Balochistan

Balochistan or Baluchistan (Balochi: بلوچستان, lit. Land of the Baloch) is an arid desert and mountainous region on the Iranian plateau in south-western Asia, northwest of the Arabian Sea and the national homeland of the Baloch people. It stretches across southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Iran, and a small section of southwestern Afghanistan. The southern part of Balochistan is Makran.

The second most populous linguistic group in the region is the Pashto-speaking Pashtun people. Brahui is spoken by the Brahui people. Punjabi and Sindhi are also spoken as first languages in Pakistani Balochistan and by Hindki in Afghanistan. Urdu is used as second language in Pakistan. Persian is used as a second language in Iran and Afghanistan.

Etymology

The Baloch people once referred to their land as Moka or Maka, a word which later became Makran. Moka might have been an adaptation of Mahi-khoran, Persian for "fish eaters," an appellation used by the Persians of the west for the people of coastal Balochistan. Arrian, in his Anabasis Alexandri, referred to the people of the region as the ichythophagi, a Greek translation of Mahi-khoran.

Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: [nəreːnd̪rə d̪ɑːmoːd̪ərəd̪ɑːs moːd̪iː], born 17 September 1950) is the 15th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014. Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi. He led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament) – a first for any party since 1984 – and was credited for 2014 BJP electoral victories in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

Since taking office as Prime Minister, Modi's administration has focused on reforming and modernising India's infrastructure and government, reducing bureaucracy, encouraging increased foreign direct investment, improving national standards of health and sanitation and improving foreign relations. Modi has been appreciated for starting initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission, Make in India and Digital India. Earlier, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi's economic policies (credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised, although his administration has also been criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state and failing to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots. A Hindu nationalist and a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally, despite his progressivism. Known for his tech savvy image, he is the second most followed politician on social media after U.S. President Barack Obama.

Hassan Nisar

Hassan Nisar (Urdu: حسن نثار ‎) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and an analyst. He is known for his talk show Choraha (Urdu for Crossroads) in Geo TV, Pakistan.

Career

Nisar started his career as a journalist from Dhanak Magazine in the 1970s. Later he became the Editor of Dhanak. He composed poetry, movie songs and edited a magazine Monthly Zanjeer in 1980, he appeared on TV talk shows, including Meray Mutabiq and Choraha on Geo News. His presentations are in Urdu. His commentaries in print and electronic media focus on contemporary Pakistan and the political history of Islam. He left Jang Group and GEO TV Network in August 2012 due to some differences with management related to his compensation and moved to Dunya News, he resumed his signature program with different title, Meri Dunya. However, after a short stint at DUNYA News (about 8 months), he re-joined Jang Group and GEO TV Network in late April 2013 after his issues were resolved.

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