Google Doodle promoting Independence Day for many years

QUETTA: Google keeps creating interesting doodles for various cultural and social events around the world.

A new doodle has also emerged on the night between Sunday (August 13) and Monday (August 14), marking the 73rd anniversary of Pakistan’s independence.

Usually a doodle reflects the culture and traditions of a country and this time Google has made the Khojak Tunnel part of its doodle on Pakistan’s Independence Day. You may have seen it on the back of the old Rs. 5 note (which is now closed). Google is written in the green square box below.

There is a town called Sheila Bagh in front of the Khojak Tunnel, 113 km west of Quetta.

During the Great Game between Britain and Russia, both powers wanted to expand their power in Central Asia and seize the region’s natural resources. In the late 19th century, the British Raj in India began to worry about Russia’s expanding power in Central Asia.

Fearing that the Russians might enter the region from Afghanistan via Kandahar, the British decided to build a network of railway tracks to Kandahar so that they could send troops there to counter Russian forces. To that end, the British had to bypass the famous 2290-meter-high Khojak Pass, which has been a passage for soldiers, merchants and conquerors for centuries.

The 3-9 km long tunnel was built under the Khojak Pass between 1888 and 1891 and was named after the Khojak Tunnel.

The railway line passes through Quetta, crosses the Khojak tunnel and then goes straight to the Pak-Afghan border town of Chaman. The British could not go further.

In front of the tunnel is a small plaque inscribed with its name and period of construction. It is located at an altitude of 1939.8 meters above sea level in the town of Sheila Bagh. Sheila is a Pashto word meaning a seasonal mountain stream and bagh obviously means garden.

According to Dawn News, there are many local stories about Sheila Bagh, but none of them can be confirmed, but the locals make strong claims about them.

The first of these is that the area is named after a dancer named Sheila who entertained the workers who worked tirelessly on the construction of the Khojak tunnel.

Another frightening story is that the chief engineer of the tunnel construction project committed suicide before the completion of his masterpiece.

No one knows why. The railway station at Sheila Bagh was later built. Those who have seen the Oscar-nominated film Moore from Pakistan last year must have seen the station in some scenes from the film.

Keep in mind that Google has been creating doodles on Pakistan’s Independence Day since 2011. First, it started a series of greetings with green doodles adorned with moon stars and minarets of Pakistan.

Similarly, in 2012, the world famous Pakistani truck art was highlighted through Google Doodle.

The Google Doodle was unique in 2013, with the world’s second highest peak ‘K2’ showing the northern regions and Pakistan’s national animal Markhor in the background standing on a mountain under the moon and stars.