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My Pakistan By Zubair Riaz
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officially ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN, Urdu ISLAM-I JAMHURIYA-E PAKISTAN, Asia's seventh largest country, occupying the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent. It covers an area of 307,374 square miles (796,095 square km), excluding the Pakistani-held part of Jammu and Kashmir in the northeast. The capital is Islamabad. The country extends for more than 990 miles (1,600 km) from south to north and for about 550 miles (880 km) from west to east. It is bounded to the west by Iran, to the north by Afghanistan, to the northeast by China, to the east and southeast by India, and to the south by the Arabian Sea. The population in 1992, including Afghan refugees and residents of Pakistani-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, was estimated to be 130,129,000.
The climate is continental and is characterized by extreme variations of temperature. January (winter) temperatures range from 57° F (14° C) in the Indus Plain to 68° F (20° C) along the coast and to 4° F (-20° C) in the high mountains (above 15,000 feet [460 m]). July (summer) temperatures range from 32° F (0° C) in the high mountains to 84° F (29° C) along the coast and to 95° F (35° C) in the southeastern deserts. The southwest monsoon (July-October) provides rainfall of about 6 to 8 inches (150 to 200 mm) on the coast, 15 inches (380 mm) in the river valleys, and 40 inches (1,000 mm) or more in the mountainous northern areas. Rainfall varies from year to year, and successive periods of flooding and drought are not uncommon.
Pakistan's natural vegetation, except for forested mountain slopes, is largely limited to tough grasses, dry bushes, and scrub trees, though some riverine forests occur along the lower Indus River. Wildlife abounds in the northern mountains and includes brown bear, black Himalayan bear, leopard, and several species of wild sheep.
Pakistan has known deposits of coal, iron ore, chromite, gypsum, copper, rock salt, marble, and other mineral resources that remain largely unexploited. Natural gas is by far the most valuable resource, with proven reserves accounting for about 0.5 percent of the world's total.
Birth and death rates are high, and measures have been taken to reduce them. By encouraging female employment and family planning, the government attempted, though unsuccessfully, to lower fertility levels. Almost one-half of the population is less than 15 years of age. The population is concentrated in the fertile Indus River valley and along that river's major tributaries in the northeastern and northern portions of the country. By contrast, western and southwestern Pakistan are sparsely inhabited. Although only one-third of the nation's population is urban, the influx of rural migrants to Pakistan's few and crowded cities causes housing shortages and slums and overburdens transportation. Karachi is the country's largest city. Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad are other major cities.
Agriculture accounts for approximately one-fifth of the GNP and employs more than one-half of the work force. Agricultural output has been kept low by the prevalence of sharecroppers who have little incentive to increase production; land reform and progressive taxes have been introduced in an attempt to reduce the number of sharecroppers. One-fourth of the total land area is arable, and most of the arable land is under irrigation. Irrigation, however, is inefficiently allocated. Dramatic increases in wheat production were made possible in the 1960s and '70s by the use of improved strains. These increases enabled Pakistan to become agriculturally self-sufficient, though there are occasional shortages of staples.
Wheat is the chief staple, and sugarcane is widely grown. Cotton and rice are major export crops. The number of livestock per person is high, but the production of meat and milk remains low because of inadequate feed and poor management. Goats and sheep are the most numerous animals, followed by cattle, buffalo, and camels.
Forests cover less than 4 percent of the total land area, and most of the wood removed annually is used for fuel. Fishing, mostly in the Indian Ocean, is an important industry.
Mining, which is largely controlled by the government, accounts for about 2 percent of the GNP, and large quantities of petroleum, iron, and steel must be imported. Coal and iron ore (both of which are mostly low-grade), some petroleum, and substantial quantities of natural gas are extracted. Limestone, chromite, and gypsum are widely mined.
Manufacturing accounts for approximately one-sixth of the GNP and employs one-eighth of the work force. Textiles, particularly cotton textiles, are the chief manufacture and are a leading export. Small-scale industries are generally more productive than the heavy industries controlled by the government. Trade and commerce employ about one-sixth of the work force.
Pakistan's major exports of raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton fabrics, rice, leather, and woolen carpets are imported by Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Imports, mainly from these same countries, include nonelectric machinery, mineral oils, edible oils, grains and flour, and transport equipment.
About half of Pakistan's electricity is generated by hydroelectric power plants. Most of the remainder is produced by fossil fuels, with a small portion from nuclear power.
Underemployment is widespread. Emigration has depleted the skilled work force, and there is a shortage of technicians, engineers, doctors, and various craftsmen. Remittances from Pakistanis working abroad are a major source of foreign exchange.
Budgetary revenue is derived primarily from tariffs and excise taxes. Expenditures are directed primarily to payment of the public debt, defense, subsidies, education and health, and grants to local authorities.
Pakistan's social-welfare services are limited. Health facilities and medical personnel are scarce and often inaccessible, serious infectious diseases are widespread, and diet is often deficient.
Only about one-fourth of Pakistan's overall population is literate, and the proportion for women is even lower at about one-sixth. Primary education is free, but less than half of all school-aged children are enrolled. Newspapers, which have been periodically censored, cover political news almost exclusively. Because of the extent of illiteracy, radio is the most important communications medium; government radio broadcasts in more than 20 languages.
Recent domestic and international emphasis on Islamic ideology has brought about a strong identification with Islamic culture in Pakistan. Qawwali, a form of devotional singing, is very popular. Public poetry recitations called musha'irahs are organized like musical concerts. Urdu, Sindhi, and Pashto poets are regional and national heroes. Western-style literary activity is carried on in all of the modern languages of Pakistan, but especially in Urdu, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi, and English. The preeminent cultural figure in Urdu is the 19th-20th-century poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, acclaimed as the spiritual father of modern Pakistan.
Buddhist writings of the 6th and 5th centuries BC mention the state of Gandhara in the Indus River valley. In 327 BC Alexander the Great entered Gandhara seeking to conquer the extremities of the Achaemenian Empire of Persia.
Pakistan was subsequently part of the Mauryan empire during the 3rd century and part of the 2nd century BC and later, in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, part of the Kushan (Kusana) kingdom. (see also Index: Kushan dynasty)
The Guptas ruled over northern India, including the Indus River valley, during a period in which Hindu culture crystallized (320-540). The first Muslim conquests occurred in Balochistan during the 8th century, and Muslims were active in the region from that time. In the 13th century Muslim power was consolidated into a sultanate centred on Delhi that continued to rule most of the subcontinent until the early 16th century.
The Mughal dynasty controlled the subcontinent between 1526 and 1761. The British East India Company ousted other colonial powers and then subdued the Mughal state in 1757. For a century the East India Company controlled most of the subcontinent, but in 1858 the British government assumed responsibility for the region following the 1857 mutiny of the Indian recruits in the Bengal army. During the period of British colonial rule, what is now (Muslim) Pakistan was administratively part of (largely Hindu) India.
Early expressions of Indian nationalism crystallized in the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress (1885) and in the All-India Muslim League (1906). In the decades following 1857 the Muslims sought to cooperate with the British, but, after World War I and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, they began to oppose British rule. The Muslim nationalist leader in this period was Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1949).
By 1940 the Muslim League, led by Jinnah, endorsed the concept of the partition of British India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations (i.e., India and Pakistan). The new state of Pakistan (a geographically discontinuous nation composed of East Pakistan and West Pakistan, separated from each other by Indian territory) came into existence as a dominion within the Commonwealth in August 1947, with Jinnah as governor-general. The comparatively backward areas of Sindh, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier came to Pakistan intact; the Punjab and Bengal were divided between Pakistan and India, while Kashmir remained disputed territory. Tension with India over Kashmir gradually increased, resulting in full-scale war in 1965.
In East Pakistan demands grew for Bengali autonomy, and civil war between East and West Pakistan erupted in 1971. Aided by an invasion of the Indian army, East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh in 1972. West Pakistan retained the name Pakistan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto led Pakistan from 1971 until he was overthrown by General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in a military coup in 1977. After Zia's death in 1988, Bhutto's daughter, Benazir, became prime minister after winning the parliamentary elections held that year. She was ousted, however, in 1990, and her party suffered defeat against a winning conservative coalition in that year.
Copyright © 1999-2000
Zubair Riaz,All rights reserved.
