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Travel to Pakistan — Unbiased reviews and
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Islamic Republic of Pakistan
President: Gen. Pervez Musharraf
(2001)
Prime minister: Yousaf Raza Gilani
(2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 300,664 sq mi (778,720 sq km);
total area: 310,401 sq mi (803,940 sq km)1
Population (2007 est.): 169,270,617
(growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 29.1/1000; infant mortality rate:
68.5/1000; life expectancy: 63.8; density per sq mi: 563
Capital (2003 est.):
Islamabad, 601,600
Largest cities: Karachi, 11,819,000
(metro area), 9,339,023 (city proper); Lahore, 5,756,100; Faisalabad
(Lyallpur), 2,247,700; Rawalpindi, 1,598,600; Gujranwala,
1,384,100
Monetary unit: Pakistan rupee
Principal languages:
Urdu 8%, English (both official); Punjabi 48%,
Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Balochi 3%,
Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski, and others 8%
Ethnicity/race:
Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch,
Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendants)
Religions:
Islam 97% (Sunni 77%, Shiite 20%); Christian,
Hindu, and other 3%
Literacy rate: 46% (2003 est.)
Economic summary GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $384.9 billion; per capita $2,400. Real growth rate:
7.8%. Inflation: 9.2%. Unemployment: 6.6% plus
substantial underemployment. Arable land: 25%.
Agriculture: cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits,
vegetables; milk, beef, mutton, eggs. Labor force: 46.84
million; note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East,
and use of child labor; agriculture 42%, industry 20%, services 38%
(2004 est.). Industries: textiles and apparel, food
processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products,
fertilizer, shrimp. Natural resources: land, extensive
natural gas reserves, limited petroleum, poor quality coal, iron
ore, copper, salt, limestone. Exports: $14.85 billion f.o.b.
(2005 est.): textiles (garments, bed linen, cotton cloth, yarn),
rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets
and rugs. Imports: $14.01 billion (f.o.b., 2004 est.):
petroleum, petroleum products, machinery, plastics, transportation
equipment, edible oils, paper and paperboard, iron and steel, tea.
Major trading partners: U.S., UAE, UK, Germany, Hong Kong,
Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Kuwait (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 2.861 million (March 1999); mobile cellular: 158,000 (1998).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 27, FM 1, shortwave 21 (1998).
Radios: 13.5 million (1997). Television broadcast
stations: 22 (plus seven low-power repeaters) (1997).
Televisions: 3.1 million (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 30 (2000). Internet users: 1.2 million
(2000).
Transportation: Railways: total: 8,163
km (2002). Highways: total: 254,410 km; paved: 109,396 km
(including 339 km of expressways); unpaved: 145,014 km (1999).
Ports and harbors: Karachi, Port Muhammad bin Qasim.
Airports: 124 (2002).
International disputes: thousands of
Afghan refugees still reside in Pakistan; isolating terrain and
close ties among Pashtuns in Pakistan make cross-border activities
difficult to control; armed stand-off with India over the status and
sovereignty of Kashmir continues—India objects to Pakistan
ceding lands to China in 1965 boundary agreement that India believes
are part of disputed Kashmir; disputes with India over Indus River
water sharing and the terminus of the Rann of Kutch, which prevents
maritime boundary delimitation.
1. Excluding Kashmir and Jammu.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Pakistan is situated in the western part of the Indian subcontinent,
with Afghanistan and Iran on the west, India on the east, and the Arabian
Sea on the south. The name Pakistan is derived from the Urdu words
Pak (meaning pure) and stan (meaning country). It is nearly
twice the size of California.
The northern and western highlands of Pakistan contain the towering
Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges, which include some of the world's
highest peaks: K2 (28,250 ft; 8,611 m) and Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft; 8,126
m). The Baluchistan Plateau lies to the west, and the Thar Desert and an
expanse of alluvial plains, the Punjab and Sind, lie to the east. The
1,000-mile-long (1,609-km) Indus River and its tributaries flow through
the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea.
Government
Military rule was instituted in Oct. 1999; a nominal democracy was
declared in June 2001 by the ruling military leader, Pervez Musharraf.
History
Pakistan was one of the two original successor states to British India,
which was partitioned along religious lines in 1947. For almost 25 years
following independence, it consisted of two separate regions, East and
West Pakistan, but now it is made up only of the western sector. Both
India and Pakistan have laid claim to the Kashmir region; this territorial
dispute led to war in 1949, 1965, 1971, and 1999, and remains unresolved
today.
What is now Pakistan was in prehistoric times the Indus Valley
civilization (c. 2500–1700 B.C.). A
series of invaders—Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and
others—controlled the region for the next several thousand years.
Islam, the principal religion, was introduced in 711. In 1526, the land
became part of the Mogul Empire, which ruled most of the Indian
subcontinent from the 16th to the mid-18th century. By 1857, the British
became the dominant power in the region. With Hindus holding most of the
economic, social, and political advantages, the Muslim minority's
dissatisfaction grew, leading to the formation of the nationalist Muslim
League in 1906 by Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876–1949). The league
supported Britain in the Second World War while the Hindu nationalist
leaders, Nehru and Gandhi, refused. In return for the league's support of
Britain, Jinnah expected British backing for Muslim autonomy. Britain
agreed to the formation of Pakistan as a separate dominion within the
Commonwealth in Aug. 1947, a bitter disappointment to India's dream of a
unified subcontinent. Jinnah became governor-general. The partition of
Pakistan and India along religious lines resulted in the largest migration
in human history, with 17 million people fleeing across the borders in
both directions to escape the accompanying sectarian violence.
Pakistan became a republic on March 23, 1956, with Maj. Gen. Iskander
Mirza as the first president. Military rule prevailed for the next two
decades. Tensions between East and West Pakistan existed from the outset.
Separated by more than a thousand miles, the two regions shared few
cultural and social traditions other than religion. To the growing
resentment of East Pakistan, the West monopolized the country's political
and economic power. In 1970, East Pakistan's Awami League, led by the
Bengali leader Sheik Mujibur Rahman, secured a majority of the seats in
the national assembly. President Yahya Khan postponed the opening of the
national assembly to skirt East Pakistan's demand for greater autonomy,
provoking civil war. The independent state of Bangladesh, or Bengali
nation, was proclaimed on March 26, 1971. Indian troops entered the war in
its last weeks, fighting on the side of the new state. Pakistan was
defeated on Dec. 16, 1971, and President Yahya Khan stepped down. Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto took over Pakistan and accepted Bangladesh as an independent
entity. In 1976, formal relations between India and Pakistan resumed.
Pakistan's first elections under civilian rule took place in March
1977, and the overwhelming victory of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party
(PPP) was denounced as fraudulent. A rising tide of violent protest and
political deadlock led to a military takeover on July 5 by Gen. Mohammed
Zia ul-Haq. Bhutto was tried and convicted for the 1974 murder of a
political opponent, and despite worldwide protests he was executed on
April 4, 1979, touching off riots by his supporters. Zia declared himself
president on Sept. 16, 1978, and ruled by martial law until Dec. 30, 1985,
when a measure of representative government was restored. On Aug. 19,
1988, Zia was killed in a midair explosion of a Pakistani Air Force plane.
Elections at the end of 1988 brought longtime Zia opponent Benazir Bhutto,
daughter of Zulfikar Bhutto, into office as prime minister.
In the 1990s, Pakistan saw a shaky succession of
governments—Benazir Bhutto was prime minister twice and deposed
twice and Nawaz Sharif three times, until he was deposed in a coup on Oct.
12, 1999, by Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The Pakistani public, familiar with
military rule for 25 of the nation's 52-year history, generally viewed the
coup as a positive step and hoped it would bring a badly needed economic
upswing.
To the surprise of much of the world, two new nuclear powers emerged in
May 1998 when India, followed by Pakistan just weeks later, conducted
nuclear tests. Fighting with India again broke out in the disputed
territory of Kashmir in May 1999.
Close ties with Afghanistan's Taliban government thrust Pakistan into a
difficult position following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Under U.S.
pressure, Pakistan broke with its neighbor to become the United States'
chief ally in the region. In return, President Bush ended sanctions
(instituted after Pakistan's testing of nuclear weapons in 1998),
rescheduled its debt, and helped to bolster the legitimacy of the rule of
Pervez Musharraf, who appointed himself president in 2001.
On Dec. 13, 2001, suicide bombers attacked the Indian parliament,
killing 14 people. Indian officials blamed the attack on Islamic militants
supported by Pakistan. Both sides assembled hundreds of thousands of
troops along their common border, bringing the two nuclear powers to the
brink of war.
In 2002, voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to extend
Musharraf's presidency another five years. The vote, however, outraged
opposing political parties and human rights groups who said the process
was rigged. In August, he unveiled 29 constitutional amendments that
strengthened his grip on the country.
Pakistani officials dealt a heavy blow to al-Qaeda in March 2003,
arresting Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the top aide to Osama bin Laden, who
organized the 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S. The search for bin
Laden intensified in northern Pakistan following Mohammed's arrest.
In Nov. 2003, Pakistan and India declared the first formal cease-fire
in Kashmir in 14 years. In April 2005, a bus service began between the two
capitals of Kashmir—Srinagar on the Indian side and Pakistan's
Muzaffarabad—uniting families that had been separated by the Line of
Control since 1947.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, was exposed
in Feb. 2004 for having sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran, and
Libya. Musharraf had him apologize publicly, and then pardoned him. While
much of the world reviled him for this unconscionable act of nuclear
proliferation, the scientist remains a national hero in Pakistan. Khan
claimed that he alone and not Pakistan's military or government was
involved in the selling of these ultraclassified secrets; few in the
international community have accepted this explanation.
President Musharraf declared in December 2004 that he would retain his
post as head of the army, a reversal of an earlier promise.
Pakistan has launched major efforts to combat al-Qaeda and Taliban
militants, deploying 80,000 troops to its remote and mountainous border
with Afghanistan, a haven for terrorist groups. More than 800 soldiers
have died in these campaigns. Yet the country remains a breeding ground
for Islamic militancy, with its estimated 10,000–40,000 religious
schools, or madrassas. In late 2006 and into 2007, members of the Taliban
crossed into eastern Afghanistan from Pakistan's tribal areas. The
Pakistani government denied that its intelligence agency has supported the
Islamic militants, despite contradictory reports from Western diplomats
and the media.
In September 2006, President Musharraf signed a controversial peace
agreement with seven militant groups, who call themselves the
“Pakistan Taliban.” Pakistan's army agreed to withdraw from
the area and allow the Taliban to govern themselves, as long as they
promise no incursions into Afghanistan or against Pakistani troops.
Critics said the deal hands terrorists a secure base of operations;
supporters counter that a military solution against the Taliban is futile
and will only spawn more militants, contending that containment is the
only practical policy. That agreement came under fire in the U.S. in July
2007 with the release of a National Intelligence Estimate. The report
cncluded that al-Qaeda has gained strength in the past two years and that
the United States faces "a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over
the next three years." The report also said the deal has allowed al-Qaeda
to flourish.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck Pakistani-controlled
Kashmir on October 8, 2005. More than 81,000 people were killed and 3
million left homeless. About half of the region’s capital city,
Muzaffarabad, was destroyed. The disaster hit at the onset of the
Himalayan winter. Many rural villages were too remote for aid workers to
reach, leaving thousands vulnerable to the elements.
In 2006, Pakistan introduced legislation to change the country’s
harsh Islamic rape laws. The current law, introduced in 1979, requires the
victim of a rape to produce the testimony of four male witnesses or else
face charges of adultery. But after pressure from religious conservatives,
the government postponed submitting the bill.
In March 2007, President Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftakar
Mohammed Chaudhry, accusing him of abuse of power and nepotism. Supporters
of Chaudhry took the streets in protest, claiming the move was politically
motivated. In May, 39 people were killed in Karachi when dueling
rallies—those in support of Chaudhry and others of the
government—turned violent. Justice Chaudhry has agreed to hear cases
involving disappearances of people believed to have been detained by
intelligence agencies and constitutional challenges involving
Musharraf’s continued rule as president and head of the military.
Chaudhry challenged his suspension in court, and in July Pakistan’s
Supreme Court ruled that President Musharraf acted illegally when he
suspended Chaudhry. The court reinstated him.
Radical Islamist clerics and students at Islamabad's Red Mosque, who
have been using kidnappings and violence in their campaign for the
imposition of Shariah, or Islamic law, in Pakistan, exchanged gunfire with
government troops in July 2007. After the initial violence, the military
laid seige to the mosque, which held nearly 2,000 students. Several
students escaped or surrendered to officials. The mosque's senior cleric,
Maulana Abdul Aziz was caught by officials when attempting to escape.
After negotiations between government officials and mosque leaders failed,
troops stormed the compound and killed Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who took over
as chief of the mosque after the capture of Aziz, his brother. More than
80 people died in the violence. Violence in remote tribal areas
intensified after the raid. In addition, the Taliban rescinded the
cease-fire signed in September 2006, and a series of suicide bombings and
attacks followed.
Musharraf's political troubles intensified in the late summer. In
August, the Supreme Court ruled that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif
could return to Pakistan from exile in Saudi Arabia. Both Sharif and
Benazir Bhutto, also a former prime minister, have sought to challenge
Musharraf's role as military leader and president. Days after the ruling,
Bhutto revealed that Musharraf had agreed to a power-sharing agreement, in
which he would step down as army chief and run for reelection as
president. In exchange, Bhutto, who has been living in self-imposed exile
for eight years, would be allowed to return to Pakistan and run for prime
minister. Aides to Musharraf, however, denied an agreement was reached.
Shortly after, however, Musharraf said that if elected to a second term as
president, he will step down from his post as army chief before taking the
oath of office. Some opposition leaders, however, questioned whether he
would follow through on his promise. In September, Sharif was arrested and
deported hours after he returned to Pakistan.
On Oct. 6, Musharraf was easily reelected to a third term by the
country's national and provincial assemblies. The opposition boycotted the
vote, however, and only representatives from the governing party
participated in the election. In addition, the Supreme Court said the
results will not be formalized until it rules if Musharraf was
constitutionally eligible to run for president while still head of the
military.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18 amid much fanfare and
jubilation by her supporters. The triumphant mood gave way to panic when a
suicide bomber attacked her convoy, killing as many as 135 people. Bhutto
survived the attack.
On Nov. 3, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended
Pakistan's constitution, and fired Chief Justice Iftakar Mohammed Chaudhry
and the other judges on the Supreme Court. In addition, police arrested at
least 500 opposition figures. Political opponents said Musharraf had in
effect declared martial law. Analysts suggested that Musharraf was trying
to preempt an upcoming ruling by the Supreme Court, which was expected to
declare he could not constitutionally run for president while head of the
military. Musharraf, however, said he acted to stem a rising Islamist
insurgency and to "preserve the democratic transition.” On November
5, thousands of lawyers took to the streets to protest the emergency rule.
Many clashed with baton-wielding police. As many as 700 lawyers were
arrested, including Chaudhry, who was placed under house arrest. Under
pressure from U.S. officials, Musharraf said parliamentary elections would
take place in January 2008.
On Nov. 9 thousands of police officers barricaded the city of
Rawalpindi, the site of a protest planned by Bhutto. She was later placed
under house arrest. On Nov. 15, the day that Parliament's five-year term
ended, Musharraf swore in a caretaker government, with Mohammedmian
Soomro, the chairman of Pakistan's senate, as prime minister. He also
lifted Bhutto's house arrest. Later that month, the Supreme Court, stacked
with judges loyal to Musharraf, dismissed the case challenging the
constitutionality of Musharraf being elected president while head of the
military. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan on Nov.
25 after eight years in exile and demanded that Musharraf lift the
emergency rule and reinstate the Supreme Court justices that were
dismissed on Nov. 3. Sharif, who has refused to share power with
Musharraf, poses a formidable political threat to Musharraf.
Musharraf stepped down as military chief on November 28, the day before
being sworn in as a civilian president. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the
former head of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services
Intelligence, took over as army chief. Since he no longer controls the
military, Musharraf's power over Pakistan has been significantly
diminished.
Musharraf ended emergency rule on December 14 and restored the
Constitution. At the same time, however, he issued several executive
orders and constitutional amendments that precluded any legal challenges
related to his actions during and after emergency rule and barred the
judges who he fired when he called emergency rule from resuming their
positions. "Today I am feeling very happy that all the promises that I
have made to the people, to the country, have been fulfilled," he
said.
Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on Dec. 27 at a campaign
rally in Rawalpindi. President Pervez Musharraf blamed al Qaeda for the
attack, which killed 23 other people. Bhutto's supporters, however,
accused Musharraf's government of orchestrating the combination bombing
and shooting. Rioting throughout the country followed the attack, and the
government shut down nearly all the country's services to thwart further
violence. Bhutto had criticized the government for failing to control
militants who have been unleashing terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan.
In the wake of the assassination, Musharraf postponed parliamentary
elections, which had been scheduled for Jan. 8, 2008, until February
18.
Scotland Yard investigators reported in February that Bhutto died of an
injury to her skull. They said she hit her head when the force of a
suicide bomb tossed her. Bhutto's supporters, however, insist she died of
a bullet wound. Also in February, two Islamic militants who had been
arrested in connection to the assassination admitted that they armed the
attacker with a suicide vest and a pistol.
In the parliamentary elections in February, Musharraf's party, the
Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which has been in power for five years, suffered
a stunning defeat, losing most of its seats. The opposition Pakistan
People's Party, which was led by Bhutto until her assassination and is now
headed by her widow, Asif Ali Zardari, won 80 of the 242 contested seats.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by Sharif, took 66 seats. Musharraf
party's won just 40. His defeat was considered a protest of his attempts
to rein in militants, his coziness with President Bush, and his dismissal
of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The Pakistan
People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N formed a coalition
government. In March, Parliament elected Fahmida Mirza as speaker. She is
the first woman in Pakistan elected to the position.
In March, Zardari selected Yousaf Raza Gilani, who served as speaker of
Parliament in the 1990s under Benazir Bhutto, as prime minister. One of
his first moves as prime minister was to release the Supreme Court
justices that Musharraf ousted and detained in late 2007.
The new government signaled it would set a clear change of course when
it announced that it would negotiate with militants who live and train in
Pakistan's remote tribal areas. The policy met resistance from the United
States, which, with approval from Musharraaf, has stepped up its attacks
against the militants.
In May, the coalition government reached a compromise agreement to
reinstate the Supreme Court justices who were dismissed in November 2007
by Musharraf. The Supreme Court could reverse the ruling that legitimized
Musharraf's controversial reelection as president when he was still the
military chief.
See also Encyclopedia: Pakistan.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Pakistan
Statistics Division www.statpak.gov.pk
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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