Pakistan


See regional map VIII



Geography


Total area: 803,940 km²; land area: 778,720 km²

Comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of California

Land boundaries: 6,774 km total; Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km

Coastline: 1,046 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm
Extended economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: boundary with India; Pashtun question with Afghanistan; Baloch question with Afghanistan and Iran; water sharing problems with upstream riparian India over the Indus

Climate: mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north

Terrain: flat Indus plain in east; mountains in north and northwest; Balochistan plateau in west

Natural resources: land, extensive natural gas reserves, limited crude oil, poor quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone

Land use: 26% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 6% meadows and pastures; 4% forest and woodland; 64% other; includes 19% irrigated

Environment: frequent earthquakes, occasionally severe especially in north and west; flooding along the Indus after heavy rains (July and August); deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water logging

Note: controls Khyber Pass and Malakand Pass, traditional invasion routes between Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent


People


Population: 114,649,406 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -6 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 110 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 56 years male, 57 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.7 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Pakistani(s); adjective—Pakistani

Ethnic divisions: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendents)

Religion: 97% Muslim (77% Sunni, 20% Shi'a), 3% Christian, Hindu, and other

Language: Urdu and English (official); total spoken languages—64% Punjabi, 12% Sindhi, 8% Pashtu, 7% Urdu, 9% Balochi and other; English is lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries, but official policies are promoting its gradual replacement by Urdu

Literacy: 26%

Labor force: 28,900,000; 54% agriculture, 13% mining and manufacturing, 33% services; extensive export of labor (1987 est.)

Organized labor: about 10% of industrial work force


Government


Long-form name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Type: parliamentary with strong executive, federal republic

Capital: Islāmābād

Administrative divisions: 4 provinces, 1 tribal area*, and 1 territory**; Balochistān, Federally Administered Tribal Areas*, Islāmābād Capital Territory**, North-West Frontier, Punjab, Sindh; note—the Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region includes Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK; formerly West Pakistan)

Constitution: 10 April 1973, suspended 5 July 1977, restored 30 December 1985

Legal system: based on English common law with provisions to accommodate Pakistan's stature as an Islamic state; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday: Pakistan Day (proclamation of the republic), 23 March (1956)

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Legislature (Mijlis-e-Shoora) consists of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or National Assembly

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Federal Islamic (Shari'at) Court

Leaders: Chief of State—President GHULAM ISHAQ Khan (since 13 December 1988);

Head of Government—Prime Minister Benazir BHUTTO (since 2 December 1988)

Political parties and leaders: Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; Pakistan Muslim League (PML), former Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo; PML is the main party in the anti-PPP Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA); Muhajir Quami Movement, Altaf Hussain; Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Fazlur Rahman; Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Qazi Hussain Ahmed; Awami National Party (ANP), Khan Abdul Waii Khan

Suffrage: universal at age 21

Elections: President—last held on 12 December 1988 (next to be held December 1993); results Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected by the Federal Legislature;

Senate—last held March 1988 (next to be held March 1990); results—elected by provincial assemblies; seats—(87 total) PML 84, PPP 2, independent 1;

National Assembly—last held on 16 November 1988 (next to be held November 1993); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(237 total) PPP 109, IJI 65, MQM 14, JUI 8, PAI 3, ANP 3, BNA 3, others 3, independents 29

Communists: the Communist party is no longer outlawed and operates openly

Other political or pressure groups: military remains dominant political force; ulema (clergy), industrialists, and small merchants also influential

Member of: ADB, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council, NAM, OIC, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WFTU, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Zulfikar ALI KHAN; Chancery at 2315 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-6200; there is a Pakistani Consulate General in New York; US—Ambassador Robert B. OAKLEY; Embassy at Diplomatic Enclave, Ramna 5, Islāmābād (mailing address is P. O. Box 1048, Islāmābād); telephone [92](51) 8261-61 through 79; there are US Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore, and a Consulate in Peshāwar

Flag: green with a vertical white band on the hoist side; a large white crescent and star are centered in the green field; the crescent, star, and color green are traditional symbols of Islam


Economy


Overview: Pakistan is a poor Third World country faced with the usual problems of rapidly increasing population, sizable government deficits, and heavy dependence on foreign aid. In addition, the economy must support a large military establishment and provide for the needs of 4 million Afghan refugees. A real economic growth rate averaging 5-6% in recent years has enabled the country to cope with these problems. Almost all agriculture and small-scale industry is in private hands, and the government seeks to privatize a portion of the large-scale industrial enterprises now publicly owned. In December 1988, Pakistan signed a three-year economic reform agreement with the IMF, which provides for a reduction in the government deficit and a liberalization of trade in return for further IMF financial support. The so-called Islamization of the economy has affected mainly the financial sector; for example, a prohibition on certain types of interest payments. Pakistan almost certainly will make little headway against its population problem; at the current rate of growth, population would double in 32 years.

GNP: $43.2 billion, per capita $409; real growth rate 5.1% (FY89)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11 % (FY89)

Unemployment rate: 4% (FY89 est.)

Budget: revenues $7.5 billion; expenditures $10.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.3 billion (FY89 est.)

Exports: $4.5 billion (f.o.b., FY89); commodities—rice, cotton, textiles, clothing; partners—EC 31%, US 11%, Japan 11% (FY88)

Imports: $7.2 billion (f.o.b., FY89); commodities—petroleum, petroleum products, machinery, transportation, equipment, vegetable oils, animal fats, chemicals; partners—EC 26%, Japan 15%, US 11% (FY88)

External debt: $17.4 billion (1989)

Industrial production: growth rate 3% (FY89)

Electricity: 7,575,000 kW capacity; 29,300 million kWh produced, 270 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: textiles, food processing, beverages, petroleum products, construction materials, clothing, paper products, international finance, shrimp

Agriculture: 24% of GNP, over 50% of labor force; world's largest contiguous irrigation system; major crops—cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, and vegetables; livestock products—milk, beef, mutton, eggs; self-sufficient in food grain

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium poppy and cannabis for the international drug trade; government eradication efforts on poppy cultivation of limited success; 1988 output of opium and hashish each estimated at about 200 metric tons

Aid: (including Bangladesh before 1972) US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $4.2 billion authorized (excluding what is now Bangladesh); Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-87), $7.5 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $2.3 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $2.9 billion

Currency: Pakistani rupee (plural—rupees); 1 Pakistani rupee (PRe) = 100 paisa

Exchange rates: Pakistani rupees (PRs) per US$1—21.420 (January 1990), 20.541 (1989), 18.003 (1988), 17.399 (1987), 16.648 (1986), 15.928 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June


Communications


Railroads: 8,773 km total; 7,718 km broad gauge, 445 km meter gauge, and 610 km narrow gauge; 1,037 km broad-gauge double track; 286 km electrified; all government owned (1985)

Highways: 101,315 km total (1987); 40,155 km paved, 23,000 km gravel, 29,000 km improved earth, and 9,160 km unimproved earth or sand tracks (1985)

Pipelines: 250 km crude oil; 4,044 km natural gas; 885 km refined products (1987)

Ports: Gwadar, Karachi, Port Muhammad bin Qasim

Merchant marine: 29 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 338,173 GRT/508,107 DWT; includes 4 passenger-cargo, 24 cargo, 1 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker

Civil air: 30 major transport aircraft

Airports: 115 total, 102 usable; 70 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 42 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: good international radiocommunication service over microwave and INTELSAT satellite; domestic radio communications poor; broadcast service good; 564,500 telephones (1987); stations—16 AM, 8 FM, 16; satellite earth station—1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 2 Indian Ocean INTELSAT


Defense Forces


Branches: Army, Air Force, Navy, Civil Armed Forces, National Guard

Military manpower: males 15-49, 26,215,898; 16,080,545 fit for military service; 1,282,294 reach military age (17) annually

Defense expenditures: 5.6% of GNP, or $2.4 billion (1989 est.)