The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکستاان; English: islamic republic of Pakistan, commonly known as Pakistan, is located in South Asia, with an area of 796,095 square kilometers (307,374 square miles) (excluding Pakistan-controlled Kashmir), bordering India to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, The Iranian Sistan to the west, the northwest and Afghanistan to the northwest, and the northeast to China's Xinjiang. Except for the tropical climate in the south, the rest is subtropical. The south is hot and humid, affected by the monsoon, and the rainy season is longer; the northern region is dry and cold, and in some places it has snow all year round.
In Urdu, "Pakistan" is derived from the Persian language and means "holy land." Originally part of British India, Pakistan became a British colony in 1858 and declared its independence on 14 August 1947 as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth. On March 23, 1956, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was established. The People's Republic of Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971. Pakistan's former capital is in Karachi, and now its capital is in Islamabad. President Mamnoon Hussein took office in September 2013. Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth.
Pakistan's population of 207.7 million (2017 census), more than 95% of the population believe in Islam (the state religion), a small number of Christian, Hindu and Sikh religions.
Around the third millennium BC, the Harappan culture arose in present-day Pakistan, and the halapa and Mohenzo-Daro were built. It was not until 2000 BC that the Aryans living in Central Asia came to the Indus Valley and conquered the local Dravidian people, and the Indus civilization gradually declined. Later, in the Vedic era, the political center of the Aryans began to shift north. From 519 BC, Persia ruled the western part of Pakistan, and in 327 BC, Alexander the Great led an army to capture this area. Around 321 BC, it was occupied by the Peacock Dynasty's Jandhara Gupta. After the decline of the Peacock Dynasty, it was ruled by the Indo-Greeks, then by the Scythians and Parthians, and after the second century AD by the Kushan Empire, during the reign of the King of the Kushan Empire (129-152), the dynasty expanded its territory to Kashmir and Shache and Hotan north of the Himalayas. From the third to the fourth century, southern Pakistan was controlled by the Sassanid Dynasty, and from the fourth century onwards, it was ruled by the Gupta Dynasty, and the White Huns from Central Asia gradually expanded their territory into the region in the late fifth century.
At the beginning of the 8th century, Arabia expanded into the Indus Valley and introduced Islam, making a large number of local residents Muslims. After the Arab Empire withdrew from the region, it was ruled by the Polo Dynasty that arose along the Ganges Delta. At the beginning of the 11th century, northwestern Pakistan was under the rule of the Afghan Ghazni dynasty. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Gul dynasty replaced the Ghazni dynasty. In 1206, Kutb Al-Aberk established a slave dynasty, and Pakistan and India began to be under the same regime. Over the next 300 years, it lasted for 6 dynasties (the Delhi Sultanate) until it was replaced by the Mughal Empire in 1526.
After 1757, Pakistan became a British colony with India, but the conflict between Muslims and Hindus remained serious. Saeed Ahmad Khan led the Aligar Movement, whose successor formed the All India Muslim League in 1906 and at one point worked with the Indian Congress Party to fight for India's national independence, but the cooperation broke down in 1928. On 23 March 1940, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, convened a national conference in Lahore and adopted a resolution establishing Pakistan. In June 1947, britain announced Mountbatten's plan, agreeing to the partition of India and Pakistan. On 14 August, Pakistan declared its independence and became a Dominion of the British Commonwealth. On March 23, 1956, Pakistan was renamed the Dominion republic and named it the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
After Pakistan's independence, there were three Indo-Pakistani wars with India in Kashmir in 1948, 1965 and 1971 due to territorial disputes (i.e., the Kashmir issue). The Third Indo-Pakistani War directly led to the independence of East Pakistan into Bangladesh. In July 1972, the two sides signed the Shimla Agreement, which resulted in a ceasefire. Since then, the two sides have met several times, but no agreement has been reached, and since 1989, the two sides have exchanged fire, and in May 1998, Pakistan conducted six underground nuclear tests after India, which increased tensions. In April 2003, India and Pakistan expressed their willingness to resume dialogue and ceased fire on the Line of Actual Control on November 25.
Pakistan is located in South Asia, bordering India to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the northwest, and Xinjiang to the northeast. With an area of 796,000 square kilometers (excluding Kashmir), it is about equal to the area of France and the United Kingdom combined, ranking 35th in the world. The southern part of the country has 1,046 km (650 mi) of coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman,[6] with a total land border of 6,774 km (4,209 mi), which is 2,430 km (1,510 mi) in Afghanistan, 523 km (325 mi) in China, 2,912 km (1,809 mi) in India, and 909 km (565 mi) in Iran,[7] and a maritime border with Oman, separated from Tajikistan by the cold, narrow Wakhan Corridor.
Pakistan's terrain slopes from northwest to southeast, with three-fifths of the territory being mountainous and plateau, with the Himalayas to the north, the Hindu Kush Mountains to the northwest, the mid- and lower-middle Indus alluvial plains to the east, and the Thar Desert to the southeast.
Pakistan has a subtropical dry and semi-dry climate, with a generally hot and dry climate, with an average annual rainfall of less than 250 mm, and 1/4 of the area has less than 120 mm of rainfall. The hottest season is june and July, when midday temperatures exceed 40°C in most areas, while in some parts of Sindh and Balochistan it can be as high as 50°C. The northern mountainous areas with an altitude of more than 2 kilometers are relatively cool and have a large temperature difference, with an average temperature difference of about 14 °C between day and night. The lowest temperature season is from December to February
Pakistan's main natural resources are arable land, as well as a wide range of natural gas, oil and coal resources. Chromite, iron ore, copper, gold and silver are abundant, other precious ore resources include gemstones and marble, and non-metallic minerals include limestone, gypsum, sulfur, refractory soil and silica. The salt range in Punjab is a world-famous pure salt sedimentary mine. Pakistan has huge hydroelectric reserves, but due to the slow pace of energy development due to international and domestic political constraints, it still faces energy shortages.