Gwadar

Gwadar is a city on the southwestern Arabian Sea coastline of Pakistan, in Balochistan. Under development as a free trade port, it is the district headquarters of Gwadar District and, in 2011, was designated the winter capital of Balochistan.

Until 1958, Gwadar was an overseas possession of Muscat and Oman. On 8 September 1958 it was annexed by Pakistan, with Oman then agreeing to sell its former enclave to Pakistan for a price of 5.5 billion rupees, with effect from 8 December 1958. The area was not integrated into Balochistan province of Pakistan until 1 July 1977, when it became a full sub-division called the Gwadar District and was designated as the "winter capital" of Balochistan. Most of the money for the purchase from Oman came from donations, with Prince Ali Salman Mohammad Shah, the reigning Aga Khan, being the greatest contributor, while the remainder was raised by taxation. Gwadar has a population of approximately 85,000. It is about 700 km from Karachi and 120 km from the Iranian border. Gwadar Port is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, near the key shipping routes in and out of the Persian Gulf.