Islamic Republic of Pakistan maintains an extensive and large diplomatic network across the world. Pakistan, being the second largest Muslim-majority country in terms of population and its status as a declared nuclear power, being the only Muslim majority nation to have that status, plays a part in its international role.
The Karakoram Highway is a 1,300-kilometre (810 mi) national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314. The highway connects the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plus Gilgit-Baltistan with China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The highway is a popular tourist attraction, and is one of the highest paved roads in the world, passing through the Karakoram mountain range, at 36°51′00″N75°25′40″E at maximum elevation of 4,714 metres (15,466 ft) near Khunjerab pass. Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. The highway is also a part of the Asian Highway AH4.
Swāt is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Swat is renowned for its outstanding natural beauty.
The Saltoro Mountains are a subrange of the Karakoram Range. They are located in the heart of the Karakoram, on the southwest side of the Siachen Glacier, one of the two longest glaciers outside the polar regions. The name given to this range is shared with the Saltoro Valley which is located to the west of this range, downslope on the Pakistan side of the Actual Ground Position Line.
Rimo I is the main summit of the Rimo massif with an elevation of 7,385 metres (24,229 ft). It lies in the northern part of the remote Rimo Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. It is located about 20 km northeast of the snout of the Siachen Glacier and is the world's 71st highest mountain. Rimo means "striped mountain". The Rimo Glacier, originating here, drains to the Shyok river.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is a Pakistani Islamist militant, who is a co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD), a UN-designated terrorist organisation operating mainly from Pakistan.. Saeed is an internationally designated terrorist who is influential in Pakistan among certain religious groups. In April 2012, the United States announced a bounty of $10 million on Saeed for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 164 civilians including 6 Americans. While India supported the US move, there were protests against it in Pakistan.
Aab-e-Gum railway station is located in Aab-e-gum town, Kachhi District of Balochistan province, Pakistan. It is located 50 kilometers (31 mi) southeast of Quetta near Chilton mountain on the Rohri-Chaman Railway Line. Aab-e-gum is a Persian word meaning 'water lost', a name given to a nearby underground spring.
Tourism in Pakistan is a growing industry. In 2010, Lonely Planet termed Pakistan as being "...tourism's ‘next big thing’ for more years than we care to remember. [But] world media headlines [always] send things off the rails". In 2018, the British Backpacker Society ranked Pakistan as the world's top adventure travel destination, describing the country as "one of the friendliest countries on earth, with mountain scenery that is beyond anyone’s wildest imagination." The country is geographically and ethnically diverse, and has a number of historical and cultural heritage sites. According to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 released by the World Economic Forum, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Pakistan's GDP in 2015 was US$328.3 million, constituting 2.8% of the total GDP. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Pakistan's GDP in 2016 was US$7.6 billion, constituting 2.7% of the total GDP. By 2025, the government predicts tourism will contribute ₨1 trillion (US$9.5 billion) to the Pakistani economy.
Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas, is the northernmost territory administered by Pakistan. It borders Azad Kashmir to the south, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north, the Xinjiang region of China, to the east and northeast, and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir to the southeast.
Pakistan Super League is a Twenty20 cricket league, founded in Lahore on 9 September 2015 with five teams and now comprises six teams. 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 investors.
On 16 December 2014, six gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The militants, all of whom were foreign nationals, included one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans. They entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 149 people including 132 schoolchildren, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age making it the world's fourth deadliest school massacre. A rescue operation was launched by the Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG) special forces, who killed all six terrorists and rescued 960 people.
Ghamubar Zom is a mountain in the Hindu Raj mountain range of Asia. Located in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, it has a summit elevation of 6,518 m above sea level. The mountain is close to the border of Gilgit–Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The nearest village from the mountain is Darkot in Yasin valley.
On 16 September 2016, a bombing in a mosque left 36 people dead and 34 injured. The bombing comes only a few days after another one that killed at least 14 people and wounded 60.
