Portal:Pakistan
About Pakistan
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The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان, islāmī jamhūriya i pākistān), or Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان, pākistān), is a country located in South Asia. Its strategic location at a crossroads of political and religious ideologies has kept it at the forefront of world events. Its culture and history have been enriched by the countless invaders, traders, and settlers who have been a part of the region’s past. The country borders India, Afghanistan, Iran (Persia), China and the Arabian Sea. With around 178 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country, the second most populous Muslim-majority nation. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the OIC.
The area of Pakistan has a long history of settlement and civilisation that includes some of the most ancient cultures. The region was invaded by Mongols, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, and Turks before being invaded by the British Raj in the Eighteenth century. Pakistan became independent on 14 August 1947 as one of two successor states to British India. (The other successor state was the Union of India, which became the Republic of India in 1950.) Following independence, Pakistan has seen repeated military coups, the loss of East Pakistan in 1971, widespread Islamic fundamentalism and significant military and economic growth, with the second-fastest growing economy amongst the ten most populous countries in the world in 2005 and the twenty-seventh largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and is one of eight declared nuclear weapons states.
"The National Anthem"
Qaumī Tarānah
قَومی ترانہ
Selected article
The Bengali Language Movement (Bengali: ভাষা আন্দোলন Bhasha Andolôn) was a political movement in former East Pakistan advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan in order to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.
When the Dominion of Pakistan was formed by the partition of India in 1947, it was composed of various ethnic and linguistic groups, with the geographically non-contiguous East Bengal province (that was renamed in 1956 as East Pakistan) having a mainly Bengali population. In 1948, the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. Read more...
The Pakistan cricket team visited Ireland in May 2018 to play a Test match against the Ireland cricket team. It was the first Test match played by the Ireland men's team since they were awarded Test status by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in June 2017. The Ireland women's cricket team had previously played a Women's Test match, also against Pakistan, in July 2000.
Pakistan won the one-off fixture by five wickets, with Ireland's Kevin O'Brien named as the man of the match, after he scored the first century for Ireland in Test cricket. Despite the loss, Cricket Ireland deemed the match to be a great success. Pakistan's captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, praised the performance of the Ireland team during the match. Read more...- Pakistan has several official national symbols including a historic document, a flag, an emblem, an anthem, a memorial tower as well as several national heroes. The symbols were adopted at various stages in the existence of Pakistan and there are various rules and regulations governing their definition or use. The oldest symbol is the Lahore Resolution, adopted by the All India Muslim League on 23 March 1940, and which presented the official demand for the creation of a separate country for the Muslims of India. The Minar-e-Pakistan memorial tower which was built in 1968 on the site where the Lahore Resolution was passed. The national flag was adopted just before independence was achieved on 14 August 1947. The national anthem and the state emblem were each adopted in 1954. There are also several other symbols including the national animal, bird, flower and tree. Read more...
The Lahore Fort (Punjabi and Urdu: شاہی قلعہ: Shahi Qila, or "Royal Fort"), is a citadel in the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of walled city Lahore, and spreads over an area greater than 20 hectares. It contains 21 notable monuments, some of which date to the era of Emperor Akbar. The Lahore Fort is notable for having been almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century, when the Mughal Empire was at the height of its splendour and opulence.
Though the site of the Lahore Fort has been inhabited for millennia, the first record of a fortified structure at the site was in regard to an 11th-century mud-brick fort. The foundations of the modern Lahore Fort date to 1566 during the reign of Emperor Akbar, who bestowed the fort with a syncretic architectural style that featured both Islamic and Hindu motifs. Additions from the Shah Jahan period are characterized by luxurious marble with inlaid Persian floral designs, while the fort's grand and iconic Alamgiri Gate was constructed by the last of the Mughal Emperors, Aurangzeb, and faces the renowned Badshahi Mosque. Read more...
English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea. The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse (a North Germanic language), and to a greater extent by Latin and French.
English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century, are collectively called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England; this was a period in which the language was influenced by French. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London, the printing of the King James Bible and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Read more...
Tablighi Jamaat (Tablīghī Jamā‘at; lit. Society for spreading faith) is a non-political global missionary movement that focuses on urging Muslims to return to Practicing Islam, and particularly in matters of ritual, dress, and personal behavior.
The organisation is estimated to have between 12 million and 150 million adherents (the majority living in South Asia), and a presence in somewhere between 150 and 200 countries. It has been called "one of the most influential religious movements in 20th century Islam".
The movement was founded in 1927 by Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in India in accordance to the teachings and practices that take place in The Prophet's Mosque and Ashabus Suffah.
Its stated primary aim is spiritual reformation of Islam by reaching out to Muslims across social and economic spectra and working at the grassroots level, to bring them in line with the group's understanding of Islam.
The teachings of Tabligh Jamaat are expressed in "Six Principles" (Kalimah (Declaration of faith), Salah (Prayer), Ilm-o-zikr (Knowledge), Ikraam-e-Muslim (Respect of Muslim), Ikhlas-e-Niyyat (Sincerity of intention), Dawat-o-Tableegh (Proselytizaton). Tablighi Jamaat believes that Muslims are in a constant state of spiritual Jihad in the sense of fight against evil, the weapon of choice is Dawah (proselytization) and that battles are won or lost in the "hearts of men." Read more...
Nadia Ali (Urdu: نادیہ علی, born 3 August 1980) is an American singer-songwriter. Ali gained prominence in 2001 as the frontwoman and songwriter of the band iiO after their debut single "Rapture" reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also charted across several countries in Europe. Their 2006 single, "Is It Love?", reached the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart.
After embarking on a solo career in 2005, Ali became a vocalist in electronic dance music. She released her debut album Embers in 2009. Three singles from the album reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, including the No. 1 hit, "Love Story". Read more...- Ahmad Hasan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian and linguist. He was an authority on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology and history. He introduced archaeology as a discipline in higher education in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Throughout his career, Dani held various academic positions and international fellowships, apart from conducting archaeological excavations and research. He is particularly known for archaeological work on pre-Indus Civilization and Gandhara sites in Northern Pakistan. He was also the recipient of various civil awards in Pakistan and abroad. He was able to speak 35 local and international languages and dialects. Read more...
Malala Yousafzai (Malālah Yūsafzay: Urdu: ملالہ یوسفزئی; Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ [məˈlaːlə jusəf ˈzəj]; born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. She is known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become "the most prominent citizen" of the country.
Yousafzai was born to a Pashtun family in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Her family came to run a chain of schools in the region. Considering Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Benazir Bhutto as her role models, she was particularly inspired by her father's thoughts and humanitarian work. In early 2009, when she was 11–12, she wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC Urdu detailing her life during the Taliban occupation of Swat. The following summer, journalist Adam B. Ellick made a New York Times documentary about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region. She rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by activist Desmond Tutu. Read more...
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Urdu: شاہد خاقان عباسی; born 27 December 1958) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2017 to May 2018. A senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N), he has been a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since October 2018. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 1988 to 1999 and again from 2008 to 2018.
Born in 1958 in Karachi to Khaqan Abbasi, Abbasi was educated at Lawrence College, Murree. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, before obtaining a master's degree from George Washington University. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a professional engineer in various projects in the United States and the Middle East. Read more...
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Selected images
Indus Priest King Statue from Mohenjo-Daro.
President George W. Bush meets with President Musharraf in Islamabad during his 2006 visit to Pakistan.
Television assembly factory in Lahore. Pakistan's industrial sector accounts for about 20.3% of the GDP, and is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Muhammad Iqbal was the ideological father of Pakistan
Muslim girl wearing Shalwar kameez, c. 1870
The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is part of Pakistan's Sufi heritage.
A Pakistani dish prepared using the tandoori method
Standing Buddha from Gandhara, Greco-Buddhist art, 1st-2nd century AD.
Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's national poet who conceived the idea of Pakistan
Boeing 737 owned and operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). PIA operates scheduled services to 70 domestic destinations and 34 international destinations in 27 countries.
Azad Kashmir is part of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Land controlled by Pakistan shown in dark green; land claimed but not controlled shown in light green
The Pakistan Stock Exchange is one of the best-performing markets in the world. According to Forbes, PSX delivered a return of 400% between 2010 and 2015.
An example of Pakistani masala chai.
Tarbela Dam, the largest earth filled dam in the world, was constructed in 1968.
Lahore Fort, a landmark built during the Mughal era, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Minar-e-Pakistan is a national monument marking Pakistan's independence movement.
Pakistan Air Force's JF-17 Thunder flying in front of the 26,660-foot-high (8,130-metre) Nanga Parbat.
A traditional cup of black tea
A satellite image showing the topography of Pakistan
Seekh kebab - one of the famous Pakistani food specialities
Pakistan Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai signing the Treaty of Friendship Between China and Pakistan. Pakistan is host to China's largest embassy.
The Kalash people maintain a unique identity and religion within Pakistan.
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) is Pakistan's top ranked university for engineering, sciences and technology.
The 17th-century Badshahi Mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore
Clifton Beach in Karachi, with under-construction skyscrapers in the background.
Government College University is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan as well as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the Muslim world.
The areas shown in green are the Pakistani-controlled areas.
The Lahore Fort, a landmark built during the Mughal era, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
A sitar workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Faisal Mosque, built in 1986 by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay on behalf of King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia
Pakistan produced 1,135 megawatts of renewable energy for the month of October 2016. Pakistan expects to produce 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by the beginning of 2019.
Map showing population density in Pakistan, per 2017 census.
Pakistan hosts the second largest refugee population globally after Turkey. An Afghan refugee girl near Tarbela Dam
The Friday Prayers at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore
Surface mining in Sindh. Pakistan has been termed the 'Saudi Arabia of Coal' by Forbes.
Signing of the Tashkent Declaration to end hostilities with India in 1965 in Tashkent, USSR, by President Ayub alongside Bhutto (centre) and Aziz Ahmed (left)
Truck art is a distinctive feature of Pakistani culture.
Köppen climate classification of Pakistan
Ayub Khan (President of Pakistan) with U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Literacy Rate in Pakistan 1951-2018
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This week in history
- 8 October 2005: The Kashmir earthquake (also known as the South Asia earthquake or the Great Pakistan earthquake) of 2005, was a major earthquake, of which the epicentre was the Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The earthquake occurred at 08:50:38 Pakistan Standard Time (03:50:38 UTC) on 8 October 2005. It registered 7.6 on the richter scale making it a major earthquake similar in intensity to the 1935 Quetta earthquake, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The Pakistani government's official death toll was 73,276, while officials say nearly 1,400 people died in Jammu and Kashmir and fourteen people in Afghanistan. Most of the affected people lived in mountainous regions with access impeded by landslides that blocked the roads, leaving an estimated 3.3 million homeless in Pakistan.
Provinces and Territories
Clickable map of the four provinces and three federal territories of Pakistan.
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Provinces:
Territories: Pakistani-administered portions of the Kashmir: | |
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Quote of the Day
| “ | Pakistan not only means freedom and independence but the Muslim Ideology which has to be preserved, which has come to us as a precious gift and treasure and which, we hope other will share with us. | ” |
| — Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) | ||
Selected biography
Allama Muhammad Iqbal (/ˈɪkbɑːl/; Urdu: محمد اِقبال; 9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938), widely known as Allama Iqbal was a poet, philosopher and politician, as well as an academic, barrister and scholar in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan." He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both Urdu and Persian.
Iqbal is admired as a prominent poet by Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshies, Iranians and other international scholars of literature. Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, The Secrets of the Self, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include The Secrets of Selflessness, Message from the East and Persian Psalms. Amongst these, his best known Urdu works are The Call of the Marching Bell, Gabriel's Wing, The Rod of Moses and a part of Gift from Hijaz. Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political discourses. Read more...
Did you know
- ... that Lahore Knowledge Park is an actualization of Triple Helix configuration; a framework to create synergies between government, academia and industry to operate into an interactive rather than linear model for the establishment of social formats and entities to promote commercial innovation and R&D. [1] (27 January, 2017)
- ... that Multan Sultans is the most expensive franchise team of Pakistan Super League? (04 December, 2017)
- ... that Sialkot is the world's largest producer of hand-sewed footballs, with local factories manufacturing 40~60 million footballs a year, amounting to roughly 60% of world production. (4 December, 2017)
- ... that Hafiz Muhammad Fazal Azim Taha, the famous living Pakistani poet said about Iqbal's work that "He not only dreamed for Pakistan but also got the nation up for their rights". This famous saying is regarded as Iqbal's definition. (14 July, 2014)
- ... that Tajammul Hussain Malik headed an unsuccessful coup attempt against Pakistani dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in 1980? (22 September, 2009)
- ... that the Legal Framework Order, 1970, issued by Gen. Yahya Khan, set the rules for the first direct popular elections in the history of Pakistan? (14 September 2009)
- ... that in 1881 in the village of Bakhshali in northern Pakistan, the Bakhshali manuscript, the oldest surviving example of Indian mathematics, was discovered written on birch bark? (1 September 2008)
- ... that the original images of Lord Swaminarayan at the Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Karachi, Pakistan were removed and taken to India during the turbulent times of its partition? (1 September 2008)
- ... that Saudi Arabia promised to supply 50,000 barrels of free oil per day to help Pakistan if economic sanctions were imposed after its 1998 nuclear tests? (1 September 2008)
- ... that in a major improvement in bilateral relations in 2008, Pakistan proposed sharing nuclear technology with Bangladesh? (31 August, 2008)
- ... that Abdur Rashid Kardar, a pioneer of the Pakistani film industry in Lahore, was a calligraphist who prepared posters for foreign-made films? (11 July 2008)
- ... that the Nigar Awards are the oldest awards of merit in the Pakistani film industry? (10 July 2008)
- ... that Syed Wajid Ali was the longest serving President of the Pakistan Olympic Association with a tenure of 26 years? (7 July 2008)
- ... that the 1948 film Teri Yaad was the first feature film to be released in Pakistan after the partition of India? (6 July 2008)
- ... that The Edhi Foundation, founded by Edhi, runs the world's largest volunteer ambulance service operating 1,800 of them with upto 6,000 a day in Karachi alone. (4 December 2017)
Pakistan News
- 3 July 2019 – Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
- Five Pakistani soldiers are killed and one is injured by a bomb blast in Jammu and Kashmir. (Economic Times)
- 26 June 2019 –
- In Pakistan three suicide bombers attempted to storm a police housing complex in the southern Balochistan province. One of them was killed by guards, while the two others entered and blew themselves up, killing a senior constable and wounding five others. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility (Reuters)
- 11 June 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Vayu is in the Arabian Sea less than 600 miles south-southeast of Karachi, Pakistan, and is strengthening as it heads north. Vayu is expected to be a Category 2 or 3 storm when it approaches the Indian state of Gujarat early Thursday (local time), then should weaken as it approaches southeastern Pakistan over the weekend. (The Weather Channel) (Al Jazeera)
- 24 May 2019 – Insurgency in Balochistan
- A bombing at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of the restive province of Balochistan, kills three people, including the prayer leader, and wounds at least 28 worshippers. (Al Jazeera)
- 10 May 2019 – Insurgency in Balochistan
- Suspected Baloch nationalist gunmen storm a coal mine in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least five people. (Al Jazeera)
- 8 May 2019 – 2019 Lahore bombing
- A blast near the 11th-century Data Darbar Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, kills at least eleven people, half of them police officers. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
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