Balochistan, Pakistan

Balochistan (Balochi, Pashto, Urdu: بلوچِستان‎, Balōčistān, pronounced [bəloːt͡ʃɪst̪ɑːn]), is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the southwestern region of the country. Its provincial capital and largest city is Quetta. It shares borders with Punjab and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the northeast, Sindh to the southeast, the Arabian Sea to the south, Iran to the west, and Afghanistan to the north.

Most of the province's inhabitants are Balochs, Pashtuns and Brahuis though there are smaller communities of Iranian Balochs, Hazaras, Sindhis, Punjabis, and other settlers such as the Uzbeks, and Turkmens. The name Balochistan means "the land of the Baloch" in many regional languages. Although largely underdeveloped, the provincial economy is dominated by natural resources, especially its natural gas fields, which supply the entire country. Gwadar Port also plays a significant role in the economic development of the province.

Balochistan is noted for its unique culture, extremely dry desert climate, and the Sulaiman Mountains.

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.

Paristan (film)

Paristan (Land of Fairies) is a Bollywood fantasy film. It was released in 1944. The film was directed by Mahesh Kaul for Acharya Art productions. It starred Pahari Sanyal, Anjali Devi, Kamal Zamindar, Sunalini Devi, Moni Chatterjee and Padma Bannerjee. The music was composed by Ninu Majumdar and the lyrics were by Roopdas and Ninu Majumdar. This was Mahesh Kaul's second film after Angoori (1943).

Cast

Soundtrack

The film had ten songs with music composed by Ninu Majumdar and the lyrics written by Majumdar and Roopdas. The soundtrack label was Columbia Records.

Song List

References

External links

Dominion of Pakistan

The Dominion of Pakistan (Bengali: পাকিস্তান অধিরাজ্য pakistan ôdhirajyô; Urdu: مملکتِ پاکستان‎ mumlikāt-ē pākistān), commonly called Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in South Asia that was established in 1947 on the Partition of India into two sovereign countries (the other being the Dominion of India). The dominion, which included much of modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, was conceived under the two-nation theory as a home for the Muslims of the former British India. To begin with it did not include the princely states of Pakistan, which acceded slowly between 1947 and 1948. In 1956 it became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; and in 1971 East Pakistan seceded from the union to become Bangladesh.

Partition of British India

Section 1 of the Indian Independence Act 1947 provided that from "the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan." India was treated by the United Nations as the successor-state to the former British India. As it was already a member of the United Nations, India continued to hold its seat there and did not apply for a new membership. However, Pakistan was a newly created nation and needed to apply to join. It was admitted as a UN member on 30 September 1947, a few weeks after its independence The British monarch became head of state of the new dominion, with Pakistan sharing a king with the other Commonwealth realms, but the monarch's constitutional roles were delegated to the Governor-General of Pakistan, and most real power resided with the new government headed by Jinnah.

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.

Balochistan (disambiguation)

Balochistan or Baluchistan or Baluchestan (Balochi: بلوچستان) is a region that covers parts of southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:

Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)

The Chief Commissioner's Province of Balochistan (Urdu: بلوچستان ,چیف کمشنر صوبہ) was a province of British India, and later Pakistan, located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan province.

History

The province was originally formed over the period 1876–1891 by three treaties between Robert Sandeman and the Khan of Kalat, Khudadad of Kalat. Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and Afghanistan. A military base was established at Quetta which played a major part in the Second and Third Afghan Wars.

The province became part of Pakistan in 1947 and continued to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was dissolved in 1955 when most parts of the western wing of Pakistan became the new province of West Pakistan. West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970. Khan Abdul Wali Khan intended to transfer political power to the Pashtuns. The former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former Balochistan States Union and the enclave of Gwadar to form a new, larger Balochistan Province, with a Governor, a Chief Minister and a Provincial Assembly.