N the early 17th century European traders arrived on the subcontinent.

Through the East India Company, the British became the dominant force. After the unsuccessful uprising against Britain of
1857, the British took direct control. Slowly a national Muslim identity emerged, championed by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–89). The All India Muslim League was founded in 1907.

As the subcontinent moved towards independence, it became clear that Hindu and Muslim interests could not be reconciled. The campaign to establish an independent Muslim state came to
prominence in the 1920s and 30s. It was led by the philosopher and poet Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Pakistan was created, as an Islamic state, out of the partition of the UK’s Indian Empire, at independence in August 1947. It originally consisted of two parts, West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh), separated by 1,600 km of Indian territory. Partition was followed by war with India over Kashmir and the mass migration of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs to resettle within
the new borders, an upheaval which led to violence, financial loss and death on a large scale. With the arrival of Indian Muslims and departure of Pakistan’s Hindus and Sikhs, Pakistan became an
almost entirely Muslim society. Jinnah, who is honoured as the Quaid-i-Azam, or great leader, died in 1948.

Https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1141/Pakistan-HISTORY-BACKGROUND.html
The land that is today Pakistan was part of the Indus Valley civilization thousands of years ago. This civilization flourished until 1500 BCE. In the coming centuries, the area would be invaded by
numerous empires and civilizations primarily from the west. These included the Persians, the Greeks (Alexander the Great), the Arabs (who established the religion Islam in the area), and
the Ottoman Empire. From the 1500s to the 1700s the Mughal Empire dominated and thrived in the area of Pakistan.
In the 18th century the British came to the region and took over the area of Pakistan, hen part of India. They would rule up until 1947. In 1947 the British split up India into three parts: India,
Pakistan, and East Pakistan (which would later become Bangladesh). India and Pakistan have long fought over a disputed region called Kashmir.

In 1998 Pakistan conducted nuclear weapons testing. This was in response to India performing its own nuclear tests. Relations are still strained between the two countries.

In the 18th century, the rule of the Mughal Empire started to decline slowly thus enabling the Sikh Empire to rule over most regions until the British Empire increased its influence in the Indian
subcontinent. In 1857, the Sepoy mutiny took place in rebellion against Queen Victoria and the British Empire. There was also a falling out between Islam and Hinduism in the region that led to a lot
of religious violence that was culturally driven. Tensions between the two religious groups were accelerated by the language controversy in the country.

It was during this period that the Hindu renaissance materialized and it led to the emergence of more self-assured influence in the political and social circles in the country. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
formed a movement to counter this renaissance. In 1901, he founded the All-Indian Muslim League and supported the two-nation theory. Unlike the Hindu movement that was anti-Britain, the
League was in support of Britain and its political program adopted British values that shaped Pakistan’s civil society.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Indian Congress led a non-violent struggle for independence and a lot of protesters took part in civil disobedience against the British Empire. In the 1930s, the Muslim
League gained a lot of popularity. On 29 December 1930, Allama Iqbal expressed the need to merge North-West Muslim Indian nations such as Sind, Punjab, Baluchistan, and the North-West
Frontier Province. Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, embraced the two-nation concept and in 1940, while leading the Muslim League, he adopted the Lahore Resolution. This is commonly
referred to as the Pakistan Resolution.

In 1946, elections were held and the Muslim League won leading to the creation of Pakistan. In 1946-1947, the British government declared its intent to terminate the British Raj in India.
Representatives of the Muslim League, the Sikhs and nationalists in British India were in agreement with the suggested terms of sovereignty and transfer of power. In 1947, the British government
agreed to partition India, and on 14 June the same year, Pakistan was established.

British Control and the Muslim League

The British attempted to subdue the anarchic northwest during the First Afghan War (1839–42) and succeeded in conquering Sind in 1843 and the Punjab in 1849. The turbulence of the region was
intensified by the fierce forays of Baluchi and Pathan tribespeople from the mountainous hinterlands. The British occupied Quetta in 1876 and again attempted to conquer the tribespeople in the
Second Afghan War (1878–80) but were still unsuccessful. With the creation of the North-West Frontier Province in 1901, the British shifted from a policy of conquest to one of containment.

Unlike previous settlers in India, the Muslim immigrants were not absorbed into Hindu society. Their ranks were augmented by the millions of Hindus who had been converted to Islam. There was
cultural interchange between Hindu and Muslim, but no homogeneity emerged. After the Indian Mutiny (1857), a rising Hindu middle class began to assume dominant positions in industry,
education, the professions, and the civil service. Although, in these early decades of the Indian National Congress, vigorous efforts were made to include Muslims in the nationalist movement,
concern for Muslim political rights led to the formation of the Muslim League in 1906; in the ensuing years Hindu-Muslim conflict became increasingly acute.

The idea of a Muslim nation, distinct from Hindu India, was introduced in 1930 by the poet Muhammad Iqbal and was ardently supported by a group of Indian Muslim students in England, who were
the first to use the name Pakistan [land of the pure, from the Urdu pak, =pure and stan, =land]. It gained wide support in 1940 when the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Ji nnah, demanded the
establishment of a Muslim state in the areas of India where Muslims were in the majority. The League won most of the Muslim constituencies in the 1946 elections, and Britain and the Congress
party reluctantly agreed to the formation of Pakistan as a separate dominion under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, which went into effect on Aug. 15, 1947.
Rainfall

The major part of Pakistan experiences dry climate. Humid conditions prevail but over a small area in the north. The whole of Sindh, most
of Balochistan, the major part of the Punjab and central parts of Northern Areas receive less than 250 mm of rainfall in a year. Northern
Sindh, southern Punjab, north-western Balochistan and the central parts of Northern Areas receive less than 125 mm of rainfall. True
humid conditions appear after the rainfall increases to 750 mm in plains and 625 mm in highlands. There are two sources of rainfall in
Pakistan: the Monsoon and the Western Depression. The former takes place from July to September and the latter, December to March.

Pakistan has a federal parliamentary republic type of government and is known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It has
administrative areas called provinces and territories. The Pakistani government is made up of three branches which are the
executive, legislative and the judiciary. The three arms are represented by the Supreme Court, the Parliament, and the Prime
Minister. The duties and the powers of the three branches are defined by the amendments and acts of the Parliament which include
the establishment of governmental departments, courts that are less superior to the Supreme Court and executive institutions.
Duties Of The President Of Pakistan
The President who is the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces has certain powers and duties including; promulgating
ordinances and signing bills into laws, granting pardons and reducing sentences. The President also acts as the ceremonial
figurehead while the Prime Minister who is elected by the Pakistani people acts as the chief executive and is granted the sole
responsibility for running the federal government. The President of Pakistan exercises his or her executive duties and powers on
the advice of the country's Prime Minister.

The Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Pakistan

The legislative branch of the government of Pakistan is made up of a bicameral parliament that was inherited from the United
Kingdom. The parliament is composed of two houses, namely the National Assembly, which is the lower house comprises of 342
members.The other house is the Senate which is comprised of 104 Senators elected by the members of the provincial assemblies.
The Pakistani Parliament has enjoyed parliamentary supremacy since the Prime Minister together with all Cabinet ministers are
required to be members of parliament according to the constitution.

The Executive Branch Of The Government Of Pakistan

The executive branch of the Pakistani government is the one solely responsible and authorized to perform the daily duties of the
state. The executive branch is composed of the Prime Minister and the cabinet.The Prime Minister is the executive head of the
Pakistan government popularly elected through direct parliamentary elections. The Cabinet of Pakistan can only have 50 members,
including the Prime Minister. Every Cabinet member is required to be a Member of Parliament (MP).

Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Pakistan

The Pakistan judiciary comprises of the District Courts, Environmental courts, Sharia Courts, Provincial Courts and Anti-terrorism
courts all under The Supreme Court. The Pakistan Supreme Court comprises of the Chief Justice and other 16 judges who are
appointed by the President following consultations with the Chief Justice.
Economy

After several experiments in economic restructuring, Pakistan currently operates a mixed economy in which state-owned enterprises account for a large portion of gross
domestic product (GDP). The country has experimented with several economic models during its existence. At first, Pakistan’s economy was largely based on private
enterprise, but significant sectors of it were nationalized beginning in the early 1970s, including financial services, manufacturing, and transportation. Further changes
were made in the 1980s, under the military government of Zia ul-Haq. Specifically, an “Islamic” economy was introduced, which outlawed practices forbidden by Sharīʿah
(Muslim law)—e.g., charging interest on loans (ribā )—and mandated such traditional religious practices as the payment of zakāt (tithe) and ʿushr (land tax). Though
portions of the Islamic economy have remained in place, the state began in the 1990s to privatize—in whole or in part—large sectors of the nationalized economy.

The economy, which was primarily agricultural at the time of independence, has become considerably diversified. Agriculture, now no longer the largest sector,
contributes roughly one-fifth of GDP, while manufacturing provides about one-sixth. Trade and services, which combined constitute the largest component of the
economy, have grown considerably. In terms of the structure of its economy, Pakistan resembles the middle-income countries of East and Southeast Asia more than the
poorer countries of the Indian subcontinent. Economic performance compares favourably with that of many other developing countries; Pakistan has maintained a
sustained and fairly steady annual growth rate since independence.
At the same time, there has been a relentless increase in population, so, despite real growth in the economy, output per capita has risen only slowly. This slow growth in
per capita income has not coincided with a high incidence of absolute poverty, however, which has been considerably smaller in Pakistan than in other South Asian
countries. Nonetheless, a significant proportion of the population lives below the poverty line, and the relative prosperity of the industrialized regions
around Karachi and Lahore contrasts sharply with the poverty of the Punjab’s barani areas, the semiarid Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas.

Religion

Almost all of the people of Pakistan are Muslims or at least follow Islamic traditions, and Islamic ideals and practices suffuse virtually all parts of Pakistani life.
Most Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect, the major branch of Islam. There are also significant numbers of Shīʿite Muslims. Among Sunnis, Sufism is extremely
popular and influential. In addition to the two main groups there is a very small sect called the Aḥmadiyyah, which is also sometimes called the Qadiani (for
Qadian, India, where the sect originated).

The role of religion in Pakistani society and politics finds its most visible expression in the Islamic Assembly (Jamāʿat-i Islāmī) party. Founded in 1941 by Abū al-
Aʿlā Mawdūdī (Maududi), one of the world’s foremost thinkers in Sunni revivalism, the party has long played a role in Pakistan’s political life and has continually
advocated refashioning Pakistan as a chaste Islamic or theocratic state.

The majority of Pakistani Sunnis belong to the Ḥanafiyyah (Hanafite) school, which is one of four major schools (madhhabs) or subsects of Islamic jurisprudence;
it is perhaps the most liberal of the four but nevertheless is still demanding in its instructions to the faithful. Two popular reform movements founded in
northern India—the Deoband and Barelwi schools—are likewise widespread in Pakistan. Differences between the two movements over a variety of theological
issues are significant to the point that violence often has erupted between them. Another group, Tablīghī Jamāʿat (founded 1926), headquartered in Raiwind,
near Lahore, is a lay ministry group whose annual conference attracts hundreds of thousands of members from throughout the world. It is perhaps the largest
grassroots Muslim organization in the world.

The Wahhābī movement, founded in Arabia, has made inroads in Pakistan, most notably among the tribal Pashtuns in the Afghan border areas. Moreover, after
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Saudi Arabia assisted Pakistan in caring for vast numbers of Afghan refugees in the border areas and in the
construction and staffing of thousands of traditional Sunni madrasahs (religious schools). Those schools generally provided instruction along Wahhābī lines, and
they subsequently became vehicles for the spreading influence of extremist groups (particularly al-Qaeda and the Taliban of Afghanistan) in Balochistan, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, and elsewhere throughout the country. Although extremism in the name of Islam has become more pronounced in Pakistan since 2000, more-
moderate Sunni Muslims are found in the country’s business community, especially among Gujarati Memons and Chiniotis from Punjab who follow less-
conservative Islamic traditions.

Among the Shīʿites there are several subsects; notable are the Ismāʿīlīs (or Seveners)—including the Nizārīs (followers of the Aga Khans, among whom are the
Khojas and the Bohrās), who are prominent in commerce and industry—and the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah (or Twelvers), who are more austere in their practices and
more closely resemble the Shīʿite tradition found in Iran. Shīʿites have long been the target of Sunni radicals, and violent encounters between followers of the
two sects are common.
The ʿĪdgāh Mosque, Multān, Pakistan.

With the exception of some sects, such as Dawoodi Bohrās, there is no concept of an ordained priesthood among Pakistan’s Muslims. Anyone who leads prayers
in mosques may be appointed imam. Those who are formally trained in religion are accorded the honorific mullah or mawlānā. Collectively, the community of
Muslim scholars is known as the ʿulamāʾ (“scholars”), but among the practitioners of a more popular sect of Islam (generally associated with Sufism) there are
powerful hereditary networks of holy men called pīrs, who receive great reverence (as well as gifts in cash or kind) from a multitude of followers. An established
pīr may pass on his spiritual powers and sanctified authority to one or more of his murīds (“disciples”), who may then operate as pīrs in their own right. There
are also many self-appointed pīrs who practice locally without being properly inducted into one of the major Sufi orders. Pīrs who occupy high positions in the
pīr hierarchy wield great power and play an influential role in public affairs.

Among the basic tenets of the Aḥmadiyyah is the belief that other prophets came after Muhammad and that their leader, the 19th century’s Mīrzā Ghulām
Aḥmad, was called to accept a divine mission. The Aḥmadiyyah therefore appear to question Muhammad’s role as the last of God’s prophets. More conservative
Muslims find this seeming revision of traditional belief blasphemous, and in 1974 a constitutional amendment declared the Aḥmadiyyah community to be non-
Muslims. The community became the focal point of riots in the Punjab in 1953, instigated by the Islamic Assembly but also including a broad representation of
religious groups. Since then the Aḥmadiyyah have experienced considerable persecution, particularly during the administration (1977–88) of Gen. Mohammad
Zia ul-Haq—when they were denied all semblance of Islamic character—and they have been denied positions in the civil service and the military and often have
been forced to conceal their identity.

At the time of partition, most Hindus left newly formed West Pakistan for India. In the east, wealthier Hindus also fled newly formed East Pakistan, but a sizeable
minority of Hindus (nearly 10 million) stayed behind. The vast majority remained there until the civil war of 1971 (which led to the creation of Bangladesh)
compelled them to seek refuge in India.

There is also a small but fairly significant population of Christians in the country. There are adherents to a variety of denominations, Roman Catholicism being
the largest. Violent attacks against Christians became increasingly common during the Zia ul-Haq regime, a trend that continued afterward with the increase of
religious strife.