Portal:Pakistan
Wikipedia portal for content related to Pakistan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 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 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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Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan has over 240 Million adherents of Islam. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions.
About 97% of Pakistanis are Muslims. The majority are Sunni (85-90%) while Shias make up between 10% and 15%. The Hanbali school has gained popularity recently due to Wahabbi influence from the Middle East. Smaller minority Muslim populations in Pakistan include Quranists, nondenominational Muslims. There are also two Mahdi'ist based creeds practiced in Pakistan, namely Mahdavia and Ahmadis, the latter of whom are considered by the constitution of Pakistan to be non-Muslims, constitute 1% of the Muslim population. Pakistan has the world's largest Muslim majority city (Karachi). (Full article...)Selected picture - show another
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The Tulip Lawn is a popular and well-known garden locale, situated adjacent to the magnificent Tulip Riverside Hotel located at the bank of Jhelum River in Jhelum. Photo credit: Talha |
General images
- Image 1Pakistan is the fifteenth most water stressed country in the world. (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 2Pakistan Monument Islamabad (from Islamabad)
- Image 3Monument in F-9 Park (from Islamabad)
- Image 4Islamabad's annual precipitation allows for the growth of lush forests in the city's hills. (from Islamabad)
- Image 5Satellite image of the Sulaiman Range (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 6Islamabad skyline (from Islamabad)
- Image 7Trail 3 Islamabad (from Islamabad)
- Image 8Distribution of Pakistani diasporaPakistan+ 1,000,000+ 100,000+ 10,000+ 1,000(from Pakistanis)
- Image 10Schoolgirls in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in shalwars with cuffed hems, and kameez with western-style collars. (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 11The Lahore Fort, a landmark built during the Mughal era, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 13Islamabad population pyramid in 2017 (from Islamabad)
- Image 14The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is part of Pakistan's Sufi heritage. (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 16Dust storm over Pakistan and surrounding countries, 7 April 2005 (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 17K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 feet), is the world's second highest peak (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 18Dewan Masjid Islamabad (from Islamabad)
- Image 19Islamabad Golf Club (from Islamabad)
- Image 20A traditional cup of black tea (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 21The Shrine of Meher Ali Shah was completed immediately before construction began on the future capital city just east of the shrine (from Islamabad)
- Image 22The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus was built in 2015 to connect Islamabad with neighbouring Rawalpindi. (from Islamabad)
- Image 23Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore is the third-largest cricket stadium in Pakistan with a seating capacity of 27,000 spectators. (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 24Men dressed in shalwar kameez in a general store on the road to Kalash, Pakistan (from Pakistanis)
- Image 26Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's national poet who conceived the idea of Pakistan (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 27Pakistan map of climate classification zones (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 28Islamabad Metro Bus (from Islamabad)
- Image 30Islamabad Zones (from Islamabad)
- Image 31Faisal Mosque (from Islamabad)
- Image 32The caves at Shah Allah Ditta, on Islamabad's outskirts, were part of an ancient Buddhist monastic community (from Islamabad)
- Image 34The five zones and sectors of Islamabad (from Islamabad)
- Image 35Topography of Pakistan (from Geography of Pakistan)
- Image 36Located on the bank of Arabian Sea in Karachi, Port Grand is one of the largest food streets of Asia. (from Culture of Pakistan)
- Image 37Faisal Mosque (from Islamabad)
- Image 40The Pakistan Monument (from Islamabad)
- Image 41F-9 Fatima Jinnah Park (from Islamabad)
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: |
Things you can do
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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)
Pakistan news
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- 19 July 2024 –
- Pakistani counter-terrorism authorities arrest Amin al-Haq, a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda and a close confidant of Osama bin Laden. (Times of India)
- 15 July 2024 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Eight soldiers are killed during a suicide bombing at a military base in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Ten Pakistani Taliban gunmen are also killed in an ensuing shootout. (Al Jazeera)
- 15 July 2024 – 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods
- At least 47 people are killed and 350 others are injured by severe storms in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. (Dhaka Tribune)
- 15 July 2024 – Arrest of Imran Khan, 2023 Pakistani protests
- Pakistan moves forward a case to ban former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party due to alleged use of illegal foreign funds and party supporter protests at military installations, and also pushes charges of treason for Khan and former president Arif Alvi. (Reuters)
- 10 July 2024 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Four security officials and three Pakistani Taliban insurgents are killed in a shootout in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
- 3 July 2024 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Five people, including former senator Hidayat Ullah, are killed when their vehicle en route to an election rally strikes a roadside bomb in Bajaur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (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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Subcategories
Pakistan topics
Recognized content
Related portals
Religions in Pakistan
Indian Subcontinent
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WikiProjects
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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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Wiktionary
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Wikipedias in Pakistani languages
Sources
- Mahendra, Anjali. "The Metro Bus System comes to Lahore, Pakistan". TheCityFix. World Resources Institute. Retrieved 31 August 2021.