Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia.
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia.
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Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area, spanning 881, 913 square kilometres.
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Pakistan is the site of several ancient cultures, including the 8, 500-year-old Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, and the Indus Valley civilisation of the Bronze Age, the most extensive of the civilisations of the Afro-Eurasia.
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The region that comprises the modern state of Pakistan was the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid; briefly that of Alexander the Great; the Seleucid, the Maurya, the Kushan, the Gupta; the Umayyad Caliphate in its southern regions, the Hindu Shahis, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, the Durranis, the Sikh Empire, British East India Company rule, and most recently, the British Indian Empire from 1858 to 1947.
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In 1971, the exclave of East Pakistan seceded as the new country of Bangladesh after a nine-month-long civil war.
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Pakistan elected a civilian government in 2008, and in 2010 adopted a parliamentary system with periodic elections.
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Pakistan is a middle power, and has the world's sixth-largest standing armed forces.
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Pakistan is a member of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition, and is designated as a major non-NATO ally by the United States.
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Name Pakistan literally means "land of the pure" or "land of purity", in Urdu and Persian.
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The Indus region, which covers most of present day Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilisation at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
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None of the territory of modern Pakistan was ruled by the British, or other European powers, until 1839, when Karachi, then a small fishing village with a mud fort guarding the harbour, was taken, and held as an enclave with a port and military base for the First Afghan War that soon followed.
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Under the British, modern Pakistan was mostly divided into the Sind Division, Punjab Province, and the Baluchistan Agency.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan's founding fathers agreed to appoint Liaquat Ali Khan, the secretary-general of the party, the nation's first Prime Minister.
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From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations, and had two monarchs before it became a republic.
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Creation of Pakistan was never fully accepted by many British leaders, among them Lord Mountbatten.
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When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, he replied 'most probably'.
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The Objectives Resolution, which Liaquat Ali Khan called the second most important step in Pakistan's history, declared that "sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust".
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In 1972 Pakistan embarked on an ambitious plan to develop its nuclear deterrence capability with the goal of preventing any foreign invasion; the country's first nuclear power plant was inaugurated in that same year.
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From 1977 to 1988, President Zia's corporatisation and economic Islamisation initiatives led to Pakistan becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia.
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The idea of Pakistan, which had received overwhelming popular support among Indian Muslims, especially those in the provinces of British India where Muslims were in a minority such as the United Provinces, was articulated in terms of an Islamic state by the Muslim League leadership, the ulama and Jinnah.
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The conflict concluded with East Pakistan seceding and the creation of independent Bangladesh.
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Geography and climate of Pakistan are extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.
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Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
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Geologically, Pakistan is located in the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone and overlaps the Indian tectonic plate in its Sindh and Punjab provinces; Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are within the Eurasian plate, mainly on the Iranian plateau.
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Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain, and the Balochistan Plateau.
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Diversity of the landscape and climate in Pakistan allows a wide variety of trees and plants to flourish.
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Many birds sighted in Pakistan are migratory, coming from Europe, Central Asia, and India.
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The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are home to Asiatic jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats, and leopards.
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Pakistan has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world, which, along with hunting and pollution, has had adverse effects on the ecosystem.
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Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, with Islam as the state religion.
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Today Pakistan has a multi-party parliamentary system with clear division of powers and checks and balances among the branches of government.
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Politics in Pakistan is centred on, and dominated by, a homegrown social philosophy comprising a blend of ideas from socialism, conservatism, and the third way.
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Since Independence, Pakistan has attempted to balance its relations with foreign nations.
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Pakistan is a strong ally of China, with both countries placing considerable importance on the maintenance of an extremely close and supportive special relationship.
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Non-signatory party of the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Pakistan is an influential member of the IAEA.
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In recent events, Pakistan has blocked an international treaty to limit fissile material, arguing that the "treaty would target Pakistan specifically".
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Currently, Pakistan maintains a policy of credible minimum deterrence, calling its program vital nuclear deterrence against foreign aggression.
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Pakistan has lobbied for the concept of "enlightened moderation" in the Muslim world.
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Pakistan is a member of Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), and the G20 developing nations.
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Pakistan had warm relations with Bangladesh, despite some initial strains in their relationship.
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In December 2018, Pakistan's government defended China's re-education camps for a million Uyghur Muslims.
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Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world.
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However, Pakistan masterminded an attack on the Afghan city of Jalalabad during the Afghan Civil War to establish an Islamic government there.
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Pakistan had wished to foment an 'Islamic Revolution' that would transcend national borders, covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
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Pakistan is an influential and founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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Federal parliamentary republic state, Pakistan is a federation that comprises four provinces: Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, and three territories: Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
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India and Pakistan have fought smaller-scale protracted conflicts over the region in 1984 and 1999.
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However, Pakistan failed to vacate the region and a ceasefire was reached in 1949 establishing a ceasefire line known as the Line of Control that divided Kashmir between the two states as a de facto border.
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Pakistan claims that its position is for the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations, while India has stated that Kashmir is an "integral part" of India, referring to the 1972 Simla Agreement and to the fact that regional elections take place regularly.
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Law enforcement in Pakistan is carried out by joint network of several federal and provincial police agencies.
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Law enforcement in Pakistan has a Motorway Patrol which is responsible for enforcement of traffic and safety laws, security and recovery on Pakistan's inter-provincial motorway network.
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Armed forces of Pakistan are the sixth largest in the world in terms of numbers in full-time service, with about 651, 800 personnel on active duty and 291, 000 paramilitary personnel, as of tentative estimates in 2021.
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Apart from its own conflicts, Pakistan has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
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Pakistan has deployed its military in some Arab countries, providing defence, training, and playing advisory roles.
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In 1991, Pakistan became involved with the Gulf War and sent 5, 000 troops as part of a US-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.
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Pakistan has an installed capacity of 44, 768, 250 metric tons of cement and 42, 636, 428 metric tons of clinker.
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Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7, 000 metres.
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The northern part of Pakistan has many old fortresses, examples of ancient architecture, and the Hunza and Chitral valleys, home to the small pre-Islamic Kalasha community claiming descent from Alexander the Great.
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Pakistan was recognised as the best country for infrastructure development in South Asia during the IWF and World Bank annual meetings in 2016.
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Pakistan is one of the four nuclear armed states that is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it is a member in good standing of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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In 2013 Pakistan established a second commercial nuclear complex in Karachi with plans of additional reactors, similar to the one in Chashma.
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In 2014, Pakistan had an installed electricity generation capacity of ~22, 797.
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Pakistan hosted an international seminar on "Physics in Developing Countries" for the International Year of Physics 2005.
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Pakistan founded and established the Kahuta Research Laboratories in 1976, serving as both its senior scientist and the Director-General until his retirement in 2001, and he was an early and vital figure in other science projects.
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In 2010 Pakistan was ranked 43rd in the world in terms of published scientific papers.
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Pakistan was ranked 99th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 107th in 2020.
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Pakistan witnessed a fourfold increase in its scientific productivity in the past decade surging from approximately 2, 000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9, 000 articles in 2015.
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Pakistan is the first and only Muslim country that maintains an active research presence in Antarctica.
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Since 1991 Pakistan has maintained two summer research stations and one weather observatory on the continent and plans to open another full-fledged permanent base in Antarctica.
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Since the 2000s Pakistan has made a significant amount of progress in supercomputing, and various institutions offer research opportunities in parallel computing.
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Constitution of Pakistan requires the state to provide free primary and secondary education.
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Pakistan has a large network of both public and private universities, which includes collaboration between the universities aimed at providing research and higher education opportunities in the country, although there is concern about the low quality of teaching in many of the newer schools.
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Strong public pressure and popular criticism over extremists' usage of madrassahs for recruitment, the Pakistan government has made repeated efforts to regulate and monitor the quality of education in the madrassahs.
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Education in Pakistan is divided into six main levels: nursery; primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); matriculation (grades nine and ten, leading to the secondary certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a higher secondary certificate); and university programmes leading to graduate and postgraduate degrees.
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Pakistan had a population of 213, 222, 917 according to the final results of the 2017 Census of Pakistan.
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Pakistan is home to one of the world's largest refugee populations.
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Thousands of Uyghur Muslims have migrated to the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, fleeing religious and cultural persecution in Xinjiang, China.
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Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan, which provides all its citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion subject to law, public order, and morality.
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Pakistan has the second-largest number of Muslims in the world after Indonesia.
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In 2019, the Shia population in Pakistan was estimated to be 42 million out of total population of 210 million.
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The second level of Sufism in Pakistan is 'intellectual Sufism', which is growing among the urban and educated population.
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Civil society in Pakistan is largely hierarchical, emphasising local cultural etiquette and traditional Islamic values that govern personal and political life.
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Shalwar Kameez is the national dress of Pakistan and is worn by both men and women in all four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Kashmir.
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Since Pakistan came into being, its fashion has evolved in different phases and developed a unique identity.
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Pakistan now has a large network of domestic, privately owned 24-hour news media and television channels.
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The Pakistan Academy of Letters is a large literary community that promotes literature and poetry in Pakistan and abroad.
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Pakistan was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilisation and encouraged Muslims all over the world to bring about a successful revolution.
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Field hockey is the national sport of Pakistan; it has won three gold medals in the Olympic Games held in 1960, 1968, and 1984.
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Pakistan has won the Hockey World Cup a record four times, held in 1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994.
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Pakistan was runner-up in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa and won the 2009 World Twenty20 in England.
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Pakistan won the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy by defeating arch-rivals India in the final.
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Pakistan is known as one of the best manufactures of the official FIFA World Cup ball.
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Pakistan has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1989 and 2004 South Asian Games; the 1984, 1993, 1996 and 2003 World Squash Championships; the 1987 and 1996 Cricket World Cup; and the 1990 Hockey World Cup.
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Pakistan is set to host the 2023 South Asian Games, the 2023 Asia Cup, and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
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