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 :: It was a poet's idea to create Pakistan
:: Pakistan's name has two meanings :: Wagah Border Crossing Ceremony :: The Grand Trunk Road Goes Through Pakistan :: Pakistan is the Birthplace of Polo :: Lahore hosts the Annual Basant Festival :: The World's Oldest University is in Taxila :: History of Christianity in Pakistan :: Alexander The Great's (Sikander-E-Azam) descendants still reside in Pakistan :: Pakistan's Climate Variations :: Silk Road :: Sikh Religion’s Holy Sites :: Upcoming Commercial Developments in Pakistan It was a poet's idea to create Pakistan [TOP] Poetry is a passion of the Pakistani people, so it is fitting that a poet inspired the creation of Pakistan. In the early 20th century, Sir Dr. Muhammed Iqbal had an idea for a new nation for the Muslim people of South Asia, most of whom lived in what is now the Pakistani province of Punjab. Iqbal urged Muslims of the region to remember their past and fulfill their destiny by becoming a great force in the world.
In a poem called “To the Punjab Peasant” he wrote: “Trampled in the dust is your ages-old history.
Deep in that dust has been smothered your flame.
Wake, and hear dawn its high summons proclaim …
Break all the idols of tribe and of caste.
Break the old customs that fetter men fast!”
His words became as famous to his countrymen as these lines are to Americans: “Give me Liberty or give me Death!” -Patrick Henry
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." -Nathan Hale Pakistan's name has two meanings [TOP]When all of South Asia, including what is now Pakistan, was part of the British colony of India, many young people went to school in Britain. Many of these expatriate students thought about the future of their homeland. Around 1933, a group of these South Asian Muslim students at Cambridge University in England created a name for the nation they hoped would someday be created. They invented an acronym by taking English letters from the names of the regions where they thought an Islamic nation should be formed. - P = Punjab, in the central east
- A = Afghania, in the northwest
- K = Kashmir, in the northeast
- S = Sindh, in the Southeast
- TAN = Baluchistan, in the west
This acronym also had a second meaning. In Urdu, the national language, “Pakistan” means “the land of the pure” The word “Pak” means pure, and “stan” means land. Grand Trunk Road [TOP] The Grand Trunk Road is one of South Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For several centuries, it has linked the eastern and western regions of the Indian subcontinent, running from Bengal, across north India, into Peshawar in Pakistan.
Grand Trunk RoadDuring the time of the Maurya empire, overland trade between India and several parts of western Asia and the Hellenic world went through the cities of the north-west, primarily Taxila. Taxila was well connected by roads with other parts of the Maurya empire. The Mauryas had built a highway from Taxila to Pataliputra (present-day Patna in Bihar, India). The road was initially built by Sher Shah to connect Agra, his capital, with Sasaram, his hometown. It was soon extended westward to Multan and eastward to Sonargaon in Bengal (now in Bangladesh). While Sher Shah died after a brief reign, and his dynasty ended soon afterwards, the road endured as his outstanding legacy. The Mughals, who succeeded the Suris, extended the road westwards: at one time, it extended to Kabul in Afghanistan, crossing the Khyber pass. This road was later improved by the British rulers of colonial India. Renamed the "Grand Trunk Road", it was extended to run from Calcutta to Peshawar and thus to span a major portion of British India. The Grand Trunk Road continues to be one of the major arteries of India and Pakistan. The Indian section is part of the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project. For over four centuries, the Grand Trunk Road has remained "such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world", The Grand Trunk road begins at Sonargaon in the Narayanganj district of Bangladesh. Within India, it passes through Kolkata, Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Amritsar, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Delhi, Kurukshetra and Ambala. The Grand Trunk Road enters Pakistan on the Wagah border and continues through Lahore towards the north of Pakistan via, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Attock District and then Peshawar. Today, the Grand Trunk Road remains a continuum that covers a distance of over 2,500 km. Wagah Border Crossing [TOP] Wagah is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsa, India and Lahore, Pakistan.
It is a ceremonial border, where, each evening, armed soldiers from each side of the border enact a particularly hostile parade while lowering their respective flags to the sounding of bugles. Although the parade used to be hostile, over the past few years it has become much more moderate. Now soldiers from both sides of the border shake hands before closing the border gates. This is seen as the result of dialogues and improved relationship between India and Pakistan. Now even some officers walk to other side HQ for some day to day affairs. There is now also a bus service operating within the split state of Punjab between Amritsar (India) and Lahore (Pakistan), further emphasizing improving relations between the two countries. Birthplace of Polo [TOP]  The ancient grounds of polo stretched from Constantinople (Istanbul) to Japan during the Middle Ages. It was begPolo at Shandur Passun several thousand years ago as military training for the elite Sultan's army in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The very name 'polo' is the Balti term for ball. The original teams would have been armies with dozens on each side, ready to do battle. During the world's first tournament in 600BC the Turks thrashed the Persians and the battle has continued on to this day.
The best play to see a game of polo is the Northern Areas of Pakistan or Chitral. Key tournaments of the season are the Uprising Day tournament in early November in Gilgit, or the Pakistan Independence Day tournament in Skardu, early August. The greatest and most infamous polo tournaments, however, takes places annually on the Shandur Pass, the highest polo ground in the world where a Chitral vs Gilgit tournament is held every June. The rules of the game here date back 800 years to those created by a descendent of Genghis Khan himself. The competition was created in the 1920s to promote integration between the various tribes and the British rulers. The Shandur Pass was picked as the location because, at 11,000ft above sea level, it was seen as a ridge between heaven and hell. Annual Basant Festival [TOP]  In the subcontinent legend of the 12th century saint Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi has it, that he had been grieving the death of his nephew Taquiddin Nooh. His close friend and disciple Amir Khusro decided to cheer him up. Khusro met some village women on the road dresBasantsed up in yellow colors of the mustard that was in bloom at the time of spring. On finding that they were celebrating spring and offering flowers to their gods, Khusro also dressed himself in yellow and went with these women to Nizamuddin. Nizamuddin on recognizing Khusro started to smile. That started the rest of the disciples to sing Persian verses and offer flowers on the grave of Nooh.
The Basant festival is still celebrated in South Asia. The City of Lahore's centuries old walled city has become the official & unofficial center of Basant. Old havelis [villas] have been renovated. Lahore, which was once renowned for its fashion and style, is beginning to recover its lost glory as the cultural capital of Punjab. Lahorites enthusiastically participate in various fun activities while kite flying being the main attraction. Basant is not only a kite flying event, but also a cultural festival of traditional food, dresses, dances and music. Around mid-February the kite flying festival Basant starts, and people fly paper kites with a powdered glass coated cotton string. The aim is to go into a "paicha" (where two or more kites' strings cross) then using a special flying technique, cut the string of the other kite(s). At Basant the sky is full of kites. The festival starts at night when people fly the kites from their illuminated flat-topped roofs. It carries on throughout the night and finishes at the end of the following day.  The City of Lahore marks the beginning of spring with the Basant Festival, an orgy of kite-flying, rooftop soirees, garBasantden parties and equestrian events, much to the disgust of Islamic clerics. Lahorites and out-of-town enthusiasts don glamorous clothes, in the yellow and green of spring flowers blooming citywide, to bid farewell to the frosts and fogs of winter and usher in spring.
Nighttime kite-flying in the walled old quarter around the 16th century Badshahi mosque and Lahore fort opens the festival. Ancient mughal palaces throw open their doors for all-night parties to view the kites, illuminated by spotlights slashing the sky. Stars from the local 'Lollywood' film industry perform with classical Qawali musicians at parties in traditional haveli homes. White paper kites shimmer in the night sky, diving and soaring as rival fliers joust in duels marked by battle cries of Pecha! and victory shouts of bo kata! Bursts of drums and trumpets mark the cutting of a kite's cord. Men drape themselves in embroidered shalwar kameeze with matching ankle-length scarves, little boys strut in three piece suits, and women coat their hands with henna and stack their arms with bangles. The World's Oldest University is in Taxila [TOP] The history of Taxila spans over 1000 years (518 B.C. to 600 A.D). . It was from here that Buddhism spread to Kashmir and Tibet during Ashoka's time.
It was the most flourishing of all the cities between the Indus and Jhelum Rivers. Darius I formed it part of Achaemnid Empire of Persia. In 326 B.C. came a young man from Macedonia, a prince taught by the philosopher Aristotle, Alexander the Great. His armies never encountered elephants in battle before. The battle against Porus was his most brilliant one though the last of his great victories. Alexander went as far as Beas River in the east, but his dreams of conquering India were thwarted by the rebellion of his battle troops who refused to go on because of the long harduous journey back to their homeland. Alexander retreated to Babylon where he felt ill probably poisoned. His campaigns in Persia and India changed the whole history of Asia. The efforts of Greek invasion where manifold. New trade routes were opened, sea and the land communications developed. The art of sculpturing discovered a new form and influenced the Buddha scultures of the time. In realm of knowledge the Greek philosophy and medicine had their mark on the Indian Thinking.0  Taxila University, which is the oldest in the world, has been in existence even before the time of the Buddha and before the occupation of the Taxila valley by the Achaemanid rulers in 6th-5th century B.C. Probably in the period of the (7th century B.C.) philosophers gathered here to have their own schools of thought and imparted instructions. By the time of the Buddha it rose to be a strong educational Centre, where instructions were given in military science, medicine, political science, philosophy, religion, language and literature, and grammar.
According to early Christian legend, Taxila was visited by the Apostle St. Thomas during the Parthian period. Another distinguished visitor was the Neo-Pythagorean sage Apollonius of Tyana (1st century AD), whose biographer Philostratus described Taxila as a fortified city that was laid out on a symmetrical plan and compared it in size to Nineveh. History of Christianity in Pakistan [TOP] 52 AD - the Apostle St. Thomas arrives in Taxila
1594 - First Jesuit missionaries arrive in Pakistan 1618 - Portuguese Carmelites go from Persia to Pakistan to establish a church in Thatta (near Karachi) 1881 - Methodist work in Lahore, Pakistan starts in the wake of revivals under Bishop William Taylor 1883 - Salvation Army enters West Pakistan; A.B. Simpson organizes The Missionary Union for the Evangelization of the World According to early Christian legend, Taxila was visited by the Apostle St. Thomas during 52 A.D. Pope Benedict feels the area St Thomas evangelized was "western India" corresponding roughly to today's Pakistan. The Pope, addressing a vast crowd at St Peter's Square, is said to have stated, "Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia and then penetrated as far as western India from where Christianity also reached south India". The first catholic church in Sindh, St. Patrick’s was established in 1845 at a cost of Rs. 6,000 raised through public subscription. A fine example of Gothic style, it was designed by Father Wagner, Brother Kluver and Brother Lao (Members of the Society of Jesus). Its lofty and spacious interior, with a capacity of 1500 worshippers, is lavishly decorated and is enhanced by carrying the vault of the nave in a single stretch from the portal through the transept to the peak of the apse 70 ft tall and 70 ft wide. An interesting feature of this Church is the use of stained glass windows. The Church with its board front, and two striking corner spires is further enhanced by a grand marble monument (erected 1931) to perpetuate the memory of the Jesuit Mission in Sind (1858-1935) and dedicated to Christ, The King, and is inscribed with the words. “Thou art Peter, and upon that rock, I will build my church”. In a chamber underneath this monument were displayed models of heaven and hell.
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