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Pakistan Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Pakistan
Official Name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Capital: Islamabad
Area: 796,100 square kilometres ( 307,376 square miles )
Major cities (Population)
Karachi 9,863,000 (1995)
Lahore 5,085,000 (1995)
Faisalabad 1,875,000 (1995)
Peshawar 1,676,000 (1995)
Rawalpindi 1,290,000 (1995)
Multan 1,257,000 (1995)
Hyderabad 1,107,000 (1995)
Islamabad 559,000 (1990)
Population: 140,497,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.8 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 14 August 1947 (from the United Kingdom)
Constitution: 10 April 1973, suspended 5 July 1977, restored with amendments 30 December 1985
Voting Rights: Universal at age 21
Government
Pakistan's president, who is elected by the national and provincial legislatures, has the power under the constitution to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve parliament. The bicameral legislature comprises a 217-member national assembly (the lower house) elected for five years, and an 87-member senate elected to six-year terms; one-third of senate seats are up for election every two years. Pakistan is made up of four provinces (each with an appointed governor and an elected legislature), the federal capital of Islamabad, and federally administered “tribal” areas. The voting age is 18.
There has been an ongoing debate within Pakistan as to how much influence shariah (the Islamic code of religious law) should have on society. Most people support the current approach in which shariah is used when practical, but Western legal and business practices also exist. This approach allows for certain personal freedoms, but some Pakistanis oppose the mixed system which they claim undermines Islamic values.
Recent History
By the 19th century the British East India Trading Company had become the dominant power in the area of the Indian subcontinent. From the late 19th century nationalist movements in British India (which included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh) gained strength. In 1906 the Muslim League was founded to protect the interests of the minority Muslim population, and in 1940 the League, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, formally adopted the demand for an independent Muslim state in the event of a British withdrawal from India. The tensions between Hindus and Muslims were recognized by Great Britain. Therefore, in 1947, when Great Britain finally agreed to independence for the subcontinent, it was as two countries: India, incorporating the predominantly Hindu areas; and Pakistan, incorporating the predominantly Muslim areas. However, the Muslim areas were on opposite sides of India, 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) apart, so the country of Pakistan was divided into West Pakistan and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Partition was traumatic. War broke out in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where a mainly Muslim population was ruled by a Hindu prince; a ceasefire was arranged in 1949, but the area has remained a source of tension between Pakistan and India ever since.
In newly independent Pakistan, internal tensions soon emerged between West Pakistan, the centre of political and military power, and East Pakistan, where a majority of the population lived. The conflict between East and West eventually led to civil war in 1971. After India intervened, East Pakistan seceded and renamed itself Bangladesh. In the power vacuum created by the army's defeat in the civil war, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected leader of Pakistan. He introduced a policy of “Islamic socialism”, but as separatist tensions resurfaced he became increasingly repressive. Victory for Bhutto's Pakistan People's party in the 1977 elections was met by opposition claims of massive electoral irregularities. After a period of unrest, General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq seized control of the government. Bhutto was jailed and, despite international protests, hanged in 1979. Zia postponed elections indefinitely, suspended civil rights, and established shariah (Islamic law) as the basis of civil law. In 1988, three months after he had dissolved the national and provincial legislatures, and in the midst of growing public unrest, Zia was killed in an aeroplane crash.
Free elections were held and Bhutto's daughter, Benazir Bhutto, was elected prime minister—the first female leader of an Islamic country. Bhutto restored civil rights and attempted reforms, but she was distrusted by the military and plagued by allegations of corruption. After mounting ethnic tensions and violence, Bhutto was ousted by the president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, in 1990. Elections in October that year brought Nawaz Sharif to power. He began to liberalize the economy and reform the bureaucracy. An attempt by the president to dismiss Sharif in 1993 was overruled by the supreme court, but Ishaq continued to try to undermine the prime minister through the provincial assemblies. To break the ensuing governmental deadlock, the army forced both leaders to step down. After elections in October 1993, Benazir Bhutto returned to power, and in November her choice for president, Farooq Leghari, was elected by the national and provincial legislatures.
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