Parachinar

Parachinar (Urdu: پاڑاچنار‎, Pashto: پاړا چنار‎) is the capital of Kurram Agency, and the largest city of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Parachinar is situated on a neck of Pakistani territory south of Peshawar, that juts into Paktia Province of Afghanistan. It is the closest point in Pakistan to Kabul and borders on the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. Turi, Bangash, Orakzai, Zazai, Mangal and Para Tsamkani are the major tribes in Parachinar. Parachinar has four seasons. Parachinar is very famous for its fresh fruits and fresh vegetables.

History

The name Parachinar may derive from a large Chinar tree at a place now encompassed by the headquarters of Kurram Agency. Alternatively, there is in the Kurram Agency a tribe known as the Para-chamkani (Lisyani), which is remembered to have convened meetings under a Chinar tree to resolve their social matters. The previous name, used for Kurram was Tutki, which is still used by some Afghan people. The inhabitants of Tutki were called Tutkiwal.

Kurram Valley

Kurram (Urdu: کرم‎ Kurram; Pashto: كرمه‎ Kurma or Kwarma) Tribal Agency is located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan. Geographically, it covers the Kurram Valley (Urdu: وادی کُرم‎) region which is a valley in the northwestern part of Pakistan. Most of the population is Pashtun and the main religion is Islam. Major tribes living in Kurram Agency are Turi, Bangash, Orakzai, Zazai (JAJI), Mangal, Ghilzai and Para Chamkani.

Until the year 2000, when the old divisions were abolished, the Kurram District used to be part of the Peshawar Division of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan.

Description

The name Kurram comes from the river Kurram (क्रुमू or Krumu in Rgvedic Sanskrit), which flows along the valley. In the north it is surrounded by snow-covered or "white" mountains, the Safed Koh, locally known in Pashto as Speen Ghar, which also forms the natural border with Afghanistan.

Kurram Agency is located in the FATA and its major tribes are Turi, Para-Chamkani, Bangash, Zazai (Jaji), Orakzai, Alisherzai, Alizai, Mangal, Muqbal and Masozai.

Imran Khan

Imran Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) better known as Imran Khan is a Pakistani politician, former cricketer, philanthropist, cricket commentator and former chancellor of the University of Bradford. He is also founder of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and the Namal College, Mianwali. Khan played international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and, after retiring, entered politics.

Khan was Pakistan's most successful cricket captain, leading his country to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, playing for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992, and serving as its captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup in 1988, owing to popular demand he was requested to come back by the president of Pakistan Zia ul Haq to lead the team once again. At the age of 39, Khan led his team to Pakistan's first and only One Day World Cup victory in 1992. With 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, he is one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches. On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Pakistan

Coordinates: 30°N 70°E / 30°N 70°E / 30; 70

Pakistan (ⁱ/ˈpækᵻstæn/ or ⁱ/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاكستان‎ ALA-LC: Pākistān, pronounced [pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn]), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاكستان‎ ALA-LC: Islāmī Jumhūriyah Pākistān IPA: [ɪslɑːmiː d͡ʒʊmɦuːriəɪh pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn]), is a country in South Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 199 million people. It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering 881,913 km² (340,509 sq mi). Pakistan 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, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the Mehrgarh of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander of Macedonia, 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 the subcontinent's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of the Subcontinent 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.