Jinnah Park
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جناح پارک | |
 Park’s second entrance with the Unity Towers in the background | |
 Interactive map of Jinnah Park | |
| Address | Airport Road, Chaklala Cantonment |
|---|---|
| Location | Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 33°35′05″N 73°04′25″E / 33.58472°N 73.07361°E |
| Owner | Rawalpindi Development Authority |
| Operator | Rawalpindi Development Authority |
| Type | Public and amusement park |
| Parking | 1,000-plus spaces |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 2006 |
Jinnah Park (Urdu: جناح پارک) is an amusement and public park located on Airport Road in the high-security Chaklala Cantonment suburb of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It is the town's primary amusement park and covers an area of approximately 17 hectares (42 acres).[1] Initial plans for its development began as early as 1995 and it was opened in 2006.[2] It was named after Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan. Sculptures of Jinnah and his family name are placed at the park's main entrance.[3]
The site for the park was previously occupied by the maximum security District Jail Rawalpindi which opened in 1882.[2] Former president and prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was notably imprisoned here before being executed on 4 April 1979.[4] The exact spot where the gallows stood is unknown. The prison was demolished in 1988 after the completion of construction of Central Jail Rawalpindi, commonly known as Adiala Jail, in 1986.
The construction of the park began in 1995, when Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) tasked Capital Development Authority (CDA) to build the park. In 2004, the incomplete project was passed on to Pakistan Army's X Corps and after facing delays, it finally opened in 2006. RDA spent at least 329 million Pakistani rupees on the project.[2]
