Azad Jammu and Kashmir abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir,is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region,which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west,respectively. On its eastern side,Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC),which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically,it covers a total area of 13,297 km2 (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.
East Pakistan was the eastern province and one of two exclaves of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971,covering the territory of the modern country Bangladesh. The province was restructured and renamed from East Bengal,which,in modern times,is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma,with a coastline on the Bay of Bengal. East Pakistanis were popularly known as "Pakistani Bengalis";to distinguish this region from India's state West Bengal,East Pakistan was known as "Pakistani Bengal". In 1971,East Pakistan became the newly independent state Bangladesh,which means "country of Bengal" or "country of Bengalis" in Bengali language.
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist,he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Bin Laden is most widely known as the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Pakistan,officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country,with a population of over 241.5 million,having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital,while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area and the ninth-largest in Asia. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south,the Gulf of Oman on the southwest,and the Sir Creek on the southeast,it shares land borders with India to the east;Afghanistan to the west;Iran to the southwest;and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman,and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.
Pervez Musharraf was a Pakistani military officer and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He also served as the 10th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1998 to 2001 and the 7th Chief of Army Staff from 1998 to 2007.
Islamabad is the capital city of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city with a population of over 1.2 million people and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Built as a planned city in the 1960s and established in 1967,it replaced Karachi as Pakistan's official national capital.
Since the Partition of British India in 1947 and subsequent creation of the dominions of India and Pakistan,the two countries have been involved in a number of wars,conflicts,and military standoffs. A long-running dispute over Kashmir and cross-border terrorism have been the predominant cause of conflict between the two states,with the exception of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971,which occurred as a direct result of hostilities stemming from the Bangladesh Liberation War in erstwhile East Pakistan.
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pakistan,having served a total of more than 9 years across three tenures. Each term has ended in his ousting.
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces,tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan,with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when required,and a tertiary role of providing strategic airlift capability to Pakistan. As of 2024,as per the International Institute for Strategic Studies,the PAF has more than 70,000 active-duty personnel. PAF stands as the eight largest Air Force in the world. PAF is the largest Air Force of the Muslim world in terms of aircraft fleet. Its primary mandate and mission is "to provide,in synergy with other inter-services,the most efficient,assured and cost effective aerial defence of Pakistan." Since its establishment in 1947,the PAF has been involved in various combat operations,providing aerial support to the operations and relief efforts of the Pakistani military. Under Article 243,the Constitution of Pakistan appoints the President of Pakistan as the civilian Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS),by statute a four-star air officer,is appointed by the President with the consultation and confirmation needed from the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer who served as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He is the founder and former chairman of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from 1996 to 2023. He was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team throughout the 1980s and early 90s.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet,despite the president of Pakistan serving as the nominal head of executive. The prime minister is often the leader of the party or the coalition with a majority in the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan,the National Assembly where he serves as Leader of the House. Prime minister holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the National Assembly. The prime minister is designated as the "Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic".
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971,also known as the third India-Pakistan war,was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war began with Pakistan's Operation Chengiz Khan,consisting of preemptive aerial strikes on eight Indian air stations. The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan,marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence,on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts. Thirteen days after the war started,India achieved a clear upper hand,and the Eastern Command of the Pakistan military signed the instrument of surrender on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka,marking the formation of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh. Approximately 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken prisoner by the Indian Army,which included 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces,including some Bengali soldiers who had remained loyal to Pakistan. The remaining 10,324 to 12,500 prisoners were civilians,either family members of the military personnel or collaborators (Razakars).
The Bangladesh Liberation War,also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence,or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh,was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan,which resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. The war began when the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan—under the orders of Yahya Khan—launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971,initiating the Bangladesh genocide.
The Pakistan national cricket team has represented Pakistan in international cricket since 1952. It is controlled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB),the governing body for cricket in Pakistan,which is a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Pakistan compete in cricket tours and tournaments sanctioned by the PCB and other regional or international cricket bodies in Test,One Day International (ODI),and Twenty20 International (T20) formats. Pakistan are current ICC Champions Trophy holders.
Asif Ali Zardari is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 10 March 2024. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan,is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Council since 1952,it represents the country's men's and women's national teams in international cricket tournaments played under the ICC.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer and politician Imran Khan,who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI ranks among the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML–N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP),and it is the largest party in terms of representation in the National Assembly of Pakistan since the 2018 general election. With over 10 million members in Pakistan and abroad,it claims to be the country's largest political party by primary membership,as well as one of the largest political parties in the world.
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis,especially Bengali Hindus,residing in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War,perpetrated by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971,as Operation Searchlight was launched by West Pakistan to militarily subdue the Bengali population of East Pakistan;the Bengalis comprised the demographic majority and had been calling for independence from the Pakistani state. Seeking to curtail the Bengali self-determination movement,erstwhile Pakistani president Yahya Khan approved a large-scale military deployment,and in the nine-month-long conflict that ensued,Pakistani soldiers and local pro-Pakistan militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 Bengalis and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women in a systematic campaign of mass murder and genocidal sexual violence. In their investigation of the genocide,the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists concluded that Pakistan's campaign involved the attempt to exterminate or forcibly remove a significant portion of the country's Hindu populace.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history,the second Pakistani and the only Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native homeland,Swat,where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement,and according to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen."
The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a men's Twenty20 cricket league contested by six city-based franchise teams. The league was founded in 2015 by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams,the league is a single entity in which each franchise is owned and controlled by the investors.
