Romanization of Urdu in the context of "Urdu script"

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر, romanised: Āzād Jammū̃ o Kaśmīr, lit. 'Free Jammu and Kashmir'), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir (/ˌɑːzæd kæʃˈmɪər/ AH-zad kash-MEER), is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian–administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Azad Kashmir borders with the Pakistani–administered Gilgit–Baltistan to the north; it shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. Geographically, it covers a total area of 13,297 km (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of over 4.045 million as per the 2017 national census.

The territory has a parliamentary form of government modelled after the British Westminster system, with the city of Muzaffarabad serving as its capital. The President of AJK is the constitutional head of state, while the Prime Minister, supported by a Council of Ministers, is the chief executive. The unicameral Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly elects both the Prime Minister and President. The territory has its own Supreme Court and a High Court, while the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan serves as a link between itself and Azad Jammu and Kashmir's government, although the autonomous territory is not represented in the Parliament of Pakistan.

The Trans-Karakoram Tract (Chinese: 喀喇昆仑走廊; pinyin: Kālǎkūnlún zǒuláng), also known as the Shaksgam Tract (Urdu: شکسگام, romanized: Shaksgām), is an area of approximately 5,200 km (2,000 sq mi) north of the Karakoram watershed, including the Shaksgam valley. The tract is administered by China as part of its Taxkorgan and Yecheng counties in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Originally, the Indian government claimed sovereignty over the Shaksgam tract following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947. However, Pakistan took control of the region during the First India-Pakistan War and subsequently ceded it to China in 1963 through the Sino-Pakistan Agreement, and a border based on actual ground positions was recognized as the international border by China and Pakistan. The Shaksgam Tract, along with the entire Kashmir region, is claimed by India. Further, New Delhi has never accepted the China-Pakistan boundary pact, asserting that Islamabad "unlawfully" attempted to cede the area to Beijing.

Most of the tract is composed of the Shaksgam Valley and was formerly administered as part of Shigar, a district (formerly a tehsil) in the Baltistan region. A polo ground in Shaksgam was built by the Amacha Royal family of Shigar, and the Rajas of Shigar used to invite the Amirs of Hotan to play polo there. Most of the names of the mountains, lakes, rivers and passes are in Balti/Ladakhi, suggesting that this land had been part of Baltistan/Ladakh region for a long time.

Islamabad (/ɪzˈlɑːməbæd/ ; Urdu: اسلام‌آباد, romanised: Islāmābād, lit. 'City of Islam', [ɪsˈlɑːmɑːbɑːd] ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Built as a planned city in the 1960s and established in 1967, it replaced Karachi as Pakistan's national capital. Islamabad is located north of the city of Rawalpindi, with which it forms a metropolitan area of over 5.7 million inhabitants.

The Greek architect Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis developed Islamabad's master plan, in which he divided it into eight zones; the city comprises administrative, diplomatic enclave, residential areas, educational and industrial sectors, commercial areas, as well as rural and green areas administered by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation with support from the Capital Development Authority. Islamabad is known for its parks and forests, including the Margalla Hills National Park and the Shakarparian. It is home to several landmarks, including the country's flagship Faisal Mosque. Other prominent landmarks include the Pakistan Monument and Democracy Square.

Balochistan (/bəˈlɒtʃɪstɑːn, bəˌlɒtʃɪˈstɑːn, -stæn/; Balochi: بلۏچستان, romanised: Balòcestàn, Balochi pronunciation: [baˈloːt͡ʃest̪ɑːn]; Urdu: بلوچستان, romanised: Balocistān, Urdu pronunciation: [bəloːt͡ʃɪst̪ɑːn] ) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east, and Sindh to the southeast; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of sufficient height and ruggedness. It has a large deep-sea port, the Port of Gwadar, lying in the Arabian Sea.

Although it constitutes approximately 44% of Pakistan's land area, only 5% of it is arable, and it is noted for an extremely dry desert climate. Despite this, agriculture and livestock make up about 47% of Balochistan's economy.

The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan, and States & Frontier Regions (Urdu: وزارت امور کشمیر، گلگت بلتستان و ریاستیں و سرحدی امور, romanized: vizārat-e-umūr kaśmīr, gilgit baltistān va riyāsateṅ va sarḥadī umūr) is a ministry of the Government of Pakistan. It handles the regional affairs of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan as both territories of Pakistani-administered Kashmir do not have regular provincial status within Pakistan due to political circumstances revolving around the long-running Kashmir conflict. In 2025 the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, which handled the tribal and frontier regions of the country was merged into it.

The Pakistan Monument (Urdu: یادگارِ پاکستان, romanized: Yādgār-e-Pākistān) is a national monument and heritage museum located on the western portion of the Shakarparian Hills in Islamabad, Pakistan. The monument was constructed to symbolise the unity of the Pakistani people; and is dedicated to those who sacrificed their "today" for a better "tomorrow".

The four large petals represent the four major cultures of Pakistan – Punjabi, Baloch, Sindhi, Pashtun – with the three smaller petals representing the minor cultures, including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. All seven petals converge in unison over the central platform. Its elevation makes the monument visible from across the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is a popular tourist destination.

The Geography of Pakistan (Urdu: جغرافیۂ پاکِستان, romanized: Juġarāfiyā-Pākistān) encompasses a wide variety of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in the south to the mountains of the Karakoram, Hindukush, Himalayas ranges in the north. Pakistan geologically overlaps both with the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates where its Sindh and Punjab provinces lie on the north-western corner of the Indian plate while Balochistan, most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau in the north.

Pakistan is bordered by Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the northwest, India to the east, and the Arabian sea to the south. Geopoltically, the nation is situated within some of the most hostile regional boundaries, characterized by territorial disputes and historical tensions, particularly the Kashmir conflict with India, which has led to multiple military confrontations between the two countries.

The culture of Pakistan (Urdu: ثقافتِ پاکستان, romanized: S̱eqāfat-e Pākistān) lies at the intersection of Turco-Persian, Arab, and Hindustani cultural traditions. Over centuries, the region has developed a distinct cultural identity, shaped by a fusion of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and North Indian influences. Additionally, Pakistan's diverse ethnic groups maintain unique cultural traditions, particularly in dress, cuisine, and religious practices, with certain pre-Islamic customs continuing to influence local traditions despite the overarching framework of Islamic culture. Marriages and other major events are also significantly different among the different ethnic groups.

Until 1979, Pakistan maintained a relatively liberal Islamic identity; however, the Islamization policies introduced that year led to a widespread infusion of conservative Islamic principles into various aspects of culture and daily life. This shift significantly reshaped the historical values and traditions of the country's Muslim population, reinforcing religious conservatism in social and cultural norms.

Ahmadiyya (/ˌɑːməˈdiːə/, also UK: /-ˈdiːjə/), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (Arabic: الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, romanized: al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyyah al-Aḥmadīyyah; Urdu: جماعتِ احمدیہ مسلمہ, romanized: Jamā‘at-i-Aḥmadiyah Muslimah) is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the promised Messiah and Mahdi expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Ahmad — are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.

Ahmadi thought emphasises the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring it to its true intent and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Its adherents consider Ahmad to have appeared as the Mahdi—bearing the qualities of Jesus in accordance with their reading of scriptural prophecies—to revitalise Islam and set in motion its moral system that would bring about lasting peace. They believe that upon divine guidance he purged Islam of foreign accretions in belief and practice by championing what is, in their view, Islam's original precepts as practised by Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Ahmadis thus view themselves as leading the propagation and renaissance of Islam.