Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان Pākistān 
The region forming modern Pakistan was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and then, successively, recipient of ancient Vedic, Persian, Turco-Mongol, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and/or settlement by the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols, Sikhs and the British.[9] It was a part of India during the British Raj from 1858 to 1947, until the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. When the Pakistan Movement for a state for Muslims within India, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and theMuslim League resulted in the independence and creation of the Muslim majority state of Pakistan, that comprised the provinces of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Balochistan and East Bengal. With the adoption of itsconstitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1971, a civil war in East Pakistan resulted in intervention from India and the subsequent independence of Bangladesh. Pakistan's history has been characterized by periods of military rule and political instability.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim population in the worldafter Indonesia. The country is listed among the Next Eleven economies, is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, G20 developing nations, Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the Economic Cooperation Organisation. It is also a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organisation, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, G33 developing countries, Group of 77 developing nations, major non-NATO ally of the United States and is a nuclear state.
The Indus region, which covers much of Pakistan, was the site of several ancient cultures including the Neolithic era Mehrgarh and the Bronze era Indus Valley Civilisation (2500 BCE – 1500 BCE) at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.[12]
Waves of conquerors and migrants from the west—including Harappan, Indo-Aryan, Persian, Greek, Saka, Parthian, Kushan, Hephthalite, Afghan, Arab,Turkics and Mughal—settled in the region through out the centuries, influencing the locals and being absorbed among them.[13] Great ancient empires of the east—such as the Nandas, Mauryas, Sungas, Guptas, and the Palas—ruled these territories at different times from Patliputra. Also Emperor Harsha of Thanesarruled present-day Pakistan for over half a century.
However, in the medieval period, while the eastern provinces of Punjab and Sindh grew aligned with Indo-Islamic civilisation, the western areas became culturally allied with theIranian civilisation of Afghanistan and Iran.[14] The region served as crossroads of historic trade routes, including the Silk Road, and as a maritime entreport for the coastal trade between Mesopotamia and beyond up to Rome in the west and Malabar and beyond up to China in the east.
The Indus Valley Civilisation collapsed in the middle of the second millennium BCE and was followed by theVedic Civilisation, which also extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plains. Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Achaemenid Persian empire[15] around 543 BCE, Greek empire founded byAlexander the Great[16] in 326 BCE and the Mauryan empire there after. The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded byDemetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab from 184 BCE, and reached its greatest extent underMenander, establishing the Greco-Buddhist period with advances in trade and culture. The city of Taxila(Takshashila) became a major centre of learning in ancient times—the remains of the city, located to the west of Islamabad, are one of the country's major archaeological sites. The Rai Dynasty (c.489–632) of Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories. In 712 CE, the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim[17]conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab. The Pakistan government's official chronology states that "its foundation was laid" as a result of this conquest.[18] This Arab and Islamic victory would set the stage for several successive Muslim empires in South Asia, including the Ghaznavid Empire, the Ghorid Kingdom, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. During this period, Sufimissionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam.
The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth century provided opportunities for the Afghans, Balochis andSikhs to exercise control over large areas until the British East India Company[19] gained ascendancy over South Asia. TheIndian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Indian Mutiny, in 1857 was the region's last major armed struggle against the British Raj, and it laid the foundations for the generally unarmed freedom struggle led by the Indian National Congress in the twentieth century. In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience.[20] In early 1947, Britain announced the end of its rule in India. The All India Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fears of under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. On 29 December 1930, Allama Iqbal's presidential address called for an autonomous "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims, within the body politic of India."[21] Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the Two Nation Theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as the Pakistan Resolution. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders of British India—including Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League andMaster Tara Singh representing the Sikhs—agreed to the proposed terms of transfer of power and independence. The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27 Ramadan 1366 in the Islamic Calendar), carved out of the two Muslim-majority wings in the eastern and northwestern regions of British India and comprising the provinces of Balochistan, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab and Sindh. The controversial division of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal caused communal riots across India and Pakistan—millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan and millions of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India. Disputes arose over several princely states including Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir, whose Hindu ruler had acceded to India following an invasion by Pashtun tribal militias, leading to the First Kashmir War in 1948.
From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a Dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations. It became a Republic in 1956, but the civilian rule was stalled by a coup d’état by General Ayub Khan, who was president during 1958–69, a period of internal instability and a second war with India in 1965. His successor, Yahya Khan (1969–71) had to deal with a devastating cyclone—which caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan—and also face a civil war in 1971. Economic grievances and political dissent in East Pakistan led to violent political tension and military repression that escalated into acivil war.[22] After nine months of guerrilla warfare between Pakistan Army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini militia backed by India, later Indian intervention escalated into the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and ultimately to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh.[23]
Civilian rule resumed in Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, until he was deposed and later sentenced to death in 1979 by General Zia-ul-Haq, who became the country's third military president. Zia introduced the Islamic Sharia legal code, which increased religious influences on the civil service and the military. With the death of President Zia in a plane crash in 1988, Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Over the next decade, she fought for power with Nawaz Sharif as the country's political and economic situation worsened. Pakistan got involved in the 1991 Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a U.S.-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.[24] Military tensions in the Kargil conflict[25] with India were followed by a Pakistani military coup d'état in 1999[26] in which General Pervez Musharraf assumed vast executive powers. In 2001, Musharraf became President after the controversial resignation of Rafiq Tarar. After the 2002 parliamentary elections, Musharraf transferred executive powers to newly-elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was succeeded in the 2004 prime-ministerial election by Shaukat Aziz. On 15 November 2007 the National Assembly completed its tenure and new elections were called. The exiled political leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were permitted to return to Pakistan. However, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto during the election campaign in December led to postponement of elections and nationwide riots. Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the most number of seats in the elections held in February 2008 and its member Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.[27]On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharaff resigned from the presidency when faced with impeachment.[28] More than 3 million Pakistani civilians have been displaced by the conflict in North-West Pakistan between the government and Taliban militants.[29]
Pakistan is Beautiful Country But now in Days Becoz of America Pakistan Have ruined .. They Killed Alot of innocents People .. America is Biggest Enemy Of Pakistan . They Attack an Innocent Country Afghanistan . Now they r Destroying Pakistan ..
Demographics
The estimated population of Pakistan is 172,800,000,[1] making it the world's sixth most-populous country, behind Brazil and ahead of Russia. By the year 2020, the country's population is expected to reach 208 million, owing to a relatively high growth rate.[44] About 20 % of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.[45] Population projections for Pakistan are relatively difficult because of the differences in the accuracy of each census and the inconsistencies between various surveys related to the fertility rate, but it is likely that the rate of growth peaked in the 1980s and has since declined significantly.[46] Pakistan also has a high infant mortality rate of 70 per thousand births.[47]
The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. By population size, Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan. In the northern half, most of the population lives about an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan and Peshawar. In the past, the country's population had a relatively high growth rate that has, however, been moderated by declining fertility and birth rates. Dramatic social changes have led to rapid urbanization and the emergence of megacities. During 1990-2003, Pakistan sustained its historical lead as the most urbanized nation in South Asia, with city dwellers making up 34% of its population.[48] Pakistan has a multicultural and multi-ethnic society and hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world as well as a young population. Approximately 1.7 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan.[49] Nearly half of this population actually was born and grew up in Pakistan during the last 30 years, so they have never seen Afghanistan.[50][51] They are not counted in the national census, even the ones born in Pakistan, because they are still considered citizens of Afghanistan. About 8 million Muhajirs—then roughly one-fourth of the country’s population—arrived from India after the partition in 1947.[52]
| Rank | City | Province | Population | Rank | City | Province | Population |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karachi | Sindh | 12,827,927 | 11 | Sargodha | Punjab | 586,922 | |
| 2 | Lahore | Punjab | 6,936,563 | 12 | Bahawalpur | Punjab | 530,438 | |
| 3 | Faisalabad | Punjab | 2,793,721 | 13 | Sialkot | Punjab | 502,721 | |
| 4 | Rawalpindi | Punjab | 1,933,933 | 14 | Sukkur | Sindh | 476,776 | |
| 5 | Multan | Punjab | 1,566,932 | 15 | Larkana | Sindh | 435,817 | |
| 6 | Hyderabad | Sindh | 1 536 398 | 16 | Shekhupura | Punjab | 411,834 | |
| 7 | Gujranwala | Punjab | 1,526,168 | 17 | Jhang | Punjab | 365,198 | |
| 8 | Peshawar | North-West Frontier | 1,390,874 | 18 | Mardan | North-West Frontier | 340,898 | |
| 9 | Quetta | Balochistan | 859,973 | 19 | Rahim Yar Khan | Punjab | 340,810 | |
| 10 | Islamabad | Islamabad Capital Territory | 673,766 | 20 | Gujrat | Punjab | 328,512 |
Pakistan is a multilingual country with more than sixty languages being spoken.[54] English is the official language of Pakistan and used in official business, government, and legal contacts,[13]while Urdu is the national language.
Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab. Pashto is the provincial language of NWFP. Sindhi is the provincial language of Sindh and Balochi is the provincial language of Balochistan.
The following are some of the major languages spoken in Pakistan.[55]
| Religion in Pakistan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| religion | percent | |||
| Islam | 96% | |||
| Hinduism | 1.85% | |||
| Christianity | 1.6% | |||
| Sikhism | .04% | |||
| Other | .51% | |||
Pakistan is the second-most populous Muslim-majority country[57] and also has the second-largest Shi'a population in the world. About 95% of the Pakistanis are Muslim, of which nearly 70% areSunni and 30% are Shi'a.[13] Although the two groups of Muslims usually coexist peacefully, sectarian violence occurs sporadically.[58]
The religious breakdown of the country is as follows[13]:
The armed forces of Pakistan are an all-volunteer force and are the Sixth-largest in the world. The three main services are the Army, Navy and the Air Force, supported by a number of paramilitary forces which carry out internal security roles and border patrols. The National Command Authority is responsible for exercising employment and development control of all strategic nuclear forces and organizations.
The Pakistan military first saw combat in the First Kashmir War, gaining control of what is now Azad Kashmir. In 1961, the army repelled a major Afghan incursion on Pakistan's western border.[60] Pakistan and India would be at war again in 1965 and in 1971. In 1973, the military quelled a Baloch nationalist uprising. During the Soviet-Afghan war, Pakistan shot down several intruding pro-Soviet Afghan aircraft and provided covert support to the Afghan mujahideen through the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. In 1999, Pakistan was involved in the Kargil conflict with India. Currently, the military is engaged in an armed conflict with extremist Islamic militants in the north-west of the country.
The Pakistani armed forces are the second largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, with more than 10,000 personnel deployed in 2007.[61] In the past, Pakistani personnel have volunteered to serve alongside Arab forces in conflicts with Israel. Pakistan provided a military contingent to the U.N.-backed coalition in the first Gulf War.[62]
Pakistan's military employs armaments that include atomic weapons, mobile vehicle ballistic missile systems, laser communication systems, armored cars and tanks, and multi-role fighter/bomber jets.
Pakistan covers 340,403 square miles (881,640 km2),[63] approximately equalling the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. Its eastern regions are located on the Indian tectonic plate and the western and northern regions on the Iranian plateau and Eurasian landplate. Apart from the 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) Arabian Sea coastline, Pakistan's land borders total 6,774 kilometres—2,430 kilometres (1,509 mi) with Afghanistan to the northwest, 523 kilometres (325 mi) with China to the northeast, 2,912 kilometres (1,809 mi) with India to the east and 909 kilometres (565 mi) with Iran to the southwest.[13]
The northern and western highlands of Pakistan contain the towering Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges, which incorporate some of the world's highest peaks, including 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.[64]
Pakistan has four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The onset and duration of these seasons vary somewhat according to location.[65] Rainfall can vary radically from year to year, and successive patterns of flooding and drought are also not uncommon.[66]
The national animal of Pakistan is the Markhor and the national bird is the Chukar, also known as Chakhoor in Urdu.[67] The wide variety of landscapes and climates in Pakistan allows for a wide variety of wild animals and birds. The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees such as spruce, pine, and deodar cedar in the northern mountains to deciduous trees such as the mulberry-type Shisham in the Sulaiman range in the south. The western hills have juniper and tamarisk as well as coarse grasses and scrub plants. Along the southern coast are mangrove forests which form much of the coastal wetlands.[68]
In the south, there are crocodiles in the murky waters at the mouth of the Indus River whilst on the banks of the river, there are boars, deer, porcupines, and small rodents. In the sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are found jackals, hyenas, wild cats, panthers, and leopards while the clear blue skies abound with hawks, falcons, and eagles. In the southwestern deserts are rare Asiatic cheetahs. In the northern mountains are a variety of endangered animals including Marco Polo sheep, Urial sheep, Markhor and Ibex goats, black and brown Himalayan bears, and the rare Snow Leopard. During August 2006, Pakistan donated an orphaned snow leopard cub called Leo to USA.[69] Another rare species is the blind Indus River Dolphin of which there are believed to be about 1,100 remaining, protected at the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh.[70] In recent years the number of wild animals being killed for fur and leather trading led to a new law banning the hunting of wild animals and birds and the establishment of several wildlife sanctuaries and game reserves. The number of hunters have greatly dwindled since then.[71]
Society and Culture
Pakistani society is largely hierarchical, with high regard for traditional Islamic values, although urban families have grown into a nuclear family system because of the socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional joint family system.[98] Recent decades have seen the emergence of a middle class in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, and Peshawar that wish to move in a more centrist direction, as opposed to the northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan that remain highly conservative and dominated by centuries-old regional tribal customs. Increasing globalization has resulted in ranking 46th on the A.T. Kearney/FP Globalization Index.[99]
The variety of Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as the synchronisation of Qawwali and western music by the world renowned Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In addition Pakistan is home to many famous folk singers such as the late Alam Lohar, who is also well known in Indian Punjab. However, majority of Pakistanis listen to Indian music produced by Bollywood and other Indian film industries. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution centre for Afghan music abroad.[100] State-owned Pakistan Television Corporation(PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation were the dominant media outlets, but there are now numerous private television channels. Various American, European, and Asian television channels and films are available to the majority of the Pakistani population via private Television Networks, cable, and satellite television. There are also small indigenous film industries based in Lahore and Peshawar (often referred to as Lollywood). And while Bollywood films have been banned from being played in public cinemas since 1965 they have remained popular in popular culture.[101]
The architecture of the areas now constituting Pakistan can be designated to four distinct periods — pre-Islamic, Islamic, colonial and post-colonial. With the beginning of the Indus civilization around the middle of the 3rd millennium[102] B.C., an advanced urban culture developed for the first time in the region, with large structural facilities, some of which survive to this day.[103] Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Kot Diji belong to the pre-Islamic era settlements. The rise of Buddhism and the Persian and Greek influence led to the development of the Greco-Buddhist style, starting from the 1st century CE. The high point of this era was reached with the culmination of the Gandhara style. An example of Buddhist architecture is the ruins of the Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi in the northwest province. The arrival of Islam in today's Pakistan meant a sudden end of Buddhist architecture.[104] However, a smooth transition to predominantly pictureless Islamic architecture occurred. The most important of the few completely discovered buildings of Persian style is the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. During the Mughal era design elements of Islamic-Persian architecture were fused with and often produced playful forms of the Hindustani art. Lahore, occasional residence of Mughal rulers, exhibits a multiplicity of important buildings from the empire, among them the Badshahi mosque, the fortress of Lahore with the famousAlamgiri Gate, the colourful, still strongly Persian seeming Wazir Khan Mosque as well as numerous other mosques and mausoleums. Also theShahjahan Mosque of Thatta in Sindh originates from the epoch of the Mughals. In the British colonial period, predominantly functional buildings of the Indo-European representative style developed from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components. Post-colonial national identity is expressed in modern structures like the Faisal Mosque, the Minar-e-Pakistan and the Mazar-e-Quaid.
The literature of Pakistan covers the literatures of languages spread throughout the country, namely Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Baluchi as well asEnglish[105] in recent times and in the past often Persian as well. Prior to the 19th century, the literature mainly consisted of lyric poetry and religious,mystical and popular materials. During the colonial age the native literary figures, under the influence of the western literature of realism, took up increasingly different topics and telling forms. Today, short stories enjoy a special popularity.[106] The national poet of Pakistan, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, suggested the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. However, Iqbal had also wrote the Tirana-e-Hind which stated the belief of a strong united India. His book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is a major work of modern Islamic philosophy. The most well-known representative of the contemporary Urdu literature of Pakistan is Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Sufi poetry Shah Abdul Latif, Bulleh Shah and Khawaja Farid are also very popular in Pakistan.[107] Mirza Kalich Beg has been termed the father of modern Sindhi prose.[108]
| Gregorian Date | English | Arabic/Urdu | Islamic Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| variable | The Tenth Day | Ashura | عاشوراء | 9-10 Muharram | ||
| variable | Day of the Sacrifice | Eid ul-Adha | عيد الأضحى | 10 Dhu al-Hijjah | ||
| variable | Birth of the Prophet Muhammad | Eid Milad an Nabi | مَوْل� | |||
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