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WORLD FACTBOOK (US)
Introduction: The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world and dating back at least 5,000 years, spread over much of what is presently Pakistan. During the second millennium B.C., remnants of this culture fused with the migrating Indo-Aryan peoples. The area underwent successive invasions in subsequent centuries from the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs (who brought Islam), Afghans, and Turks. The Mughal Empire flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries; the British came to dominate the region in the 18th century. The separation in 1947 of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with West and East sections) and largely Hindu...
COUNTRY BRIEF (AU)
Economic Overview: Pakistan's economy
Pakistan's economy comprises the services sector (50 per cent), industry/manufacturing (25 per cent) and agriculture (25 per cent). Agriculture, a sector which has performed strongly in 2011, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for up to 24 per cent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 57 per cent of export earnings, with 44 per cent of the country's population depending directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood. Manufacturing, which contributes approximately a quarter of Pakistan's GDP, is concentrated around the Karachi-Hyderabad region and Lahore. Pakistan produces ...
BACKGROUND NOTES (US)
Historical Overview: Pakistan, along with parts of western India, contains the archeological remains of an urban civilization dating back 4,500 years. Alexander the Great's empire included the Indus Valley in 326 B.C. His successors founded the Indo-Greek kingdom of Bactria based in what is today Afghanistan and extending to Peshawar. Following the rise of the Central Asian Kushan Empire in later centuries, the
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COUNTRY PROFILE (UK)
International Relations: Kashmir
The status of Kashmir and the history of events leading to its division have long been contested and led to at least three wars between India and Pakistan. India claims that the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir legally acceded to it in 1947. Pakistan claims that Kashmiris were denied their choice of which state to join and has since held that the status of Kashmir can only be decided by a plebiscite in line with UN Resolutions passed in 1948. Kashmir has been divided since 1948 by a cease-fire line, known as the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistani-administered Kashmir is almost ...
COUNTRY STUDIES (US)
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