Pakistan History Index

http://workmall.com/wfb2001/pakistan/pakistan_history_index.html Source: The Library of Congress Country Studies

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History Introduction istorical Setting  EARLY CIVILIZATIONS  ISLAM IN INDIA  THE MUGHAL PERIOD  COMPANY RULE  THE BRITISH RAJ  The Forward Policy  The Seeds of Muslim Nationalism  Beginnings of Self-Government  The Two Nations Theory  Toward Partition  INDEPENDENT PAKISTAN  Problems at Independence  Constitutional Beginnings  Early Foreign Policy  Collapse of the Parliamentary System  THE AYUB KHAN ERA  Basic Democracies  The 1962 Constitution  Ayub Khan's Foreign Policy and the 1965 War with India  YAHYA KHAN AND BANGLADESH  ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO AND A NEW CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM  ZIA UL-HAQ AND MILITARY DOMINATION, 197788  PAKISTAN AND THE WORLD DURING THE ZIA REGIME


HISTORY

Pakistan's status in the world has changed dramatically in the nearly one-half century of its existence as an independent state. In the twilight years of the Cold War, it achieved international stature as a "frontline" state during the Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan. With the Soviet departure from Afghanistan in the late 1980s and the end of the Cold War, Pakistan's role in the world arena has become less visible, and its voice has diminished to the level of many other developing

states competing in the new world order. Yet, during the years it spent in support of the Afghan struggle against Soviet domination, Pakistan impressed upon the world community a new appreciation of its standing among Islamic nations and of its ideological commitment to causes it champions. In terms of its military and economic development, Pakistan is a "threshold" state. The world's first Islamic "de facto" nuclear-weapon state, it has long been at loggerheads with its larger and more powerful neighbor, India, which, like Pakistan, denies having built nuclear weapons but not its ability to do so at the "turn of a screw." A nation well positioned to serve as an economic model for other developing countries in the post-Cold- War era--especially the Islamic states of the former Soviet Union--Pakistan has shown steady and impressive longterm economic growth and is successfully making the transition from an overwhelmingly agricultural to an industrial economy. Yet, despite its considerable achievements in technology and commerce, Pakistan confronts many of the same problems it faced at its birth. The nation has one of the world's highest population growth rates, making it difficult for the government to address the problems of poverty and attendant ills that affect so many in its society. Indeed, social development has lagged behind economic gains. Quality of life indicators--literacy rates, especially among women, human rights, and universal access to heath care--have shown Pakistan to be a country with serious deficiencies. Throughout history, Pakistan has been strongly affected by its geostrategic placement as a South Asian frontier located at the juncture of South Asia, West Asia, and Central Asia. Scholars have called Pakistan the "fulcrum of Asia" because since antiquity invaders have traversed this frontier carrying with them the seeds of great civilizations. The armies of Islam came to South Asia through the same mountain passes in the north-west of Pakistan that the Indo-Aryans, Alexander the Great, the Kushans, and others had earlier entered. Present-day Pakistan has been shaped by its rich history, pre-Islamic as well as Islamic, but colored in particular by the exigencies of its troubled and bloody birth as a nation in 1947. The partitioning of British India into India and Pakistan was preceded and accompanied by communal riots of unprecedented violence and scope that forced millions of Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh refugees to flee across the new international borders.

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Economy - overview: Pakistan is a poor, heavily populated country, suffering from internal political disputes, lack of foreign investment, and a costly confrontation with neighboring India. Pakistan's economic outlook continues to be marred by its weak foreign exchange position, which relies on international creditors for hard currency inflows. The MUSHARRAF government will face an estimated $21 billion in foreign debt coming due in 2000-03, despite having rescheduled nearly $2 billion in debt with Paris Club members. Foreign loans and grants provide approximately 25% of government revenue, but debt service obligations total nearly 50% of government expenditure. Although Pakistan successfully negotiated a $600 million IMF Stand-By Arrangement, future loan installments will be jeopardized if Pakistan misses critical IMF benchmarks on revenue collection and the fiscal deficit. MUSHARRAF has complied largely with IMF recommendations to raise petroleum prices, widen the tax net, privatize public sector assets, and improve the balance of trade. However, Pakistan's economic prospects remain uncertain; too little has changed despite the new administration's intentions. Foreign exchange reserves hover at roughly $1 billion, GDP growth hinges on crop performance, the import bill has been hammered by high oil prices, and both foreign and domestic investors remain wary of committing to projects in Pakistan. GDP: purchasing power parity - $282 billion (2000 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (2000 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,000 (2000 est.) GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 25.4% industry: 24.9% services: 49.7% (1999 est.) Population below poverty line: 40% (2000 est.) Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4.1% highest 10%: 27.7% (1996) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.2% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 40 million note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East, and use of child labor (2000 est.) Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 44%, industry 17%, services 39% (1999 est.) Unemployment rate: 6% (FY99/00 est.) Budget: revenues: $8.9 billion expenditures: $11.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY00/01 est.) Industries: textiles, food processing, beverages, construction materials, clothing, paper products, shrimp Industrial production growth rate: 3.8% (1999 est.) Electricity - production: 62.078 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 63.38% hydro: 36.51% nuclear: 0.11% other: 0% (1999) Electricity - consumption: 57.732 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999) Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999) Agriculture - products: cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; milk, beef, mutton, eggs Exports: $8.6 billion (f.o.b., FY99/00) Exports - commodities: textiles (garments, cotton cloth, and yarn), rice, other agricultural products Exports - partners: US 24%, Hong Kong 7%, UK 7%, Germany 6%, UAE 6% (FY99/00)

Imports: $9.6 billion (f.o.b., FY99/00) Imports - commodities: machinery, petroleum, petroleum products, chemicals, transportation equipment, edible oils, grains, pulses, flour Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 8%, UAE 8%, US 6%, Japan 6%, Malaysia 4% (FY99/00) Debt - external: $38 billion (2000 est.) Economic aid - recipient: $2 billion (FY99/00) Currency: Pakistani rupee (PKR) Currency code: PKR Exchange rates: Pakistani rupees per US dollar - 59.152 (January 2001), 52.814 (2000), 49.118 (1999), 44.943 (1998), 40.918 (1997), 35.909 (1996) Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June
NOTE: The information regarding Pakistan on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Pakistan Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Pakistan Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.