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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, 9th largest in Asia and the second-largest in South 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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From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan; Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran; community iftar meal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Tarawih prayers in a mosque in West Sumatra, Indonesia; foods served at a traditional iftar meal; Ramadan decorations in Jerusalem; zakat donation boxes in Taipei, Taiwan.

Ramadan ( Arabic: رَمَضَان, romanizedRamaḍān [ra.ma.dˤaːn]; also spelled Ramazan, Ramzan, Ramadhan, or Ramathan) is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting ( sawm), prayer ( salah), reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad's first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.

Fasting from dawn to sunset is obligatory ( fard) for all adult Muslims who are not acutely or chronically ill, travelling, elderly, breastfeeding, diabetic, pregnant, or menstruating. The predawn meal is referred to as suhur, and the nightly feast that breaks the fast is called iftar. Although rulings ( fatawa) have been issued declaring that Muslims who live in regions with a midnight sun or polar night should follow the timetable of Mecca, it is common practice to follow the timetable of the closest country in which night can be distinguished from day. ( 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.

This week in history

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) Sindh Islamabad Capital Territory Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Azad Kashmir Gilgit-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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Ahmad Hassan Dani ( Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a well known Pakistani archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He was among the foremost authorities 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. ( 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 March 28, 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.
26 March 2024 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
A suicide bomber attacks a bus in Shangla District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing five Chinese workers and their Pakistani driver. (AP)
20 March 2024 – Insurgency in Balochistan
Eight Balochistan Liberation Army gunmen are killed after trying to storm Gwadar's port in the Balochistan Province, Pakistan. Two security guards are also wounded in the gunfight, which lasted for two hours. (Al Jazeera)
20 March 2024 –
Twelve people are killed in an explosion at a mine in Harnai District, Balochistan, Pakistan. (AP)
18 March 2024 – Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes
Afghanistan claims five women and three children are killed in two Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, following accusations that attacks in Pakistan were masterminded in Afghanistan, which the Taliban authorities deny. In response, Taliban forces open mortar fire on Pakistani troops at the border. (Reuters)
6 March 2024 –
The Supreme Court of Pakistan unanimously rules that former leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was denied a fair trial before his execution by hanging in April 1979. (Al Jazeera)
3 March 2024 – 2024 Pakistan floods
Thirty-six people are killed and 50 others are injured across Pakistan by heavy rainfall, which has also caused landslides. (AP)

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

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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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