|
Connecting Voices
|
Overview of Pakistan
Geography and Environment: Located in Southern Asia bordering Iran, Afghanistan and China, Pakistan occupies slightly less than twice the land area of the state of California. Pakistan often experiences flooding along the Indus after its heavy summer rains and, as recently experienced in the devastating quake of October 2005, frequent earthquakes affect the north and west regions. Earthquakes are occasionally severe, although that recently felt was one of the countries worst in modern years. Pakistani people often live amid water pollution from raw sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural runoff with limited natural fresh water to which the majority of the population does not have access. People: The major ethnicities represented throughout Pakistan include Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, and Muhajir (immigrants from India at the time of partition and their descendants). Most residents of Pakistan are under 65 years of age with a population growth rate of 2.03% Language: The official language of Pakistan is Urdu though only 8% of the population uses it with English as the official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries. For the people of Pakistan, everyday language use is comprised of Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski, and other 8%. Religion: Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), Christian, Hindu, and other 3%. Climate: Mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north. Currency: 1 Pakistani Rupee = 100 paisa Earthquake relief: Other links: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Modern day Pakistan
was created in 1947 as a result of division of the Indian sub-continent and
has since faced a number of domestic and regional political upheavals and confrontations.
Initially created for Indian Muslims at the demand for their own homeland, Pakistan
was once in two parts, originally comprised of present-day Bangladesh in the
east and stretching from the Himalayas down to the Arabian Sea in the west.
Conflict with India over the disputed Kashmir territory in the North has continued
since the partition of 1947, though discussion and negotiation are ongoing in
working toward lessened tensions. Pakistan was once home to some of the earliest
human settlements where two of the world’s major religions, Hinduism and
Buddhism, were practiced. Today with a Muslim majority, Pakistan has a population
of 162,419,946 with a number of ethnicities and languages represented. 48.7%
of the population can read and write though 61.7% of this is male while 35.2%
is female. 8.3% of the population is unemployed with substantial additional
underemployment and 32% of the population lives below the poverty line. Pakistan’s
legal system is based on English common law with both a President and a Prime
Minister with provisions to accommodate Pakistan's status as an Islamic state.