Pakistan has a rich and unique culture that has preserved established
traditions throughout history[citation needed]. Many cultural
practices, foods, monuments, and shrines were inherited from the
rule of Muslim Mughal and Afghan emperors including the national
dress of Shalwar Qameez. Women wear brightly coloured shalwar
qameez, while men often wear solid-coloured ones, usually with
a sherwani or achkan (long coat) that is worn over the garment.
The variety of Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial
folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki
to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as
the synchronisation of Qawwali and western music by the renowned
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Other major Ghazal singers include Mehdi
Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanum, Tahira Syed, Abida Parveen
and Iqbal Bano. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western
provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established
Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution centre
for Afghan music abroad. Until the 1990s, the state-owned Pakistan
Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation
were the dominant media outlets, but there are now numerous private
television channels such as Geo TV, Indus TV, Hum,ARY, KTN, Sindh
TV and Kashish. Various American, European, and Asian television
channels and movies are available to the majority of the Pakistani
population via cable and satellite television. There are also
small indigenous movie industries based in Lahore and Peshawar
(often referred to as Lollywood and Pollywood). Although Bollywood
movies are banned, Indian film stars are generally popular in
Pakistan
Pakistani society is largely multilingual and predominantly Muslim,
with high regard for traditional family values, although urban
families have grown into a nuclear family system due to the socio-economic
constraints imposed by the traditional joint family system. Recent
decades have seen the emergence of a middle class in cities like
Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Sukkur and
Peshawar that wish to move in a more liberal direction, as opposed
to the northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan that remain
highly conservative and dominated by centuries-old regional tribal
customs. Increasing globalization has increased the influence
of "Western culture" with Pakistan ranking 46th on the
Kearney/FP Globalization Index.[42] There are an approximated
four million Pakistanis living abroad,[43] with close to a half-million
expatriates living in the United States[44] and around a million
living in Saudi Arabia.[45]As well as nearly one million people
of Pakistani descent in the United Kingdom, there are burgeoning
cultural connections.
Tourism is a growing industry in Pakistan, based on its diverse
cultures, peoples and landscapes. Ancient civilization ruins such
as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations
attract those interested in field and winter sports. Pakistan
is home to several mountain peaks over 7000m, which attracts adventurers
and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2. The northern
parts of Pakistan have many old fortresses, towers and other architecture
as well as the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home
to the small pre-Islamic Animist Kalasha community who claim descent
from the army of Alexander the Great. Punjab is the site of Alexander's
battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's
cultural capital with many examples of Mughal architecture such
as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and
the Lahore Fort