CHAPTER 3

OUR COUNTRY

Important Points:

Landscapes of Pakistan:

Nature has blessed Pakistan with unique landscape, the highmountains; plateau plain, deserts and luring sunny beaches arefound here.

The mighty ranges Karakoram, the Himalaya and Hindukushmake a connection here. Beside the high mountains, theseranges are occupied by the longest glaciers outside polarregions, enchanting and captivating valleys like, Skardu, Shigar,Khaplu, Rondu, Hunza, Gilgit, Ishkuman, Naltar, Diamar,Chitral, and Kaghan and splendid passes like Gondogoro,Khurdopin, Hispar, and Shandur .

There are numerous glacial lakes which are famous for theirbeauty. Prominent among these are, Satpara, Kachura, Lulusar,phandar, and Saiful Maluk.

Chitral Valley

North of Pakistan

Nanga Parbat

Life Style

Basically life style depicts the living standards of people andtheir surroundings. Pakistan has total four provinces and all theprovinces have different living style. They speak differentlanguages, wear different dresses according to their culture andalso the variety of food makes differentiate them from othersi.e Punjabi people are known for spicy food while Sindhidoesn’t prefer spicy food. Thus cultural special effects can beseen in their life styles.Below are the Pakistan’s provinces and their life styles.

Sindhi Lifestyle:

Mostly, Sindhi speaks Sindhi language that is an ancient,traditional language and is spoken in most parts of the Pakistan.The people of Sindh wear Sindhi dresses i.e loose Qameez andthe Shalwar and love to eat Sindhi food with low spices.

In typical Sindhi weddings, the food Is mostlySindhi Mutton,curry, Palak, Channa daal, Dilpasand Curry.Sindhi people are very keen and fond of work; their handicraftshave a unique and a different style.

Sindhi culture can be seen in sindhi tablos and shows.

Sports that are famous in sindhi culture includes Malakhiro,Kodi, Wanjh Wati etc. Similarly Sindhi music is unique i.e Sufimusic is usually performed at shrines. Folk lores of sindh alsohad a great importance. Sindhi poetry of Shah abdul latifbhattai,Sheikh ayaz,Ustaad bhikhari,Sachal Sarmost is veryfamous in Pakistan.

People of Sindh love to wear Sindhi toppi(cap), that is the mosteminent feature of sindh culture. Its city Karachi, its food alsohad a great demand worldwide. The Sindh’s people are quitehardworking, hospitable, open minded and peaceful in theirnature.

Punjabi Lifestyle

Punjab ,asits name itself shows its meaning that is Punj (meansfive) and Aab (means water/river), punjab is the province inwhich five rivers flow namely River Sindh, River Ravi, River

Sutlej, River Jehlum, and River Chenaab. Its land isconsidered to be the land of five rivers.

Punjabi culture is known as the richest and the oldest culture inthe world history. The main site of Indus valley civilization inPunjab was the city of Harrapa.The language spoken here is Punjabi. It is the regionallanguage. Punjab has always been land ofgreat Saints and Fighters. Music of Punjab is becoming famousall over the world specially the Bhangra – the most eminentfeature of culture.

Punjabis are very hardworking, love to hear music and dancewhich you can see in their Bhangra beats that is becoming

famous day by day. Weather of Punjab is very moderate,whichshows a mild nature of their behavior. Hence Punjab is famousfor its food also.

Punjab is also famous for its crockery,

Baluchistan lifestyle :

Baluchistan is the largest province of Pakistan with respect togeographical boundaries, approximately 48% of Pakistan area iscovered by this province. Baluchistan’s people and things arecalled as Balochi. Balochi culture is primarily tribal andconservative.

Balochi dry fruits are very famous all over the world.

Their special food item Sajji is liked and loved by a lot. Theyalso eat roasted lamb sand mutton.

Balochi Sajji

Their dress code is very special i.e Shalwar Qameez and Turbun.Women like to wear Frocks and Shalwar. Their jewellery ismade of metal which has a great attraction for them.

Balochi leather work is very popular in the world.Most of the women do embroidery on clothes. Balochi culture isalso rich in poetry and literature.

Khayber-Pakhtoon-Khuwah Life style

North Western Frontier of Pakistan (NWFP) was the past nameof Khayber-Pakhtoon-Khuwah. It was named as NWFP bythe British administration during the colonial period as thiswas the last frontier of the British Empire.The mighty river Indus that starts from Himalayas and flowsdown through Pakistan up to the Arabian Sea is natural boarderof KPK with the Punjab province.

You will find the most beautiful lakes of the world situated inthese mountains like the Saif-ul-Malook. There are glaciers andunique variety of Trout fish in the Swat area. Running downfrom these mountains are rivers and streams to the plains whichmake the land rich and fertile for all types of agriculture.

It is also known as the Switzerland ofPakistan because of its beauty.

The people of KPK are very hospitable, loving, caring andbrave. They are known for their love and respect to their guests.The main language is Pushto other languages like Hindko,Kohistani etc are also spoken in KPK.

More over the Pukhtoon society has always given greatprotection and respect to their females. In return the female hasgiven all the respect to their males. The mother, sisters and wifetake care of the house hold and children. And no one expectsany financial support from the female. The head of a family whois always a male takes care of the family’s needs of cloths, foodand education etc.

This is basic culture of Pakistan that depicts the norms, valuesand culture of its different areas. It is the blessed country of theworld that enjoy all four seasons.