakeel%20sb%2017.08.2021.pdf)
## Population and census
The 2017 census recorded 2,006,572 residents in ICT, of whom about one million lived in rural areas, at an overall density of 2,207 persons per square kilometer; the population was then growing at 4.91 percent a year.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) The larger Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, the country's third largest conurbation, holds about 4.1 million people.[10](https://www.mci.gov.pk/Welcome/explore_islamabad) Detailed district-level reports of the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 have been released for ICT along with the provinces by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.[12](https://www.pbs.gov.pk/release-of-national-and-provincial-census-reports-of-population-and-housing-census-2023-2/) In June 2026 the federal planning minister stated that the population had exceeded 2.4 million.[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697)
## Local government history
[Local government](https://www.edgepedia.org/local-government) in the territory has followed a stop-and-start course. After the 1979 ICT Local Government Ordinance, union councils were formed in the rural area, and their elected members carried out development works and erected buildings without CDA approval, which the 2020 master plan review identifies as a source of unregulated housing settlements and master plan violations.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf)
The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 created the current framework: a Metropolitan Corporation for the territory and Union Councils as the government may notify, with each Union Council consisting of a chairman and vice chairman elected as joint candidates and six general members, among other seats.[13](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/Assets/pdf/1699885321_26bb7cbe_2f92_4e9f_9dbf_9a6e6defde10_.pdf) Under this act the city was divided into 50 Union Councils managed by the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad.[6](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/aboutIslamabad) Elections were held in 2015 under the PML-N government, and the planning ministry describes these as the last meaningful local government representation in the capital for over a decade.[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697) The term of that local government later expired, and the Election Commission proposed 29 September 2024 as a poll date in its 2024 annual report.[14](https://www.ecp.gov.pk/storage/files/2/annual%20report/Annual%20Report-2024-web.pdf)
## The 2024 amendment and the election dispute
The National Assembly unanimously adopted the ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on 26 August, amid opposition from the Sunni Ittehad Council, and President Asif Ali Zardari assented to it on 29 August 2024; it was gazetted as Act No. XVIII of 2024.[15](https://www.app.com.pk/national/na-unanimously-adopts-ict-local-government-amendment-bill-2024-amid-sics-opposition/) • [16](https://www.radio.gov.pk/29-08-2024/president-approves-ict-local-government-amendment-bill-2024) • [17](https://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/6a0c17fd89047_559.pdf) The amendments made several structural changes: general wards per Union Council increased from six to nine, women's reserved seats fell from two to one, a new businessman/technocrat category was added, and reserved-seat elections shifted from direct to indirect polls.[7](https://humenglish.com/latest/ecp-orders-local-government-elections-in-islamabad/)
The Election Commission of Pakistan then intervened. A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja declared the 2024 amendment to Section 15 of the ICT Local Government Act 2015 unconstitutional, ruling that it conflicted with the Constitution, the Elections Act 2017, and the original 2015 act, and ordered the long-delayed local government elections held without further delay.[8](https://www.app.com.pk/national/ecp-orders-immediate-lg-elections-in-islamabad-declares-certain-clauses-unconstitutional/) On 9 December 2025 the ECP issued a schedule fixing the elections for 15 February 2026, with nomination papers to be filed from 22 to 27 December 2025.[18](https://www.radio.gov.pk/09-12-2025/local-govt-elections-in-ict-to-be-held-on-15th-of-february-next-year)
That schedule did not survive. The federal government promulgated the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026 on 10 January 2026, changing the structure of local governments and the mode of local government elections in the territory. Consequently, on 16 January 2026 the ECP recalled its election program issued on 9 and 26 December 2025, and the schedule for the February polls was withdrawn.[3](https://ecp.gov.pk/storage/uploads/DeDQzlkJISJlHEo25HDVd75i98zcFOFqaCKq7Wpd.pdf) • [19](https://www.dawn.com/news/1967308)
## The 2026 governance proposal
In June 2026, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof. Ahsan Iqbal proposed transforming the capital into what the ministry calls a citizen-led, sustainable, and globally competitive model city, arguing that Islamabad had outgrown a governance model designed for a much smaller administrative town.[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697) The proposed framework calls for an elected Islamabad Capital Territory Assembly and a locally accountable chief executive, aimed at ending fragmented governance and limited public representation. The plan keeps law and order and master planning in federal hands, while placing six new specialist bodies: an ICT Health Authority, an ICT Education Authority, a Social Welfare and Inclusion Authority, a Tourism and Culture Authority, an [Environment](https://www.edgepedia.org/environment) and Climate Authority, and a Digital and E-Governance Authority: under the proposed ICT administration.[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697) The ministry frames the plan as a move from a centrally administered territory toward a democratic, accountable, citizen-focused urban government, though it remains a proposal requiring approval.[5](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697)
## Planning and development authority
The Capital Development Authority remains central to the territory's administration. It was created to develop the city under the master plan and to perform municipal functions such as cleanliness, health, education of inhabitants, and supply of goods.[9](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/cdaOrdinance) The master plan was supposed to be revised every 20 years; review attempts in 1986 and 2005 were submitted to the federal government but never approved by the Federal Cabinet, although partial amendments such as the Zoning Regulations 1992 and the 2010 subdivision of Zone 4 into four sub-zones following a Supreme Court order were carried out.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) A Federal Commission constituted to review the Master Plan of Islamabad (2020-2040) produced an interim report identifying problem areas including water shortage, sanitation, decreasing green cover, unauthorized construction, and shortages of educational and health facilities.[2](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf) In 2025 the CDA marked the master plan's 65th anniversary with a pledge to revive its founding 1960 vision of sustainability and planning excellence.[20](https://www.app.com.pk/national/islamabad-marks-65-years-of-master-plan-with-renewed-vision-for-sustainable-growth/)
## References
1. [Final judgment in Muhammad Kamal case with additional note by Justice Wazir Shakeel, Services Tribunal (2021)](https://sacgb.gov.pk/Judgments/judgements-2021/44.%20Final%20judgment%20in%20Muhammad%20Kamal%20case%20with%20additional%20note%20by%20Justice%20Wazir%20Shakeel%20sb%2017.08.2021.pdf)
2. [Review of Master Plan of Islamabad (2020-2040), Federal Commission Interim Report, CDA](https://www.cda.gov.pk/Assets/pdf/masterPlanInterimReport2020.pdf)
3. [ECP Notification No.F.1(2)/2026-LGE-ICT(Vol-I), 16 January 2026](https://ecp.gov.pk/storage/uploads/DeDQzlkJISJlHEo25HDVd75i98zcFOFqaCKq7Wpd.pdf)
4. [CDA Planning & Design Wing, Master Plan overview](https://www.cda.gov.pk/planningAndDesignWing)
5. [Ahsan Iqbal Proposes Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister for Islamabad, Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives (June 2026)](https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/press/get_press/1697)
6. [About Islamabad, Capital Development Authority](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/aboutIslamabad)
7. [ECP orders local government elections in Islamabad, HUM News English](https://humenglish.com/latest/ecp-orders-local-government-elections-in-islamabad/)
8. [ECP orders immediate LG elections in Islamabad, declares certain clauses unconstitutional, Associated Press of Pakistan](https://www.app.com.pk/national/ecp-orders-immediate-lg-elections-in-islamabad-declares-certain-clauses-unconstitutional/)
9. [CDA Ordinance 1960, Capital Development Authority](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/cdaOrdinance)
10. [Explore Islamabad, Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad](https://www.mci.gov.pk/Welcome/explore_islamabad)
11. [DAWN Features, 14 June 2004](https://www.dawn.com/news/1066085/dawn-features-14-june-2004)
12. [Release of National and Provincial Census Reports of Population and Housing Census 2023, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics](https://www.pbs.gov.pk/release-of-national-and-provincial-census-reports-of-population-and-housing-census-2023-2/)
13. [The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act (text), The Islamabad Laws, CDA](https://www.cda.gov.pk/public/Assets/pdf/1699885321_26bb7cbe_2f92_4e9f_9dbf_9a6e6defde10_.pdf)
14. [ECP Annual Report 2024](https://www.ecp.gov.pk/storage/files/2/annual%20report/Annual%20Report-2024-web.pdf)
15. [NA unanimously adopts ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024, Associated Press of Pakistan](https://www.app.com.pk/national/na-unanimously-adopts-ict-local-government-amendment-bill-2024-amid-sics-opposition/)
16. [President approves ICT Local Government Amendment Bill, Radio Pakistan](https://www.radio.gov.pk/29-08-2024/president-approves-ict-local-government-amendment-bill-2024)
17. [ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill as introduced in the National Assembly](https://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/6a0c17fd89047_559.pdf)
18. [ECP announces schedule for LG elections in Islamabad, Radio Pakistan (9 December 2025)](https://www.radio.gov.pk/09-12-2025/local-govt-elections-in-ict-to-be-held-on-15th-of-february-next-year)
19. [ECP withdraws schedule of local body polls in Islamabad, Dawn (16 January 2026)](https://www.dawn.com/news/1967308)
20. [Islamabad marks 65 years of Master Plan with renewed vision for sustainable growth, Associated Press of Pakistan](https://www.app.com.pk/national/islamabad-marks-65-years-of-master-plan-with-renewed-vision-for-sustainable-growth/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Administrative and cadastral territories › First-order subdivisions › Provinces of South, Southeast Asia, and Oceania › South Asian first-level subdivisions*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license