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One country keeps surfacing in the rapidly shifting international landscape: Pakistan. It even offered to mediate between the U.S. and Iran. Travelers may recall the Hunza Valley, while climbers immediately think of K2.
When people picture Himalayan expeditions, Nepal usually comes to mind, but Pakistan is also sacred ground for mountaineers. Young esports fans, meanwhile, have begun to see Pakistan as an emerging gaming power. In short, Pakistan shows many faces.
Pakistan’s modern history begins just after World War II. Pakistan initially gained independence from Britain together with India, but religious tensions led it to separate from India. That legacy continues to fuel border disputes. For India, Pakistan is a rival that commands attention on par with China, and whenever the two countries meet in cricket or hockey, passions still run high.
I remember my first trip to India. One line on the immigration form jumped out: “Have you recently visited Pakistan?” The form offered only “yes” or “no,” and checking “yes”—even out of curiosity—can lead to long delays at immigration. I’ve never heard of anyone being denied a visa solely for visiting Pakistan, but a friend who worked at a radio news bureau told me he faced lengthy questioning at the border after reporting from there. Pakistan asks arriving travelers the same about recent visits to India; part of the reason I still haven’t made it to the Hunza Valley or K2 is that my frequent trips to India made me cautious.
To world-music fans, Pakistan is known for its mysterious, haunting religious and traditional music. In Europe—especially the U.K. and France—this style is called Qawwali (locally pronounced “kvallee”). When Qawwali reached Western Europe during the world-music boom of the mid-1980s, its hypnotic melodies and pulsing rhythms sounded provocative to many listeners. British music fans compared it to a 21st-century incarnation of the psychedelic and acid rock that shaped the late 1960s. At its core, Qawwali is a devotional vocal tradition that praises God—Allah—in Islam.
I still vividly recall when Faiz Ali Faiz, then one of the leading Qawwali singers, performed at Korea’s Choyong Cultural Festival in the late 2000s and left music lovers across the country stunned. If you want to experience the otherworldly power of Qawwali—driven by intense tabla rhythms, harmonium melodies, and ornate vocal flourishes—start with Faiz Ali Faiz and the all-time great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
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