About Pasni

Pasni ( پسنی ) - A town in Balochistan, Pakistan

Pasni (Balochi: پسنی ) is a medium-sized town and a fishing port in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located on the Makran coast on Arabian Sea about 300 km from Karachi. Administratively, Pasni is the headquarters of the Pasni sub-division of Gwadar district that includes Pasni and Ormara Tehsils as well as Astola Island which lies 40km ESE of Pasni, in the Arabian Sea. The city of Pasni is itself administratively subdivided into two Union Councils.

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 as well as faraway Karachi.

Pasni town, like the rest of Makran Coast, is affected by a seismic fault line (Makran Accretionary Front) caused by the northward movement (40-50 mm/year) of the Arabian Plate against the Eurasian Plate. Tectonic activity emanating from this subduction zone in the Arabian Sea causes occasional, low intensity quakes. On 28 Nov, 1945, a tsunami, triggered by a submarine earthquake (7.8 Richter), completely destroyed Pasni town.


Various kinship groups exist side by side in Pasni. These include Rais, Khodai, Kalmati, Sangur, and Shahzada who belong to traditional ruling communities and currently, tend to dominate land ownership and the fishing industry.
Pasni also has some other cast such as Barr, Jadgaal, Wadaila people living in this small town, but the working classes have traditionally comprised Medh, Darzada, Push, Maqsoodi and Naqeeb, some of whom are groups that were historically slaves of the ruling families. People of East African ancestry commonly known as 'Sheedis' 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 in the early 19th century, when slave trade flourished under Omani Sultans whose suzerainty extended over Gwadar till 1958.