Gorakh گورکھ Hill Station

 Paradise of Sindh, Pakistan 

Gorakh گورکھ is an under-Development Hill Station of Sindh, Pakistan. It is situated at an elevation of 5,688 ft (1,734m). in the Kirthar Mountains Range's Sindh Segment, 94 km north west of Dadu city. Gorakh Hill Station is situated on one of the highest plateaus of Sindh, spread over 2,500 acres (10km²), and due its surroundings, a unique adventure point for nature lovers.

Gorakh Plateau also serves as gateway for the villagers of Khuzdar District, Balochistan, who come over to the village, Wahi Pandi, in Sindh's segment of Kirthar, about a third way downhill from Gorakh Hill Station... for purchasing food and other Utilities.

The Gorakh Hills summit can only be reached with 4x4 vehicles, which are available from Dadu and Johi towns. The hilltop is 93 km from Dadu. The last small town before the Gorakh Hill is Wahi Pandi, settled in the lap of the Kirthar range. The road thereafter is towered slowly at the milestone of 53 km when one enters the Yaroo Pass (Yaroo Sain Jo Luck).

After crossing this pass 2,500 ft (760 m) above sea level, the journey continues in the mountains and at the milestone 76 km one reaches the base camp of another highest pass of the Kirthar range. It is known as Khanwal Pass (KP) on the elevation of 3,000 ft (910 m) and at the top of the KP the elevation is 5,000 ft (1,500 m) above sea level. The distance between the KP base camp and the KP top is four kilometres. The four-kilometre journey is too zigzag. After reaching the top of KP, drive continues to the Gorakh Hill top, which is the 13 km ahead. At the top of the hill there is a small rest-house, the only facility so far made available.

The Sindh Segment of Kirthar Mountains, has a large number of Mountain Peaks over 5,500 feet (1,700 m) high, and before Syed Hasan Shahid Bukhari, alias "Shaddan Shah"s" Discovering the highest peak in Kirthar, at an elevation of 7,056 feet (2,151 m) [plus/minus a few feet, via Google Earth Telemetry, at the Exact Coordinates of: 27 12.35 10 North, 67 09.33 88 East], another Peak, in Sindh's Northern segment of Kirthar; known as Kuttay ji Qabr, at 6850, [plus/minus a few feet] was considered the Highest Peak. It is now the second highest peak of Sindh.

Mohenjo-Daro An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis Sindh, Pakistan

Mohenjo-Daro

An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis

Sindh, Pakistan

Mohenjo-daro, Urdu: موئن جودڑو‎, Sindhi: موئن جو دڙو, lit. Mound of the Dead, is an archeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE, and was not rediscovered until 1922. Significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. However, the site is currently threatened by erosion and improper restoration.

The name of Mohenjo-daro is widely recognized as one of the most important early cities of South Asia and the Indus Civilization and yet most publications rarely provide more than a cursory overview of this important site.

There are several different spellings of the site name and in this article we have chosen to use the most common form, Mohenjo-daro (the Mound of Mohen or Mohan), though other spellings are equally valid: Mohanjo-daro (Mound of Mohan =Krishna), Moenjo-daro (Mound of the Dead), Mohenjo-daro, Mohenjodaro or even Mohen-jo-daro. Many publications still state that Mohenjo-daro is located in India (presumably referring to ancient India), but since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the site has been under the protection of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan.

Discovery and Major Excavations

Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, two years after major excavations had begun at Harappa, some 590 km to the north. Large-scale excavations were carried out at the site under the direction of John Marshall, K. N. Dikshit, Ernest Mackay, and numerous other directors through the 1930s.

Although the earlier excavations were not conducted using stratigraphic approaches or with the types of recording techniques employed by modern archaeologists they did produce a remarkable amount of information that is still being studied by scholars today (see the Mohenjo-daro Bibliography).

The last major excavation project at the site was carried out by the late Dr. G. F. Dales in 1964-65, after which excavations were banned due to the problems of conserving the exposed structures from weathering.

Since 1964-65 only salvage excavation, surface surveys and conservation projects have been allowed at the site. Most of these salvage operations and conservation projects have been conducted by Pakistani archaeologists and conservators.

In the 1980s extensive architectural documentation, combined with detailed surface surveys, surface scraping and probing was done by German and Italian survey teams led by Dr. Michael Jansen (RWTH) and Dr. Maurizio Tosi (IsMEO).

Mohenjo-daro Mound

The most extensive recent work at the site has focused on attempts at conservation of the standing structures undertaken by UNESCO in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, as well as various foreign consultants.

Sohail Abbas, Pakistan Hockey Team - Best Defender

Sohail Abbas

A field hockey defender, penalty corner specialist and former captain of the Pakistan Hockey Team. He is the highest goal scorer in the history of field hockey, with his current goal tally at 348, as of 9 Aug 2012.

In a country where cricket is considered next to religion, the young generation never did get the right kind of exposure to the national game, hockey. In such times one young lad who found his true calling in this very near death sport, Sohail Abbas a Karachite has literally brought Pakistan back to this wonderfully green game.

Born on June 09, 1977, Sohail received his early education from the infamous Habib Public School which has nurtured many other hockey stars of this nation. His talent surfaced later in his life and it took him quite a while to prove his worth. The Pakistan Junior Squad thought however, his potential was put to maximum and he had to face much criticism during and after his game-play against the German Juniors.

Later on he was dropped from the junior squad but the next year only he made his debut on the national team and since then he has never looked back. He is the one who brought Pakistan victory against China after 20 years in the Asian Games and stands today as the highest goal scorer in the history of field hockey.

A father of two, a loving husband and a son of one proud mother, our nation salutes a man who did not follow the leagues of today and chose to pick a career, others ridiculed him for.

His style of scoring goals on penalty corners has always been same. Drag-Flick and goal. Its such an effective and powerful one that despite opponents knowing that he will use it, they do not have any counter for that. After all, for a ball coming to goals like a bolt, cannot be stopped.

This technique has earned Sohail Abbas a special place in Pakistani hockey team as a 'Penalty Corner Specialist'. Now if Sohail is in team, and team gets a penalty corner, chances are quite high that score board will tick. Sohail Abbas has pioneered a unique style and a strong technique which many players and team around the world have emulated. He has earned Pakistan some crucial victories and has always been a hallmark of Pakistani hockey team.

Today, Sohail Abbas holds the world record for highest number of goals in hockey, which is an amazing record and achievement for any player. 

Pakistan will always be proud of Sohail Abbas.