|
2025 Pakistan Train Hijack
The ''Jaffar Express'', a Pakistani passenger train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar with at least 380 passengers on board, was hijacked by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on 11 March 2025. The attackers detonated explosives in tunnels and on the train tracks before opening fire on the train, halting it in a mountainous region which was difficult for authorities to access. The organization issued a 48-hour ultimatum for Baloch political prisoners to be released or they would execute hostages, although they had already released some. As a result, Pakistan Railways temporarily suspended its train operations between Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan and the provinces of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab and Sindh. From 11 to 12 March 2025, the Pakistan Armed Forces launched an operation, codenamed Operation Green Bolan, to raid the hijacked train multiple times, eventually releasing 354 hostages and killing the 33 BLA insurgents. Pakistani officials said at least 64 people, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insurgency In Balochistan
The insurgency in Balochistan () is an ongoing insurgency by Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Iran in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan and Pakistan in the province of Balochistan. Rich in natural resources, Balochistan is the largest, least populated and least developed province in Pakistan. Armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—rose, contributing to tensions in Balochistan. In Pakistan, the ethnic separatist insurgency is low-scale but ongoing mainly in southern Balochistan, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militancy concentrated mainly in northern and central Balochistan. In Pakistan's Balochistan province, insurg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quetta
Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. Quetta is at an average elevation of above sea level, making it Pakistan's highest altitude major city. The city is known as the ''"Fruit Garden of Pakistan,"'' due to the numerous fruit orchards in and around it and the large variety of fresh and dried fruits produced there. Located in northern Balochistan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the road across to Kandahar, Quetta is a trade and communication centre between the two countries. The city is near the Bolan Pass, which was on a major gateway from Central Asia to South Asia. Etymology The name ''Quetta'' is a variation of the Pashto word ''Kwatkōṭ'', or ''kōta'' meaning "fortress". Quetta was formerly known as Shalkot ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnonationalist
Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnostate/ethnocratic) approach to various political issues related to national affirmation of a particular ethnic group. The central tenet of ethnic nationalists is that "nations are defined by a shared heritage, which usually includes a common language, a common faith, and a common ethnic ancestry". Those of other ethnicities may be classified as second-class citizens. Scholars of diaspora studies broaden the concept of "nation" to diasporic communities. The terms "ethnonation" and "ethnonationalism" are sometimes used to describe a conceptual collective of dispersed ethnics. Defining an ethnos widely can lead to ethnic nationalism becoming a form of pan-nationalism or macronationalism, as in cases such as pan-Germanism or pan-Slavism. In scholarly literature, ethnic nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, consisting of four provinces and one federal territory. The territories of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir are also part of the country but have separate systems and are not part of the federation. Under the Constitution, there are three primary branches of a government: ''the legislative'', whose powers are vested in a bicameral Parliament; ''the executive'', consisting of the president, aided by the Cabinet which is headed by the prime minister; and ''the judiciary'', with the Supreme Court. Effecting the Westminster system for governing the state, the government is mainly composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in which all powers are vested by the Constitution in the Parliament, the prime minister an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baloch People
The Baloch ( ) or Baluch ( ; , plural ) are a nomadic, Pastoralism, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranian, Western Iranic Balochi language and is native to the Balochistan region of South Asia, South and Western Asia, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. The majority of the Baloch reside within Pakistan. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan, while 40% are Baloch people in Sindh, settled in Sindh and a significant albeit smaller number reside in the Baloch people in Punjab, Pakistani Punjab. They make up 3.6% of Pakistan's total population, and around 2% of the populations of both Iran and Afghanistan and the largest non-Arab community in Omani Baloch, Oman. Etymology The exact origin of the word "Baloch" is unclear. According to the Baloch his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baloch Yakjehti Committee
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC; ; ) or Balochistan Yakjehti Committee ('Balochistan Unity Committee'), is a human rights movement established in response to alleged state human rights abuses in Balochistan, Pakistan. The BYC's roots can be traced back to July 2018, when Mahrang Baloch conceived the idea for its formation following the abduction of her brother by Pakistani intelligence agencies. The organisation has been confronted by Pakistani government as proxy of terrorist organisations and criminal smuggler groups. Background In December 2020, it campaigned against the alleged murder of Karima Baloch in Canada, who was believed by the activists to have been assassinated by the Pakistani state. In 2023, the BYC launched campaigns to protest the detention of Mahal Baloch by the Counter Terrorism Department of the police in Quetta, the assassination of Rauf Baloch by religious extremists in Turbat, and the state's alleged use of religious extremism. 2023 Baloch Long Marc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2025 Balochistan Protests
A series of protests and organized shutdowns have been taking place in the Pakistani province of Balochistan beginning on 20 March 2025, some eight days after the ''Jaffar Express'' hijacking. Initial protests, organized by Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), began in Quetta in response to police crackdowns against Baloch residents gathering at the Quetta Civil Hospital in hopes of identifying the bodies of loved ones who may have been killed in the hijacking incident; several participants stole some of the bodies before police retrieved some of them back and began arresting organizers behind the protests. On 21 March, police began firing at the thousands of protesters gathered at Quetta demonstrating due to demands to release Baloch individuals, killing three people and injuring several others. Authorities arrested BYC chief and Baloch human rights activist Mahrang Baloch and other activists, sparking protests and shutdowns throughout the region in response. Protests had additional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shehbaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between April 2022 to August 2023. He has also served as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) and chief minister of Punjab (Pakistan), chief minister of Punjab three times, making him the longest-serving person in the role. Shehbaz was elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in 1988 and to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990. He was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition of Punjab (Pakistan), leader of the opposition. He was elected as chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, for the first time on 20 February 1997. After the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, Shehbaz, along with his family, spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, returning t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the representatives of the nation." The population base represented by this name is manifestly the nation as a whole, as opposed to a geographically select population, such as that represented by a provincial assembly. The powers of a National Assembly vary according to the type of government. It may possess all the powers of government, generally governing by committee, or it may function solely within the legislative branch of the government. The name also must be distinguished from the concept. Conceptually such an institution may appear under variety of names, especially if "national assembly" is being used to translate foreign names of the same concept into English. Also, the degree to which the National Assembly speaks for the nation is a va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backed by several paramilitary forces such as the National Guard and the Civil Armed Forces. A critical component to the armed forces' structure is the Strategic Plans Division Force, which is responsible for the maintenance and safeguarding of Pakistan's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and assets. The president of Pakistan is the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces and the chain of command is organized under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) alongside the respective chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. All branches are systemically coordinated during joint operations and missions under the Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQ). Since the 1963 Sino-Pakistan Agreement, the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sindh
Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the Demographics of Pakistan, second-largest province by population after Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan to the west and north-west and Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab to the north. It shares an India-Pakistan border, International border with the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east; it is also bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar Desert of Sindh, Thar Desert in the eastern portion of the province along the India–Pakistan border, international border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western portion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by population, second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, central-eastern region of the country, it has the #Economy, largest economy, contributing the most to Economy of Pakistan, national GDP in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city of the province. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-west, Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan to the south-west and Sindh to the south, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory to the north-west and Azad Kashmir to the north. It shares an India-Pakistan border, international border with the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab, India, Punjab to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
