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Location: Southern Asia, bordering
the Arabian Sea, between India on the east and Iran and Afghanistan
on the west and China in the north
Geographic coordinates: 30 00 N, 70
00 E
Captial: Islamabad
Area:
total: 803,940 sq km
land: 778,720 sq km
water: 25,220 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly less
than twice the size of California
Population: 144,616,639
Religions: Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%,
Shi'a 20%), Christian, Hindu, and other 3%
Land boundaries: 6,774 km
Border Countries: Afghanistan 2,430
km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km
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
Ethnic groups: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun
(Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants from India at the time of
partition and their descendants)
Languages: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%,
Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%,
Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca
of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski,
and other 8%
Infant mortality rate: 80.5 deaths/1,000
live births
Life expectancy at birth: 61.45 years
Exports: textiles (garments, cotton
cloth, and yarn), rice, other agricultural products
Currency: Pakistani rupee (59.152
rupees per dollar)
Chief of state: following a military
takeover on October 12, 1999, Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended
Pakistan's constitution and assumed the additional title of Chief
Executive; exercising the powers of the head of the government,
he appointed an eight-member National Security Council to function
as Pakistan's supreme governing body; President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar
remains the ceremonial chief of state
Elections: Gen. Pervez Musharraf overthrew
the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif in the military
takeover of 12 October 1999; in May 2000, the Supreme Court validated
the October 1999 coup and set a three-year limit in office for Chief
Executive Musharraf
Legislative branch: Gen. Pervez Musharraf
dissolved Parliament following the military takeover of 1999
Brief History: The separation in 1947
of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with two sections
West and East) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily
resolved. A third war between these countries in 1971 resulted in
East Pakistan seceding and becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh.
A dispute over the state of Kashmir is ongoing. In response to Indian
nuclear weapons testing, Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998.
Links for more information on Pakistan:
From
the Pakistani Government
From
the BBC
From
the State Department
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