KARACHI: Malala Yousufzai, the activist for girls’ education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, has topped the list of most searched Pakistanis on Wikipedia during 2017 — second year in a row.

According to a report by the Pakistan affiliate of The Wikimedia Foundation, Ms Yousufzai’s Wikipedia page had over 2.5 million views the previous year.

The list, which tabulates Wikipedia searches of Pakis­tani personalities, is based on searches carried out from Jan 1 to Dec 20, 2017.

Other personalities who were among 25 most searched Pakistanis on Wikipedia in 2017 included politicians, social workers and people from the entertainment industry. Among the most searched are also those who are no more in this world.

Mahira Khan, the actress who has been adding one accolade after the other to her name over the past few years, was the second most searched Pakistani on Wiki­pedia with over 2m views.

The page of the father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, came on third position with over 1.3m views.

On fourth position came the page of Saba Qamar, an actress, with 910,102 views.

Pakistan Tehree-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s page with fifth position attracted 884,206 views and ousted prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Nawaz Sharif’s followed it on sixth position with 867,548 views.

Actor Fawad Khan came on seventh position with 860,213 page views.

On eighth position, the page of legendary Pakistani musician and singer late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan attracted 838,527 people.

Former prime minister and assassinated chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Benazir Bhutto’s page was viewed by 794,442 times.

The page of iconic social worker late Abdul Sattar Edhi had 664,107 views.

In descending order, following are the other most search Pakistanis on Wikipedia: actress Sajal Ali (643,528 page views), actress Mawra Hocane (601,239), actor Imran Abbas (380,358), actress Sanam Saeed (251,679), actress Veena Malik (242,998), actress Mehwish Hayat (238,832), actor Humayun Saeed (229,505), actor Adnan Siddiqui (227,398), musician and singer Atif Aslam (608,525), actor and singer Ali Zafar (363,534), singer-turned-evangelist late Junaid Jamshed (299,878), legendary singer and actress late Noor Jehan (277,287), singer late Nazia Hassan (264,801), legendary singer late Mehdi Hasan (203,460), and slain social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch (455,651).

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018

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