PAKISTAN
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;
Exclusive 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: arable land 26%; permanent crops NEGL%;
meadows and pastures 6%; forest and woodland 4%; other 64%; includes
irrigated 19%
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: 117,490,278 (July 1991), growth rate 2.5% (1991)
Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 13 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: - 5 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 109 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 56 years male, 57 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 6.6 children born/woman (1991)
Ethnic divisions: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch,
Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendents)
Religion: Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shia 20%), Christian, Hindu, and
other 3%
Language: Urdu and English (both official); total spoken
languages--Punjabi 64%, Sindhi 12%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu 7%, Balochi and other
9%; English is lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government
ministries, but official policies are promoting its gradual replacement
by Urdu
Literacy: 35% (male 47%, female 21%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 28,900,000; agriculture 54%, mining and manufacturing
13%, services 33%; 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: Islamabad
Administrative divisions: 4 provinces, 1 territory*, and 1
capital territory**; Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal
Areas*, Islamabad 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 with amendments, 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 Parliament (Mijlis-e-Shoora)
consists of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or National
Assembly
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Federal Islamic (Shariat) Court
Leaders:
Chief of State--President GHULAM ISHAQ Khan (since 13 December
1988);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Mian Nawaz SHARIF (since 6
November 1990);
Political parties and leaders: Islamic Democratic
Alliance (Islami Jamuri Ittehad or IJI)--the Pakistan Muslim League
(PML) led by Mohammed Khan JUNEJO is the main party in the IJI;
Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Benazir BHUTTO; note--in September 1990
the PPP announced the formation of the People's Democratic Alliance
(PDA), an electoral alliance including the following four
parties--PPP, Solidarity Movement (Tehrik Istiqlal), Movement for the
Implementation of Shia Jurisprudence (Tehrik-i-Nifaz Fiqh Jafariya
or TNFJ), and the PML (Malik faction);
Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf HUSSAIN;
Awami National Party (ANP), Khan Abdul Wali KHAN;
Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Fazlur RAHMAN;
Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Mohammad Akbar Khan BUGTI;
Pakistan National Party (PNP), Mir Ghaus Bakhsh BIZENJO;
Pakistan Khawa Milli Party (PKMP), leader NA;
Assembly of Pakistani Clergy (Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan or JUP),
Maulana Shah Ahmed NOORANI;
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Qazi Hussain AHMED
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 Parliament
and the four provincial assemblies;
Senate--last held March 1991 (next to be held March 1994);
results--elected by provincial assemblies;
seats--(87 total) IJI 57, Tribal Area Representatives (nonparty) 8,
PPP 5, ANP 5, JWP 4, MQM 3, PNP 2, PKMP 1, JUI 1, independent 1;
National Assembly--last held on 24 October 1990 (next to be held
by October 1995);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(217 total) IJI 107, PDA 45, MQM 15, ANP 6, JUI 6, JWP 2, PNP 2,
PKMP 1, independent 14, religious minorities 10, Tribal Area
Representatives (nonparty) 8, vacant 1
Communists: the Communist party is officially banned but is
allowed to operate openly
Other political or pressure groups: military remains dominant
political force; ulema (clergy), industrialists, and small merchants also
influential
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Najmuddin SHAIKH; 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, Islamabad (mailing address is P. O. Box 1048,
Islamabad or APO New York 09614); telephone 92 (51) 826161
through 79; there are US Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore, and a
Consulate in Peshawar
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. Late in 1990, the IMF
suspended assistance to Pakistan because the government failed to
follow through on deficit reforms. Pakistan almost certainly will make
little headway on raising living standards for its rapidly expanding
population; at the current rate of growth, population would double in
29 years.
GNP: $43.3 billion, per capita $380; real growth rate 5.0%
(FY90 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.7% (FY90)
Unemployment rate: 10% (FY91 est.)
Budget: revenues $5.6 billion; expenditures $10.2 billion,
including capital expenditures of $2.7 billion (FY91 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 7.5% (FY91 est.); accounts for
almost 20% of GNP
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: 25% of GDP, 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
Economic aid: (including Bangladesh before 1972) US commitments,
including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $4.5 billion authorized (excluding what is now
Bangladesh); Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral
commitments (1980-88), $8.2 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89),
$2.3 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $3.2 billion
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 339,855
GRT/500,627 DWT; includes 4 passenger-cargo, 24 cargo, 1 petroleum, oils,
and lubricants (POL) tanker
Civil air: 30 major transport aircraft
Airports: 115 total, 105 usable; 75 with permanent-surface runways;
1 with runways over 3,659 m; 31 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 43 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: good international radiocommunication service
over microwave and INTELSAT satellite; domestic radio communications
poor; broadcast service good; 813,000 telephones (1990); stations--19 AM,
8 FM, 29 TV; earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 2
Indian Ocean INTELSAT
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Civil Armed Forces,
National Guard
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 26,840,840; 16,466,334 fit for
military service; 1,322,883 reach military age (17) annually
Defense expenditures: $2.9 billion, 6% of GNP (FY91)
