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 K2 (Godwin Austen), 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 tributariesÑthe Sutlej, Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Kabul, and RaviÑare the major rivers and provide irrigation water for Punjab and Sindh (Sind) provinces through a system of 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¡ C (75¡ F) on the plains and 7¡ C (45¡ F) in the mountains; average seasonal temperatures range at Lahore from 12¡ C (54¡ F) in January to 33¡ C (92¡ 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 Balochistan 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 over cutting. 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 55% of the total population. The largest ethnic minorities are the Sindhis (23%), who form a majority of the population in Sindh, and the Pathan (Pushtuns, 14%), who predominate in the North-West Frontier province and have strong ties to Afghanistan. In Balochistan are the Baloch (Baluch, 3%) and the Brahui, a small minority of mixed Dravidian ancestry.

During the Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan (1979Ð89), more than 3 million Afghans took refuge in Pakistan, which backed the Afghan rebel forces. After the 1992 ouster of the Afghan government, fighting among various Afghan factions sent new waves of 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 95% 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 birthrates 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, 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 only 44% of all children attend primary school, and 21% attend secondary schools. Most educational facilities are overcrowded and some, especially in rural areas, are poorly equipped. In 1998 formal teaching of the Koran was made compulsory at all levels of the state educational system. 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 diseases related to polluted water supplies and unsanitary conditions are widespread. The percentage of the national budget devoted to education and health care is one of the lowest in Asia.

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, mostly in Persian (the language of most Muslim rulers) and Urdu, is the dominant literary form; Pakistan's leading 20th-century literary figure 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 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, and postindependence Pakistan was more open to modern technology and foreign investment than was India. Nevertheless, the national economy has grown at a slower pace than population, and per-capita income remains among the world's lowest.

Agriculture:-

Agriculture employs more than 45% of the total labor force and contributes about 25% of the national income. About 28% of the land is cultivated, about 70% 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. Rapid population growth (from 33 million in 1945 to nearly 138 million in 1997) has contributed to a shrinkage in the size of farm holdings, dwindling water resources, and severe soil erosion, all of which have reduced Pakistan's ability to feed its people. 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 productsÑfor 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 petroleum refining and the production of fertilizers, tools, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and steel.

In 1994, Pakistan produced 57.1 billion kW h of electricity. Hydroelectric power is important, much of it produced in association with irrigation projects such as the huge multipurpose dams at Mangla and Tarbela, although silting has reduced Tarbela's output in recent years. Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are used to provide thermal electricity. Natural gas is piped from gas fields in Balochistan and Sindh to most major cities and is widely used in industry. The nuclear power industry is controversial, because Pakistan has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and does not allow international monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

Transportation and Trade:-

The extensive rail network created by the British is now government owned and operated; a new railroad linking Pakistan to Turkmenistan via Afghanistan was approved in 1994. Construction of the nation's first mass transit system, in Karachi, began in 1996. Roads provide access to most areas, but more than half are unimproved dirt tracks. A new superhighway linking Islamabad and Lahore is the first link in the planned transnational Indus Highway (Peshawar to Karachi). Government-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other airlines serve domestic and international routes; the largest airport is at Karachi. Karachi is also the nation's chief port.

Pakistan has an unfavorable balance of trade, although much of the trade deficit is offset by remittances from Pakistanis working abroad. Servicing the national debt consumes about one-third of export earnings. The principal exports are yarn, fabrics, and garments and accessories. The chief imports are petroleum products, machinery, automobiles, vegetable oils and fats, and chemicals.

GOVERNMENT:-

Pakistan spent 24 of its first 50 years under military rule. The nation's third constitution (effective 1973) was suspended following the military coup on July 7, 1977. This constitution was substantially revised in 1985, primarily to enhance greatly the powers of the previously figurehead presidency. The provision allowing the president to dismiss the prime minister, invoked in 1988, 1990, 1993, and 1996, was repealed by the legislature in 1997. Members of the lower house of the bicameral legislature are directly elected; members of the upper house are selected by the four provincial legislatures. The head of the majority party in the legislature is prime minister; the president is indirectly elected by the legislature and provincial assemblies. Residents of Pakistan's North-West Frontier province were not allowed to vote in national elections until 1997.

HISTORY:-

Pakistan's long history dates back to the ancient Indus civilization preserved at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (ending c.1500 ©) and was subsequently influenced by Indic cultures while part of the Magadha (beginning c.542 ©), Maurya (c.321Ð236 ©), Kushan (¥ c.78Ð176), and Gupta (¥ 320Ðc.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).

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 regionsÑEast Bengal (later East Pakistan) and West PakistanÑlocated 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 million Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan (especially from the Punjab) to India, and the forced relocation of about 6 million Muslims from India to Pakistan. War erupted with India over control of Muslim-dominated Jammu and 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 PakistanÑunited by little other than religionÑfrustrated 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 1962 he proclaimed a new constitution and became president. 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.

Political activity was allowed to resume in 1970. National Assembly elections gave an overall majority to 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 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's party (PPP). 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 then declared its independence as the People's 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. Bhutto was reelected in 1977 but, following political turmoil and charges of election fraud, the army again seized control of the government. Gen. Zia ul-Haq became chief martial-law administrator and in 1978 assumed the presidency. Bhutto was arrested and later hanged. Zia, who twice postponed elections, embarked on a program of Islamization approved in a probably fraudulent referendum in December 1984, a vote that he took as approval for his continuation in office for five years. After legislative elections in 1985, a civilian prime minister was appointed. Martial law was ended on Dec. 30, 1985.

Zia, who had dismissed the government in May 1988, was killed in a mysterious plane crash on August 17. In November elections the PPP, led by Bhutto's daughter Benazir, won a plurality of seats. She was appointed prime minister on December 1 by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Zia's successor. On Aug. 6, 1990, Ishaq Khan dismissed Bhutto and dissolved the legislature. An army-backed conservative party headed by Nawaz Sharif decisively won new elections in October. The president dismissed Sharif in April 1993, but the dismissal was overturned by the supreme court. The power struggle between Ishaq Khan and Sharif paralyzed the government, and both men resigned on July 18. 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. Bhutto's candidate for the presidency, Farooq Leghari, was elected in November. Political and sectarian conflict continued, and a feud between the prime minister and her mother and brother (the latter killed in 1996 in a shootout with police) threatened to split the PPP. Leghari dismissed Bhutto on Nov. 5, 1996. In January, Leghari and the cabinet of interim caretaker prime minister Malik Meraj Khalid approved granting the armed forces a formal advisory role in the government. Following new elections on Feb. 3, 1997, which the PPP lost by a wide margin, Sharif again became prime minister. Despite mounting violence by Muslim militants, extremist Islamic parties won only two seats in the legislature in the 1997 elections.

In April 1997 the legislature repealed the section of the constitution permitting the president to dismiss the elected government. Authority to appoint the heads of all branches of the armed forces was transferred from the president to the prime minister. Later that year, as Pakistan and India celebrated the 50th anniversary of their independence, the two nations moved to improve their long-troubled relationship, although Pakistan continued to refuse to bow to U.S. pressures to eliminate or freeze its covert nuclear weapons program unless India took similar measures. On Dec. 2, 1997, after Sharif had suspended the chief justice (who had brought corruption charges against the prime minister and sought to restore the president's power to dismiss the government), Leghari resigned as president rather than appoint a replacement. In January 1998 the legislature selected former judge Rafiq Tarar to replace Leghari as president.