Pakistan Times is an independent online daily newspaper. It is published from Islamabad.

Pakistan (ⁱ/ˈpækɨstæn/ or ⁱ/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.

The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.

Malala Yousafzai (Urdu: ملالہ یوسفزئی, Pashto: ملالہ يوسفزی; born 1998) is an eighth-grade Pakistani student from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and is known for being a children's rights activist. At 13 years old she gained notability for championing the cause of the people of Swat by blogging for the BBC under a pseudonym about the atrocities of the Tehrik-i-Taliban regime. The international children's advocacy group KidsRights Foundation included Yousafzai among the nominees for the International Children's Peace Prize, making her the first Pakistani girl nominated for the award. South African Nobel laureate, Desmund Tutu announced the nominations during a 2011 ceremony in Amsterdam, Holland, but Yousafzai did not win the prize

Yousafzai lived in Mingora Swat, occupied by the Taliban before the military operation in 2009. During this time, education was banned and many townspeople were executed. Schools were destroyed, and girls' schools bore the brunt.^{[citation needed]} She wrote a diary for the BBC under the pseudonym of "Gul Makai" where she related the deeds of the Taliban in Swat.

Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرویز مشرف, born 11 August 1943) is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled Pakistan as Chief Executive from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008. Facing impeachment, he preferred to resign on 18 August 2008.

After years of military service, he rose to prominence when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as the Chief of Army Staff in October 1998. Musharraf was the mastermind behind the controversial and internationally condemned Kargil infiltration, which derailed peace negotiations with Pakistan's long standing enemy India. He previously also played a vital role in the Afghanistan civil war (1996–2001) both in peace negotiations and in trying to end the bloodshed. After months of contentious relations with Sharif, Musharraf was brought to power through a bloodless military coup. Subsequently Nawaz Sharif was placed under a house-arrest, later shifting him to Adiala Jail.