Pakistan cover photo by ASP
Pakistan cover photo by ASP
The Pakistan Portal

Introduction

Flag of Pakistan
Flag of Pakistan
State emblem of Pakistan
State emblem of Pakistan
Location on the world map
"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. 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 compose 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 Hindu Shahis, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Samma, the Shah Miris, the Mughals, and most recently, the British Raj from 1858 to 1947. (Full article...)

Area controlled by Pakistan shown in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled regions shown in light green.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Pakistan face legal and social difficulties and persecution compared to non-LGBT persons. Pakistani law prescribes criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts.

The Pakistani Penal Code of 1860, originally developed under the British Raj, criminalises sodomy with possible penalties of prison sentences from two years to a life sentence and fines. Despite its illegality, homosexual acts are only occasionally prosecuted by authorities, but it's sometimes used to threaten and harass homosexuals under threat of prosecution. Other morality and public order provisions in the Penal Code are used to target LGBT Pakistanis as well. Another greater problem can be vigilate policing and killings by Islamist and terrorist groups. Police may also act illegally and arrest LGBTQ individuals despite the law stating otherwise. (Full article...)
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Malam Jaba, Swat, Pakistan

Malam Jabba Ski Resort in Swat, NWFP, Pakistan. Malam Jabba (Urdu: مالم جبہ) is located nearly 40km from Saidu Sharif in Swat Valley, Sarhad, Pakistan. Malam Jabba is 314 Kilometers from Islamabad and 51 Kilometers from Saidu Sharif Airport. It is a popular Hill Station and is home to the biggest and most popular ski resort in Pakistan.

Photo credit: Waqas Usman

General images

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

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Provinces and Territories

Clickable map of the four provinces and three federal territories of Pakistan.
A clickable map of Pakistan exhibiting its administrative units.Balochistan (Pakistan)Punjab (Pakistan)SindhIslamabad Capital TerritoryKhyber PakhtunkhwaKhyber PakhtunkhwaAzad KashmirGilgit-Baltistan
A clickable map of Pakistan exhibiting its administrative units.

Provinces:

  1. Balochistan
  2. Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK)
  3. Punjab
  4. Sindh

Territories:

  1. Islamabad Capital Territory
  2. Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Pakistani-administered portions of the Kashmir:

  1. Azad Kashmir
  2. Gilgit-Baltistan

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Zardari in 2024

Asif Ali Zardari (Urdu: آصف علی زرداری; Sindhi: آصف علي زرداري; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 10 March 2024. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party.

He earlier served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013, the first president born after Independence. He is the widower of twice-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2018 to 2023, and in 2024. (Full article...)

Did you know?

  • ... 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 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 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 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 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

Today is August 30, 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.
28 August 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods
The death toll from flooding in Pakistan increases to 245 people. (Dunya News)
26 August 2024 – Insurgency in Balochistan
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) launches an offensive against the Pakistani Army in Balochistan, Pakistan, gaining control of several key highways, including the KarachiQuetta section of National Highway 8, and also damages a train station in Mastung. (Al Jazeera)
25 August 2024 –
Twenty-two people are killed when a bus plunges into a ravine in Kahuta, Punjab, Pakistan. Separately, twelve people are killed in a bus crash on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
24 August 2024 – Insurgency in Balochistan
Three people, including two children, are killed and fifteen others are injured in a motorcycle bomb blast in Pishin District, Balochistan Province, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) (The Washington Post)
22 August 2024 –
At least eleven police officers are killed in an ambush on a convoy by armed attackers near Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan. (Sky News)
21 August 2024 –
Twenty-eight people are killed and 23 others are injured when a bus carrying Shia Pakistani pilgrims to the Arba'in pilgrimage in Iraq crashes and overturns in Yazd province, Iran. (Reuters)

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WikiProjects

You are cordially invited to join and contribute to WikiProject Pakistan, a WikiProject dedicated to the development and improvement of articles relating to Pakistan.

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Wikipedias in Pakistani languages

كشميري (Kashmiri) • پښتو (Pashto) • فارسی (Persian) • پنجابی (Punjabi) • سنڌي (Sindhi) • اردو (Urdu)

Sources

  1. ^ Mahendra, Anjali. "The Metro Bus System comes to Lahore, Pakistan". TheCityFix. World Resources Institute. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Lahore Knowledge Park Company".
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