Lyari (Urdu: ; ) is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely-populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas. History Lyari is said to be one of the oldest inhabited parts of Karachi, and is referred to by its residents as the "Mother of Karachi." Its name is said to be derived from a Lyar - a tree which grows in a graveyard. The first residents of Lyari were Sindhi fishermen and Baloch nomads who arrived in 1725, before Karachi was formally established in 1729. Further waves of Baloch migrants arrived in 1770 and 1795. After Karachi was developed under British rule, large waves of Baloch migrants settled in the Lyari from the Iranian portion of Balochistan. Lyari's population was 24,600 in 1886, and it was a majority-Muslim area of Karachi, which in turn was majority Hindu. At the time, the Lyari River flowed along the northern edge of Mithadar, with Lyari settlement across the river. As a result, the area was referred to as the Trans-Lyari Quarter during the British period. Lyari was neglected during this era, as the British administrators and Hindu mercantile community showed little interest in developing the Muslim-majority working-class locale, and instead chose to develop the port and eastern part of Karachi. As a result, Lyari developed in a haphazard manner, and was characterized by a cluster of poor settlements with home made of reed and mudbrick. One quarter of Karachi's entire population lived in the Trans-Lyari Quarter at the turn of the 20th century. Migration of Iranian Baloch increased after the Iranian government began subjugating Iranian Balochistan in 1928. In 1941, the population of Lyari was 81,768. After independence, neglect of Lyari continued. The city's leadership expressed more interest in the resettlement of refugees from India than the living conditions of the indigenous population. Development of Lyari at this time was focused on the northern outskirts, and included the planned neighborhoods of Agra Taj Colony and Bihar Colony - both of which were developed for migrants. By 1956, Lyari's population had rapidly grown to about 360,000. In the late 1950s, General Ayub Khan attempted to rehabilitate central Karachi by relocating Lyari's population to the northern neighborhood of New Karachi, which was fiercely opposed by the residents despite Lyari having no basic amenities at the time. Lyari's first criminal gangs took root in the 1960s, but were