Land and Society of Pakistan

Questions from Past Papers

• CSS 2017
– Pakistan's national culture reflects unity in diversity.
Elaborate.
• CSS 2015
– Briefly discuss the main features of the cultural heritage of
Pakistan
• CSS 2012
– The location of Pakistan has given the strategic strength to
the State.What are its physical features and narrate its
advantages and dis-advantages.
• CSS 2006
– Highlight the various characteristics of Pakistani culture.
bring out the importance of customs and traditions in the
society.
 Points to Cover
• Culture and Heritage, Definition Types,
Functions, History and Dimension
• Islam as determining factor of Culture
• Urdu Language
• Music, Architecture, Literature, Arts,
Geography, Rivers, Resources
• Common Historical Heritage and features
of all provinces
• Mehargarh, Kot Diji, Harrapa, Indus
Valley, Aryans, Gandhara, Arabs, Turks,
The State Emblem of Pakistan
Pakistan and its neighbouring countries
 Introduction

• Pakistan means "Land of the Pure"

• Situated in South Asia.

• 6th most populous country.

• Area covering 796,095 km2. ( Land 97.13% Water 2.87%)

• Area wise 36th largest country

Pakistan lies between the latitudes of 24° to 36.75°
north and between the longitudes of 61° to 75.5° east.
A federation having provinces & federating units
 Borders with neighbouring countries

Neighbouring countries Border length Border name

Afghanistan 2,430 km Durand Line

China 523 km Sino-Pak Border

India 2,912 km Radcliffe Line

Iran 909 km Gold Smith Line

 Physical Features

1. Northern Mountains (Sub-himalayas, Pir Panjal Range,

central himalayas and Karakoram Range)
2. The South Western Mountains (Hindu Kush, Safed Koh,
Waziristan Hills, Kirthar range and Sulaiman Range)
3. The Baluchistan Plateau
4. The Potwar Plateau and the Salt Range
5. The Indus Plain
6. Deserts (Thal, Cholistan, Nara & Tharparker Desert)
 Geo-strategic importance of Pakistan

• Proximity of Great powers

• Gateway to Central Asia
• Significance as a Transit economy
• Important link in the chain of Muslim countries
• Muslim country with nuclear capability
• China's link to the Middle East
• Reduce Indian hegemony in the Arabian Sea and
Indian Ocean
Tourist Attractions in Pakistan

Archaeo
logical sites

Historical buildings

Health & recreation resorts

Religious tourism
 Society

• Ethnic composition Punjabis are estimated about 45 %; Pashtuns 15 %,

Sindhis 14 % and Baluchs 4 %

• Religious composition 96 % Muslims 4 % minorities

• In Punjab, biradri (clan or caste) & in Baluchistan & KPK , tribal

structures with hereditary leaders e.g. maliks and sardars
 Society

• Islam is a fundamental feature of Pakistan’s socio-cultural landscape.

• But in recent years, sectarian tensions (Shia versus Sunni) have
divided communities and in many cases led to violence.

• Extremism multiplied violence

• Literacy rate: the male adult literacy rate is 69 %, while female literacy is
45 %.
 Agriculture

Kharif Crops Rabi Crops

• Rice • Wheat
• Cotton • Barley
• Sugarcane • Oil seeds
• Maize • Pulses
• Tobacco
 Natural Resources

• Fuel resources ( natural gas reserves, petroleum oil reserves, coal

fields and large hydropower potential)

• Agriculture (most important crops are cotton, wheat, rice,

sugarcane, maize, sorghum, millets, pulses, oil seeds, barley, fruits
and vegetables)

• Forestry (The forests of Pakistan are a main source of food,

lumber, paper, fuel wood, latex, medicine)

• Fishery (The forests of Pakistan are a main source of food, lumber,

paper, fuel wood, latex, medicine)

• Mining (rock salt, gypsum, limestone, chromite, iron ore, rock salt,
silver, gold, precious stones, gems, marbles, tiles, copper, sulfur,
fire clay and silica sand)
 Land of Pakistan
• Mountainous North
• Koh-e-Safaid and Waziristan Hills
• Sulaiman and Kirthar Mountains
• Balochistan Plateau
• Potowar Plateau and the Salt Ranges
HIMALAYAS
KORAKARAM
HINDUKUSH
JUNCTION POINT
• Karakoram, including the world's second highest peak, K2 (8,611 m
or 28,251 ft)
• Himalayas; highest peak in Pakistan is Nanga Parbat (8,126 m or
26,653 feet)
• Hindu Kush; highest peak is Tirich Mir (7,690 metres or 25,230
feet).
• Hindu Raj in northern Pakistan, part of the eastern Hindu Kush.
• Safēd Kōh, starting from Tora Bora on the border with eastern
Afghanistan west of the Khyber Pass.
• Sulaiman Mountains; highest peak is Takht-e-Sulaiman (3,487 m or
11,437 feet).
• Spin Ghar Mountains; highest peak is Mount Sikaram (4,761 m or
15,620 feet)
• Salt Range, a hill system in the Punjab Province that is abundant in
salt; highest peak is Sakaser (1,522 m or 4,946 feet.)
• Margalla Hills in Punjab whose highest peak is Tilla Charouni (1604 m or
5263 feet.)
• Toba Kakar Range, a southern offshoot of the Hindu Kush in Balochistan
• Makran Range, a semi-desert coastal strip in the south of Balochistan, in
Iran and Pakistan near the coast of the Arabian Sea. The narrow coastal
plain rises very rapidly into several mountain ranges. Of its 1,000 km extent,
about 750 km is in Pakistan
• Kirthar Range, located along the Balochistan and Sindh provincial border.
It runs north-south for about 300 kilometres (186 mi) from the Mula River in
east-central Balochistan south to Cape Muari (Cape Monze) west of Karachi
on the Arabian Sea. The Hill Station of Sindh at Gorakh, in Kirthar
Mountains Range, off Dadu, at the height of 5,688 feet (1,734 m), averaging
5,500 feet (1,700 m), is one of the two large plateaus in the Sindh segment
of Kirthar mountains.
Natural Resources and Primary
Industry
• Water Resources
• Fuel Resources
• Agriculture
• Fishery
• Forestry
• Mining
 Culture and Society
• Media and Entertainment
– Performing Arts
– Visual Arts
• Literature
– Poetry
• Architecture
• Sports
• Cuisines
• Festivals
• Ethnic Groups
 Languages of Pakistan
1998 1982 1961 1951
Eank Language
census census census census

1 Punjabi 44.15% 48.17% 66.39% 67.08%

2 Pashto 15.42% 13.15% 8.47% 8.16%

3 Sindhi 14.1% 11.7% 12.59% 12.85%

4 Saraiki* 10.53% 9.54% --  -- 

5 Urdu 7.57% 7.60% 7.57% 7.05%

6 Balochi 3.57% 3.02% 2.49% 3.04%

 Heritage of Pakistan

Areas of convenient discourse

Culture
Media
Politics
Home baked free discussion
 Some Buzz words

Do we understand what they stand for?

Perhaps NO---------------!
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 A quick Look
Heritage
An expression of the ways of living developed by a community
and passed on from generation to generation, including customs,
practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values.
Culture
What man has added to the nature?
knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
A powerful human tool for survival, but a fragile phenomenon. 
Constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our
minds. 
 
 

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 Cultural Heritage
Tangible Cultural
heritage
• physical manifestation
of past human activity
• All historic places, sites,
built environments and
assets
• landscapes which
represent the identity
and
• culture of a particular
place.
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 Intangible cultural heritage
• All the practices, representations,
expressions, knowledge, skills, and the
instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural
spaces associated with them, that people
recognize as part of their cultural heritage.
• Transmitted from generation to generation
• Constantly recreated by communities and
groups in response to their environment.
• Provides sense of identity to the people
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 Domains of intangible heritage
• Oral traditions and expressions
• language as a vehicle of cultural
transmission
• Performing arts
• Social practices, rituals and festive events;
• Knowledge and practices concerning nature
and the universe
• Traditional craftsmanship

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 Civilization
• The condition that exists when people
have developed effective ways of
organizing a society and care about art,
science, etc.
• A particular well-organized and developed
society
FOLKLORE
• The traditional Belief , myth, tales and
practices of people transmitted orally.
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What is our heritage?

?
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 The Indian Subcontinent
• Internal geography not prone to homogeneity.

• Permanent Features: the frame, mountains,

and the wastelands.

• Invaded and conquered between the 12th and

17th centuries –ruled by Muslims.
Continue……
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 The Indian Subcontinent
• The first invasion occupied the area
constituting today’s Pakistan
• Rulers and dynasties, the Mughals/
Muslims expanded their power until they
dominated much of India
• The Muslims
• Did not convert masses of Indians

• The urge to convert was secondary

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 The primary motive
• Political and military …… not conversion.

• The Europeans followed the Muslims into

India en masse.

• Primary motive was economic

• Did not conquer India but managed the

internal conflicts to their advantage. 48
 Cultural Heritage of Pakistan
• A seat of world’s leading Civilizations from
the time immemorial.
• Fossil jaws of apes, approximately
14  millions years old Pothohar.
Sivapithecus Pakininsis- claimed to be the
ancestor of Man………
• 2 million years old earliest stone hand axe.
Now on display in Islamabad Museum,
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Cultural Heritage of Pakistan
• Indus Civilization
• Gandhara Civilization
• Islamic Period
• Sikh Period
• British Period
• Post independence Period

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 What we have?
• Out of 878 World Heritage Sites ,Six located in
Pakistan.
a. The archaeological ruins of Moenjodaro
b. Historic Monuments of Thatta
c. Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens
d. Rohtas Fort
e. Taxila
f. Buddhist Ruins at Takht-e-Bahi and City
Remains at Sahr-e-Bahlol
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 What we lack?
• Courage to Correct Our Own Faults
Perpetual State of Slumber
• Capacity to Define Our Pride Points
Rationally
What makes us great?
• The Difference Between Past and
Present
52
 DIVERSITY AND UNITY- Some
issues
• Pakistan and cultural diversity of its population.

• Ethnic conflict --a function of political factors

• Pakistani state nationalism defined in terms of

Urdu and Islam

• Urdu was progressively projected as the

language of Muslims and became ‘a bearer of
religion
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 The Paradox of nationhood
• The Pakistani nation had been assumed to exist
already
• The common identity markers -Islam and Urdu
• A state nationalism -the ‘ideology of Pakistan
• The nation self-consciously lacked a ‘national’
culture from the very outset
• Pakistan’s ‘language ideology
• Islamization of national history
• Ethicized Islam’ in opposition to regional cultures
and languages
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 What is ‘Pakistani culture?’

• Much effort devoted in determining and

advocating what should be (as opposed to what
is) Pakistani culture
• The country as a whole has yet to agree upon a
consensus idea about Pakistani culture
• Most Pakistanis have been unable to understand
the notion of culture outside of their own ethnic,
religious, sectarian and sub-sectarian biases

55
 The Search for Identity
The liberal View
• Pakistan was created as a Muslim-majority
country
• A haven of communal harmony as opposed to
India - a whirlpool of communal strife
• A purely political maneuver to rescue India’s
Muslim minority from the Hindu hegemony
• ‘Aping the Arabs’ and encouraging Pakistanis
to behave like ‘fake Arabs’ and even second-
class Muslims is culturally damaging
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 The Religious view
• Pakistan- a first step to enact an Islamic State in
South Asia
• An evolutionary stepping stone towards
‘Islamizing’ the society
• society could be prepared to willingly accept
‘Islamic laws’ imposed from above (the state).
• Indian/Hindu’ traditions prevalent in the Pakistani
culture and society should be done away with and
replaced with Islamic laws and acts

57
 A nationalist View
• Religion alone was not the sole reason behind Pakistan’s
creation
• The Muslims of India have a separate cultural and political
entity in the region
• The Pakistani culture is a combination of cultures — driven
and energized by the individual cultures of the various Islamic
sects and ethnic and minority groups present here.
• Pakistan’s culture is naturally pluralistic and not monolithic.
• It is still an on-going process.
• Islam is universal and cannot be associated with a single
nation.
• Pakistan has its own culture that has many aspects, one of
which was Islam.
• We can not claim a monopoly on Islam 58
 Sufi/ Mystic View
• State should hurl the Sufis into the modern
orbit of cultural engineering.
• This would truly shape Pakistan’s unique
nationalist character in the Muslim world.
• Ethno-nationalist movements found in
Sufism are a vast reservoir for a
refashioned cultural and religious identity

59
 Things wrong with Pakistan Today

• Its distorted economic and social

development,
• Its obsession with India
• The sectarian divisions that have blighted
relations among its various communities,
• Its proneness to military dictatorships and
the rise of extremism
• A confused sense of ourselves 60
 The Language syndrome
• Arabic The language of faith – Holy
Language
• Persian The language of cultural richness
• Urdu The lingua franca
• English The language of Pride and Status
• Native The language of Convenience
Which is my language?

61
 Making sense of ourselves
• More than six decades after its creation, even
the definition of who is a “Pakistani” is not clear
• Is our identity fundamentally dependent on
India?
• The question of legitimacy of identity
• The question of independent identity
• Why identity an enigma?
• Negative Identity borrowed from past
association and separation
62
 Identity Overlaps

• Caste Strict Classes

• Ethnic groups structure
• Closed society
Linguistic groups
• Family titles
Religious groups
• Tribal affinity
Historical affinities
•  Provincial
Geographical
affinities divisions
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 What are the ingredients of unity?
• Language----- Urdu? Common Destiny?
• Religion-------- Islam? Common Aspiration?
• Common Heritage?  Common Tomorrow?
• History?  Discard Past and
• Prehistory? invent a new future?
• Our Character? Explore, invent ,create
• Progress? points of pride
FOR A great
• Equitable distribution
of rights and assets? Tomorrow hybridizing
past and the present
• Common Goal? 64
 Please Remember!
Diversity is the one true thing we all have
in common. Celebrate it every day.

AND

Ask Yourself Loudly!

What Makes Us Great in The Eyes of

Others?

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