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 Pakistan| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Asif Ali Zardari (2008) Prime minister: Yousaf Raza Gilani
(2008) Land area: 300,664 sq mi (778,720 sq km);
total area: 310,401 sq mi (803,940 sq km)1 Population (2009 est.): 176,242,949
(growth rate: 1.9%); birth rate: 27.6/1000; infant mortality rate:
65.1/1000; life expectancy: 64.5; density per sq mi: 215
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 More Facts & Figures |
GeographyPakistan 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.
GovernmentMilitary rule was instituted in Oct. 1999; a
nominal democracy was declared in June 2001 by the ruling military leader,
Pervez Musharraf.
HistoryPakistan 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.
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