Correct answer: 2. Pakistan had only two sugar mills at independence.
Background: The industry grew rapidly afterwards as sugarcane became a major cash crop.
Did you know? Sugarcane is one of Pakistan’s major crops.
Memory trick: 1947: just 2 mills.
Correct answer: 1951. The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation was established in 1951.
Background: National federations organise sports and send teams to international events.
Did you know? The International Table Tennis Federation was founded in 1926.
Memory trick: PTTF = 1951.
Correct answer: Ras Koh. Pakistan’s nuclear tests took place in the Ras Koh Hills in Chagai District, Balochistan.
Background: Pakistan tested five devices on 28 May 1998 and one more on 30 May 1998.
Did you know? 28 May is observed as Youm-e-Takbeer.
Memory trick: Ras Koh = Chagai = 28 May 1998.
Correct answer: Liaqat Ali Khan. Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan presented the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 7 March 1949.
Background: The Assembly passed it on 12 March 1949.
Did you know? It later became the preamble of the 1973 Constitution.
Memory trick: Liaqat → Objectives.
Correct answer: Sindh. Khairpur is in Sindh.
Background: Khairpur was a princely state that joined Pakistan in 1947.
Did you know? The Khairpur district is famous for its dates.
Memory trick: Khairpur = Sindh = dates.
Correct answer: June 2017. Pakistan became a full SCO member at the Astana summit in June 2017.
Background: India became a full member at the same summit.
Did you know? The SCO was founded in 2001 in Shanghai.
Memory trick: 2017 Astana: Pakistan and India join.
Correct answer: Wakhan Corridor. The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of Afghanistan that separates Pakistan from Tajikistan and touches China.
Background: It was created in the 19th century as a buffer between the British and Russian empires.
Did you know? The corridor is about 350 km long and in places only 13 km wide.
Memory trick: Wakhan = Afghanistan’s long arm toward China.
Correct answer: Karachi. Karachi, with its concrete buildings, roads, and little greenery, traps heat and forms an urban heat island.
Background: An urban heat island is a city that is warmer than the surrounding countryside.
Did you know? In June 2015 a deadly heatwave hit Karachi.
Memory trick: Concrete city → Karachi heat.
Correct answer: 1919. The Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms) introduced diarchy in the provinces.
Background: Diarchy meant “dual rule”: some subjects were “transferred” to Indian ministers, while others stayed “reserved” for the British governor.
Did you know? Education and health were transferred subjects, while law and order and finance were reserved.
Memory trick: 1919 = Diarchy.
Correct answer: Indian Independence Act, 1947. The Indian Independence Act, 1947, created the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
Background: The Act followed the 3rd June Plan and ended British rule on 14–15 August 1947.
Did you know? It received royal assent on 18 July 1947.
Memory trick: 1947 Act = Partition Act.
Correct answer: Allama Iqbal. Allama Iqbal wrote the Persian poetry collection Zabur-e-Ajam, published in 1927.
Background: Iqbal wrote much of his work in Persian to reach a wider Muslim audience.
Did you know? His other Persian works include Asrar-e-Khudi (1915) and Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (1918).
Memory trick: Zabur-e-Ajam = Iqbal’s Persian Psalms.
Correct answer: Muhammad Ali Jauhar. The Khilafat Movement was led by Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, with his brother Shaukat Ali.
Background: The movement (1919–24) aimed to protect the Ottoman Caliphate after the First World War.
Did you know? Jauhar published the newspapers Comrade (English) and Hamdard (Urdu).
Memory trick: Khilafat = the Ali Brothers (Jauhar).
Correct answer: 1878. Sir Syed was nominated to the Viceroy’s Legislative Council in 1878.
Background: He used the position to speak on Muslim education and social reform.
Did you know? He had founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875.
Memory trick: 1875 college → 1878 council.
Correct answer: 1913. Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined the Muslim League in 1913.
Background: He had earlier been a member of the Indian National Congress.
Did you know? He helped arrange the Lucknow Pact of 1916 between the League and the Congress.
Memory trick: League 1906 → Jinnah joins 1913.
Correct answer: Dhaka. The All-India Muslim League was formed at Dhaka in December 1906.
Background: The meeting took place at the Ahsan Manzil of Nawab Salimullah Khan.
Did you know? Its first president was Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk’s colleague Sir Aga Khan, who was the honorary president.
Memory trick: 1906, Dhaka, Salimullah.
Correct answer: Sehwan Sharif. The shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh.
Background: Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was a 13th-century Sufi saint.
Did you know? His Urs is famous for the devotional dance called dhamal.
Memory trick: Lal → Sehwan.
Correct answer: Muhammad Ali Jauhar. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar is named as having helped Quaid-e-Azam prepare the Fourteen Points of 1929.
Background: Jinnah announced the Fourteen Points in March 1929 in reply to the Nehru Report of 1928.
Did you know? The Nehru Report had rejected separate electorates for Muslims.
Memory trick: 14 Points: 1929, Jinnah, with Jauhar’s help.
Correct answer: Energy sector. The energy sector (fuel burning for power, industry, and transport) is Pakistan’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Background: Burning coal, oil, and gas for electricity, industry, and transport releases carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
Did you know? Pakistan contributes less than 1% of global emissions but is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Memory trick: Burn fuel → CO₂ → Energy sector.
Correct answer: Headworks. Canals take off from headworks, which control the diversion of river water.
Background: A headwork is a structure on a river, such as a barrage or weir, that raises the water level so it can be diverted into canals.
Did you know? Pakistan’s Sukkur Barrage (completed in 1932) feeds one of the largest irrigation systems in the world.
Memory trick: Head of the canal = headworks.
Correct answer: All of these. Gwadar supports trade, shipping, and regional development including education and training institutions.
Background: Gwadar is a deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan and a key project of CPEC.
Did you know? Pakistan acquired Gwadar from Oman in 1958.
Memory trick: Gwadar = Gateway for trade and shipping.
Correct answer: Jasmine. The jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is Pakistan’s national flower.
Background: The jasmine, locally called chambeli, is valued for its fragrance and symbolizes purity.
Did you know? Other national symbols are the markhor (animal), chukar (bird), and deodar (tree).
Memory trick: Jasmine = chambeli; Markhor, Chukar, Deodar.
Correct answer: 19–24%. Agriculture contributes roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of Pakistan’s GDP, about 24% in the Economic Survey 2024–25.
Background: Agriculture is a mainstay of Pakistan’s economy, supplying about a quarter of GDP and food and raw materials for industry.
Did you know? It employs roughly 37% of the labour force. Wheat is the main food crop and cotton the main cash crop.
Memory trick: Agriculture ≈ one-fourth (about 24%) of GDP.
Correct answer: 28 Sep 1950. The Basic Principles Committee presented its first interim report on 28 September 1950.
Background: The Basic Principles Committee was set up after the Objectives Resolution of March 1949 to recommend constitutional principles.
Did you know? Its first report proposed a two-house federal legislature and drew objections, especially from East Bengal.
Memory trick: Objectives Resolution (1949) → BPC → first report 28 September 1950.
Correct answer: Radcliffe Commission. The Radcliffe Commission, headed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, drew the boundary line.
Background: Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired the Punjab and Bengal Boundary Commissions. His award was made public on 17 August 1947, two days after independence.
Did you know? He had never visited India before and had only about five weeks to draw the line.
Memory trick: Radcliffe Line = the India–Pakistan border.
Correct answer: Ali Hajveri. Ali Hajveri (Data Ganj Bakhsh) wrote Kashf-ul-Mahjoob, a classic Persian work on Sufism.
Background: Ali Hajveri (Data Ganj Bakhsh) was an 11th-century Sufi scholar who settled in Lahore. Kashf-ul-Mahjoob is among the earliest Persian works on Sufism.
Did you know? His shrine in Lahore, Data Darbar, is one of the most visited in Pakistan.
Memory trick: Kashf = Hajveri = Data Sahib of Lahore.