Nilore ( ur, ) is a

townsite A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat (United States) or plan (Ca ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the

Islamabad Capital Territory The Islamabad Capital Territory ( ur, , translit=Vafāqī Dār-alhakūmat) is the only federal territory of Pakistan. Located between the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it includes the country's capital city of Islamabad. The terr ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, located and established in the district limit of

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

. The city is located in the vicinity of Islamabad, and controlled under the

Capital Territory Police Capital Territory Police ( ur, ), also known as the Islamabad Capital Territory Police, is a police force formed in 1981 to police Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan under administrative control of the Chief Commissioner, Islamabad Capital T ...

(CPT) to ensure the law and justice in the city. Nilore was established in 1967 as a research site for nuclear technology. It became a secret city and became one of the major research site for the integrated nuclear development to develop the atom bomb in the 1970s. It was closed to the public in the 1970s by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, and starting in 1972, the

Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers "The Moving Spirit" , colors = , colors_label = Colours , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , ...

acquired the entire city and immediately removed the local residents as they were paid heavy compensation. By 1973, the city communities had been removed, and fences and checkpoints had been established. Its relatively low population made acquisition affordable for the Ministry of Defence and the city was re-constructed by the Corps of Engineers. Facilities and institutes were expanded and new houses, homes, and facilities were built for the scientists and engineers who began their government research under extreme secrecy. Since then, Nilore's given nicknames include "Northern atomic city", "secret valley" and the "city behind the fence". Nilore hosted an apex scientific research in the 1960s led under

Abdus Salam Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physicist and a ...

, and the scientific research and development still plays a crucial role in the city's economy and culture in general. Nilore is known for having one of the premier educational facilities and the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (PINSTECH) and the Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences (PIEAS) are located at Nilore where they key research takes place. Since the 1990s, the city has been opened for the public and classified facilities were immediately closed by the government and re-located at unknown locations. PIEAS is one of the finest institution in Pakistan. It has been ranked amongst the Top 400 Universities in World. It has been producing engineers for Pakistan for many decades. Students who are interested in studying in a beautiful and lovely location than PIEAS is amongst the best option. PIEAS is a better and an affordable option. It also provides various scholarship programs.

References

Hill stations in Pakistan Islamabad Nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan Former closed cities {{Pakistan-geo-stub