Research Assignment 1 – Pakistan
4/9/2014

Pakistan is a sovereign country of South Asia, and the sixth most populous country in the world. It was ruled by the British Indian Empire until August 14, 1947, when the empire split into two separate sovereign states- Pakistan and India. It now borders the Arabian Sea, India on the east, Iran and Afghanistan on the West, and China in the north (Nations Online, 2014).
After formation of the New Republic, tensions between East and West Pakistan still existed, which caused a civil war, and ended in separation and creation of the state of Bangladesh. Formal relations between Pakistan and India were re-established. They were shaken again in the late 90s, when India tested nuclear weapons and Pakistan followed a few weeks later. That led to the Kargil War of 1999 (Nations Online, 2014).
Under the pressure of the United States, Pakistan broke its close ties with Afghanistan, and became a US ally after the Sep. 11 attacks. President Bush, therefore, ended sanctions that were instituted after the nuclear tests in 1998, and rescheduled Pakistan`s debt (Nations Online, 2014).
In 2003, Pakistan and India ended their fight in Kashmir, and allowed people to reunite between the two capitals of Kashmir - one on the Pakistan`s side, the other one on the Indian side. After 60 years, in 2007, trade route finally opened across the line of control (Nations Online, 2014). With increased violence in Afghanistan in 2010, President Obama pressured current Pakistan`s President to take military action against Al Qaeda and Taliban, which was also a good move for them, because of the increased authority the Taliban had over their country. On May 1, 2011 CIA and US Troops located and killed Osama Bin Laden, a long time leader of Al Qaeda in a Pakistan`s military base city. The fact that Pakistan did not know that Osama Bin Laden was hiding in close proximity to their military base is suspicious, especially with the financial help US provided Pakistan annually to track down Bin Laden and fight terrorism (Pakistan Tourism, 2014). The economic system of Pakistan is considered to be combined of both the elements of socialism and capitalism. It is directed and planned by both the private enterprise and the state (Asian Development Bank, 2014). On one hand, if it were only a capitalist system that is privately owned, it would not be able to guarantee employment or decrease poverty. While on the other hand, if it were ruled by government only, it would not be as responsive to public desires, and people would have less freedom. Therefore, the economic system is mixed of the best qualities of both systems, in order to accelerate economic growth. In terms of purchasing power, Pakistan`s economy is the 25th largest in the world. It is semi-industrialized, and it main industries are food processing, textiles, agriculture, chemicals, etc. The main economy growth is situated along the Indus River, while the most diversified economies are situated in the urban areas of Karachi and Punjab, while the rest of the country lesser developed areas. Decades of internal political disputes, costly disagreements with India, fast growing population, all influenced suffering of the economy. In the last decade, however, the economy recovered due to renewed access to global markets and foreign investment, as well as privatizing the banking sector (Asian Development Bank, 2014).
Political system in Pakistan has always been unstable and controlled by only a few families that have members in all parts of the system. They have never produced results and seem to be stagnating the country (AsiaSociety, 2014). Comparing the political situation of Pakistan to the leading countries` just shows us how substantial change is. Political parties are based on the region and ethnic group they are in, and therefore no party has supporters in every region, which causes slow development of some areas compared to the others. As in many other countries, there is corruption among the politicians. They try to manipulate specific groups in order to gain benefits for themselves (BBC News Asia, 2013). One of the most important challenges that face Pakistan is ending terrorism. India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan all have a pact with Pakistan and are committed to ending terrorism. Pakistan is realizing that religious extremists are bad for their country, and is taking military action to stop distorted religious brainwashing of people, in order to prevent them from expanding (The News, 2014). In order to stop terrorism, Pakistan needs to repair their relationship with India, because as long as they do not cooperate in ending this, the extremism will have more impact every day.

References

AsiaSociety (2014). Pakistan: A political History. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://asiasociety.org/agha-muhammad/pakistan-political-history
Asian Development Bank (2014). Pakistan: Economy. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://www.adb.org/countries/pakistan/economy
BBC News Asia (2013). Pakistan Politics Key Players. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16526936
Nations Online (2014). Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/pakistan.htm#History
Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (2014). About Pakistan. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://www.tourism.gov.pk/about_pakistan.html?id=1502
The News (2014). Pakistan, S. Arabia refresh vow to fight terrorism, extremism. Retrieved on April 10, 2014 from http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28626-Pakistan-S-Arabia-refresh-vow-to-fight-terrorism-extremism