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the demands of Islamic nationalists, demands that were articulated by the All India Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. From independence on August 14,1947 until 1971, Pakistan (both de facto and in law) consisted of two regions—West Pakistan, in the Indus River basin, and East Pakistan, located more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away in the Ganges River delta. In response to grave internal political problems, however, an independent state of Bangladesh was proclaimed in East Pakistan in 1971.
Since 1947, the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, along the western Himalayas, has been disputed between Pakistan and India, with each holding sectors. The two countries have gone to war over the territory three times, in 1948–49, 1965, and 1971.
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. It was designed and built to be a modern capital for Pakistan.
It is located amongst the Margalla Hills at the northern end of Pothowar Plateau. It was established in
1960 by the orders of then President General Ayub Khan.
The capital is full of natural terraces and meadows and the southern plain drained by the Kurang
River with the Margalla Hills in the north east.
Islamabad has some of the finest educational institutes of Pakistan, including Quaid-e-Azam University, International Islamic University and National University of Science and Technology. Quaid-e-Azam University offers courses in a number of subjects.
Major buildings of the campus have been designed in such a way as to form an axial spine with the library in the center. Quaid-e-Azam University now occupies an enviable position in the academic world.
Population
Pakistan has a large, mostly rural population with a high rate of growth. The government estimates the population at 152.8 million as of December 2004, not including 1.2 million refugees from Afghanistan (2002 estimate). From 1981 to 1998, population growth averaged nearly 2.7 percent annually. If this growth rate continues, the population will double approximately every 26 years.
The two largest ethnic groups are the Punjabis, an Indo-Aryan people who dominate political and business life, and the Pashtuns, who work mainly as herders and farmers. The northern areas are home to many distinct ethnic groups, whose eclectic heritage is the result of intermarriage between local peoples and invaders from elsewhere in Europe and Asia.
Languages
Urdu is the national language and the language of most print media. English has official status and often is regarded as the language of the elite and upwardly mobile. Urdu and English often are used in government and business. Punjabi is the most common language, spoken by 44.2 percent of the population, followed by Pakhtu (15.2 percent), Sindhi (14.1 percent), Siraiki (10.5 percent), Urdu (7.8 percent), and Balochi (3.8 percent). Smaller linguistic groups include the Hindko in the North-West Frontier Province, the Farsi-speaking Hazaras of Balochistan, and theBrahuis in Sindh and
Balochistan. Language often articulates ethnic identity, and provincial boundaries are linguistically based. Urdu has been promoted as a means of unifying ethnic groups, but it is the mother tongue of only the Muhajirs. Furthermore, many groups perceive the establishment of Urdu as the national language as threatening to their employment potential, political participation, and ethnic identity.
Religion
The overwhelming majority of the population (96.3 percent) is Muslim, of whom approximately 95 percent
are Sunni and 5 percent Shia. Sunnis and Shias are subdivided into numerous sects. Approximately
1.6 percent of the population is Hindu, 1.6 percent is Christian, and 0.3 percent belongs to other religions, such as Bahaism and Sikhism. Some 0.2 percent of the population is Ahmadiyya (also known as Qadiani), a small but influential sect that maintains some Islamic beliefs but is considered heretical by orthodox Muslims and is not recognized as Muslim by Pakistani law. The country was founded to promote religious freedom, and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. However, Islam is the state religion, and the constitution states that religious practice is “subject to law, public order, and morality.” The government also has Islamic institutions such as the Federal Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology, which advise politicians on the congruence of legislation with Islamic
injunctions. It is debatable whether the government has established such institutions for religious or political reasons, but the government has promoted Islam as a means of unifying numerous ethnic groups. Nevertheless, political, economic, and religious differences have been manifested in occasionally violent conflicts between religious communities, particularly between Sunni and Shia militias.
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