Aao Phir Se Rang Bharein

Aye arze watan

Aye rashaka chaman

 Tujh say hay aik ahad naya

Main subon ki sarhad qalam say mita don

Mein apnay watan ko ikai bana don

Ta’asub ki sari kitabain jala doon

Main her shakhs ko aik parcham thama doon

Jo dushman watan ka who mera hay dushman

Mein chahon tu dushman ko zinda jala don

Aao phir se rang bharain

Aao phir se rang bharain

Pakistan Art

The term art refers to ‘any skill or mastery’. Art is a broad subdivision of culture, composed of many expressive disciplines. It is the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. Politically speaking, Pakistan emerged as a soverign state in 1947, but the roots of its performing arts and visual arts have a common background with what was known as the sub-continent of India. Arts in Pakistan can broadly be categorized in to three sections such as Visual Arts, Pop Art and Performing Art.

• Visual Arts: The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily visual in nature, such as painting, photography, printmaking, and filmmaking. Visual art is defined as the arrangement of colors, forms, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.

• Pop Art: is to the point and an extrovert form of art. It is a way to embark upon personal artistic expressions that owes little to prevailing modes. Pop artists draw on a wide range of subject matter from films and advertising to comic strips and household goods, and work in numerous media, especially painting, sculpture, collage and photography. In the following pages we will be reviewing two distinct forms of pop art practiced in Pakistan. This distinct, dazzlingly colorful, bizarre and unique genre of art is an intrinsic part of our culture that we ought to take pride in but is indeed one of the most neglected one and painted by the unsung artists.

• Performing Arts: It is a type of happening, in which the audience is invited to witness or participate in an artistic event. Performing arts considers human body to be its medium, and seeks to explore themes and emotions through live, unique performance. Performing arts may be divided in to further categories typically practiced in Pakistan. Such as Puppetery and Drama and Theater.

Being a hub of culture and heritage, it’s natural for the arts to have flourished within Pakistan. The art and architecture of Pakistan is a wonderful melange of old and new, traditional and modern – from the ancient Mughal styles and expressions to post modern lines and styles displayed across all sorts of artistic mediums including, painting, sculpture, textiles, jewelry, pottery and architectural designs.

Colours Of Pakistan Culture

The society and culture of Pakistan comprises numerous diverse cultures and ethnic groups: the Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis in east, Muhajirs, Makrani in the south; Baloch and Pashtun in the west; and the ancient Dardic, Wakhi and Burusho communities in the north.
The customs, culture and traditions of the people of a country are representative of the history, faith, language and environment of that country. Likewise, the cultural patterns of Pakistan speak of our rich cultural heritage and traditions. The culture of Pakistan seeks its influence from the cultures of India, Central Asia and the Middle East. Pakistani culture varies widely from Punjab and Sindh to Baluchistan and Khyber.


Islam has played a pivotal role in shaping cultural life and has provided a pattern for molding lives according to the prescribed ways. Though, the majority of people of Pakistan are followers of Islam and Islamic traditions yet at the same time some local and foreign customs and traditions found a way in our daily lives and have now become a part of Pakistani culture. Following are some of the main festivals celebrated in Pakistan and the customs that are embedded with these festivals.

 These Pakistani cultures have been greatly influenced by many of the surrounding countries' cultures, such as the Turkic peoples, Persian, Afghan, and Indians of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. In ancient times, Pakistan was a major cultural hub. Many cultural practices and great monuments have been inherited from the time of the ancient rulers of the region. One of the greatest cultural influences was that of the Persian Empire, of which Pakistan was a part. In fact, the Pakistani satraps were at one time the richest and most productive of the massive Persian Empire. Other key influences include the Afghan Empire, Mughal Empire and later, the short lived but influential, the British Empire.

Faisal Mosque, Pakistan.

Faisal Mosque is the largest mosque in Pakistan, located in the national capital city of Islamabad. Completed in 1986, it was designed by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay to be shaped like a desert Bedouin's tent.

It is situated at the north end of Faisal Avenue, putting it at the northernmost end of the city and at the foot of Margalla Hills, the westernmost foothills of the Himalayas. It is located on an elevated area of land against a picturesque backdrop of the Margalla Hills. This enviable location represents the mosque's great importance and allows it to be seen from miles around day and night.

The Faisal Mosque is conceived as the National Mosque of Pakistan and named after the late King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who supported and financed the project.

                      

 The largest mosque in South Asia, the Faisal Mosque was the largest mosque in the world from 1986 until 1993, when it was overtaken in size by the newly completed Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Subsequent expansions of the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, during the 1990s relegated Faisal Mosque to fourth place in terms of size.

The mosque's unusual design is a departure from the long history of South Asian Islamic architecture, fusing contemporary lines with the more traditional look of an Arab Bedouin's tent, with its large triangular prayer hall and four minarets. However, unlike traditional masjid design, it lacks a dome. The minarets borrow their design from Turkish tradition and are thin and pencil like.

The shape of the Faisal Mosque is an eight-sided concrete shell inspired by a desert Beduoin's tent and the cubic Kaaba in Mecca, flanked by four unusual minarets inspired by Turkish architecture. The architect later explained his thinking to design school students:

"I tried to capture the spirit, proportion and geometry of Kaaba in a purely abstract manner. Imagine the apex of each of the four minaret as a scaled explosion of four highest corners of Kaaba – thus an unseen Kaaba form is bounded by the minarets at the four corners in a proportion of height to base. Shah Faisal Mosque akin to Kaaba. Now, if you join the apex of each minaret to the base of the minaret diagonally opposite to it correspondingly, a four-sided pyramid shall be bound by these lines at the base side within that invisible cube. That lower level pyramid is treated as a solid body while four minarets with their apex complete the imaginary cube of Kaaba."

Karakoram Mountain in Pakistan.

The Karakoram, or Karakorum is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan), Ladakh (India), and Xinjiang region, (China). It is one of the Greater Ranges of Asia.
The Karakoram is home to the highest concentration of peaks over 8000m in height to be found anywhere on earth, including K2, the second highest peak of the world 8,611 m (28,251 ft).

 

The range is about 500 km (311 mi) in length, and is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 70 kilometres (43 mi) and the Biafo Glacier at 63 kilometres (39 mi) rank as the world's second and third longest glaciers outside the polar regions. Some of the debris-covered Karakoram glaciers are found to be expanding but other ones are retreating.

The Karakoram is bounded on the northeast by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the Pamir Mountains. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok Rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the Himalaya range proper as these rivers converge southwestward towards the plains of Pakistan.

      

Campaign reaching the Top.

 

 

 

 

 

Ice and Way View to Mountain

Chaukhandi Tombs in Karachi .Pakistan.

The Chaukhandi  tombs form an early Islamic cemetery situated 29 km (18 mi) east of Karachi, close to the N-5 National Highway near Landhi Town in Pakistan. The tombs are remarkable for their elaborate and exquisite sandstone carvings

 

The style of architecture is typical to the region of Sindh. Generally, the tombs are attributed to the Jokhio (also spelt Jokhiya) and known as the family graveyard of the Jokhio tribe (including a modern cupola tomb of a Jokhio leader, dated 2008), although other, mainly Baluch, tribes have also been buried over there. They were mainly built during Mughal rule sometime in the 15th and 18th centuries when Islam became dominant.

 

 

This type of graveyard in Sindhand Baluchistan is remarkable because of its main north-south orientation. The more elaborate graves are constructed with a buff-colored sandstone. Their carved decoration presents exquisite craftsmanship and has often kept remarkably well over time. Tombs were constructed either as single graves or as groups of up to eight graves, raised on a common platform.
A typical sarcophagus consists of six vertical slabs, with two long slabs on each side of the grave indicating the length of the body and the remaining two vertical slabs on the head and foot side. These six slabs are covered by a second sarcophagus consisting of six more similar vertical slabs but smaller in size, giving the grave a pyramid shape. The upper box is further covered with four or five horizontal slabs and the topmost construction is set vertically with its northern end often carved into a knob known as a crown or a turban. The tombs are embellished with geometrical designs and motifs, including figural representations such as mounted horsemen, hunting scenes, arms, and jewelry.

Deosai National Park in Pakistan

The Deosai National Park is located in the Skardu District of Gilgit-Baltistan province, in northernmost Pakistan. Deosai means 'the land of Giants'. The park is located on the Deosai Plains of the Gilgit-Baltistan geographic region. Deosai is a tourist attraction and lot of tourists who visit Baltistan go to Deosai as well. Deosai Plateau which is the second highest plateau in the world after the Chang Tang in Tibet. In local Balti language, Deosai is called Byarsa, meaning ‘summer place’. The plateau is located at the boundary of the Karakorum and the western Himalayas.

 

Deosai National Park is at an average elevation of 4,114 metres (13,497 ft) above the sea level, making the Deosai Plains one of the highest plateaus in the world. The park protects an area of 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi). It is well known for its rich flora and fauna of the Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe ecoregion. In the Spring season it is covered by sweeps wildflowers and a wide variety of butterflies.

Deosai Plateu

Bridge to Deosai River

 

 

Deosai River

 

The Deosai National Park was established in 1993 to protect the survival of the Himalayan Brown Bear and its habitat. Having long been a prize kill for poachers and hunters, the bear now has a hope for survival in Deosai where its number has increased from only 19 in 1993 to 40 in 2005. During the last decade, a few but effective measures have been taken by the Government of Pakistan for the survival of Brown Bear in the region. In 1993, Himalayan Wildlife Project was founded with a substantial financial support from international environmental concerns. But the brown bear is still under threat.

The Deosai Plains are also home to the Himalayan Ibex, Red Fox, Golden Marmot, Gray Wolf, the Ladakh Urial, the Snow Leopard, and over 124 resident and migratory birds. Birds in the park include the Golden Eagle, Lammergeier, Griffon Vulture, Laggar Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Snowcock.