Swat Valley Volunteers

In Pakistan's Swat valley, volunteers form anti-Taliban militias

With government support, thousands of armed volunteers have banded together to form traditional militias against the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat valley, which the army recently wrested back from the hands of extremists.

The militias — known as a "lashkar" — are being organized in individual villages across Swat, a scenic area in Pakistan's North West Frontier province, where the Taliban had unleashed a reign of terror.

The creation of a home-grown security service could bring a measure of stability to Swat, which has a population of about 2 million, but it carries the risk that the armed groups will operate independently and could slip out of state control, setting up a system of warlords.

Some critics say the establishment of lashkars is an indictment of the Pakistani military, which stood by when the Pakistani Taliban established a base in Swat and took complete control of the region.

The Pakistani Taliban, a spinoff of the Afghan extremist movement that's closely linked to al Qaida, developed in lawless tribal areas, then began spreading district by district through the NWFP, which is close to the heart of Pakistan. It was only under severe U.S. pressure that the Pakistani army launched a full-scale operation in April to drive the militants out of Swat, an offensive that won strong praise inside and outside the country.

"It is our duty to kill them, the terrorists. What should we do, kiss them?" said Afzal "Lala" Khan, a former Pakistani Cabinet minister, speaking at his home in the Matta area of Swat, where he held out against the Taliban for two years. He's the only political leader who dared to stay in the valley.

In recent days, Khan raised a lashkar of more than 2,000 men to defend his village and the surrounding locality. An army brigadier general who addressed the lashkar said that each village must organize its own militia, with a man from every household taking part.

"These (lashkars) are no danger to the state. They'll maintain the peace," Khan said. "Our thinkers and column writers worry about what will happen in the future, after decades, but they've got no other solution."

The men in the lashkars — which their leaders often call by the less militaristic name of "village defense committees" — provide their own arms. At the biggest such gathering so far, 10,000 men rallied at the airport just outside Swat's main town of Mingora last week. Many had modern arms, such as Kalashnikovs, but others arrived with old shotguns, rusty pistols and more than one white-bearded man turned up with an ax or even a stick.

The mayor of Swat, Jamal Nasir, who was forced from his home in the Matta area in 2007, formed a 2,500 strong lashkar in recent days for his village, and turned up at the first gathering brandishing an M4 machine gun. Nasir, who'd landed near the top of the Taliban hit list, is now able to resume his duties as mayor but said that rebuilding schools and other damaged infrastructure will have to wait while he organizes the lashkar.

"We waited for three years for the government to come to help us, but we were not rescued," Nasir said. "We don't want to wait for three more years if the Taliban comes back."

Swat was a relatively developed part of Pakistan's otherwise tradition-bound NWFP. The militias didn't exist when the Taliban began their drive for power, so members are having to re-learn the lashkar culture. There are already reports of lashkar members dying in skirmishes with the Taliban, as well as of the militia gunning down extremists.

Many people in Swat appear to support the lashkars, but those with misgivings think that they could end up being used to settle old scores with non-Taliban rivals and that the lashkar leaders, usually the big local landowners, could become de facto warlords. Zia-ud-Din Yusufzai, a school principal in Mingora who had taken a stand against the Taliban, said it was the job of the state to defend citizens.

"Why militarize the whole society? We need books, not guns," Yusufzai said. "The world is progressing ahead. Why should we go back to the caves?"

The army spokesman in Swat, Col. Akhtar Abbas, said that the army coordinated activities with the lashkars to prevent accidental clashes with them, but provided only "moral support."

"The army will only be there for a limited time," said Fazal Karim, the top government official for Swat and surrounding districts. "The police is meant for normal circumstances; they are not trained to confront an insurgency. We are passing through very extraordinary times . . . The lashkars are something very positive. People realized the need to defend themselves against this scale of menace."

Urdu, Pakistani National Language

Urdu, is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of Language. It is one of the two official languages, the othe being English, as well as the National language, of Pakistan. It is also one of the 23 officiallanguages of India. Its vocabulary developed under Hindi, Persian, Arabic, Turkic and Sansikrit. In modern times Urdu vecabulary has been significantly influenced by Punjabi and even English. Urdu was mainly developed in western Uttar Pradesh, India, but began taking shape during the Delhi sultnate as well as Mughal Empire (1526- 1858) in the Indian subcontinent.

Language scholars independently categrize Urdu as a standrised register of Hindustani termed the standerd dialect Khariboli. The grammatical description in this article concern this standerd Urdu. In General, the term "Urdu" can encompass dialects of Hindustani other than the standrised versions. The original language of the Mughals had been Turkic, but after their arrival in south asia, they came to edopt Persian and later Urdu.

The word is believed to be derived from the Turkic or Mongolian word Ordo which means army encompment. It was initially called Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Mu'lla "language of the Exalted Camp" (in Persian) and later just Urdu. It obtained its name from Urdu Bazar, i.e encompment (Urdu in Turkic) market, the market near the road front in the walled city of Delhi.

Urdu is often contrasted with Hindi, another standrised form of Hindustani. The main differences between the two are that Standard Urdu is conventionally written in Nastaliq calligraphy style of the Perso-Arabic script and draws vocabulary more heavily from Persian and Arabic than Hindi, while standard Hindi is conventionally written in Devanagari and draws vocabulary from Sanskrit compratively more heavily. Most lenguestics nontheless consider Urdu and Hindi to be two standrised from of the same language; however, other calssify them separately due to sociolinguistic differences.

Introduction of (Provences of Pakistan)

Introduction of (Provences of Pakistan) Sindh

ORIGIN OF THE NAME

The province of Sindh has been designated after the river Sindh (Indus) which literally created it and has been also its sole means of sustenance. However, the importance of the river and close phonetical resemblance in nomenclature would make one consider Sindhu as the probable origin of the name of Sindh. Later phonetical changes transformed Sindhu into Hindu in Pahlavi and into Hoddu in Hebrew. The Greeks (who conquered Sindh in 125 BC under the command of the Alexander the great) rendered it into Indos, hence modern Indus.

PREHISTORIC PERIOD

The Indus valley civilization is the farthest visible outpost of archeology in the abyss of prehistoric times. The areas constituting Pakistan have had a historical individuality of their own and Sindh is the most important among such areas. The prehistoric site of Kot Diji in Sindh has furnished information of high significance for the reconstruction of a connected story which pushes back the history of Pakistan by at least another 300 years, from about 2,500 BC. Evidence of a new element of pre-Harappan culture has been traced here. When the primitive village communities in Baluchistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment, a highly cultured people were trying to assert themselves at Kot Diji one of the most developed urban civilization of the ancient world that flourished between the year 25,00 BC and 1,500 BC in the Indus valley sites of Moenjodaro and Harappa. The people were endowed with a high standard of art and craftsmanship and well-developed system of quasi-pictographic writing which despite ceaseless efforts still remains un-deciphered. The remarkable ruins of the beautifully planned Moenjodaro and Harappa towns, the brick buildings of the common people, roads, public-baths and the covered drainage system envisage the life of a community living happily in an organized manner.

EARLY HISTORY

The earliest authentic history of Sindh dates from the time when Alexander the Great abandoned his scheme of conquest towards the Ganges, alarmed at the discontent of his soldiers. He embarked a portion of the army in boats, floated them down the Jhelum and the Chenab, and marched the remainder on the banks of the river till he came to the Indus. There he constructed a fleet, which sailed along the coast towards the Persian Gulf with part of his forces, under the command of Nearchus and Ptolemy, whilst Alexander himself marched through Southern Baluchistan and Persia to Seistan or Susa. At that time Sindh was in the possession of the Hindus, the last of whose rulers was Raja Sahasi, whose race, as is reported by native historians, governed the kingdom for over two thousand years. The Persian monarchs were probably alluded to, for in the sixth century BC Sindh was invaded by them, They defeated and slew the monarch in a pitched battle and plundered the province and then left. Eight years after his accession to the Persian throne, Darius I, son of Hystaspes extended his authority as far as the Indus. This was about 513 BC.

The Arab conquest of Sindh by Muhammad Bin Qasim in 712 AD gave the Muslims a firm foothold on the sub-continent. The description of Hiun Tsang, a Chinese historian, leaves no doubt that the social and economic restrictions inherent in the caste differentiations of Hindu society had however, gradually sapped the inner vitality of the social system and Sindh fell without much resistance before the Muslim armies. According to Al-Idreesi, the famous city of Al-Mansura was founded during the reign of Mansur (754-775 AD) the second Khalifa of the Abbasid dynasty. Khalifa Harun-al-Rashid (786-809 AD) was able to extend the frontiers of Sindh on its western side. For nearly two hundred years since its conquest by Muhammad Bin Qasim, Sindh remained an integral part of the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates. The provincial governors were appointed directly by the central government. History has preserved a record of some 37 of them.

The Arab rule brought Sindh within the orbit of the Islamic civilization, Sindhi language was developed and written in the naskh script. Education became widely diffused and Sindhi scholars attained fame in the Muslim world. Agriculture and commerce progressed considerably. Ruins of Mansura, the medieval Arab capital of Sindh (11 kms south east of Shahdadpur) testify to the grandeur of the city and the development of urban life during this period.

In the 10th century, native people replaced the Arab rule in Sindh. Samma and Soomra dynasties ruled Sindh for long. These dynasties produced some rulers who obtained fame due to judicious dispensation and good administration.

Sindh was partially independent and the scene of great disorders till late in the sixteenth century when it failed into the hands of Emperor Akbar, and for a hundred and fifty years the chiefs paid tribute, but only as often as they were compelled to do so, to the Emperor at Delhi. Later the Kalhora clan claiming descent from the house of Abbas and long settled in Sindh produced religious leaders of whom Main Adam Shah attained prominence in the 16th century. His descendants continued to gather large following and this enabled them to capture political power in the north western Sindh under the leadership of Mian Nasir Muhammad. This happened in the 2nd half of the 17th century. By the turn of that century, foundations of the Kalhora power were firmly laid in the northern Sindh under the leadership of Mian Yar Mohammad. During the reign of his son, Mian Noor Muhammad, lower Sindh with Thatta as its capital came under the Kalhora administration (1150 A.H).

Under the banner of Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur, the Balochis defeated the last Kalhora ruler Mian Abdul Nabi in the battle of Halani in 1782 AD. Talpur Amirs regained the parts of Sindh (Karachi, Khairpur, Sabzal Kot and Umar Kot) which the last Kalhora chief had conceded to the neighboring rulers. By eliminating the foreign interference, which had plagued the Kalhora rule, and by their essentially democratic way of governance, the Talpurs were able to take the people into confidence and thus achieved

Great many things within a short period of 60 years. They built up an excellent system of forts and outposts guarding the frontiers, extended the irrigation system, encouraged scholarly pursuits and educational institutions, and promoted trade and commerce internally as well as with the neighboring countries.

The British who came to Sindh also as traders became so powerful in rest of the sub-continent that in 1843 Sindh lost its independence falling prey to the British imperialistic policy. The Talpurs were defeated on the battlefields of Miani, Dubba and Kunhera and taken prisoners. The conquerors behaved inhumanly with the vanquished as they did with the Muslim rulers in India. Charles Napier who commanded the troops subsequently became the first Governor of the province of Sindh.

The British had conquered Sindh from their bases in Bombay and Kutch and their supporters were Hindus. Therefore, Sindh was annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1843 and a constant policy to subdue the Muslim majority and to lionize the Hindu minority in Sindh was followed. Trade and commerce, Services and education became monopolies in the hands of the minority whom with the support of the rulers wrought havoc on Muslims. Within a few years forty percent of the Muslim land holdings passed on to the Hindu creditors. It was after a long struggle that the cause of Sindh was supported by the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah when he brought in his famous 14-points the demand of Sindh's separation from Bombay Presidency. H.H. Sir Agh Khan, G.M. Syed, Sir Abdul Qayyum Khan (NWFP) and many other Indian Muslim leaders also played their pivotal rule that was why the Muslims of Sindh succeeded in getting Sindh separated from the Bombay Presidency in 1936.

Karachi is the capital of Sindh and the biggest city of the provence and Pakistan as well. It is also considered to be in top ten biggest cities of the world. Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Khairpur, Tanduadam, Sakkar, Rohri are the well known cities of the provence.

Balochistan is the largest province in the country of Pakistan by geographical area, constituting approximately 48% of the total area of Pakistan. According to 2009 estimates, Balochistan has a population of roughly 10 million. Its neighbouring regions are Iran to the west, Afghanistan and the North West Frontier Province to the north, Punjab and Sindh to the east. To the south is theArabian Sea. The principal languages in the province are the native Balochi andBrahui, followed by Pashto, Sindhi, Hazaragi, and Persian. The capital and largest city is Quetta, which although a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual city, the ethnic Pashtuns form the largest group and not the Baloch. Balochistan is believed to be rich in mineral resources. It is the second major supplier, afterSindh, of natural gas to the country.

History:

Balochistan was the site of the earliest known farming settlements upon theIranian plateau bordering South Asia, the earliest of which was Mehrgarh dated at 6500 BCE. Pakistani Balochistan corresponds to the ancient Achaemenidprovince of Gedrosia. Balochistan was sparsely populated by various tribes, possibly of Dravidian and Indo-Iranian origin, for centuries following the decline of the nearby Harappa-Mohenjo-daro civilisation to the east. Over time, Balochistan was invaded by various Eurasian groups including the Aryans,Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Mughals, Afghans, and theBritish. Aryan invasions appear to have led to the eventual demise of the Elamo-Dravidian^[5] Brahui tribes who were original people of the land where Balochsarrived later but now have mixed together . Aryan invasions appear to likely they are an Iranian group who have possibly absorbed Arab ancestry and cultural traits instead, it is also believed that Baloch are of Arab blood, it could be they left the Arab world when Iraq broke from Persia in 652 AD and there is historical evidence that suggests they lived in (Khuzestan) and (Bushehr) before moving toKerman and Hormozgan. The Balochs began to arrive from their homeland in north-west Iran and appear to be an offshoot of the Kurdish tribes that would mainly populate the western end of the Iranian plateau. The Baloch tribes eventually became a sizeable group rivalled only by another Iranian group whereBrohis and Pashtuns came under influences of Balochs.

arrival of Islam in Balochistan

What is now Balochistan Province province of Pakistan, in the 7th century was divided into two main regions, its south western parts were part of Kermān Province of the Persian Empire and north eastern region was part of the Persian province Sistan. The southern region was included in Makran. In early 644, CaliphUmar sent Suhail ibn Adi from Busra to conquer the Kerman region of Iran; he was made governor of Kerman. From Kerman he entered the westernBaluchistan and conquered the region near to Persian frontiers. South Western Baluchistan was conquered during the campaign in Sistan the same year. DuringCaliph Uthman’s reign in 652, Baluchistan was re-conquered during the campaign against the revolt in Kerman, under the command of Majasha ibn Masood, it was first time when western Baluchistan came directly under the Laws of Caliphateand gave tribute on agriculture. In those days western Baluchistan was included in the dominion of Kerman. In 654 Abdulrehman ibn Samrah was made governor of Sistan, an Islamic army was sent under him to crush the revolt in Zarang, which is now in southern Afghanistan. Conquering Zarang a column moved north ward to conquer areas up to Kabul and Ghazni in Hindu Kush Mountains, while another column moved towards North western Baluchistan and conquered area up to the ancient city of Dawar and Qandabil (Bolan), by 654 the whole of what is now Baluchistan province of Pakistan was under the rule of Rashidun Caliphateexcept for the well defended mountain town of QaiQan (now Kalat), which was conquered during Caliph Ali’s reign. Abdulrehman ibn Samrah made Zaranj his provincial capital and remained governor of these conquered areas from 654 to 656, until Uthman was murdered. During the Caliphate of Ali, the areas of Baluchistan, Makran again broke into revolt. Due to civil war in the Islamic empire Ali was unable to deal with these areas until 660 when he sent a large force under the command of Haris ibn Marah Abdi towards Makran, Baluchistanand Sind. Haris ibn Marah Abdi arrived in Makran and conquered it by force then moved north ward to north eastern Baluchistan and re-conquered Qandabil(Bolan), then again moving south finally conquered Qaiqan (Kalat) after a fierce battle. Rashidun Caliphate and he budget for the province in recent years with greater emphasis on education, roads and increased job opportunities.

A Baloch shepherd,

In 15th century Mir Chakar Khan Rind became first king of Baluchistan. Balochistan subsequently was dominated by empires based in Iran andAfghanistan as well as the Mughal Empire based in India. Ahmed Shah Durraniannexed the region as part of a "greater" Afghanistan. The area would eventually revert to local Baloch control, while parts of the northern regions would continue to be dominated by Pashtun tribes.

During the period of the British Raj, there were four Princely states in Balochistan: Makran, Kharan, Las Bela and Kalat. In 1876 Sir Robert Sandemanconcluded a treaty with the Khan of Kalat and brought his territories - includingKharan, Makran, and Las Bela - under British suzerainty. After the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, the Treaty of Gandamak concluded in May 1879, the Afghan Emir ceded the districts of Quetta Pishin,Sibi, Harnai, and Thal Chotiali to the British. In 1883 the British leased the Bolan Pass, southeast of Quetta, from theKhan of Kalat on a permanent basis. In 1887 some areas of Balochistan were declared British territory. In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand negotiated an agreement with Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan to fix the Durand Line running fromChitral to Balochistan to as the boundary between the Afghans and the British.

There were two devastating earthquakes in Balochistan during British colonial rule: The 1935 Balochistan Earthquake devastated Quetta and the 1945 Balochistan Earthquake, with its epicentre in Makran region, was felt in other regions of South Asia.

In 1948, one year after the Partition of India, Balochistan joined Pakistan.

On 15 June 2006, an estimated 600 fighters, led by three commanders, agreed to lay down their weapons after talks with Shoaib Nausherwani, Baluchistan's minister for internal affairs, in Dera Bugti district. On August 26, Balochistan tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in airstrikes carried out by the Pakistani military.

The Punjab (Shahmukhi: پنجاب (help·info), province of Pakistan is by far the country's most populous and prosperous^{[citation needed]} region and is home to thePunjabis and various other groups. Neighbouring areas are Sindh to the south,Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province to the west, Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir, Islamabad to the north, and India to the east and north-east. The main languages are the Punjabi, Urdu, Saraiki, Potowari andPashto. The provincial capital is Lahore. The name Punjab literally translates from the Persian words Pañj (پنج) , meaning Five, and Āb (آب) meaning Water. Thus Punjab can be translated as (the) Five Waters - and hence the Land of the Five Rivers, referring to the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej these five rivers are all the tributaries of the Indus River. The province was founded in its current form in May 1972.

Ancient History

It was formerly thought that the original inhabitants of the Indus Valley area were the present populations of South India who were displaced by Aryansinvaders from the North West. The main site of the Indus Valley Civilization in Punjab was the city of Harrapa. The Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan and eventually evolved into Indo-Aryan civilization. The arrival of the Indo-Aryans led to the flourishing of the Vedic Civilization along the length of the Indus River. This civilization shaped subsequent cultures inSouth Asia and Afghanistan. Punjab was part of the great ancient empires including the Gandhara Mahajanapadas, Mauryas, Kushans and Hindu Shahi. Agriculture flourished and trading cities (such as Multan and Lahore) grew in wealth.

Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from the west. Invaded by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks, andAfghans, Punjab witnessed centuries of bitter bloodshed. Its legacy is a unique culture that combines Zorastrian, Hindu, Buddhist, Persian, Central Asian,Islamic, Sikh, and British elements.

The city of Taxila, reputed to house the oldest university in the world,Takshashila University, was established by the great Vedic thinker and politicianChanakya. Taxila was a great centre of learning and intellectual discussion during the Maurya Empire. It is a UN World Heritage site, and revered for its archaeological and religious history.

Greeks, Central Asians, and Persians

Unique to Pakistani Punjab was that this area was briefly conquered into various central Asian, Greek and Persian empires: after the bloody victories ofAlexander the Great, Mahmud of Ghazni and Tamerlane. These were periods of contact between this region of Pakistan and the Persian Empire and all the way to Greece. In later centuries, when Persian was the language of the Mughal government, Persian architecture, poetry, art and music was an integral part of the region's culture. The official language of Punjab remained Persian until the arrival of the British in the mid 19th century, where it was finally abolished and the administrative language was changed over to English. After 1947, Urdu, which has Persian and Sanskrit roots, became Pakistan's national language (Zaban-e-Qaum).

Arrival of Islam

Badshahi Masjid - The largest mosque of the Mughal Empire built by emperor Aurangzeb.

The Punjabis followed a diverse plethora of faiths mainly Hindus but with large minorities of Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Pagans and Shamanists when the UmayyadMuslim Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Punjab and Sindh in 711. Bin Qasim recorded he so was overwhelmed by the gold in the AdityaTemple in the thriving trading city of Multan (known as Mulasthana then), that he recovered the expenses for his entire invasion.

During the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni, non-Muslims were ordered to pay thejaziya tax. The province became an important centre and Lahore was made into a second capital of the Ghaznavid Empire based out of Afghanistan.

Mughals

The Mughals controlled the region from 1524 until 1739 and would also lavish the province with building projects such as the Shalimar Gardens and the Badshahi Mosque, both situated in Lahore. Muslim soldiers, traders, architects, theologians and Sufis flocked from the rest of the Muslim world to the IslamicSultanate in South Asia and some may have settled in the Punjab. Following the decline of the Mughals, the Shah of Iran and founder of the Afsharid dynasty inPersia, Nader Shah crossed the Indus and sacked the province in 1739. Later, theAfghan conqueror Ahmad Shah Durrani, incidently born in Panjab, in the city ofMultan made the Punjab a part of his Durrani Empire lasting until 1762.

Afghans

The founder of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Durrani, an ethnic Pashtun (Afghan), was born on the outskirts of Multan, souther Panjab where many of his descendants live to this day. After cementing his authority over various Afghan tribes, he went about to establish the first united Afghan Kingdom (Greater Afghanistan) that during its greatest extent included modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northeastern Iran. The Punjab was a cultural reservoir for the Afghans, and many where attracted to its lush fertile lands, a process that continues to this very day. It has been said that with the loss of the breadbasket regions of the Punjab and Sindh, Afghanistan has never been able to achieve a stable state ever since. Many ethnic Afghan or Pashtun tribes continue to live in Pakistan's Punjab province such as the Khugyanis known as Khakwanis, Alizais,Tareens, Durranis, Mullazais, Niazis, Lodhis, Kakazais, and Barakzais to name a few.

Sikhs

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the religion of Sikhism was born, and during the Mughal period gradually emerged as a formidable military force until subjugated and assimilated by the later rising and expanding Sikh Empire. After fighting Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Sikhs wrested control of the Punjab from his descendants and ruled in a confederacy, which later became the Sikh Empire of the Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A denizen of the city of Gujranwala, the capital of Ranjit Singh's empire was Lahore.^[3] The Sikhs made architectural contributions to the city and the Lahore Fort.

British

The Maharaja's death in the summer of 1839 brought political chaos and the subsequent battles of succession and the bloody infighting between the factions at court weakened the state. Relationships with neighbouring British territories then broke down, starting the First Anglo-Sikh War; this led to a British official being resident in Lahore and the annexation of territory south of the Satluj toBritish India.

Some parts of Pakistani Punjab also served as the centre of resistance in theIndian Rebellion of 1857. Sikhs were the first people of the Punjab to rule their own land since Prithviraj Chauhan's defeat.

Partition, Independence and its aftermath

In 1947 the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious lines intoWest Punjab and East Punjab. The western Punjabis voted to join the new country of Pakistan while the easterners joined India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees.

The undivided Punjab, of which Punjab (Pakistan) forms a major region today, was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus unto 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.^[4]

At the time of Partition in 1947 and due to the ensuing horrendous exchange of populations, the Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus migrated to India.^[5] Punjabi Muslims were uprooted similarly from their homes in East Punjab which now forms part of India.^[6]

Of the total estimated figure of 7 million plus who moved to West Pakistan, over five million settled in Punjab.

The West Punjabi Sikh and Hindu refugees who moved to India leaving their ancient home lands in Punjab (Pakistan) belonged to various sub groups, clans, tribes, castes and also linguistic groups. This includes Khatris, Tarkhans, Rajputs,Jats, Gujjars, Kambojs, Mohyals, Mazhabis, as well as others such as the linguistically distinct Multanis. The Punjabi tribes having Indo-Scythian origin(Tarkhan, Khatri, Jat, Gujjar, Kamboj, Rajput) are found as a majority inPunjab. A unique feature among Punjabis of different faiths Sikh, Muslim andHindu hailing from the area which now forms the Punjab (Pakistan) is the enduring affinities to sub grouping and clans cutting across religious lines. Consequently these Punjabis of Pakistan, despite having left the country, continue to share common surnames and tribal affiliations with their parent tribes and lands left behind. This includes surnames such as Awan,Kahlon,Khokhar,Nanda, Duggal, Sethi, Suri, Bajwa, Sahgal, Sial, Bagga, Panesar,Bhatti, Ghumman, Sandhu, Tiwana, Wahi clan, Puri, Vohra, Toor, Kohli, Bakshi,Bhogal, Matharu, Virk, Virdi, Handa, Dhillon, Sindhu, Sidhu, Sohal, Tarar,Waraich, Grewal, Deol, Cheema, Oberoi, Tandon, Wasser, Warar, Maan, Johal,Bains (Jat), Sehdev, Brar, Shergill, Gill (clan), Boparai, Dhand, Bahri, Bindra,Maitla, Kang, Randhawa, Sial, Dhariwal, Hanjra, Sabharwal, Bassi, Gujral, Sahota, Malhotra, Mehra, Chatwal, Sarna, Khanna, Chopra, Bhambra, Nagi,Chadhar, Bhalla, Anand, Chandhok, Basur, Johar, Kochhar, Bhasin, Sodhi, Bedi,Ghai, Jolly, Tuli, Talwar, Nayar (Khatri), Sobti, Alagh, Khullar, Bhullar, Bhogal, Chadhha, Bhurjee(Bhurji), Bal, Mehta (Khatri), Gulla, Passi (surname), Uppal(Khatri), Marwah, Hunjan, Chaudhry(Khatri) etc. In recent years, many of these refugees have been able to visit their ancestral homelands.

Recent history

Punjab Assembly Building

Since the 1950s, Punjab industrialized rapidly. New factories came up in Lahore,Multan, Sialkot. In the 1960s the new city of Islamabad was built nearRawalpindi.

Agriculture continues to be the largest sector of Punjab's economy. The province is the breadbasket of the country as well as home to the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, the Punjabis. Unlike neighbouring India, there was no large-scale redistribution of agricultural land. As a result most rural areas are dominated by a small set of land-owning families. This small ruling class also allegedly dominates powerful positions in the army and civil bureaucracy. This results in some resentment from residents of other provinces as well as by the working people of Punjab.

In the 1950s there was tension between the eastern and western halves of Pakistan. In order to address the situation, a new formula resulted in the abolition of the province status for Punjab in 1955. It was merged into a single province West Pakistan. In 1972, after East Pakistan seceded and becameBangladesh, Punjab again became a province.

Punjab witnessed major battles between the armies of India and Pakistan in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Since the 1990s Punjab hosted several key sites of Pakistan's nuclear program such as Kahuta. It also hosts major military bases such as at Sargodha and Rawalpindi. The peace process between India and Pakistan, which began in earnest in 2004, has helped pacify the situation. Trade and people-to-people contacts through the Wagah border are now starting to become common. Indian Sikh pilgrims visit holy sites such as Nankana Sahib.

Starting in the 1980s large numbers of Punjabis migrated to the Middle East,Britain, Spain, Canada and the United States for economic opportunities. Business and cultural ties between the United States and Punjab are growing.

N.W.F.P

North West Frontier Province is a province of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, located on both banks of the river Indus and stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the deserts in the south where it is bordered by the Baluchistan and Punjab provinces. On its western flank is the rugged terrain of neighboring country Afghanistan, which is accessed via the historic Khyber Pass through the mountains of the Suleiman Range. Its borders touch or are close to those of China, the Tajikistan and the disputed territory of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the north. The capital of the province is the city of Peshawar.

It covers an area of 74,521 sq. km. According to the 1998 census, the total population of N.W.F.P. was approximately 14 million out of whom 52% are males and 48% females. The density of population is 187 per sq. km and the intercensal change of population is of about 30 percent. Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern one extending from the ranges of the Hindukush to the borders of Peshawar basin; and the southern one extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin. The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of Peshawar basin which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall. The southern zone is raid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scantly rainfall. Its climate varies from very cold (Chitral in the north) to very hot in places like D.I. Khan.

Its snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys of unusual beauty attract tourists and mountaineers from far and wide while its art and architecture no less known than the historic Khyber Pass. Once the cradle of Gandhara civilization, the area is now known for its devout Muslims who jealously guard their religion and culture and the way of life which they have been following for centuries.

The warlike Pukhtoons, who live in NWFP and the adjoining areas of Afghanistan, making them a race apart, a chosen people, and no one, has ever managed to subdue them. The Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs, British and Russians have suffered defeat at their hands. The Pukhtoons are divided into numerous sub-tribes and clans, each defending its territory and honor. In addition, the Pukhtoons serve as Pakistan's first line of defense along the Durand Line, the border drawn in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, then foreign secretary of British India.

Peshawar is the capital city of N.W.F.P, while Abbottabad is also considered as the summer capital of the Provence.

Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshehra, Abbottabad, D.I. Khan, Bannu, Kouhat and Karak are the most famous cities of the provence and Abbottabad, Swat, Kalam, Bahrain, Madyan, Kaghan, Naran are most beautyful areas of N.W.F.P

Guys this is second part of Pakistani history, which begins with the second martial law. In 1977 Zia ul Haque took over the government in Pakistan and Pakistan army arrested Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and after than he was hanged by the decision of Pakistan supreme court. General Zia ruled Pakistan for 11 year till his death in a plane crash.


After death of Zia Benazir Bhutto was elected as the prime minister of Pakistan then Nawaz Sharif became the prime minister and Nawaz and Benazir exchanged the P.M seat each other two times. Till 12 October 1999.


12, 10, 1999 was another dark day in Pakistani history when general Parvez Musharraf took over the government from Nawaz Sharif by an army action. and ruled Pakistan for about nine years.

In 2004 Shoukat Aziz becam Prime minister of Pakistan and he continued this job till end of 2007. After the elections of 18, 2, 2008 Sayyed yousuf Raza Gillani became the P.M of Pakistan and till today he his the P.M of Pakistan.

History Of Pakistan with Timeline 1

In 1947 Pakistan was found in the name of Islam, and it was first state after Madina which was found in the name of Islam and to be the laboratory to experiment Islamic system of life.

In the given image you can see the changing of governing systems and personalities in Pakistan.

Pakistani Culture Gallery