Geography
Pakistan, with a population of 193 million, is located in southern Asia. Afghanistan lies to the northwest and Iran to the west while the People’s Republic of China borders the country to the north. India lies to the east. The Arabian Sea is along Pakistan’s southern border. The population is 98.4 percent Muslim (85 to 90 percent Sunni and 10 to 15 percent Shia).
History
Pakistan gained its independence from British India in 1947 and is now known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Invasions of India by the Turks, who were Muslims, began about AD 1000. A Muslim empire was established about 1200 with Delhi as its capital. The empire flourished until 1398, when it was destroyed by Tamerlane, one of history’s most brutal butchers. He was of Mongol ancestry from what is now Uzbekistan. He sought to revive the Mongol Empire in Western Asia.
Originally known as Timur the Lame (due to a battle injury early in his career), his name was later contracted to Tamerlane. His brutality was legendary, and he barbarically slaughtered millions through beheadings and hangings and by burying alive, slicing in two, cementing into walls, and trampling to death his enemies. In 1401, after conquering Baghdad, Tamerlane had 90,000 of its inhabitants beheaded so that he could build towers with their skulls. He was also a master of deception. After attacking Sivas, a city in central Turkey, Tamerlane promised no bloodshed in return for surrender. He then had 3,000 prisoners buried alive and remarked that he had kept his promise that there would be no bloodshed. He justified his killing of Christians and Hindus by declaring them enemies of Islam. He also frequently slaughtered fellow Muslims, declaring them “bad Muslims” or apostates. Following his death in 1405, Tamerlane’s empire disintegrated, and northern India broke up into small warring Muslim and Hindu states.
In 1526 Babur, related to both Tamerlane and Genghis Khan, conquered all of northern India. Because of his ancestry, Babur’s domain was called the Mogul (Mongol) Empire. The Mogul rulers established the Muslim religion firmly in the northern part of India, although the majority of the people remained Hindu. The two religions had irreconcilable differences.
In 1757, British forces defeated Mughal forces in Bengal in the Battle of Plassey. This victory marked the beginning of British dominance in the Indian subcontinent that lasted for nearly 200 years.
During World War II, the Muslims supported Britain while the Hindu nationalist leaders, Nehru and Gandhi, did not. In 1947, Britain rewarded the Muslims by creating East and West Pakistan as a separate Muslim country from India. This resulted in a massive two-way migration of Muslims in India to Pakistan and an outflow of Hindus and other religious groups from Pakistan to India. There was widespread violence. Hundreds of thousands died and millions of people were made homeless.
In 1956, Pakistan was declared an Islamic republic. Political disagreements between East and West Pakistan led to war between the two, and in 1971, East Pakistan declared its independence and changed its name to Bangladesh.
In 1973, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became prime minister of Pakistan. Allegations of voter fraud by Bhutto in the 1977 election caused riots. General Muhammad Zia launched a military coup, ousted Bhutto, and assumed the presidency in 1978. He introduced Islamic law and an Islamic government in Pakistan.
In 1979, former Pakistani president Bhutto was tried for murdering a political opponent, found guilty, and hanged.
In December 1979, the Soviet Union’s presence in Afghanistan heightened Pakistan’s insecurity and strengthened its alliance with the United States. In September 1981, following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Pakistan accepted from the United States a six-year economic and military aid package worth $3.2 billion and a second aid package worth $4 billion in 1986. The aid package was discontinued after it was learned that Pakistan had secretly begun construction of additional uranium enrichment facilities.
Zia permitted elections for parliament in 1985 and martial law ended. However, Zia dissolved the government in 1988 and ordered new elections. Three months later he was killed in a mysterious airplane crash. Elections were held later that year, and Benazir Bhutto, the hanged former prime minister’s daughter, was elected and served as prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was exiled in 1999 amid corruption allegations. Upon returning to Pakistan in 2007, she was killed in a suicide bomb assassination.
Pakistan has seen a succession of leaders in recent years. In 1990 Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister; a year later he incorporated Sharia law into the legal system. In 1999, General Pervez Musharraf instituted a coup and seized power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was exiled. In 2001, Musharraf supported the United States in efforts to combat terrorism and in the war against Al-Qaeda. Musharraf remained in power until 2008. Asif Ali Zardari, the widow of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president. In 2013, Nawaz Sharif returned to retake the position of prime minister following parliamentary elections.
Pakistan’s Nuclear Program
In 1972, Pakistan established a nuclear weapons program under the direction of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who later became president and prime minister of the country. In 1974, Pakistan’s neighboring adversary, India, tested a nuclear device, an event that gave Pakistan’s nuclear program new momentum. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf stated in 2002 that “nuclear weapons are aimed solely at India,” and they would only be used if “the very existence of Pakistan” was threatened.
Pakistan now has an estimated formidable arsenal of at least 100 nuclear weapons and enough fissionable material for double that. There is great concern among terrorism experts that if Al-Qaeda controls Pakistan and/or gains access to its nuclear weapons, the threat to not only the United States and its allies but to India, the Persian Gulf, and Central Asia would rise significantly.
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan
Al-Qaeda was conceived in Peshawar, Pakistan, at a meeting attended by Osama Bin Laden and two physicians, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a surgeon, and Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, a plastic surgeon using the nom de guerre “Dr. Fadl.” Pakistan became a stronghold for the group and a threat to the Pakistani government. On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed at his fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, not far from Pakistani nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities. His proximity to these sites has raised speculation that bin Laden was trying to recruit inside these facilities.
