Media & Culture

Media and Communications
The English-language newspapers are Daily Times, The Dawn, Financial Post, Frontier Post, The Nation, Pakistan Observer and The News. Daily Jang and Daily Ausuf are Urdu-language dailies. Business Recorder is a popular financial daily while Pakistan and Gulf Economist is a business weekly.

Pakistan Television Corporation Ltd, the state broadcaster, operates PTV 1, PTV National, PTV Bolan and PTV World. Private networks include Geo TV, Indus TV, Aaj TV and ARY Digital. The first English-language news channel is Dawn News while ATV is a semi-private terrestrial channel. Currently, there are no private, terrestrial TV stations but international satellite TV channels are available through a dish. Indian channels such as Zee TV and STAR TV are popular with those who can receive them. Radio Pakistan, the state-run network, operates more than 25 stations across the country, an external service, Azad Kashmir Radio and the FM 101 channel. FM 100 and Mast FM 103 are leading commercial music-based channels.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest telephone company providing fixed telephony services and one of the country's most successful cellular operators, Ufone. The other prominent landline operators are Dancom, Wateen Telecom, Burraq Telecom, Blue Tel, MetroTel, Worldcall, Cyber House and Globecomm. The major providers for cellular services are Ufone GSM, Instaphone, Mobilink, Paktel, Telenor, and Warid. Paknet Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of PTCL, is the biggest internet service provider in the country while the other major internet providers include Apollo Online, Brain Net, Comsats, Fascom, Cyber Net, Global Net, Super Net and World Call Online.

Art and Culture
The predominant groups are Sindhis, Pashtuns (Pakhtuns), Mohajirs and Baluchis. Poetry is an integral part of the culture as well as writing which has been developed in to an art form. Calligraphy taken from the Koran is embellished with elaborate designs.

Pakistani music is represented by a wide variety of forms. Qawwali, a devotional song, is one of the most revered forms of poetry set to music and is accompanied by a hand clapping chorus. The ghazal is a lyrical form of rhythmic chanting set to music that talks about various situations. The fusion music between traditional Pakistani and western styles is becoming quite popular along with Urdu and Punjabi popular music, film music, and Rock.

Urdu is the official language. English is widely spoken. Regional languages include Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki and Balochi. There are numerous local dialects. Islam is the official religion and 97% of the population is Muslim. The remaining 3% is made up of Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and Christians.

Sports & Recreation
Cricket is the most popular sport while the official and national sport is field hockey. Football and squash are the other prominent sports. Kabaddi is a traditional sport that which is played more in the rural areas. Golf and polo are gaining popularity with the urban population.

Mountain-climbing, trekking and skiing are popular mountain sports while the water sports available include deep sea fishing and sailing. White-water rafting and canoeing are popular activities on the rivers of the north part of the country.