PAKISTAN

PRVINCES
PUNJAB SINDH BALOCHISTAN KHYBER PAKHTOON KHAW GILGIT BALTISTAN

PUNJAB
Punjab is Pakistan's second largest province at 205,344 km2 (79,284 sq mi) after Balochistan and is located at the northwestern edge of the geologic Indian plate in South Asia. The province is bordered by Kashmir (Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, India) to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the south, the province of Balochistan to the southwest, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, and the Islamabad Capital Territory to the north. The capital and largest city is Lahore which was the historical capital of the wider Punjab region. Other important cities include Multan,Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Jhelum and Rawalpindi. Undivided punjab is home to six rivers, of which five flow through Pakistani Punjab. From west to east, these are: the Indus, Jhelum, Beas, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. Nearly 60% of Pakistan's population lithe extreme north as well. ves in the Punjab. It is the nation's only province that touches every other province; it also surrounds the federal enclave of the national capital city at Islamabad.This geographical position and a large multi-ethnic population strongly influence Punjab's outlook on National affairs and induces in Punjab a keen awareness of the problems of the Pakistan's other important provinces and territories. In the acronym P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N, the P is for PUNJAB. The province is a mainly a fertile region along the river valleys, while sparse deserts can be found near the border with Rajasthan and the Sulaiman Range. The region contains the Thar and Cholistan deserts. The Indus River and its many tributaries traverse the Punjab from north to south. The landscape is amongst the most heavily irrigated on earth and canals can be found throughout the province. Weather extremes are notable from the hot and barren south to the cool hills of the north. The foothills of the Himalayas are found in

SINDH
Sindh's first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh to the west expanded into Sindh. This culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilization rivaled the contemporary civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in both size and scope, numbering nearly half a million inhabitants at its height with well-planned grid cities and sewer systems. The Indus Valley civilization is the farthest known outpost of archaeology in prehistoric times. Evidence of a new element of pre-Harappan culturehas been traced here. When the primitive village communities in Balochistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment, a highly cultured people were trying to assert themselves at Kot Diji. This was one of the most developed urban civilizations of the ancient world. It flourished between the 25th century BC and 1500 BC in the Indus valley sites of Moenjodaro and Harappa. The people had a high standard of art and craftsmanship and a well-developed system of quasipictographic writing which remains un-deciphered despite ceaseless efforts. The remarkable ruins of the beautifully planned towns, the brick buildings of the common people, roads, public baths and the covered drainage system suggest a highly organized community. According to some accounts, there is no evidence of large palaces or burial grounds for the elite. The grand and presumably holy site might have been the great bath, which is built upon an artificially created elevation.[8]

BALOCHISTAN
Balochistan occupies the eastern portion of the Iranian Plateau, the site of the earliest known farming settlements in the pre-Indus Valley Civilization era, the earliest of which was Mehrgarh dated at 7000 BC. Balochistan was one of the first places Zoroaster travelled to from Bactria in search of converts to his religion. Some of the first proselytes of his religion lived here before Zoroastrianism spread into western portions of the Iranian plateau.[citation needed] Makran and other parts of Balochistan used to be parts of Maurya, Kushan, Guptas, partly of empire of Harsha Vardhana and other dynasties of northern India before advent of Turk-Afghans. Like other middle eastern ethnic groups, the Baloch claim Arabian extraction and assert that they are descended from Amir Hamza, a paternal uncle of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and from a fairy (Pari). They consistently place their first settlement in Aleppo, where they remained until they sided with the sons of Ali, took part in the Battle of Karbala and were expelled by Yazid, the second Umayyad Caliph, in 680 A.D. They went to Kerman, and eventually to Sistan where they were hospitably received by Shams-ud-Din, ruler of that country. According to Mansel Longworth Dames there was a Shams-ud-Din, an independent Malik of Sistan, who died in 1164 A.D. (559 A.H.), almost 500 years after the Baloch migration from Aleppo. Shams-ud-Din claimed descent from the Saffarids of Persia . His successor, Badr-ud-Din, appears to be unknown to history, demanded a bride from each of the 44 bolaks or clans of the Baloch. But the Baloch race had never yet been tribute in this form to any ruler, and they sent 44 boys dressed in girls' clothes and fled before the deception could be discovered. Badr-ud-Din sent the boys back but pursued the Baloch, who had fled south-eastwards into Kech-Makran where they defeated him. During this period Mir Jalal Khan, son of Jiand, was the ruler of the Baloch. He left four sons, Rind, Lashar, Hot, and Korai, and a daughter Jato, who married his nephew Murad. These five are the eponymous founders of the five great divisions of the tribe, the Rinds, Lasharis, Hooths, Korais, and Jatois

Khyber pakhtoon khwa

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is one of the most legendary places on earth. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as it is and was popularly known, of all Pakistan's Provinces, is arguably the most diverse ethnically, the most varied in terrain and sports a vigorous cultural spectrum. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa conjures up a world of valour and war, of rugged men and mountains, of tribesmen shaped in a heroic, hospitable mould. Gateway to the Subcontinent, since times immemorial, it has witnessed migration-waves of peoples,campaigns of conquerors, flow of innumerable caravans of commerce, influx of intellectuals, artists, poets and saints from the north into its fertile valleys and onwards to the plains of the Punjab, Sindh and beyond the Indus to South Asia

Gilgit baltistan
GilgitBaltistan (Urdu: , Balti: , formerly known as the Northern Areas (Urdu: ,Shuml Ilqe Jt)),[4] is the northernmost political entity under Pakistani control. It borders Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan'sWakhan Corridor to the north, China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the east and northeast, Pakistanicontrolled Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the southwest, and the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the southeast. Together with the latter two entities, it forms part of the disputed Kashmir region, which has been the subject of conflict between India and Pakistan since the two countries' independence and partition in 1947.[5] GilgitBaltistan covers an area of 72,971 km (28,174 mi) and is highly mountainous. It has an estimated population approaching 1,000,000. Its administrative center is the city of Gilgit (population 216,760)

EDITED BY:

SAMI UDDIN

SUBMITTED TO

Mir fayaz