Pasni ( ur, ), is a city and a

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

Gwadar District Gwadar District ( bal, گوادر, ur, ) is a district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The name Gwadar originates from Gwat and Dar ( bal, )، which means the door of air. Gwadar was notified as a separate district on 1 July 1977. The ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It is located on the

Makran Makran ( fa, مكران), mentioned in some sources as Mecran and Mokrān, is the coastal region of Baluchistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in Balochistan, in Pakistan and Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. It extends westwards, ...

coast on

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

about from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. Administratively, Pasni is the headquarters of

Pasni Tehsil Pasni Tehsil ( ur, ), is a subdivision (tehsil) of Gwadar District in the Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is administratively subdivided into four Union councils of Pakistan, Union Councils, two of which form the tehsi ...

, the sub-division of

Astola Astola Island ( ur, ) also known as ''Jezira Haft Talar'' (Urdu, ) ''Satadip'' or 'Island of the Seven Hills', is a small uninhabited Pakistani island in the Arabian Sea approximately south of the nearest part of the coast and southeast of the ...

Island lies ESE of Pasni, in the Arabian Sea. The city of Pasni is itself administratively subdivided into two Union Councils.

Topography

The topography of the area is marked by low jagged hills of the Makran Coastal Range, while flat land is more common towards the coast. Jabal Zarain is a small hill astride a promontory (Cape or ''Ras'' Jaddi) south of Pasni and marks the highest point (416' ASL) in the area. The unspoilt and pristine beaches of Pasni offer some of the most enchanting sceneries along the Arabian Sea. Shadi Kaur (river) fed by adjoining rain water streams, drains into the Arabian Sea just north of the town. Vegetation is sparse and consists mostly of hardy desert shrubs. Most of the non-marine edible products are brought in from

Turbat Turbat is the second-largest city in Balochistan after Quetta and 38th largest city of Pakistan. It is the largest city in the southern part of the province. Education University: University of TurbatBalochistan University of Engineering & ...

as well as faraway

. Pasni town, like the rest of Makran Coast, is affected by an

active fault An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...

(the Makran Accretionary Front) caused by the northward movement (40–50 mm/year) of the

Arabian Plate The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres. It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and collidin ...

against the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

. Tectonic activity emanating from this subduction zone in the Arabian Sea causes occasional, low intensity quakes. On 28 Nov 1945, a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

, triggered by the 1945 Balochistan earthquake, completely destroyed Pasni town.

Demography

The population is predominantly

Balochis The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ar ...

in Pasni. These Baloch clans include:

Kalmati Kalmati or Qarmati, Qarmatian, Karmati, Kalmat is a Baloch clan settled in the Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. They are part of the Hoth (Baloch Tribe) Hoth Tribe, claiming descent from King Hoth, a son of Jalal Khan. When the Hot ...

, Bizanjo, etc. who belong to traditional ruling communities and currently, tend to dominate land ownership and the fishing industry. Pasni also has some other tribes such as

Barr Barr may refer to: Places * Barr (placename element), element of place names meaning 'wooded hill', 'natural barrier' * Barr, Ayrshire, a village in Scotland * Barr Building (Washington, DC), listed on the US National Register of Historic Places ...

, Mullahzai, Jadgaal, Wadaila people living in this small town, but the working classes have traditionally comprised Medh,

Darzada This is a list of Baloch tribes and clans. The Baloch are an Iranian people of the Western Iranian group and Northwestern subgroup that mainly lives in three countries: Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. More specifically they live in Southw ...

, Puxh, Maqsoodi and Naqeeb, some of whom are groups that were historically slaves of the ruling families. People of East African ancestry commonly known as Koweeg or '

sheedi The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived t ...

s' can also be found in Pasni in small numbers; this African lineage is found at low frequency in the rest of Makran, as well as Karachi. 'Sheedis' are mostly descended from female slaves brought in as

concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubin ...

in the early 19th century, when slave trade flourished under

Omani Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

Sultans whose

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...

extended over Gwadar till 1958.

Facilities

The city houses a modern fish harbour and Port of Pasni, with fishing being the main occupation of the city dwellers. Frozen catch is also sent to

and

for sale in the larger markets.

Pasni Airport Pasni Airport is a domestic airport, located at Pasni City, Balochistan, Pakistan. It is reported that the United States Department of Defense may have had some presence at the site. See also * List of airports in Pakistan This article lis ...

is shared by

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF),

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...

and civil aviation. PAF as well as PN-Aviation operational facilities are housed nearby. Daily commercial flights link the town with Karachi. In 2008, the government approved the construction of Shadi Kaur storage dam 50 km north of Pasni, which was inaugurated in September 2017 and is expected to alleviate some of the water deficiency of the region.PC to initiate construction of two dams in Balochistan
Daily Times. 20 April 2008

History

Other than being a small fishing village, the city does not figure much in history.

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

is said to have stopped at Pasni (called 'Cysa' in Arrian's treatise '' Indica'') while unsuccessfully trying to rendezvous with his admiral,

Nearchus Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and e ...

, during a disastrous exodus via Makran after the Indian Campaign (325 BC). According to one theory, Admiral Nearchus' well-stocked fleet was supposed to have continuously provisioned Alexander's army as the latter marched West along the barren coast towards Persia. In the event, a major portion of Alexander's route through Makran (Bela-Averan-Hoshab-Turbat and then south to Pasni-Gwadar) turned out to be much further inland than expected, apparently due to faulty knowledge of the terrai

An unexplored Indus Valley Civilization, Harappan-era settlement known as

Sokhta Koh Sokhta Koh (also known as Sotka Koh; lit. "burnt hill") is a Harappan site on the Makran coast, near the city of Pasni, in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It was first surveyed by American archaeologist George F. Dales in 1960, while exp ...

is tucked away in the low hills, about 25 km north of Pasni. It is conjectured that this was an ancient Harappan outpost which traded luxury wares with

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

and Persian Gulf settlements. The city of Pasni, along with Gwadar, were burned by the Portuguese in 1581, having had some violent encounters with the

s in the area. The city was attacked again, by Baloch rebels during the 1898 Baloch uprising; the city was looted, and the telegraph lines running to Gwadar severed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasni Coastal cities and towns in Pakistan Port cities and towns in Pakistan Populated places in Balochistan, Pakistan