Pakistan — Time & Holidays
Pakistan keeps a single national time zone, Pakistan Standard Time (UTC+5), and does not observe daylight saving, so its clocks stay the same all year.
National & Public Holidays
| Date | Holiday | What it marks |
|---|---|---|
| 5 February | Kashmir Solidarity Day Fixed | Solidarity with the people of Kashmir. |
| 23 March | Pakistan Day Fixed | The 1940 Lahore Resolution and 1956 constitution. |
| 1 May | Labour Day Fixed | International workers' day. |
| 14 August | Independence Day Fixed | Independence from British rule in 1947. |
| 6 September | Defence Day Fixed | Honours the armed forces. |
| 9 November | Iqbal Day Fixed | Birth of poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal. |
| 25 December | Quaid-e-Azam Day Fixed | Birth of founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. |
| Lunar | Eid-ul-Fitr Islamic | Marks the end of Ramadan. |
| Lunar | Eid-ul-Adha Islamic | The festival of sacrifice. |
| Lunar | Eid Milad-un-Nabi Islamic | Birth of the Prophet Muhammad. |
Time and holidays in Pakistan
Pakistan runs on a single national clock, Pakistan Standard Time, set five hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time at UTC+5. From the port of Karachi in the south to the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan in the north, the whole country shares the same time, so a programme that airs at eight in the evening does so everywhere, and a meeting set for three in the afternoon means the same hour in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta alike. Pakistan does not move its clocks forward in summer, so the offset holds steady all year.
National days and festivals of the moon
The fixed national days are anchored to history: Pakistan Day on the twenty-third of March recalls the 1940 Lahore Resolution, Independence Day on the fourteenth of August marks freedom in 1947, Defence Day on the sixth of September honours the armed forces, and Quaid-e-Azam Day on the twenty-fifth of December remembers the nation's founder. Independence Day is the most visible of all, when the green-and-white flag appears on homes, shops and vehicles across the country. The religious festivals follow the Islamic lunar calendar, which is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha and Eid Milad-un-Nabi fall a little earlier each year and their exact dates are confirmed by moon sighting shortly before they arrive. The live clock above shows the current time in Pakistan to the second, and the countdown timer is a lovely way to count down to the next Eid or Independence Day.