Portal:Pakistan

The Pakistan Portal

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Introduction

Flag of Pakistan	State emblem of Pakistan

"The National Anthem"
Qaumī Tarānah
قَومی ترانہ

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area and the ninth-largest in Asia. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.

Pakistan is the site of several ancient cultures, including the 8,500-year-old Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, the Indus Valley civilisation of the Bronze Age, and the ancient Gandhara civilisation. The regions that comprise the modern state of Pakistan were the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid, the Maurya, the Kushan, the Gupta; the Umayyad Caliphate in its southern regions, the Samma, the Hindu Shahis, the Shah Miris, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, and most recently, the British Raj from 1858 to 1947. (Full article...)

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The Naulakha Pavilion (Urdu: نولکھا) is a white marble personal chamber with a curvilinear roof, located beside the Sheesh Mahal courtyard, in the northern section of the Lahore Fort in Lahore, Pakistan. The monument is one of the 21 monuments situated within the Lahore Fort, with its western façade providing a panoramic view of the ancient city of Lahore.

The structure was originally inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones and overlooked the Ravi River. In 1981, as part of the larger Lahore Fort Complex, Naulakha was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The pavilion is now one of Lahore's most recognizable sights, and has influenced architectural design of notable buildings, including the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C. (Full article...)

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Nagan Interchange in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan is one of the busiest interchanges of Karachi. The transport infrastructure is still in a development phase but has been given significant focus in the last two decades for improvement and modernization.

Photo credit: Suleman sajjad

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General images

The following are images from various Pakistan-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A sitar workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 2Quetta Cantonment, 1889 (from Quetta)
Image 3Dust storm over Pakistan and surrounding countries, 7 April 2005 (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 4The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is part of Pakistan's Sufi heritage. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 5Distribution of Pakistani diaspora
  Pakistan
  + 1,000,000
  + 100,000
  + 10,000
  + 1,000
(from Pakistanis)
Image 6Bugti Stadium, home of Quetta Gladiators (from Quetta)
Image 7Topography of Pakistan (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 8The Qayyum Papa Stadium is named after Pakistan national football team captain Qayyum Changezi, hailing from Quetta (from Quetta)
Image 9Pakistan map of climate classification zones (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 10Schoolgirls in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in shalwars with cuffed hems, and kameez with western-style collars. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 11Quetta railway station was built during the British Raj (from Quetta)
Image 12Satellite image of the Sulaiman Range (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 13Fort Mirri in 1880 (from Quetta)
Image 14Truck art is a distinctive feature of Pakistani culture. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 15Artistic depiction of Sindhi soldiers during medieval times (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 16Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore is the third-largest cricket stadium in Pakistan with a seating capacity of 27,000 spectators. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 17Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's national poet who conceived the idea of Pakistan (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 18Located on the bank of Arabian Sea in Karachi, Port Grand is one of the largest food streets of Asia. (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 19K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), is the world's second highest peak (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 20Men dressed in shalwar kameez in a general store on the road to Kalash, Pakistan (from Pakistanis)
Image 21Passengers boarding a Chaman bound train at Baleli, Quetta (from Quetta)
Image 22The Lahore Fort, a landmark built during the Mughal era, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 23Map of Quetta in 1935 (from Quetta)
Image 24Pakistan is the fifteenth most water stressed country in the world. (from Geography of Pakistan)
Image 25A traditional cup of black tea (from Culture of Pakistan)
Image 26Quetta Fort Mirri (from Quetta)
Image 27Musa Sports Complex (from Quetta)

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.

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Provinces and Territories

Clickable map of the four provinces and three federal territories of Pakistan.

Provinces:

Balochistan and KPK also have Provincially Administered Tribal Areas(PATA) which are being developed into regular districts.

Territories:

Pakistani-administered portions of the Kashmir:

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Pakistan noticeboard

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Cleanup: Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad District, Pakistan

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Khan in 2017

Abdul Qadeer Khan, NI, HI, FPAS (/ˈɑːbdəl ˈkɑːdɪər ˈkɑːn/ ^ⓘ AHB-dəl KAH-deer KAHN; Urdu: عبد القدیر خان; 1 April 1936 – 10 October 2021), known as A. Q. Khan, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer who is colloquially known as the "father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program".

An émigré (Muhajir) from India who migrated to Pakistan in 1952, Khan was educated in the metallurgical engineering departments of Western European technical universities where he pioneered studies in phase transitions of metallic alloys, uranium metallurgy, and isotope separation based on gas centrifuges. After learning of India's "Smiling Buddha" nuclear test in 1974, Khan joined his nation's clandestine efforts to develop atomic weapons when he founded the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976 and was both its chief scientist and director for many years. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that Rehri Goth, one of the poor neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Karachi, is one of the oldest settlements dating back to the 13th century? (31 March 2024)

... that Burushaski, a predominantly in northern Gilgit-Baltistan spoken rather than written language, has not more than 120,000 native speakers? (9 July 2023)

... that the MagnifiScience Centre in Karachi is the only science center in the country, and, unlike a museum, visitors are encouraged to touch and learn from the interaction with the exhibits? (11 June 2023)

... that Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau, the famous German–Pakistani Catholic nun who devoted more than 55 years of her life to fighting leprosy was the first Christian and first non-Muslim to have a state funeral in Pakistan? (2 September 2021)

... that Lahore Metrobus open in 2013, was modelled after the Istanbul Bus Rapid Transit System. Plans were developed in the last quarter of 2011 by both local and Turkish experts.^[1] (31 August 2021)

... 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. ^[2] (27 January 2017)

... that Karachi Kings is the most expensive franchise team of Pakistan Super League? (04 December 2015)

... 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)

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Pakistan news

Today is May 19, 2024

For up to date, in depth news coverage on Pakistan, see Wikinews:Portal:Pakistan. Wikinews is a sister project of Wikipedia, which deals with journalism of current events. They are both operated by the Wikimedia Foundation.

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Current events on Wikinews

18 May 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods: At least 68 people are killed by floods in Ghor and Faryab Provinces, Afghanistan. (AP)
18 May 2024 – Kyrgyzstan–Pakistan relations: The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan asks that Pakistani nationals in Kyrgyzstan stay indoors after mob attacks on Pakistanis and other foreign nationals are reported. (AP)
12 May 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods: The death toll from the ongoing flooding in northern Afghanistan increases to 315, with more than 1,600 people injured, and more than 1,000 houses destroyed. (Reuters)
11 May 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods: The death toll from the ongoing flooding in northern Afghanistan increases to 300, with more than 1,000 houses destroyed. (AP)
10 May 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods: Over 200 people are killed by floods in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan. (NDTV)
3 May 2024 –: A bus plunges into a ravine in Diamer District, Pakistan, killing 15 people and seriously injuring more than 20 others. (AP)

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“

People who have no hold over their process of thinking are likely to be ruined by liberty of thought. If thought is immature, liberty of thought becomes a method of converting men into animals.

”

— Allama Iqbal (National Poet of Pakistan)

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