The Londoner

It is situated 133 kms (3 hours by car) from Quetta in the province of Baluchistan at an altitude of 2449m (8200 feet) above the sea level. Ziarat is a holiday resort in the Sibi district amidst one of the largest and oldest juniper forests in the world. It is said that some of the juniper trees are as old as 5,000 years. Ziarat is also known as the Juniper Valley. The name Ziarat means 'shrine'. A local saint, Kharwari Baba is believed to have rested in the valley and blessed it. After his death, he was buried here. People visit the saint's shrine, which is 10 kms by jeep from Ziarat town. Ziarat is a hill station in the Sibi district of the province of Baluchistan. It remains quite cool during summer and receives enough snowfall during the winter. Light woollen clothing for the summer and heavy for the winter are recommended. Ziarat and the Juniper valleys around offer good opportunity of hiking and trekking. Various gorges also offer adventure and fun during the summer.

Sindh (Sindhī: سنڌ, Urdū: سندھ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhis. Different cultural and ethnic groups also reside in Sindh including Urdu speaking people who migrated from India at the time of independence as well as the people migrated from other provinces after independence. Neighbouring regions are Balochistan to the west and north, Punjab in the north, the border with (India) to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the south. The main languages are Sindhi and Siraiki. In Sanskrit, the province was dubbed Sindhu meaning "ocean". The Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BCE) knew the region as Sinda, the Persians Abisind, the Greeks Sinthus, the Romans Sindus, the Chinese Sintow, while the Arabs dubbed it Sind. It is mentioned to be a part of Abhirrdesh (Abhira Kingdom) in Srimad Bhagavatam.[2] Historically it was also known as Aparanta.[3] Sindh was the first place where Islam spread in South Asia. As a result, it is often

Pakhtunkhwa is home to the majority Pakhtuns (Pashtuns) as well as other smaller ethnic groups. The province borders Afghanistan to the northwest, the Northern Areas to the northeast, Azad Kashmir to the east, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to the west and south, and Pakistani Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory to the southeast. The principal language is Pashto and the provincial capital is Peshawar. Geography Pakhtunkhwa is largely located on the Iranian plateau and Eurasian landplate, while peripheral eastern regions are located near the Indian subcontinent and this has led to seismic activity in the past. The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Kohalla Bridge in Circle Bakote is a major crossing point over the Jhelum river in the east. The province has an area of (28,773 square miles) or 74,521 km² of Pakistani territory and its districts include Hazara Division, home to the town of Havelian, the western starting point of the Karakoram Hig

Gilgit (Urdu: گلگت) is the capital city of the Northern Areas, Pakistan and a tehsil (headquarters) of Gilgit District. Its ancient name was Sargin which later on came to be known as Gilit and it is still called Gilit or Sargin-Gilit by local people, it was the Sikh and Dogra conquerors who gave it the name of Gilgit, in the Burushaski language, it is named Geelt. Ghallata is considered its name in ancient Sanskrit literature. Gilgit city is one of the two major hubs on the Northern Areas for all mountaineering expeditions of Karakoram to the peaks of the Himalayas, the other hub being Skardu. Gilgit has an area of 14,680 square miles (38,021 km²). The region is significantly mountainous, lying on the foothills of the Karakoram mountains, and has an average altitude of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It is drained by the Indus River, which rises in the neighbouring regions of Ladakh and Baltistan. Geography Gilgit ValleOnly a part of the basin of the Gilgit River is included within the poli

By Owais Mughal Do you know there is a place in Sindh where it snows in winter? Yes, there is one such place and it is called Gorakh Hill . It is located in Dadu District and has an altitude of 5500 ft. It is the highest peak in the Kirthar range of hills which also forms the provincial boundary between Sindh (Dadu) and Balochistan (Khuzdar) as a jagged backbone. Following is a breath taking view of Gorakh Hill. Photo credits belong to [2] below. How to Reach There: From Dadu city the top of Gorakh Hill is at a distance of 93 km. To reach Gorakh, one starts going west from Dadu. At kilometer marker 17 from Dadu, is a place called Johi which is a ‘tehseel’ of Dadu district. At kilometer marker 39 from Dadu is a village called Wahi Pandi which forms the base camp of Gorakh Hill. Wahi Pandi is a decent size village with a population of approximately 20,000. The photo to the left below shows landscape near Wahi Pandi. The photo to the right below shows a glimpse of single track road to Gor

By Sikander Hayat There is no way to placate people in Baluchistan , the only way out of this quagmire is to do what Israel has done and establish three garrison towns in interior Baluchistan and populate them each gradually from people all over Pakistan without any one group having any advantage. The population o f these cities should be 2 million each. This will redress balance in the federation . Give Baluchistan more seats in the National assembly and there will more tax payers in Baluchistan . This will increase the size of cake for all provinces to be shared. Highways should be built to connect all major cites of the province to Islamabad . Every city with a population of 500,000 should have a major university. Pakistan must learn from Turkish experience and not fool herself into thinking that by simply giving in to demands would change anything. Related Posts: 1. Balochistan - Troubles Of A Demographic Nature 2.Why Gwadar Must Not Be Abandoned Like A B