50 Fun Facts About Pakistan

Which city has been the capital of Pakistan since it was built as a planned city in the 1960s?

Greek architect Constantinos Doxiadis drew the master plan, dividing the city into eight zones along the Margalla Hills.

Pakistan gained independence from British rule in which year?

The two dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into being at midnight on 14–15 August. Pakistan became a republic with its first constitution in 1956.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah is revered in Pakistan by the title Quaid-e-Azam, which means what?

He is also called Baba-e-Qaum, Father of the Nation. He led the Muslim League from 1913 and served as the country's first governor-general until his death in 1948.

K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, stands at what height?

Also called Mount Godwin-Austen, it earned the nickname 'Savage Mountain' and was first climbed by Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni in 1954.

The Indus River rises in which region before flowing through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea?

There it is called Sengge Zangbo. The 3,180 km river bends sharply around the Nanga Parbat massif on its way south.

Which is Pakistan's national sport?

Cricket is far more popular today, but the men's hockey team has won three Olympic golds and four World Cups.

Which animal, known for its corkscrew horns, is the national animal of Pakistan?

It is also called the screw-horned goat. Both sexes grow the tightly curled horns, which spread outward toward the tips.

Which flower, called chambeli or yasmin locally, is Pakistan's national flower?

The species is Jasminum officinale. Indonesia and the Philippines also chose a jasmine, but a different species, Jasminum sambac.

Which conifer is the national tree of Pakistan?

The same Himalayan cedar is the state tree of Himachal Pradesh in India. It grows in Pakistan's northern mountains alongside spruce and pine.

Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel laureate in history when she won the Peace Prize at what age?

She won in 2014, the second Pakistani laureate after physicist Abdus Salam. She was named after the Afghan folk heroine Malalai of Maiwand.

Abdus Salam, the first Pakistani Nobel laureate, won the 1979 prize in which field?

He shared it with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow for unifying the weak and electromagnetic interactions.

The ancient city of Mohenjo-daro was built around what date?

That makes it contemporary with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Its name means 'Mound of the Dead Men' in Sindhi.

The Mohenjo-daro archaeological site lies in which province?

It sits in Larkana District. The province's own name and the word 'Indus' share the same ancient root, Sindhu.

The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore was built between 1671 and 1673 by which Mughal emperor?

Unusually for a Mughal ruler he was not a big patron of architecture, spending most of his reign on military campaigns. The mosque faces the Lahore Fort.

The tent-shaped Faisal Mosque was designed by an architect from which country?

Vedat Dalokay's design uses eight concrete shell faces instead of a dome. It is named for King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who funded it.

Which language is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan?

English is the other official language. Punjabi is actually the most widely spoken mother tongue, at about 37 percent of the population.

Benazir Bhutto first became prime minister of Pakistan in which year?

She was the first woman elected to lead a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country, and served again from 1993 to 1996.

The Khyber Pass runs along Pakistan's border with which country?

The summit at Landi Kotal lies 5 km inside Pakistan. It has funnelled invaders and traders through the Spin Ghar mountains for millennia.

Nanga Parbat, nicknamed the 'Killer Mountain', ranks where among the world's highest peaks?

At 8,126 m it is also the 14th most prominent peak on Earth, one of only two mountains in the top twenty of both lists.

Squash legend Jahangir Khan went unbeaten from 1981 to 1986, winning how many consecutive matches?

Guinness lists it as the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sport. He also won ten straight British Opens.

Imran Khan captained Pakistan to its first Cricket World Cup title in which year?

He retired straight after the final. He later served as the country's 19th prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

The polytheistic Kalash people live in three valleys of which region?

The valleys are Bumburet, Rumbur and Birir. Most Kalash converted after Muslim rule arrived in the 14th century; a few thousand did not.

The Karakoram Highway reaches its highest point, 4,714 m, near which crossing on the Chinese border?

The 1,300 km road, sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World, is one of the highest paved roads on Earth.

The port of Gwadar was purchased by Pakistan in 1958 from which country?

It had been an overseas possession of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman since 1783. Today it anchors the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Tarbela Dam on the Indus holds which world record?

It sits where the Indus leaves the Himalayan foothills for the Pothohar Plateau.

On Pakistan's flag, what does the vertical white stripe at the hoist represent?

The green field stands for the Muslim majority.

The city of Sialkot is estimated to produce what share of all the footballs made in the world?

It is also a major maker of surgical instruments, an industry that dates back to the 1920s under British rule.

The evening flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah border with India has run since which year?

Pakistan Rangers and India's Border Security Force perform the choreographed high-kicking drill every sunset.

Which is the largest of Pakistan's provinces by area, but the least populated?

It covers about 44 percent of the country's land yet only 5 percent of it is arable. Its capital is Quetta.

The North-West Frontier Province was renamed what in April 2010?

The change came with the 18th Constitutional Amendment. Its capital is Peshawar.

Gilgit-Baltistan, home to K2, was known by what name until 2009?

It became a single administrative unit in 1972 and gained provincial-style institutions with the 2009 renaming.

The Pakistan Super League played its first season in 2016 in which country?

International cricket had left Pakistan after the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team bus. Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars lead the title count with three each.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the world's most famous performer of which form of Sufi devotional music?

His title Shahanshah-e-Qawwali means 'King of Kings' of the form. NPR named him one of its 50 Great Voices.

The Shalimar Gardens in Lahore were begun in 1641 under which Mughal emperor?

The same emperor built the Taj Mahal. The gardens were modelled on his father Jahangir's Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir and became a UNESCO site in 1981.

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Taxila was a centre of which ancient region and its Buddhist art?

Known as Takshashila in antiquity, it was one of the great learning centres of the ancient world. UNESCO listed it in 1980.

Rohtas Fort near the Salt Range was commissioned by which 16th-century ruler?

The founder of the Sur Empire built it to subdue the Gakhar tribe on the advice of his finance minister Todar Mal.

Makli Necropolis, among the world's largest funerary sites, lies near which historic city of lower Sindh?

The city was the capital of lower Sindh until the 17th century, and the site grew under the Samma dynasty.

The flat, round chapli kebab originated in which city?

The name may come from the Pashto word for 'flat'. It is now found across South Asia but remains a Pashtun signature dish.

The Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore commemorates the Lahore Resolution, adopted on which date?

The resolution was the first official call for a separate Muslim homeland. The tower stands about 70 metres tall and was built between 1960 and 1968.

Pakistan's Chagai-I nuclear tests of 28 May 1998 involved how many simultaneous detonations?

They were carried out at the Ras Koh Hills in Chagai District, a site chosen back in 1978. A further test, Chagai-II, followed two days later.

Arfa Karim became the youngest person in the world to hold which certification in 2004?

She was nine at the time and was invited by Bill Gates to visit the company's headquarters the following year. She died in 2012 aged 16.

Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has won two Academy Awards, both for what kind of film?

Saving Face won in 2012 and A Girl in the River in 2016. She has also collected seven Emmys.

Before it became independent Bangladesh in 1971, that territory was known as what?

The war began with Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971 and ended after India joined on 3 December.

In Choudhry Rahmat Ali's acronym 'Pakistan', what does the P stand for?

The letters came from Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan; the word also means 'land of the pure' in Persian and Urdu.

Which city's truck-art style, with flashing bulbs, glass and mirrors, has been nicknamed 'disco art'?

General Motors introduced trucks there in the 1930s and it became the hub of the tradition. It is also the country's largest city and was the capital until 1959.

Pakistan ranks where among the world's countries by population, with over 241 million people?

It also has the second-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.

Pakistan Day, a national holiday with a military parade, falls on which date?

It marks both the 1940 resolution and the 1956 constitution that made the country a republic. 14 August is Independence Day.

In which city did Muhammad Iqbal give his famous 1930 address on a political framework for Muslim-majority regions?

The speech to the Muslim League's annual session spurred the two-nation theory. Iqbal died in 1938, nine years before the country he imagined existed.

In which year did Pakistan adopt a republican constitution and become an Islamic republic?

Until then it had been a dominion of the British Commonwealth, split into East and West Pakistan.

Pakistan shares its only maritime border with which Arabian Peninsula country?

Its land neighbours are India, Afghanistan, Iran and China; it ranks 33rd in the world by area.