Pakistan

Country Profile: Pakistan

Executive Summary

Domestic insurgents, many of whom are located in the tribal areas adjacent to the border with Afghanistan, have proven formidable to control for Pakistani government and military leaders. Anemic levels of foreign investment and rampant internal political disputes that have lasted decades have left Pakistan exposed to slow growth and underdevelopment. Pakistan must address long standing issues related to government revenues and energy production in order to spur the amount of economic growth that will be necessary to employ its growing and rapidly urbanizing population. Other long term challenges include expanding investment in education and healthcare, adapting to the effects of climate change and natural disasters, and reducing dependence on foreign donors.

Brief History

Present-day Pakistan was once a part of the Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest civilizations in human history. During the second millennium B.C., remnants of this culture fused with the migrating Indo-Aryan peoples. In the centuries that followed, the area experienced consecutive invasions from the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs (who brought Islam), Afghans, and Turks. By the 18th century, the region fell into the hands of the British after over two hundred years of rule by the thriving Mughal Empire. The Muslim state of Pakistan was then separated from British India in 1947, as well as divided into East and West sections. Disputes over the Kashmir territory, which lays on the border of India and Pakistan, ignited two wars in 1947-48 and 1965. A third war between these countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh.

Political Structure

Political Parties: Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Balochistan National Party-Hayee Group (BNP-H), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Jamaat-i Islami (JI), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH), Jamiat-i Ulema-i Islam Fazl-ur Rehman (JUI-F), Jamiat-i Ulema-i Islam Sami-ul HAQ (JUI-S), Jamiat-i Ulema-i Pakistan (JUP), Millat-e-Jafferia, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), National Peoples Party (NPP), Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i Azam (PML-Q), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Peoples Party-S, Quami Watan Party (QWP), Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaaf (PTI) *note: political alliances in Pakistan can shift frequently

Political System: Pakistan is a federal republic with a bicameral parliament (Majlis-e-Shoora) made up of the Senate and the National Assembly. Members of the Senate are elected indirectly by provincial bodies and the territories' representatives in the National Assembly to serve six-year terms. Members of the National Assembly are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. A secret ballot through an Electoral College comprising the members of the Senate, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies determines who holds the presidency. The president is the chief of state and is elected to a five-year term. The National Assembly is responsible for choosing the Prime minister, who acts as head of government.

Political Conflicts: In response to Indian nuclear weapons testing, Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998. India-Pakistan relations have been rocky since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, but both countries are taking small steps to put relations back on track.

Economic Structure

Economic System: The agriculture sector drives more than one-fifth of output and two-fifths of employment in Pakistan. The state’s current account is quite vulnerable to shifts in world demand for textiles, as this industry accounts for most of Pakistan’s export earnings. A large swath of the economy is informal, leading to low unemployment numbers that do not reflect Pakistan’s high underemployment.
Economic Trends: Much foreign investment has dried up as Pakistan remains troubled with issues of instability in governance, security, and energy. Investor concerns are not the only problems facing Pakistan’s economy. A toxic mixture of low growth and high inflation have borne many into the state of poverty. The U.N. Human Development Report estimated poverty in 2011 at almost 50% of the population. As a result of political and economic instability, the Pakistani rupee has depreciated more than 40% since 2007.
Economic Resources: Pakistan operates in the industries of textiles and apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products, and fertilizer. Exports include textiles (garments, bed linen, cotton cloth, yarn), rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets and rugs.

Social Structure

Religion:

Muslim: 150,349,015 adherents (96.08% of population)
Christian: 3,614,761 adherents (2.31% of population)
Hindu: 2,347,247 adherents (1.50% of population)
Bahai: 93,890 adherents (0.06% of population)
Other: 46,945 adherents (0.03% of population)
Traditional ethnic: 31,297 adherents (0.02% of population)

Churches:

Church of Pakistan (464,000 members)
Catholic (540,000 members)
Presbyterian Church of Pakistan (75,000 members)
Association of Reformed Presbyterians (35,971 members)
Salvation Army (40,000 members)
National Methodist (19,231 members)
Full Gospel Assemblies (13,932 members)
Christian Brethren (11,000 members)
Seventh-day Adventist (5,986 members)
Church of God (4,519 members)

Ethnicity:

Punjabi 44.68%
Pashtun (Pathan) 15.42%
Sindhi 14.1%
Sariaki 8.38%
Muhajirs 7.57%
Balochi 3.57%
Other 6.28%

Gender:

Overall male population: 99,252,290 (51.4%)
Overall female population: 93,986,578 (48.6%)

Urbanization:

Urban population: 36% of total population (2010)
Rate of urbanization: 3.1% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Children under the age of 5 underweight: 30.9% (2011)

Operating Organizations

Political Groups: The most important political force is the military, followed by ulema (clergy), landowners, industrialists, and small merchants.

Terrorist Groups: al-Mansoorain, al-Qa’ida, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Sipah-e-Sahaba/Pakistan (SSP)

Allies and Enemies

Regional Allies: China
Regional Enemies: India
Global Allies: Saudi Arabia, Turkey
Global Enemies: Israel, United States

Country Trajectory

Sectarian violence in Pakistan is rampant, and is exacerbated by the presence of numerous domestic and multinational terror organizations in the state. There are several instances of such groups that are specific to certain regions of Pakistan. Massacres of Shia and the targeted killings of Shia religious leaders are linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group with confirmed links to al-Qa’ida. LeJ is determined to turn Pakistan into a completely Sunni state. Meanwhile, in the Balochistan province, the Baloch Liberation Army is a persistent threat to order. Pakistani security forces in Balochistan are antagonized by both Balochi separatists and remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in this area. Simultaneous attacks from both international and internal sources make attempts to suppress these groups tenuous. Militant groups fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan are suspected to have found a safe haven in the tribal region of Pakistan. As the area remains mostly ungoverned, it will continue to see covert actions by the United States eliminate the targets that Pakistani officials cannot.

Current Events

December 3rd, 2012: Between 2004 and November 2012, over 350 drone strikes have resulted in the deaths of roughly 3,000 hostile targets, but also those of 176 children.

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/12/03/november-2012-update-us-covert-actions-in-pakistan-yemen-and-somalia/

January 6th, 2013: A suspected U.S. drone strike killed 17 militants and wounded three others. The strike occurred in Babar Ziarat, which borders the Pakistani provinces of North and South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/06/world/asia/pakistan-drone-strike/index.html

January 10th, 2013: A string of bombings killed 101 and injured 200 more in Pakistan. Most casualties were caused by sectarian attacks in the city of Quetta.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/10/us-pakistan-explosions-idUSBRE90911P20130110

May 7th, 2013: In the north-west Kurram tribal region, at least 25 people were killed and seventy wounded after an explosion at a campaign rally of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Islamist party. The blast came from a suicide bomber of the Pakistani Taliban.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/06/pakistan-election-rally-bomb-blast

Sources