Welcome to Pakistan
Background
Although Pakistan is a young nation, it has an ancient history. Pakistan and India have shared elements of their cultural and social history, which dates back 5000 years. In fact, until the middle of the twentieth century, Pakistanis and Indians were united in one country. For thousands of years, Pakistan and India were part of the same empire. Like India, Pakistan was ruled by various times by the Persians and Greeks. The Arab rulers who controlled the region from 712 to 1000 A.D. introduced Islam to the people, and most Pakistanis soon became Muslim. Islam became a central part of the Pakistani identity. Along with language and ethnic customs, it distinguished Pakistanis from the majority of people on the Indian subcontinent. After the fall of the Mughal Empire in the early nineteenth century, the area that is currently Pakistan came under British colonial rule. Both the Pakistanis and the Indians were exploited by the British, and they worked together toward the goal of independence. However, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, and Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian nationalist leader, disagreed over what an independent India would look like. Muslims were concerned that their interests would be ignored, so they wanted to create a separate country, which Gandhi strongly opposed. When India finally became independent in 1947, Pakistan was partitioned from India as a homeland for Muslims. The name Pakistan comes from the Urdu words for pure and country. The creation of Pakistan was seen as a failure by Gandhi, who wanted to unite all of the various groups in India, but Muslims saw it as a great victory and the beginning of self-determination. Soon after the partition, over 2 million people crossed the border from India to Pakistan and vice versa. Over 100,000 people died in the fighting. This humanitarian crisis was the greatest movement of refugees that the world had ever known.
Pakistan Today
Pakistan has the sixth largest population of any country in the world, and it also has the world’s second largest Muslim population. Much of Pakistan is mountainous, which makes communication in those areas difficult. Pakistan has several modern cities, such as Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. However, it also has many rural areas where access to resources is limited. It is not unusual for electricity to be rationed by the government. People are used to being without power for periods of time. Pakistan’s legal system is based on British and Islamic law. Islam is the official religion, but the constitution provides for freedom of religion. Pakistan has period disagreements with India, particularly over Kashmir. This territorial dispute led to war in 1949, 1965, 1971, and 1999, and it remains unresolved today. Since both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, the rest of the world closely monitors the situation. Since independence, Pakistan has been governed at various times by military rulers and freely elected leaders. Pervez Musharraf, the current leader, took control in a military coup in 1999. He promised to hold free elections in January 2007. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, her husband Asif Ali Zardari became Pakistan's president in September 2008. Moderate secular politicians as well as ordinary civilians have come under terrorist attack from fundamentalist groups like al-Qaeda. The Northwest Frontier, which shares a border with Afghanistan, has been very difficult for the government to control. In fact, many Taliban fighters have crossed the border and are now living there. Pakistan offered strong support for the U.S. after the September 11 attacks. However, this has sometimes proved to be challenging for Pakistan’s leaders, who have had to balance the interests of both the conservative and moderate elements of their society.
Click on the flags below to learn more about other countries.
