Pakistan

{pak'-is-tan} 

Pakistan occupies a strategic location in South Asia between China to the north, India to the east, and Afghanistan and Iran to the west and northwest.  The Arabian Sea is to the south.  A populous and ancient center of Islam, Pakistan became independent on Aug. 14, 1947, by partition of British India. It originally consisted of two separate land areas located about 1,600 km (1,000 mi) apart to the east and west of India, but the eastern portion seceded in 1971 as the independent nation of BANGLADESH.  The name Pakistan, coined in 1933, is derived from Urdu words meaning "Land of the Pure." 

 LAND AND RESOURCES

One-third of the land consists of plains along the INDUS valley in the south and east.  The remainder, in the west and northwest, is a continuation of the eastern HIMALAYAS.  The plains are irrigated and densely settled where water is available but give way to Pakistan's portion of the THAR DESERT on the east and to the arid tableland of the Balochistan (BALUCHISTAN) Plateau in the southwest.  To the north the land rises to elevations between 300 and 600 m (1,000 and 2,000 ft) in the Himalayan foothills and elevations of more than 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in the rugged mountains of the HINDU KUSH and Kashmir's KARAKORAM RANGE, where GODWIN AUSTEN (K2), the world's second highest peak, rises to 8,611 m (28,250 ft). 

Soils are high in calcium and low in humus, reflecting the semiarid climate.  They are alluvial in the Indus valley and range elsewhere from loess in Balochistan to sandy desert loams.  The Indus and its six Pakistan tributaries--the SUTLEJ, Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Kabul, and Ravi--are the major rivers and provide irrigation water for the plains of the PUNJAB and Sindh (Sind) provinces through an intricate system of irrigation dams and canals. 

 Climate, Vegetation, and Animal Life

Pakistan's climate is hot and dry, with cooler temperatures and greater rainfall in mountain areas.  Annual temperatures average about 24 deg C (75 deg F) on the plains and 7 deg C (45 deg F) in the mountains;  average seasonal temperatures range at Lahore from 12 deg C (54 deg F) in January to 33 deg C (92 deg F) in June.  Most rain falls during the summer monsoon (July-September).  Lahore receives only 460 mm (18 in) of precipitation per year, and Karachi, only 200 mm (8 in). 

The natural vegetation is predominantly drought resistant, with tough grasses and scrub trees in semiarid areas giving way to desert vegetation in the Thar Desert and Baluchistan Plateau. Where water is available, however, a wide variety of plants flourishes.  Forests occupy about 3% of the land, and that minimal amount is much depleted by overcutting in accessible areas.  Deciduous forests predominate in the rainy Himalayan foothills, and conifers at higher elevations.  Wild animals and birds abound in the mountains.  The Siberian ibex, Himalayan black bear, and snow leopard are sometimes seen;  wild pigs, wolves, jackals, other predators, deer, and rodents are common. 

 Resources

There are substantial deposits of natural gas at Sui in Balochistan and elsewhere but very limited resources of petroleum.  Limestone, used to manufacture cement, is an important mineral resource.  There are also limited reserves of lignite and low-grade iron ore. 

 PEOPLE

Pakistan's diverse population reflects many centuries of invasion and settlement by, among others, Dravidians, Aryans, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Afghans, Turks, and Mongols.  The Punjabis, the largest ethnic group, constitute about 58% of the total population.  The largest ethnic minorities are the Sindhis (12%), who form a majority of the population in Sind, and the PATHAN (Pushtuns, 13%), who predominate in the North-West Frontier province and have strong ties to Afghanistan.  In Balochistan are the Balochi (see BALUCHI)--3% of the population--and the Brahuis, a small minority of mixed Dravidian ancestry. 

During the Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan (1979-89), more than 3 million Afghans took refuge in Pakistan, which backed the Afghan rebel forces.  After the 1992 ouster of the Afghan government, fighting between various rebel factions sent a new wave of Afghan refugees into Pakistan. 

 Language and Religion

English is widely used in business and government, and Urdu is the official language.  One of the INDO-IRANIAN LANGUAGES, Urdu is derived mostly from a Sanskritic base but is written in a script similar to Arabic and has many words borrowed from Persian.  The chief regional languages are Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushtu, and Baluchi, all of which are written in variations of Urdu and Arabic scripts. 

Islam, the official religion, is professed by about 97% of the population.  Most Pakistani Muslims are members of the SUNNITE sect of Islam, but economically significant minorities, such as the ISMAILIS, are SHIITES. 

 Demography

Pakistan has one of the highest birth rates in the world, and rapid population growth has strained the economy and fueled sectarian violence.  The largest cities are KARACHI and LAHORE; other important urban centers are ISLAMABAD and RAWALPINDI, FAISALABAD (formerly Lyallpur), HYDERABAD, MULTAN, GUJRANWALA, Peshawar, and Quetta.  Population densities are highest in agricultural areas of Punjab and Sind and lowest in the Quetta region of Balochistan. 

 Education and Health

Primary education is free, but 44% (1986) of all children attend primary school, and only 18% attend secondary schools. Most educational facilities are overcrowded and some, especially in rural areas, are poorly equipped.  Among the larger centers of higher learning are Quaid-i-Azam University (formerly Islamabad University) in Islamabad, the University of Karachi, and the University of Punjab in Lahore (see SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITIES). 

Preventive medicine has contributed to increased life expectancy, but doctors, nurses, and hospital beds remain in short supply.  Tuberculosis, dysentery, typhoid, and other disease related to polluted water supplies and unsanitary conditions are widespread. 

 The Arts

Pakistan's culture is a mixture of Western traditions, inherited from the British, and Islamic traditions acquired during 7 centuries of earlier Muslim-Mogul rule.  Poetry, written mostly in Persian (the language of most Muslim rulers) and Urdu, is the dominant literary form.  Pakistan's leading literary figure in the 20th century is the poet Sir Muhammad IQBAL.  Painting and dance forms prized by the elite in old Muslim society are popular with today's growing middle class. Some prized museum exhibits preserve older Indic traditions. Each of the regional languages has its own literature and cultural traditions, including poetry and folk music. Government-owned radio and television facilities are used to encourage a wider appreciation of the arts. 

 ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

While part of British India before 1947, Pakistan's economy was integrated with that of India.  Partition from the rest of the subcontinent truncated regional economic systems, cut across road, rail, and irrigation systems, and left most of the subcontinent's manufacturing industries in India.  Recovery began in 1955, but the economy has grown at a slower pace than population, and per-capita income remains among the world's lowest. 

 Agriculture

Agriculture employs more than half of the total labor force and contributes about 23% of the national income.  Just over 25% of the land is cultivated, about 80% of it with the aid of irrigation.  In the 1960s, Pakistan significantly raised yields of wheat (the major food grain), rice, cotton, and sugarcane in a GREEN REVOLUTION, making wider use of fertilizers, hybrid seeds, and careful water control.  Livestock, especially camels, donkeys, oxen, water buffalo, sheep, and goats, is economically important in rural areas;  meat, dairy products, wool, skins, and hides provide about one-third of total farm income. 

 Manufacturing and Power

Manufacturing has expanded since 1947, and large-scale nationalization, begun in 1972, has since been reversed. Predominant industries are the manufacture of cotton textiles and the processing of local products, for example, cotton ginning, sugar refining, tanning, and the production of ghee (clarified butter used in cooking) and its modern substitute, cottonseed oil.  Heavy industry includes production of fertilizers, tools, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and steel. 

In 1988, Pakistan produced 29 billion kW h of electricity. Hydroelectric power is important, much of it produced in association with modern irrigation projects such as the multipurpose dams at Mangla and Tarbela.  Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are used to provide thermal electricity.  Natural gas is piped from gas fields in Balochistan to most major cities and is widely used in industry.  There is a nuclear power plant in operation at Karachi and another under construction at Chasma.  Many countries have refused to supply Pakistan with nuclear technology because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and does not allow international monitoring of its nuclear facilities. 

 Transportation and Trade

An extensive rail network, created by the British, is now government owned and operated.  Roads provide access to most areas, especially the military roads built by the British to guard their frontier, but more than half are unimproved dirt tracks.  Government-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) serves domestic and international routes;  the largest airport is at Karachi.  The port at Karachi can accommodate oceangoing vessels, and shares the nation's overseas trade with a second port, Muhammad Bin Qasim, 42 km (26 mi) farther east. 

Pakistan has an unfavorable balance of trade and usually imports approximately twice as much by value as it exports. Part of the trade deficit is offset by remittances (more than $2 billion in 1987) from Pakistanis working abroad.  The principal exports are raw cotton, cotton textiles, rice, carpets, and rugs.  The leading imports are wheat (needed in large quantities when harvests are bad), machinery, industrial raw materials, and petroleum. 

 GOVERNMENT

Pakistan's third constitution (effective 1973) was suspended following the military coup of July 7, 1977.  Gen. ZIA UL-HAQ, made substantial changes in this constitution through his Revival of the Constitution Order, issued in 1985.  The principal change was to enhance greatly the powers of the previously figurehead presidency and thereby to reduce the powers of the prime ministership.  Pakistan thus has a system in which the directly elected prime minister shares leadership with an indirectly elected president.  The incumbents of the two offices after Zia's death have repeatedly clashed, most notably when the president dismissed the prime minister in 1990 and 1993. 

 HISTORY

Pakistan's long history dates back to the ancient INDUS CIVILIZATION preserved at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (ending c.1500 BC) and was subsequently influenced by Indic cultures while part of the Magadha (beginning c.542 BC), MAURYA (c.321-236 BC), Kushan (AD c.78-176), and GUPTA (AD 320-c.535) empires.  Islam was introduced to Sindh in the 8th century and gained wider acceptance after MAHMUD OF GHAZNI initiated 700 years of Turko-Afghan rule in the 11th century.  The MOGUL dynasty assumed control in the 16th century.  British influence grew after the 1750s, direct British rule being imposed in 1858 (see INDIA, HISTORY OF). 

 Creation of Pakistan

The idea of partitioning British India into separate Hindu and Muslim areas originated in the 1930s and became the goal of the MUSLIM LEAGUE under the leadership of Muhammad Ali JINNAH in the 1940s.  Independence was achieved on Aug. 14, 1947, and Pakistan assumed sovereignty over two separate regions--East Bengal (later East Pakistan) and West Pakistan--located on either side of the South Asian subcontinent.  The separation from Hindu-dominated areas granted to India was accompanied by widespread Hindu-Muslim rioting;  the transfer of about 8,000,000 Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan (especially from the Punjab) to India;  and the forced relocation of about 6,000,000 Muslims from India to Pakistan.  War erupted with India over control of Muslim-dominated Jammu and Kashmir (see KASHMIR) and ended in 1949 with a cease-fire line recognizing Pakistan control of about 40% of the disputed state (see INDIA-PAKISTAN WARS). 

Internal differences between East and West Pakistan--united by little other than religion--frustrated efforts to create a single, central government and delayed adoption of the first constitution until 1956.  During these trying years the military, strengthened by U.S. aid after 1953, grew increasingly politicized, and on Oct. 7, 1958, seized control of the government.  The 1956 constitution was abrogated, and martial law imposed, with Gen. (later Field Marshal) Muhammad AYUB KHAN as chief martial law administrator.  In March 1962, Ayub Khan proclaimed a new constitution and introduced a system of Basic Democracies that elected him president the following May.  Discontent and rioting, especially in the eastern wing, forced Ayub Khan to resign in March 1969.  Gen. Muhammad Yahya Khan assumed control, and martial law was temporarily reimposed. 

 Creation of Bangladesh

Political activity was allowed to resume in 1970.  The elections held for the National Assembly resulted in an overall majority for East Pakistan's Awami League, led by Sheikh MUJIBUR RAHMAN, which pledged to seek greater autonomy for East Pakistan;  a majority in less populous West Pakistan was won by the Pakistan Peoples' party (PPP) of Zulfikar Ali BHUTTO. Yahya Khan twice postponed convening the new assembly;  then, in March 1971, the election results were disregarded, the Awami League outlawed, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman arrested.  East Pakistan responded with a declaration of independence as the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh, and civil war ensued.  The army moved in to end the civil war but was defeated after India intervened. 

Civilian rule was restored in West Pakistan (now Pakistan), with Bhutto as president.  A third constitution was adopted in 1973, under which he became prime minister of the demoralized nation.  Secessionist movements in Baluchistan in 1973 and demands for a separate state of Pakhtunistan (Pathan homeland) in the northwest added to the political turmoil.  Bhutto was reelected prime minister in 1977, but following charges of election fraud by the opposition the army seized control of the government for the third time since independence.  Gen. Zia ul-Haq became chief martial law administrator and in 1978 assumed the office of president.  Bhutto was arrested and later hanged. 

When the Soviet Union intervened militarily in neighboring Afghanistan during the early 1980s, Pakistan became a haven for almost 3 million Afghan refugees.  Seeing the Soviet presence in Afghanistan as a possible threat to its own security, Pakistan then sought closer ties with the West. 

In 1983, Zia announced that he intended to restore civilian government by 1985, proposing the adoption of a "guided" parliamentary system founded on Islamic law in which political parties would continue to be banned.  The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, a Sindhi-based opposition group, rejected Zia's plan and led an insurrection against him in Sind;  it was quelled by government troops in August and September 1983.  On Dec. 19, 1984, Zia held a referendum on his rule as president and on his policies of Islamization. Citing an overwhelming affirmative vote, Zia declared himself president for another five years.  On Feb. 25, 1985, the long promised parliamentary elections were held, and parliament reconvened, on March 23, for the first time in eight years.  It faced an agenda of sweeping constitutional reforms, many designed to increase the power of the presidency.  Martial law was lifted on Dec. 30, 1985.  Zia dismissed the prime minister and lower house of parliament in May 1988, and his death in a plane crash on August 17 created a power vacuum.  In the November legislative elections the Pakistan People's party, led by Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the former prime minister, won a plurality of seats. 

On Dec. 1, 1988, Benazir Bhutto was appointed prime minister by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Zia's successor.  Bhutto favored a political solution to the Afghanistan problem and negotiations with India over rising tensions in Kashmir. Bhutto faced ethnic and linguistic strife and opposition from groups favorable to the Zia legacy and fundamentalists unhappy with her opposition to the imposition of Islamic law.  On Aug. 6, 1990, the president dismissed Bhutto and dissolved the National Assembly.  The army-backed conservative Islamic Democratic Alliance, headed by Nawaz Sharif, decisively won new elections held in October 1990.  Strained by the situation in Kashmir, relations with India were worsened in December 1992 by the Hindu destruction of an Indian mosque.  The president ousted the prime minister on Apr. 18, 1993, charging that Nawaz Sharif had damaged the national economy and used unconstitutional methods, but the supreme court reinstated Nawaz Sharif on May 26.  Both the prime minister and the president resigned on July 18, 1993, as part of an attempt by the military to end governmental paralysis.  Wasim Sajjad became acting president and Moeen Qureshi became caretaker prime minister.  After new elections in which neither Bhutto's nor Sharif's party won a majority, Bhutto returned as prime minister on Oct. 19, 1993, as head of a coalition government. Her candidate for president, Farooq Leghari, was chosen for that post on November 13 by provincial and national legislators. 

Leon B. Poullada Reviewed by Craig Baxter 

Bibliography:  Ahmed, A. S., Pakistan (1989) and Pakistan Society (1987);  Allchin, B. and R., The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan (1982);  Baxter, C., Zia's Pakistan (1986);  Bhutto, Benazir, Daughter of Destiny (1989);  Burki, Shahid Javed, and Baxter, C., Pakistan under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia ul-Haq (1990);  Donnan, H., and Werbner, P., Economy and Culture in Pakistan (1991);  Duncan, Emma, Breaking the Curfew (1989);  Noman, O., The Political and Economic Development of Pakistan (1988);  Nyrop, R. F., ed., Pakistan: A Country Study, 5th ed. (1984);  Reeves, R., Passage to Peshawar (1984);  Syed, Anwar H., Pakistan: Islam, Politics, and National Solidarity (1982);  Wolpert, S., Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times (1993).
