Basic information* Capital: Islamabad
Population: 161.1 million (UN, 2005)
Area: 796,095 million sq km (307,374 sq miles), excluding Pakistani-administered Kashmir (83,716 sq km/32323 sq miles)
Major religions: Islam
Major languages: English, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto, Balochi
Life expectancy: 63 years (men), 63 years (women) (UN)
President: General Pervez Musharraf
Prime minister: Shaukat Aziz
Human Development Index: 135/177 |
From BBC Onlline: 
"Civilian politics in Pakistan in the last few decades has been tarnished by corruption, inefficiency and confrontations between various institutions. Alternating periods of civilian and military rule have not helped to establish stability.
Pakistan came under military rule again in October 1999 after the ousting of a civilian government which had lost a great deal of public support. The coup leader, General Musharraf, pledged to revive the country's fortunes, but faced economic challenges and law and order problems.
The latter are a major concern in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab, where thousands have been killed since the early 1980s in violence between Sunni and Shia factions. Pakistan's place on the world stage shifted after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. It dropped its support for the Taleban regime in Afghanistan and was propelled into the frontline in the fight against terrorism, becoming a key ally of Washington."
BBC, August 2006
Refugees**
- Refugees and asylum seekers: 46,156
- Number of internally displaced persons: unknown
- Total: 46,156
- Number of asylum applications to the UK (June 05 - June 06): 990
Current situation
From UNHCR: “After years of caring for millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, repeatedly dashed hopes that all could return home and the start of mass repatriation in 2002, the UN Refugee Agency hopes that an end to this decades-old problem may be emerging.
Under a Tripartite Agreement signed in 2003 between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR would assist until 2005 the repatriation of refugees who want to return. The agreement was extended to March 2006, then December 2006, but the ultimate goal is to find a final, durable solution to this human tragedy that began a quarter century ago.”
UNHCR, October 2006
From Amnesty International: “Amnesty International has long been concerned about the persistent pattern of human rights violations occurring in Pakistan. Arbitrary detention, torture, death in custody, and extra-judicial execution are rampant. The government of Pakistan has failed to protect individuals - particularly women, religious minorities and children - from violence and other human rights abuses committed in the home, in the community, and while in legal custody. It has failed to ensure legal redress after violations have occurred. Since 9-11, individuals suspected of having links with "terrorist" organizations have been arbitrarily detained, denied access to lawyers, and turned over to U.S. custody or to the custody of their home country in violation of local and international law. In addition, Pakistan continues to impose the death penalty on persons convicted of crimes.
Women in Pakistan live in fear. They face death by shooting, burning or killing with axes if they are deemed to have brought shame on the family. They are killed for supposed 'illicit' relationships, for marrying men of their choice, for divorcing abusive husbands. They are even murdered by their kin if they are raped as they are thereby deemed to have brought shame on their family. The truth of the suspicion does not matter -- merely the allegation is enough to bring dishonour on the family and therefore justifies the slaying.
The lives of millions of women in Pakistan are circumscribed by traditions which enforce extreme seclusion and submission to men. Male relatives virtually own them and punish contraventions of their proprietary control with violence."
Amnesty International, September 2006
From Human Rights Watch: "Presidents Bush, Karzai, and Musharraf should act immediately to stop the increasing insecurity and attendant human rights abuses gripping southern Afghanistan and Pakistan’s border areas, Human Rights Watch said today. (Sept 27th, 2006). The three leaders are meeting tonight in Washington.
An explosive combination of resurgent Taliban forces, record-high drug production, ineffective local governance, and re-armed warlords is threatening the well-being and rights of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in Afghanistan and, increasingly, across the border in Pakistan."
Human Rights Watch, September 2006
* This information is taken from the BBC's country profiles
**These numbers were taken from UNHCR figures published June 2nd 2006 and Home Office figures June 2005 - June 2006
