Pakistan’s population is a potpourri of ethnicities speaking more than 66 languages. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a country rich with history and culture going back to 3000 BC. Pakistan was initially a part of India and after a long struggle Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a leader of the Muslims of British dominated India, was able to create a separate sovereign state in 1947, primarily for Muslims but including all minority people groups of the region.
Pakistan is found in South Asia and borders China, Afghanistan, Iran and India. The country is divided into five provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. The port city of Karachi was set up as the capital but was later shifted to Islamabad. The geography consists of the bread basket plains of the Punjab to eight of the tallest mountain peaks in the world; from the mineral-laden wildernesses of Baluchistan to the rich soil of the Indus valley; from the rugged mountains of the north to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea.
The people are generally very friendly and go out of their way to be hospitable. From the ancient native Dravidians to the Aryans; from the Kalash who claim descendence from Alexander the Great’s army to the conquerors from Arabia and Central Asia, Pakistan’s population is a potpourri of ethnicities speaking more than 66 languages and abounding in cultures.
Politics is a passion for Pakistanis and is run on ethnic, feudal, religious and baradari (family links). There are two houses in the legislature, the National Assembly being the lower house and the Senate being the upper. However, most political parties are run on hierarchical lines and are held together by their family charisma. Unfortunately, this system has led to corruption where governments use instruments of the state as their political workers giving birth to a vicious circle that has enmeshed political life and is leading into a downward spiral.
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