West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea.
The national flag of Pakistan, also known as the Flag of the Star and Crescent, is made up of a green field with a stylized tilted white descending crescent moon and five-pointed star at its centre, and a vertical white stripe at its hoist-end. Though the specific shade of green on the flag is mandated only as 'dark green', its official and most consistent representation is in Pakistan green, which is shaded distinctively darker. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947, and it became the official flag of the Dominion of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, following independence from the British Empire. The flag was subsequently retained as that of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956 and remains in use as the national flag to this day.
Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad was a Pakistani politician and economist who served as the third governor-general of Pakistan from 1951 to 1955.
Lahore Junction Railway Station, is the main railway station in Lahore, Pakistan. It is among the oldest railway stations of the Indian subcontinent. Construction commenced shortly after the 1857 War of Independence. It was built in the style of a medieval fort with thick walls, turrets, and holes to direct gun and cannon fire for the defence of the structure.
The Indian Independence Act 1947 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received Royal Assent on 18 July 1947 and thus modern-day India and Pakistan, comprising west and east regions, came into being on 15 August.
Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated by princely states. After India's independence from the British in August 1947, its members served as the nation's 'Provisional Parliament', as well as the Constituent Assembly. It was conceived and created by V. K. Krishna Menon, who first outlined its necessity in 1933 and enshrined it as an Indian National Congress demand.
Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan, with results from the 2023 Census recording over three million Christians, or 1.37% of the total population in Pakistan. The province of Punjab has the largest population of Christians in the country. The majority of Pakistan's Christians are members of the Catholic Church or the Church of Pakistan, with the remainder belonging to other Protestant groups.
The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its independence, India had been ruled as an informal empire by the United Kingdom. The empire, also called the British Raj and sometimes the British Indian Empire, consisted of regions, collectively called British India, that were directly administered by the British government, and regions, called the princely states, that were ruled by Indian rulers under a system of paramountcy, in favor of the British. The Dominion of India was formalised by the passage of the Indian Independence Act 1947, which also formalised an independent Dominion of Pakistan—comprising the regions of British India that are today Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Dominion of India remained "India" in common parlance but was geographically reduced by the lands that went to Pakistan, as a separate dominion. Under the Act, the King remained the monarch of India but the British government relinquished all responsibility for administering its former territories. The government also revoked its treaty rights with the rulers of the princely states and advised them to join in a political union with India or Pakistan. Accordingly, one of the British monarch's regnal titles, "Emperor of India," was abandoned.
The Dominion of Pakistan, officially Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, which existed from 14 August 1947 to 23 March 1956. It was created by the passing of the Indian Independence Act 1947 by the British parliament, which also created an independent Dominion of India.
East Bengal was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 1955, when it was renamed as East Pakistan. East Bengal had a coastline along the Bay of Bengal to the south, and bordered India to the north, west, and east and shared a small border with Burma to the southeast. It was situated near, but did not share a border with Nepal, Tibet, the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Kingdom of Sikkim. Its capital was Dacca, now known as Dhaka.
The British Raj was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, lasting from 1858 to 1947. It is also called Crown rule in India, or Direct rule in India. The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom, which were collectively called British India, and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British paramountcy, called the princely states. The region was sometimes called the Indian Empire, though not officially. As India, it was a founding member of the League of Nations and a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. India was a participating state in the Summer Olympics in 1900, 1920, 1928, 1932, and 1936.
The Catholic Church in Pakistan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
Pakistan has several official national symbols, including a flag, an emblem, an anthem, a memorial tower as well as several national heroes. The symbols were adopted at various stages in the existence of Pakistan and there are various rules and regulations governing their definition or use. The oldest symbol is the Lahore Resolution, adopted by the All India Muslim League on 23 March 1940, and which presented the official demand for the creation of a separate country for the Muslims of India. The Minar-e-Pakistan memorial tower which was built in 1968 on the site where the Lahore Resolution was passed. The national flag was adopted just before independence was achieved on 14 August 1947. The national anthem and the state emblem were each adopted in 1954. There are also several other symbols including the national animal, bird, flower and tree.
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi popularly known as I.H. Qureshi, SP, HI, was a Pakistani nationalist historian and playwright. He was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi from 1961 till 1971.
Rail transport in Pakistan began in 1855 during the British Raj, when several railway companies began laying track and operating in present-day Pakistan. The country's rail system has been nationalised as Pakistan Railways. The system was originally a patchwork of local rail lines operated by small private companies, including the Scinde, Punjab and Delhi Railways and the Indus Steam Flotilla. In 1870, the four companies were amalgamated as the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway. Several other rail lines were built shortly thereafter, including the Sind–Sagar and Trans–Baluchistan Railways and the Sind–Pishin, Indus Valley, Punjab Northern and Kandahar State Railways. These six companies and the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway merged to form the North Western State Railway in 1880. Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the North Western Railway became Pakistan Western Railway and the rail system was reorganised in the dominion of Pakistan; some of the reorganisation was controversial. Rail use increased in early 1948, and the network became profitable. Declining passenger numbers and financial losses in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted the closure of many branch lines and small stations. The 1990s saw corporate mismanagement and severe cuts in rail subsidies. Due to falling passenger numbers, government subsidies are necessary to keep the railways financially viable.
After power transformation, on 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru assumed office as the first Prime Minister of India and chose fifteen ministers to form the First Nehru ministry.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947 and then as Pakistan's first governor-general until his death.
From 1947 to 1956, the Dominion of Pakistan was a self-governing country within the Commonwealth of Nations that shared a monarch with the United Kingdom and the other Dominions of the Commonwealth. The monarch's constitutional roles in Pakistan were mostly delegated to a vice-regal representative, the governor-general of Pakistan.
The Jalandhar–Jammu line is a railway line connecting Jalandhar Cantonment and Jalandhar City in the Indian state of Punjab with Jammu Tawi in Jammu and Kashmir. The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This line was made after Indian Independence in 1947. Normally before partition of India and creation of Pakistan, trains to Jammu Tawi from Delhi used to run via Panipat, Ambala Cantonment, Ludhiana, Jalandhar City, Amritsar, Lahore, Narowal and Sialkot. But after partition and creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Sialkot–Jammu Tawi line was dismantled and closed permanently. Jammu and Kashmir became cut off from rest of India. Hence in 1949, it was decided to extend the line from Jalandhar City to Mukerian till Pathankot and after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, this line was extended to Jammu Tawi. This 216 km (134 mi) railway line is an important strategic connectivity for Indian Military and Defence.
The Legislatures of British India included legislative bodies in the presidencies and provinces of British India, the Imperial Legislative Council, the Chamber of Princes and the Central Legislative Assembly. The legislatures were created under Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom. Initially serving as small advisory councils, the legislatures evolved into partially elected bodies, but were never elected through suffrage. Provincial legislatures saw boycotts during the period of dyarchy between 1919 and 1935. After reforms and elections in 1937, the largest parties in provincial legislatures formed governments headed by a prime minister. A few British Indian subjects were elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which had superior powers than colonial legislatures. British Indian legislatures did not include Burma's legislative assembly after 1937, the State Council of Ceylon nor the legislative bodies of princely states.
