Some Interesting Facts About Pakistan

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the 6th most populous country in the world. It has an area of 796,095 sq km. It is a country in South Asia and has 4 provinces (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh). Islamabad is the country’s capital and Karachi is its largest city. Both Urdu and English are its official languages. Urdu is also its national language. The Pakistani rupee (PKR) is its official currency. The citizen of Pakistan is called a Pakistani (singular) or Pakistanis (plural). Its four bordering countries are India, Afghanistan, Iran, and China. 1. Sialkot, located in Pakistan, is the world’s largest producer of handsewn footballs. Local factories in the region produce 40-60 million footballs a year, which is roughly 50-70% of the world’s total production. The football manufacturing industry now consists of more than 200 factories. 2. Pakistan is the world’s first Islamic country to attain nuclear power. 3. Pakistan has the highest paved international road – The Karakoram Highway (KKH). 4. Pakistan has the largest canal-based irrigation system in the world. 5. Pakistan has the world’s largest ambulance network. Pakistan’s Edhi Foundation, which is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, operates the network. 6. The highest batting partnership formed by two players playing in their first Test matches in the sport of Cricket is 249 runs by Khalid Ibadulla (b. 20 December 1935) and Abdul Kadir (b. 1944, d. 2002) for Pakistan against Australia in Karachi, Pakistan, in the match played 24-29 October 1964. Wasim Akram, a former Pakistani fast bowler is the first to take 400 wickets in both Tests and ODIs (second being Muttiah Muralitharan). 7. Pakistan’s estimated population was 207,774,520 in August 2017, making it the world’s sixth-most-populous country, behind Brazil and ahead of Nigeria. 8. The name Pakistan means ‘land of the pure’ in Persian and Urdu. 9. Just two people have won the Nobel Prize from Pakistan. Malala Yousafzai for Peace in 2014 and Abdus Salam for Physics in 1979. Pakistan boasts the world’s highest ATM (automated teller machine). The ATM is operated by the National Bank of Pakistan and it is installed at a height of 16,007 feet above sea level, at the Pak-China border, Khunjerab Pass. 11. Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, is its financial hub as well as home to almost 17 million people. It also has a major seaport. Karachi was the first capital city of Pakistan post-independence and remained so until the capital was shifted to Rawalpindi in 1958. 12. India and Pakistan got their independence at midnight of 14–15 August 1947. The Indian Independence Act states – “As from the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan.” 13. Queen Elizabeth II was the Queen Of Pakistan until 1956. And the ex-US President Barack Obama visited Pakistan in 1981.

Sugarcane juice is the national drink of Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is also known as “roh.” 15. Pakistan levies 5% advance tax on annual expenses made related to education, however, only when the total expense is above Rs 200,000 during a year. 16. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was founded on 23 October 1946 as Orient Airways. The airline was nationalized on January 10th, 1955. The airline has a world record for flying the fastest between London and Karachi. The airline achieved this feat in 1962 when they completed the flight in 6 hours, 43 minutes, 55 seconds, a record which remains unbroken to this day. 17. K-2 (Chagori) is the highest mountain peak in Pakistan and the second highest in the world. Famous Mountain peaks of Pakistan, their total height, and world ratings. Famous Mountain Peaks Height World Rating K-2 (Chagori) 8616 m 2nd Nanga Parbat 8125 m 8th Gasherbrum-I 8068 m 11th Broad Peak 8065 m 12th Gasherbrum-II 8047 m 14th Gasherbrum-III 7952 m 15th Gasherbrum-IV 7925 m 16th Disteghil Sar 7885 m 20th Kunyang Kish 7852 m 22nd Masherbrum (NE) 7821 m 24th Rakaposhi 7788 m 27th Batura I 7785 m 28th Kanjut Sar 7760 m 29th Saltoro Kangri 7742 m 33rd Trivor 7720 m 36th Tirich Mir 7708 m 41st (Source) 18. Pakistan also has one of the oldest civilizations in history, Mehrgarh, dating back to 6000 B.C. Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization. It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia. 19. They also have a rare species of ‘Blind Dolphin’ found in the water of Indus River. It is the second most endangered freshwater dolphin species in the world, the first being the ‘functionally extinct’ Yangtze River dolphin. 20. Pakistan also made history with the youngest civil judge in the world. Mohammed Ilyas passed the exam when he was 20 years and 9 months old and thus became the youngest civil judge in the world. 21. The ‘Khewra Salt Mine’ in Pakistan is the second largest and oldest salt mine in the world. 22. Pakistan has the only fertile desert in the world – the Tharparkar desert – located in Sindh province.