Provinces of Pakistan: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan; Azad Kashmir & Gilgit–Baltistan

Provinces of Pakistan

• Context: A Hindu temple was demolished by a mob in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
• Pakistan has four provinces:

1. Punjab,
2. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (which now includes the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA),
3. Balochistan, &
4. Sindh.

• Though both PoK (Azad Kashmir) & Gilgit–Baltistan are ruled directly from Islamabad, neither is officially listed as the territory of Pakistan.
• They are both considered as “autonomous territories”.
• For India, on the other hand, as per the resolution passed by Parliament in 1994, PoK & Gilgit–Baltistan are both part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.
• Gilgit–Baltistan is situated on the north-western corner of the Kashmir Valley (trans–Himalayan region).
• This is a picturesque, hilly region to the north of Azad Kashmir & east of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.