Pakistan
- This country is part of the Altverse universe.
Republic of Pakistan Jumhūriyah Pākistān Prajātantrī Pākistān | |
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 Flag
 Government seal
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 | |
| Capital | Islamabad |
| Largest city | Karachi |
| Official languages | English, Farsi, Bengali |
| Ethnic groups (2018) |
48.6% Bengali 28.9% Punjabi 6.5% Pashtun 5.9% Sindhi 3.2% Muhajir 1.6% Kashmiri 1.5% Baloch 3.8% Other |
| Religion |
77.2% Islam 16.8% Hinduism 3.5% Sikhism 0.9% Chrisitianity 1.6% Other |
| Demonym(s) | Pakistani |
| Constituent countries |
West Pakistan East Pakistan |
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional republic |
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| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
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National Assembly House of Representatives | |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• Dominion | 14 August, 1947 |
• Republic | 15 September, 1950 |
| 19 December, 1959 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,242,387 km2 (479,688 sq mi) (23rd) |
• Water (%) | 4.1% (inland waters) |
| Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 486,178,000 (3rd) |
• 2010 census | 458,000,000 |
• Density | 391.3/km2 (1,013.5/sq mi) (35th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
• Total | $2.797 trillion (11th) |
• Per capita | $5,754 (130th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
• Total | $1.044 trillion (16th) |
• Per capita | $2,147 (135th) |
| Gini (2011) |
 32.4medium |
| HDI (2018) |
 0.602medium · 132th |
| Currency | Pakistani Rupee (Rs) (PKR) |
| Time zone |
UTC+5, +6 (West Pakistan Standard Time East Pakistan Standard Time) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy (AD) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +92 |
| ISO 3166 code | PK |
| Internet TLD | .pk |
Pakistan (Farsi: پاكِستان, Bengali: পাকিস্তান translit Pākistān), officially the Republic of Pakistan (Farsi: جمہوریہ پاكِستان translit. Jumhūriyah Pākistān), Bengali: পাকিস্তান প্রজাতন্ত্র translit. Prajātantrī Pākistān), is a sovereign state in South Asia. It is the third-most populous country with a population of over 486 million people. By area, it is the 23rd-largest country, spanning 1,242,387 square kilometers (479,688 square miles). The country is divided into two exclaves separated by thousands of miles of Indian territory, with the capital of West Pakistan being Islamabad whilst that of East Pakistan is Calcutta, and the largest city by population in Pakistan and of South Asia is Karachi. West Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the far northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. The eastern exclave, East Pakistan shares land borders with India, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Bhutan and China, having a 688-km (427-mile) coastline on the northern littoral of the Bay of Bengal. The country's central location in Asia, close proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, gateway position with regard to the landlocked Central Asian states and presence as a major maritime pivot through the Indian Ocean give's it vast geo-strategic importance and control.
The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Mehrgarh of the Neolithic, the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation and Gangaridai of the Iron Age, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans, and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander III of Macedon, the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Gupta Empire, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Afghan Suri Empire, and, most recently, the British Empire. Pakistan is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam and was formed in 1947 to serve as an independent homeland for Indian Muslims as a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Huseyn Suhrawardy, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent homeland for Indian Muslims.It is a religiously, ethnically, linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Pakistan has many islands and a coral reef. The longest unbroken sea beach of the world, Cox's Bazar Beach, is located in the state and the country is also home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The country's biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife, including endangered the Bengal tigers and the Markhor, both of which serve as the national animals of the state.
Initially a dominion under the suzerainty of the British Crown, Pakistan adopted it's modern constitution in 1959, becoming a Federal Republic with a bicameral legislature governed under a semi-presidential parliamentary system with dual executive branches of government subject to the head of state. However, despite holding federal supremacy, the central government traditionally recluses itself from sub-national state affairs, ensuring considerable decentralization and the continued autonomous existence of the two entities which comprise the country; the Republic of West Pakistan and the Republic of East Pakistan.
A regional and middle power, Pakistan has the sixth-largest standing armed forces in the world and is also a nuclear power as well as a declared nuclear-weapons state, the second in South Asia and the only nation in the Muslim world to have that status. Pakistan has a semi-industrialized economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector and a growing services sector. The Pakistani economy is the 11th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and the 16th-largest in terms of nominal GDP (IMF/UN/World Bank). It is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the world's largest and fastest-growing middle class. It is one of the largest textile exporters in the world, with major trading partners in the European Union, the Conference of American States, China, India, Japan, Great Han Empire and Zanzibar. With its strategically vital location between Western, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Pakistan is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation. Pakistan's political history since independence has unfortunately been characterized by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with India. The country continues to face challenging problems, including overpopulation, terrorism, poverty, and corruption.
Pakistan is a member of the League of Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Regional Cooperation for Development Organization, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the /, and the /, /, /, and /. Pakistan is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, the Hague Convention, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Etymology
The name Pakistan literally means "Land of the Pure" in Farsi (Persian). It alludes to the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, both of which are regional languages in the state of Pakistan. The suffix ـستان (-stān) is a Persian word meaning the place of, and also recalls the synonymous Sanskrit word sthāna स्थान.
The name of the country was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet titled Now or Never, using it as an acronym ("thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN") referring to the names of the five northern regions of the British Raj: Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan. The letter i was later incorporated to ease pronunciation although on occasion, it has been alleged to refer to Iran, promoting the notion that Rehmat Ali envisioned a much larger and diverse Pakistan. The pamphlet was presented at the Round Table Conferences in 1933 and started with this famous sentence
At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN—by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan.