Country Biography

Statistics

Pakistan and its neighboring Muslim country's history as a civilization started with the Indus Valley civilization in 3000 BC, which included most of present-day Pakistan. The Vedic Civilization of Indo-European Aryans then gained power, establishing a firm civilization between the Sarasvati and Ganges rivers in modern-day India; the Vedic's traditions shaped many future cultures in South Asia.

After being conquered by the Persians, Alexander the Great, and becoming a part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the Tocharian Kushuns took over, expanding their kingdom from present-day Pakistan to Uzbekistan.

Southern Asia is infamous for its Islamic culture, and it was Muhammad bin Qasim who started the first Islamic dynasty in Southern Punjab, eventually spreading all over Southern Asia. The Shariah became the law of the state. This dynasty, founded in 661 AD, was the Umayyad Dyansty. A series of empires, including the Ghaznavid Empire, the Ghorid Kingdom, the Delhi Sultanate, and of course, the Mughal Empire.

Back in Europe, the Middle Ages pass by, and a time of discovery and progress comes. Britain, in its expanding connections with the world, lands in India, and starts trading relations there. In 1600, the East India Company was established in India. At first, the East India Company was just another entity in India, sending diplomatic missions to the Muslims. As history progressed, the company grew in power and gained monopolies like the salt trade, while the Mughal Empire declined under the British might.

The region of modern-day Pakistan did not come completely under British rule until the 19th century, when it was annexed in the Great Game between Tsarist Russia and the British Empire. The British was fearing Russian expansion in Asia and an invasion of India, thus they head to expand in Asia to counter the Russians' efforts.

By this time the Muslims, as one might imagine, were quite uncomfortable with British rule, and after many failed rebellions, the last Mughal Emperor became the figurehead for a final strive for independence. This disastrous rebellion was called the Sepoy Mutiny by the British, and the Indian War of Independence by the Muslims. After the conflict, the British sought retaliation mostly against the Muslims, though there was equal Muslim and Hindu participation. The British put in this policy to keep the groups divided.

In October 1906, a group of 35 Muslim leaders from the newly formed Muslim League demanded separate electorates for Muslim states. In was the president of this league, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who proposed a separate Muslim state and the name Pakistan for it. After increasing demands for a separate Muslim nation in the second world war, and Britain's growing inability to support its global empire, the states of India, West Pakistan, and East Pakistan were carved out of British holdings in South Asia.

After its independence, tensions between Pakistan and India grew, and there were many armed conflicts. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Economy

Despite it being a "Less Economically Developed Country", Harvard economists has given Pakistan the label a "model of economic development" , this is because the country managed to keep its economic growth rate above the global average in its first four decades, only to slow down in the 1990's. Pakistan's GDP growth rate is also the second highest (after China) in the top ten most populous countries in the world, at 8.4%. Manufacturing and financial services account for much of the country's economic development, experiencing major growth over the last few decades. As for GDP, the service sector holds a huge portion of 53%, with 30% of that (15.9% of the total) coming from wholesale and retail.

When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, refugees fled to Pakistan, not quite helping the relatively new country's economy. There used to be tensions between the two countries regarding the Talibans, but today much of Pakistan's trade goes through Afghanistan.

Politics and International Relations

Pakistan is under a semi-presidential system, where the president is the Head of State and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government, running day-to-day operations. The government is divided into the Legislature (National Assembly), Executive, and Judiciary.

Pakistan's tensions with India have lessened over the years, with major conflicts being the three week war in 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War in 1971. More recently, India going nuclear has made Pakistan nervous, forcing it to go nuclear to keep up. Fortunately, before more conflict can take place, the two countries in 2004 signed a nuclear testing ban and established an emergency anti-misunderstandings hotline between their foreign secretaries.

Among Pakistan's many memberships are the UN, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Health Care

There are both public and private sectors in the Pakistani health care system. The system benefits the rich, and is filled with corruption. The private sector is no better, it is a capitalistic system run like a business for profit, created after a period of decay in the public system. The immense corruption led to defective drugs being prescribed by bribed doctors, with raised prices for good drugs. To make matters worse, the private sector is favored because it pleases the WTO.

As for medical training, there are very few doctors with only one major medical school in the country. The ratio of nurse to patients is one to forty, and the one to sixty for doctors as opposed to the recommended one to seven.

Education

Only 2.3% of Pakistan’s GDP is spent on educating the next generation. Grade school goes to age fourteen, with extended education to sixteen. Bachelors, Masters, and even PhD degrees are available, but obviously not as abundant as in the more developed countries. Universities with research fields include the Quaid-e-Azam University, Lahore University of Management Sciences, and the National University of Sciences and Technology.

Much conflict has arisen about the Madrassahs, two course Islamic schools which have expanded recently to courses to include literature, sciences, and history. These schools usually appealed to the poor.

A Pakistani Textile Worker

Wages

Pakistani textile workers are earn one of the lowest wages in the world. At 25-30 cents an hour, they make $58 a month, the equivalent of 3,500 Russels. This rate is extremely low compared to a dollar an hour in Egypt, 50 cents/hour in India, and even 45 cents/hour in China. To put their wages in perspective, even a lunch for two in an average rated hotel in Karachi, Lahore, or Islambad costs more than 3,500 Russels. The chart below shows the average textile wages in various countries

Labor Laws

There are many laws protecting workers in Pakistan, however, as one may expect, they are often violated. These rights include the Right of Association, which empowers workers to form unions. However, many times restrictions are put on the workers to keep the production steady and costs low. These restrictions also confine the workers' abilities to strike, and bargain collectively, as promised in Pakistan's law. Many strikes are usually illegal, and even if legal are often short.

Child Labor

Everyone knows about child labor in the textile industry, and Pakistan has laws against child labor such as prohibiting night and over-time work, and setting up the minimal age for work as 14. Inspectors were supposed to visit factories regularly, but a lack of manpower reduces the enforceability of this law. The textile industry is a huge employer of child labor, with half the world's soccer balls going through some form of child labor in Pakistan. Companies like Nike contract other companies like SAGA to exploit children for them, so to keep a somewhat positive publicity. These children are often sold by their parents for desperately needed money. As a result, they often work 18 hour days for bosses who abuse them physically and sexually. It is estimated that half of the children being exploited would be dead by age 12.

Here is a province by province comparison in Pakistan of child labor:

Of the many industrial sectors in Pakistan, the textile industry is the largest single employer of women, consisting of about 30% women, double the national average of 15%. The largest portion of these women worked in the stitching units, which employed about 75% of the women in the industry. In these factories, women were often physically and sexually abused by bosses, and worked long days with dangerous walks home at night.

Like many other workers in the industry, women had to face large amounts of toxic chemicals used to produce some clothes, and safety equipment was often low as is with the men. To make matters worse, because of the restrictions on union and the lack of education, there is yet to be a union of women workers, so there is even more potential of exploitation.

Women working is culturally a disgrace to the family in Pakistan. However, because of the huge number of poor families in the country, many daughters are forced to work in secret. This often denies them a proper education. To effectively hide their contribution to the family income in fear of disgrace, women's opportunities are often limited, as a high job is usually noticeable. Thus women workers in general in Pakistan lack opportunities we take for granted in the west.

~Edmond