INFORMATIONS ABOUT PAKISTAN

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Pakistan, officially Islamic Republic of Pakistan, republic in southern Asia, bounded on the north

and northwest by Afghanistan, on the northeast by Jammu and Kashmīr, on the east and southeast

by India, on the south by the Arabian Sea, and on the west by Iran. The status of Jammu and Kashmīr

is a matter of dispute between India and Pakistan. Until December 1971 Pakistan included the province

of East Pakistan; at that time, however, East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan and assumed the

name Bangladesh. The area of Pakistan is 796,095 sq km (307,374 sq mi), not including the section

of Jammu and Kashmīr under its control. The capital of Pakistan is Islāmābād; the largest city of the

 country is Karāchi.

Pakistan is mostly a dry region characterized by great extremes of elevation and temperature.

Its topography is partly divided by the Indus River, which enters the country in the northeast and

flows south into the Arabian Sea. The Indus forms in general the line of demarcation between the

two main landforms of the country, namely, the Indus Valley, which extends principally along the

eastern side of the river, and the Baluchistan Highlands, which lie to the west. Three lesser landforms

of Pakistan are the coastal plain, which is a narrow strip of land bordering the Arabian Sea; the

Khārān Basin, which is west of the Baluchistan Highlands; and the Thar Desert, which straddles the

 border with India in the southeast.

The Indus Valley in Pakistan varies in width from about 80 to 320 km (about 50 to 200 mi); from north

 to south it includes portions of two main regions, namely, the Punjab Plain and the Sind Plain. The

 Punjab region is drained by the Sutlej, Rāvi, Chenāb, and Jhelum rivers, which are tributaries of the

 Indus; these rivers supply the irrigation system that waters the Indus Valley.

The Baluchistan Highlands contain a series of mountain ranges; among these are the Tobakakar

 Range, the Siāhān Range, the Sulaimān Range, and the Kīrthar Range. The highest peak in the

highlands is Tirich Mīr (7,690 m/25,230 ft), located in the Hindu Kush mountains in the north. The Safed

 Koh is pierced by the Khyber Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The highest peak in Pakistan is K2 (also known as Mount Godwin Austen). Rising 8,611 m (28,251 ft)

 above sea level in the Karakoram Range, the peak is located in the region of Kashmīr that Pakistan

 controls. K2 is the second highest mountain in the world, behind Mount Everest.

Environmental Issues

Most of Pakistan’s large and rapidly growing population lives in the river valleys and plains of the

 eastern half of the country. Habitats there have been drastically altered, although many important

 wetland areas remain, including flooded lowlands and mangrove swamps along the coast. The

 mountainous western regions are less ecologically disturbed, although settlements and agriculture have

 modified those regions richest in biodiversity. Most Pakistanis do not have reliable access to potable

 water.

Pakistan has always had relatively sparse forest cover because of its arid, mountainous climate. Most

 forestland is reserved for soil conservation, and timber harvest is minimal. Agricultural output per capita

 has increased significantly since 1980, although with 23 percent (1998) of the arable land irrigated, soil

 salinization has become a major problem. Overgrazing, particularly by goats, threatens the ecological

 balance of many areas.

Portions of the country’s land are protected in a system of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and game

 reserves. These generally have no ecological basis, however, existing primarily as tourist attractions or

 for the preservation of game animals. In addition, enforcement of regulations is lax. Only about 4.8

 percent (1997) of the land is actually significantly protected.

Pakistan participates in the World Heritage Convention and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and it

 has one designated biosphere preserve under the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural

 Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program. Other international environmental activities

 include those pertaining to biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, environmental

 modification, hazardous wastes, the nuclear test ban, the ozone layer, and ship pollution.

The climate of Pakistan varies widely from place to place. In the mountain regions of the north and

west, temperatures fall below freezing during winter; in the Indus Valley area, temperatures range

 between about 32° and 49°C (about 90° and 120°F) in summer, and the average in winter is about

13°C (about 55°F). Throughout most of Pakistan rainfall is scarce. The Punjab region receives the

 most precipitation, more than 500 mm (20 in) per year. The arid regions of the southeast and

 southwest receive less than 125 mm (5 in) annually. Most rain falls in July and August.

The resources of Pakistan are primarily agricultural. The country’s mineral resources include salt,

 chromite, coal, gypsum, limestone, manganese, sulfur, clay, graphite, copper, petroleum, and natural

 gas.

Vegetation in Pakistan varies according to elevation. Alpine flora grows on the higher slopes. Forests

 of spruce, evergreen oak, chir or cheer pine, and a cedar known as the deodar are found at lower

 elevations.

Animal life abounds in Pakistan, including deer, boar, bear, crocodile, and waterfowl. In the

freshwater and saltwater areas, fish of many varieties are found. Marine life includes herring, mackerel,

 sharks, and shellfish.

The ethnological background of the population of Pakistan is extremely varied, largely because the

 country lies in an area that was invaded repeatedly during its long history. The people come from

ethnic stocks such as the Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Greek, Scythian, Hun, Arab, Mongol, Persian, and

 Afghan.

The population of Pakistan (2001 estimate) is 144,616,639, yielding an average population density

of 182 persons per sq km (470 per sq mi). The country’s population was increasing in 2001 at a rate

of 2.1 percent a year. Only 36 percent of the people live in urban areas.

For administrative purposes, Pakistan is divided into four provinces (Baluchistan, North-West

 Frontier Province, Punjab, and Sind); Islāmābād Capital Territory, which consists of the capital city

 of Islāmābād; and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan also administers the northwestern

 portion of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmīr. The Pakistani government is directly

responsible for the Northern Areas, while Azad (Free) Kashmir has an autonomous government with

 strong ties to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s largest city is Karāchi. Other significant urban centers are Lahore, an industrial center;

 Faisalābād, a center of the cotton industry; Rāwalpindi, an industrial city; Hyderābād, a manufacturing

 center; Multān; and Peshāwar, a hub of trade with Afghanistan. Islāmābād is the capital of Pakistan.

The leading religion of Pakistan is Islam, which is the faith of about 97 percent of the people. About

four-fifths of the Muslims are Sunnite, and about one-fifth are Shiite. Hinduism and Christianity form the

 leading minority religions; other religious groups include the Sikhs, the Parsis, and a small number of

 Buddhists. The constitution defines Pakistan as an Islamic nation, but guarantees freedom of religion.

The official language of Pakistan is Urdu, but less than one-tenth of the people use it as their first

 language. Punjabi is spoken by about one-half of all households, and Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, and

 Balochi are also spoken by many people. In addition, English is extensively used by people in

 government, the military, and higher education.

Only 65 percent of adult Pakistanis are literate. The constitution prescribes free primary education.

While enrollment rate in primary school is high for boys, less than one-half of girls attend school.

 Five years has been established as the period of primary school attendance.

In the 1996 school year 81 percent of primary school-aged children were enrolled in school, while

 only 30 percent of secondary school-aged children attended. In the early 1990s, 336,600 students

 attended institutions of higher education. Among Pakistan’s leading universities are the University of

 Karāchi (1951), the University of the Punjab (1882), in Lahore; the University of Peshāwar (1950); the

 University of Sind (1947), in Dādu; and the University of Agriculture (1909), in Faisalābād.

Karāchi is the seat of some of the most important libraries in Pakistan; these include the Liaquat

Memorial Library (1950), the Central Secretariat Library (1950), and the University of Karāchi library.

 Also of note are the National Archives of Pakistan, in Islāmābād, and the Punjab Public Library

(1884), in Lahore. The National Museum of Pakistan (1950), in Karāchi, contains important materials

 from the Indus Valley civilizations, as well as Buddhist and Islamic artifacts. Cultural materials also

 are displayed in the Lahore Museum (1864) and the Peshāwar Museum (1906). The Industrial and

 Commercial Museum, in Lahore, contains exhibits on the manufactures of Pakistan.

The economy of Pakistan grew by 3.8 percent annually during the period 1990-1999. While less than

the 6 percent annual expansion the country experienced in the 1980s, the rate is still high compared to

 most countries. Nevertheless, the majority of the nation’s citizens remained poor and heavily dependent

 on the agricultural sector for employment. This was largely a result of the country’s high rate of

 population increase, but political factors, such as the war of secession waged successfully by East

 Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971 and a coup d’état in 1977 (see the History section of this article),

also slowed economic growth and modernization. In 1999 Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) was

 $58.2 billion.

The government of Pakistan is deeply involved in directing the country’s economy, and most major

 industries have been nationalized. A government economic plan for 1978 to 1983, however,

 recommended that private capital be given a greater role in the industrial sector; the plan for 1983 to

 1988 emphasized investment in hydroelectric power and rural development. A plan implemented in

1988 to liberalize internal and external trade and privatize more sectors of the economy had produced

 increases in the GDP growth rate, export revenues, and domestic and foreign investment by the early

 1990s. In 1993 the government moved to reduce the nation’s deficit and lessen its reliance on foreign

 aid and loans, by introducing, among other measures, a national sales tax and increases in fuel taxes.

 The government budget in 1998 included $9.6 billion in revenues and $13 billion in expenditures.

 Pakistan receives considerable economic assistance from foreign countries and from international

 organizations. The United States, which had imposed economic sanctions against Pakistan in 1990 in

 order to protest Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, lifted the sanctions in January 1996, clearing

the way for economic assistance.

Some 28 percent of Pakistan’s total land area is cultivated. Agriculture and related activities engage 44 percent of the workforce and provide 27 percent of the GDP. By the late 1970s an intensive land-reform effort had resulted in the expropriation of some 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) from landlords, the distribution of almost half of this to tenants, and the limitation of individual holdings to 40 hectares (100 acres) of irrigated or 81 hectares (200 acres) of nonirrigated land. Formerly an importer of wheat, Pakistan achieved self-sufficiency in the grain by the mid-1970s. Chief cash crops are cotton (textile yarn and fabrics produce more than one-half of export earnings) and rice. Principal crops in 2000 (with output in metric tons) included sugarcane, 46.3 million; wheat, 21.1 million; rice, 6.4 million; cotton lint, 5.7 million; and corn, 1.4 million. The livestock population in 2000 included 22 million cattle, 22.7 million water buffalo, 24 million sheep, 47 million goats, and 152 million poultry.

Forests cover 3.3 percent of Pakistan, and about two-thirds of this area has been reforested since Pakistan achieved independence in 1947. Most of the 33 million cubic meters (1,167 million cubic feet) of roundwood harvested in 1999 was used as fuel.

Fishing resources, although underdeveloped, are extensive. In 1997 the catch was 597,201 metric tons, three-quarters of it obtained from the Indian Ocean. Types of fish caught include sardines, sharks, and anchovies; shrimp are also an important part of the industry.

In the early 1990s the most important nonfuel minerals (with annual production in metric tons) included gypsum (532,000), rock salt (895,000), limestone (8.8 million), and silica sand (154,000). In 1999 coal production was 3.47 million metric tons, crude petroleum production reached 20.8 million barrels, and production of natural gas was 22.1 billion cubic meters (780 billion cubic feet).

The manufacturing capacity of Pakistan is still small, but production has been steadily expanding. In 1999 manufacturing accounted for 16 percent of the GDP. Important products include processed foods, cotton textiles, silk and rayon cloth, refined petroleum, cement, fertilizers, sugar, cigarettes, and chemicals. Many handicrafts, such as pottery and carpets, also are produced.

In 1998, 63 percent of Pakistan’s electricity was produced in thermal installations, and most of the rest was generated in hydroelectric facilities, including the large Tarbela project on the Indus River. A nuclear power plant is situated near Karāchi. Pakistan’s total output of electricity in 1999 was 62 billion kilowatt-hours.

The basic monetary unit is the Pakistani rupee, consisting of 100 paisa (49.12 rupees equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). The State Bank of Pakistan, established in 1948, issues banknotes; manages currency and credit, the public debt, and exchange controls; and supervises the commercial banks. Pakistani banks were nationalized in 1974, but in the early 1990s the country transferred two banks to private ownership and issued licenses for ten new commercial banks. A number of major foreign banks maintain offices in the country. In conformity with Islamic doctrine, domestic banks in Pakistan have abandoned the payment and collection of interest. Investment partnerships between the bank and the customer have replaced loans at interest.

The foreign trade of Pakistan consists largely of the export of raw materials and basic products such as cotton yarn, and the import of manufactured products. In 1999 exports earned $9 billion and imports cost $11 billion. The chief exports were cotton textiles, cotton yarn and thread, clothing, raw cotton, rice, carpets and rugs, leather, fish, and petroleum products; the main imports were machinery, electrical equipment, petroleum products, transportation equipment, metal and metal products, fertilizer, and foodstuffs. Pakistan’s chief trading partners for exports are the United States, Hong Kong, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates; chief sources of imports are the United States, Japan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and China.

The lack of modern transportation facilities is a major hindrance to the development of Pakistan. Its terrain, laced with rivers and mountains, presents formidable obstacles to internal overland transportation.

The country has 254,410 km (158,083 mi) of roads. The railroad network totals 8,775 km (5,453 mi). Karāchi is the principal port; a second major port, Muhammad bin Qasim, was opened in the early 1980s.

Pakistan International Airlines, in large part government owned, provides overseas service to a number of countries. In the early 1990s the government ended a monopoly held by Pakistan Airlines. Four private carriers have since begun domestic operations. The country’s main international airports serve Karāchi, Lahore, and Rāwalpindi.

In 1999 Pakistan had 22 telephone mainlines for every 1,000 people. Radio receivers number 94 and television sets 22 per 1,000 residents. Television broadcasting began in Lahore in 1964 and in Karāchi in 1966. Newspapers are mainly printed in Urdu and English. Pakistan has 264 daily newspapers, most with small circulations. The major dailies are concentrated in Lahore and Karāchi.

Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1973, which was subsequently amended. Following a military coup d’état in 1977, however, a system of martial law was put into effect, and most aspects of the 1973 constitution were suspended. In 1985 parliamentary government was reestablished, the constitution restored, and martial law ended. After another military coup, in October 1999, the constitution was again suspended and parliament dissolved.

According to the 1973 constitution, as amended, Pakistan’s head of state is a president, elected to a five-year term by members of the national and provincial legislatures. The chief executive official is a prime minister. After legislative elections, the president appoints the leader of the majority party or majority coalition in the legislature to serve as prime minister.

Under the constitution, legislative power is vested in the bicameral Federal Legislature. The National Assembly consists of 217 members elected directly by universal suffrage for terms of five years. The Senate, consisting of 87 members, is elected indirectly by the provincial legislatures; senators serve six-year terms.

The highest court in Pakistan is the Supreme Court. The judicial system in each province is headed by a high court. There is also a federal Sharia Court, which administers Islamic law. Legislation enacted in 1991 declared Sharia, or Islamic law, the supreme law of the land.

Pakistan is divided into four provinces (Baluchistan, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and Punjab), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and one capital territory (Islāmābād Capital Territory). The provinces are headed by governors appointed by the president. Political agents responsible to the federal government administer the tribal areas. Sind was put under federal rule in 1998 due to violence in the province.

Severely limited in July 1977 and banned outright in October 1979, political organizations were allowed to resume their activities in December 1985. The main political parties are the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League.

Health services in Pakistan are limited by a lack of facilities. In 1999 the country had one physician for every 2,703 people and one hospital bed for every 1,535 people. In 1976 an old-age pension system was inaugurated, but it covers relatively few Pakistanis.

Military service in Pakistan is voluntary. In 1999 the country’s armed forces had 612,000 members, including 550,000 in the army, 40,000 in the air force, and 22,000 in the navy. Another 247,000 were in paramilitary units.

For the early history of the region now known as Pakistan, see Indus Valley Civilization; India: History.

The British ruled the Indian subcontinent for nearly 200 years—from 1756 to 1947. After a revolt between 1857 and 1859, the British initiated political reforms, allowing the formation of political parties. The Indian National Congress, representing the overwhelming majority of Hindus, was created in 1885. The Muslim League was formed in 1906 to represent the Muslim minority. When the British introduced constitutional reforms in 1909, the Muslims demanded and acquired separate electoral rolls. This guaranteed Muslims representation in the provincial as well as the national legislatures until independence was granted in 1947.

By 1940, however, the Muslim League had resolved to seek the partitioning of the subcontinent and the creation of a separate Muslim state—Pakistan. During preindependence talks in 1946, therefore, the British government found that the stand of the Muslim League on separation and that of the Congress on the territorial unity of India were irreconcilable. The British then decided on partition and on August 14, 1947, transferred power to Pakistan. India gained its independence the next day. Pakistan came into existence in two parts: West Pakistan, coextensive with the country’s present boundaries, and East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The two were separated by 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of Indian territory.

Pakistan: Historical Dates

The division of the subcontinent caused tremendous dislocation of populations. Some 3.5 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan into India, and about 5 million Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan. The demographic shift caused an initial bitterness between the two countries that was further intensified by each country’s accession of a portion of the princely states. Nearly all of these 562 widely scattered polities joined either India or Pakistan; the princes of Hyderābād, Jūnāgadh, and Kashmīr, however, chose not to join either country.

On August 14 and 15, 1947, these three states had become technically independent, but when the Muslim ruler of Jūnāgadh, with its predominantly Hindu population, joined Pakistan a month later, India annexed his territory. Hyderābād’s Muslim prince, ruling over a mostly Hindu population, tried to postpone any decision indefinitely, but in September 1948 that issue was also settled by Indian arms. The Hindu ruler of Kashmīr, whose subjects were 85 percent Muslim, decided to join India. Pakistan, however, questioned his right to do so, and a war broke out between India and Pakistan. Although the United Nations (UN) subsequently resolved that a plebiscite be held under UN auspices to determine the future of Kashmīr, India continued to occupy about two-thirds of the state and refused to hold a plebiscite. Pakistan administered the northwestern portion as Azad (Free) Kashmīr and the Northern Areas. This deadlock, which still persists, has intensified suspicion and antagonism between the two countries.

The first government of Pakistan was headed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, with Mohammed Ali Jinnah as governor-general, and it chose Karāchi as its capital. From 1947 to 1951 the country functioned under chaotic conditions. The government endeavored to create a new national capital, organize the bureaucracy and the armed forces, resettle refugees, and contend with provincial politicians who often defied its authority. Failing to offer any program of economic and social reform, however, it did not gain popular support.

In foreign policy, Liaquat established friendly relations with the United States when he visited President Harry S. Truman in 1950, but he overlooked the geographical closeness of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to Pakistan and the implications of that fact for the future security of the country. The visit to the United States injected bitterness into Soviet-Pakistani relations because Liaquat had previously accepted an invitation from Moscow that never materialized in a visit. The United States gave no substantial aid to Pakistan until three years later.

After Liaquat was assassinated in 1951, Khwaja Nazimuddin, an East Pakistani who had been governor-general since Jinnah’s death in 1948, became prime minister. Unable to prevent the erosion of the Muslim League’s popularity in East Pakistan, however, he was forced to yield to another East Pakistani, Muhammad Ali Bogra, in 1953. When the Muslim League was nevertheless routed in East Pakistani elections in 1954, the governor-general dissolved the constituent assembly as no longer representative. The new assembly that met in 1955 was not dominated by the Muslim League. Muhammad Ali Bogra was then replaced by Chaudhri Mohammad Ali, a West Pakistani. At the same time, General Iskander Mirza became governor-general.

The new constituent assembly enacted a bill, which became effective in October 1955, integrating the four West Pakistani provinces into one political and administrative unit. The assembly also produced a new constitution, which was adopted on March 2, 1956. It declared Pakistan an Islamic republic. Mirza was elected provisional president.

The new charter notwithstanding, political instability continued because no stable majority party emerged in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Ali remained in office only until September 1956, when he was succeeded by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, leader of the Awami League of East Pakistan. His tenure lasted for slightly more than a year. When President Mirza discovered that Suhrawardy was planning an alliance between East and West Pakistani political forces by supporting Firoz Khan Noon, leader of the Republican Party, for the presidency, Mirza forced Suhrawardy to resign. The succeeding coalition government, headed by Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar, lasted only two months before it was replaced by a Republican Party cabinet under Noon. President Mirza, however, found that his influence among the Republicans was diminishing and that the new prime minister had come to an understanding with Suhrawardy. Against such a coalition Mirza had no chance of being reelected president. Dissatisfied with parliamentary democracy, he proclaimed martial law on October 7, 1958, dismissed Noon’s government, and dissolved the National Assembly.

The president was supported by General Muhammad Ayub Khan, commander in chief of the armed forces, who was named chief martial-law administrator. Twenty days later Ayub forced the president to resign and assumed the presidency himself.

Ayub ruled Pakistan almost absolutely for more than ten years, and his regime made some notable achievements, although it did not eliminate the basic problems of Pakistani society. A land reforms commission appointed by Ayub distributed some 900,000 hectares (about 2.2 million acres) of land among 150,000 tenants. The reforms, however, did not erase feudal relationships in the countryside; about 6,000 landlords still retained an area three times larger than that given to the 150,000 tenants. Ayub’s regime also increased developmental funds to East Pakistan more than threefold. This had a noticeable effect on the economy of the eastern part, but the disparity between the two sectors of Pakistan was not eliminated.

Perhaps the most pervasive of Ayub’s changes was his system of Basic Democracies. It created 80,000 basic democrats, or union councilors, who were rural influentials or leaders of urban areas around the country. They constituted the electoral college for presidential elections and for elections to the national and provincial legislatures created under the constitution promulgated by Ayub in 1962. The Basic Democratic System had four tiers of government from the national to the local level, and each tier was assigned certain responsibilities in administering the rural and urban areas, such as maintenance of elementary schools, public roads, and bridges.

Ayub also promulgated an Islamic marriage and family laws ordinance in 1961, imposing restrictions on polygamy and divorce and reinforcing the inheritance rights of women and minors.

For a long time Ayub maintained cordial relations with the United States, stimulating substantial economic and military aid to Pakistan. This relationship deteriorated, however, in 1965, when another war with India broke out over Kashmīr. The United States then suspended military and economic aid to both countries, thus denying Pakistan badly needed weapons. The USSR intervened to mediate the conflict, inviting Ayub and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of India to Toshkent. By the terms of the so-called Toshkent Agreement of January 1966 the two countries withdrew their forces to prewar positions and restored diplomatic, economic, and trade relations. Exchange programs were initiated, and the flow of capital goods to Pakistan increased greatly.

The Toshkent Agreement and the Kashmīr war, however, generated frustration among the people and resentment against President Ayub. Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto resigned his position and agitated against Ayub’s dictatorship and the loss of Kashmīr. Ayub tried unsuccessfully to make amends, and in March 1969 he resigned. Instead of transferring power to the speaker of the National Assembly, as the constitution dictated, he handed it over to the commander in chief of the army, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan. Yahya assumed the presidential office and declared martial law.

In an attempt to make his martial-law regime more acceptable, Yahya dismissed almost 300 senior civil servants and identified 30 families that were said to control about half of Pakistan’s gross national product. To curb their power Yahya issued an ordinance against monopolies and restrictive trade practices in 1970. He also made commitments to transfer power to civilian authorities, but in the process of making this shift, his intended reforms broke down.

The greatest challenge to Pakistan’s unity, however, was presented by East Pakistan, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami League, who insisted on a federation under which East Pakistan would be virtually independent. He envisaged a federal government that would deal with defense and foreign affairs only; even the currencies would be different, although freely convertible. His program had great appeal for many East Pakistanis, and in the election of December 1970 called by Yahya, Mujib, as he was generally called, won by a landslide in East Pakistan, capturing a clear majority in the National Assembly. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as the largest in West Pakistan.

Suspecting Mujib of secessionist politics, Yahya in March 1971 postponed indefinitely the convening of the National Assembly. Mujib in return accused Yahya of collusion with Bhutto and established a virtually independent government in East Pakistan. Yahya opened negotiations with Mujib in Dhaka in mid-March, but the effort soon failed. Mujib was arrested and brought to West Pakistan to be tried for treason. Meanwhile Pakistan’s army went into action against Mujib’s civilian followers, who demanded that East Pakistan become independent as the nation of Bangladesh.

There were a great many casualties during the ensuing military operations in East Pakistan, as the Pakistani army attacked the poorly armed population. India claimed that nearly 10 million Bengali refugees crossed its borders, and stories of West Pakistani atrocities abounded. The Awami League leaders took refuge in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and established a government in exile. India finally intervened on December 3, 1971, and the Pakistani army surrendered 13 days later. On December 20, Yahya relinquished power to Bhutto, and in January 1972 Bangladesh established an independent government. When the Commonwealth of Nations admitted Bangladesh later that year, Pakistan withdrew its membership, not to return until 1989. However, the Bhutto government gave diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh in 1974.

Under Bhutto’s leadership a diminished Pakistan began to rearrange its national life. Bhutto nationalized the basic industries, insurance companies, domestically owned banks, and schools and colleges. He also instituted land reforms that benefited tenants and middle-class farmers. He removed the armed forces from the process of decision making, but to placate the generals he allocated about 6 percent of the gross national product to defense. In 1973 the National Assembly adopted the country’s fifth constitution. Bhutto became prime minister, and Fazal Elahi Chaudry replaced him as president.

Although discontented, the military remained silent for some time. Bhutto’s nationalization programs and land reforms further earned him the enmity of the entrepreneurial and capitalist class, and the religious elements saw in his socialism an enemy of Islam. His decisive flaw, however, was his inability to deal constructively with the opposition. His rule grew heavy-handed. In general elections in March 1977 nine opposition parties united in the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) to run against Bhutto’s PPP. Losing in three of the four provinces, the PNA alleged that Bhutto had rigged the vote. The PNA boycotted the provincial elections a few days later and organized demonstrations throughout the country that lasted for six weeks.

When the situation seemed to be deadlocked, the army chief of staff, General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, staged a coup on July 5, 1977, and imposed another martial-law regime. Bhutto was tried for political murder and found guilty; he was hanged on April 4, 1979.

Zia formally assumed the presidency in 1978 and announced that Pakistan’s laws should conform to Islamic law. The constitution of 1973 was amended accordingly in 1979, and Sharia (Islamic law) courts were established to exercise Islamic judicial review. Interest-free banking was initiated, and maximum penalties were provided for adultery, defamation, theft, and consumption of alcohol.

On March 24, 1981, Zia issued an order for a provisional constitution, operative until the lifting of martial law in the future. It envisaged the appointment of two vice presidents and allowed political parties approved by the election commission before September 30, 1979, to function. All other parties, including the PPP, now led by Bhutto’s widow and daughter, were dissolved.

Pakistan was greatly affected by the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979; by 1984 some 3 million Afghan refugees were living along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, supported by the government and by international relief agencies. In September 1981 Zia accepted a six-year economic and military aid package (worth $3.2 billion) from the United States. After a referendum in December 1984 endorsed Zia’s Islamic-law policies and the extension of his presidency until 1990, Zia permitted elections for parliament in February 1985. A civilian cabinet took office in April, and martial law ended in December. Zia was dissatisfied, however, and in May 1988 he dissolved the government and ordered new elections. Three months later he was killed in an airplane crash possibly caused by sabotage, and a caretaker regime took power.

A civil servant, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, was appointed president, and Benazir Bhutto became prime minister after her PPP won the general elections in November 1988. She was the first woman to head a modern Islamic state. In August 1990 President Ishaq Khan dismissed her government, charging misconduct, and declared a state of emergency. Bhutto and the PPP lost the October elections after she was arrested for corruption and abuse of power. The new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, head of the Islamic Democratic Alliance (a coalition of Islamic parties including the Pakistan Muslim League), introduced a program of privatizing state enterprises and encouraging foreign investment. He also promised to bring the country back to Islamic law and to ease continuing tensions with India over Kashmīr. The charges against Bhutto were resolved, and she returned to lead the opposition. In early 1993 Sharif was appointed the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League.

In April 1993 Ishaq Khan once again used his presidential power, this time to dismiss Sharif and to dissolve parliament. However, Sharif appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and in May the court stated that Khan’s actions were unconstitutional, and the court reinstated Sharif as prime minister. Sharif and Khan subsequently became embroiled in a power struggle that paralyzed the Pakistani government. In an agreement designed to end the stalemate, Sharif and Khan resigned together in July 1993, and elections were held in October of that year. Bhutto’s PPP won a plurality in the parliamentary elections, and Bhutto was again named prime minister.

Relations between India and Pakistan became more tense beginning in the early 1990s. Diplomatic talks between the two countries broke down in January 1994 over the disputed Jammu and Kashmīr territory. In February Bhutto organized a nationwide strike to show support for the militant Muslim rebels in Indian Kashmīr involved in sporadic fighting against the Indian army. She also announced that Pakistan would continue with its nuclear weapons development program, raising concerns that a nuclear arms race could start between Pakistan and India, which has had nuclear weapons since the 1970s. In January 1996, despite some controversy, the United States lifted economic and some military sanctions imposed against Pakistan since 1990. The sanctions, imposed to protest Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, were lifted to allow U.S. companies to fulfill contracts with Pakistan and to help foster diplomatic relations between the two countries. Pakistan was beset by domestic unrest beginning in the mid-1990s. Violence between rival political, religious, and ethnic groups erupted frequently within Sind Province, particularly in Karāchi. Federal rule was imposed on the province in late 1998 due to increasing violence.

In 1996 Bhutto’s government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari amid allegations of corruption. New elections in February 1997 brought Nawaz Sharif back to power in a clear victory for the Pakistan Muslim League. One of Sharif’s first actions as prime minister was to lead the National Assembly in passing a constitutional amendment stripping the president of the authority to dismiss parliament. The action triggered a power struggle between Sharif, Leghari, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. When the military threw its support behind Sharif, Leghari resigned and Shah was removed. Sharif’s nominee, Rafiq Tarar, was then elected president.

In early 1997 Sharif resumed talks with India over the Kashmīr region; however, negotiations quickly broke down when armed hostilities erupted again. Tensions escalated further in 1998, when India conducted several nuclear tests. Pakistan responded with its own tests, detonating nuclear weapons for the first time in its history. The Pakistani government then declared a state of emergency, invoking constitutional provisions that operate when Pakistan’s security comes under “threat of external aggression.” Many foreign countries, including the United States, imposed economic sanctions against both India and Pakistan for exploding nuclear devices. In the months following the explosions, the leaders of Pakistan and India placed a moratorium on further nuclear testing, and the United States initiated negotiations between the two countries aimed at reducing tensions and circumventing an arms race in the region.

In early 1999 Sharif and Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed the Lahore Declaration, which articulated a commitment to work toward improved relations. However, in April fears of a nuclear arms race revived when both countries tested medium-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Furthermore, in May 1999 Kashmīri separatists, widely believed to be backed by Pakistan, seized Indian-controlled territory near Kargil in the disputed region of Kashmīr. Fighting between Indian forces and the separatists raged until July, when Sharif agreed to secure the withdrawal of the separatists and India suspended its military campaign.

The Pakistani military reviled Sharif for, in their opinion, giving in too easily to pressure from India and for pinning the blame for the Kargil attack on army chief Pervez Musharraf. In October 1999 Sharif fired Musharraf and attempted to keep him from returning to Pakistan from abroad by refusing to let his airplane land. The commercial airplane was forced to circle the Karāchi airport until army forces loyal to Musharraf overthrew the government and took over the airport, by which time the airplane was very low on fuel. Musharraf declared himself the chief executive of Pakistan, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the legislature. He appointed an eight-member National Security Council to function as the country's supreme governing body. Many Pakistanis, already chafing under Sharif's increasingly autocratic rule and suffering from a sagging Pakistani economy, welcomed the coup. Sharif was arrested and tried for a number of charges related to his order to keep Musharraf's airplane from landing. In April 2000 Sharif was convicted of kidnapping, hijacking, and abuse of power and was sentenced to life imprisonment. In December, however, his sentence was commuted and he was allowed to live in exile in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Pakistan set a deadline of October 2002 for the restoration of civilian rule

On November 25, 2007, Nawaz Sharif made a second attempt to return from exile, this time accompanied by his brother, the former Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif. Hundreds of their supporters, including a few leaders of the party were detained before the pair arrived at Lahore International Airport. The following day, Nawaz Sharif filed his nomination papers for two seats in the forthcoming elections whilst Benazir Bhutto filed for three seats including one of the reserved seats for women.

On December 27, 2007, Benazir Butto was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when she was assassinated by a gunman who shot her in the neck and set off a bomb,killing 20 other people and injuring several more. The exact circumstances of the attack remain unclear because although early reports indicated that Bhutto was hit by shrapnel or the gunshots, the Pakistani Interior Ministry stated that she died from a skull fracture sustained when the explosion threw Bhutto against the sunroof of her vehicle.[94] Bhutto's aides rejected this claim and insisted that she suffered two gunshots prior to the bomb detonation. The Interior Ministry subsequently backtracked from its previous claim. The Election Commission, after a meeting in Islamabad, announced that, due to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the elections, which had been scheduled for 8 January 2008, would take place on 18 February.

A General Election was held in Pakistan, according to the revised schedule, on February 18, 2008,). Pakistan's two big and main opposition parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML (N)) won the majority of seats in the election, although the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML (Q)) actually was second in the popular vote. The PPP and PML (N) are expected to form the new government.

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