Pakistan: The Country and the People

Pakistan has been in the news a lot in recent years, especially in relation to the U.S. war on terrorism. In 2004, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf became an unlikely ally when he brought Pakistan into the fight on terrorism on the side of the U.S. Ever since, journalists have used the country as a base for reporting the war, and the country has featured prominently on the international stage. Politicians and analysts have said the country's influence on other Middle Eastern countries makes it pivotal in this conflict.

To understand the country's influence in international affairs, it helps to understand Pakistan's history and demographics. Here's a brief look.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the largest Muslim population after Indonesia. Before 1947, it was a part of the British Empire along with India and other parts of South Asia. It gained independence in the Partition of 1947, where India was established as a primarily Hindu state and Pakistan (West and East) as a primarily Muslim state. During the partition, the Kashmir region between Pakistan and India was contested. The leader of Kashmir was Hindu but had a mostly Muslim constituency, so he did not know which country to join. The territory dispute was the beginning of a long-standing rivalry between Pakistan and India involving land, religion and power. The Kashmir region remains in dispute today. Modern-day Pakistan emerged in 1971 when East Pakistan won independence as a separate nation, Bangladesh. The region then called West Pakistan became today's Pakistan.

In Pakistan, there is wide regional variation in demographics, with religion as one of the few homogeneous characteristics. More than 95 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim, and the tenets of Islam govern most people's public and personal life. As far as languages go, English is the official language, used in government and commerce. Urdu is the national language. It is spoken by only 8 percent of the population as a native language, but studied by all primary and secondary school children. Punjabi is the most prevalent native language and is spoken by 48 percent of the people as a first language. However, there are dozens of different languages and dialects spoken from region to region. The literacy rate is 49.9 percent. Only 6 percent of Pakistanis are connected to the Internet. The literacy rate and low rate of Internet connection have limited the print and online presence in Pakistan, helping make broadcast media the primary news outlet in the country.

Sources:
"Pakistan Factsheet." The World Factbook.
"Pakistan Country Profile." SAPRA India Foundation.
"Kashmir-India vs. Pakistan." Flash Points World Conflicts.