Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern India. Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year.
The chief minister of Punjab is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the provincial assembly for Provincial Assembly. Given that they have the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits. Maryam Nawaz Sharif is the current elected chief minister of Punjab who won her seat in the 2024 general elections.
Indu Mitha is a Pakistani exponent of Bharatnatyam and one of only two in the nation. She also remained a faculty member at the Rawalpindi campus of the National College of the Arts, from which she has retired.
Lahore, being the richest cultural city in Pakistan, celebrates a number of festivals throughout the year. It is known for the festivals of Basant and Mela Chiraghan, but many others are celebrated in the metropolis as well.
Punjabi festivals are various festive celebrations observed by the Punjabis, originating in the Punjab region. The Punjabis are religiously a diverse and that affects the festivals they observe. According to a 2007 estimate, a total of ∼75% percent of the Punjabi population is Muslim, accounting about 90 million people, with 97% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to the remaining 30 million Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus who predominantly live in India.
Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal is a Pakistani businessman and politician who had been the Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture from 19 July 2019 to 2 December 2019. He also had been the Provincial Minister of Punjab for Industries, Commerce and Investment, in office from 27 August 2018 till 1 April 2022. He was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in 2024 and had previously been a member of the assembly from November 2002 to November 2007, from June 2013 to May 2018 and from August 2018 to January 2023. He also served as Senior Minister of Punjab from September 2022 till January 2023. He was chosen by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to be candidate for Chief Minister of Punjab in the 2024 Punjab election.
Mian Mehmood ur Rashid is a Pakistani politician from Lahore who was the Provincial Minister of Punjab for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering, in office from 27 August 2018 till 28 March 2022. He had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 to January 2023. Previously he was a Member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from 1988 to 1993 and again from May 2013 to May 2018. He served as Leader of Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from June 2013 to May 2018. He is a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a party which he joined in 1997, one year after its founding.
Basant is a spring time kite flying event during the Basant Panchami festival in the Punjab. According to the Punjabi calendar it is held on the fifth day of lunar month of Magha marking the start of spring.
Wajahat Masood is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and political analyst. He is widely considered to be a liberal, and a human rights activist. He is currently working with the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Jang. He has earlier worked with BBC and other organisations. He is currently the chief editor of humsub Urdu and humsub English.
Nighat Chaudhry is a Kathak classical dancer who was born on 24 February 1959, in Lahore, Pakistan. She moved to London with her parents when she was one year old. She studied ballet and contemporary dance; but when she was 14, she met Nahid Siddiqui, one of the greatest Kathak dancers, and began training with her. Inspired to learn the classical forms of her own culture, she abandoned ballet. In order to understand and absorb the nuances of the Indian style, she wished to be closer to its origins; and she moved back to Pakistan. She eventually became a trained Sufi & Mystique Kathak classical dancer and has been active as a professional Kathak dancer for over three decades.
Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial is a Pakistani politician who was a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till May 2022.
Abdul Aleem Khan is a Pakistani politician and businessman from Lahore. Abdul Aleem Khan currently serves as a member of the National Assembly after being elected from Constituency NA 117, Shahdara Lahore in the general elections held on 8 February 2024. Abdul Aleem Khan owns PEMRA Samaa TV and Vision Group. He was also the Senior Minister of Punjab and Minister of Food from 2020 to 2021. He also served as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 to 2021. He announced his separation from politics on Twitter in a tweet. Later in a statement to the media, he said that he had no intentions of joining politics again and that he would focus on the welfare through the Abdul Aleem Khan Foundation. In June 2023 he launched the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party along with Jahangir Khan Tareen. He is a founding member and the incumbent president of the party.
Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023. He was also the Official Spokesperson to the Chief Minister of Punjab and President of the Directorate General Public Relations. He has previously served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information, Culture, Colonies and Prisons from 27 August 2018 till 30 March 2020.
Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar is a Pakistani politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab from 20 August 2018 to 30 April 2022, when he was roundly criticised for alleged incompetence. Buzdar was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023 representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Belonging from a Baloch family, he is a minor feudal and the Tumandar of the Baloch tribe Buzdar, since April 2019. He served as Tehsil Nazim of Tehsil Tribal Area from 2001 to 2008.
Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Buzdar was a Pakistani politician who was a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 to 2013. He was Tumandar of Buzdar tribe.
Usman Dar is a Pakistani politician who was Special Adviser to the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan on Youth Affairs. He was in office from 3 December 2018 till his resignation from the parliament on 10 April 2022. He also held the position of Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme during his term.
Huma Safdar is a teacher, theatre artist, Punjabi language activist and director of feminist theatre “Sangat”. As an artist, she worked with Punjab Lok Rahs. She has taught as art and Punjabi language teacher in Lahore Grammar School. She has contributed a lot to promote Punjabi theatre, literature and folklore.
On 23 June 2021, a car bomb exploded in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, killing three people.
The constitutional crisis in Pakistan's Punjab province began on 28 March 2022, when Usman Buzdar tendered his resignation as Chief Minister at the request of Prime Minister Imran Khan and nominated former Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to replace him. On 1 April 2022, his resignation was accepted by then Governor of Punjab, Chaudary Mohammed Sarwar.
The Buzdar provincial government was the Government of Punjab, Pakistan led by Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Usman Buzdar and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from 27 August 2018 to 1 April 2022. His cabinet saw many prominent ministers from the First Parvez Elahi provincial government such as Mian Aslam Iqbal, Aleem Khan and Sibtain Khan. The cabinet also saw reshuffles, while Yasmin Rashid, a politician and gynecologist health expert was granted all health portfolios. Hashim Jawan Bakht, a graduate from the McGill University was also made Minister of Finance.
