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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Government and politics bear the imprint of Pakistan's
diversity. Despite the loss of the country's East Wing in
1971,
the body politic remains a varied and volatile mix of
ethnic,
linguistic, and regional groups, and provincialism and
ethnic
rivalries continue to impede the progress of national
integration. Although Islam is a unifying force, and the
majority
of Pakistanis are
Sunni (see Glossary)
Muslims, there is
considerable cultural diversity within and among the
country's
four provinces, and coreligionists' identification as
Sindhis, Punjabis, Baloch, or
Pakhtuns (see Glossary)
is strong.
Added to the indigenous human mosaic are the more than
7 million muhajirs (refugees or immigrants from India
and their descendants) from various parts of India. Economic
and political rivalries persist between the muhajirs
and the indigenous populations of the provinces of Pakistan. These
contests often turn violent and have contributed
significantly to national unrest and instability
(see Subversion and Civil Unrest
, ch. 5). Ethnic riots have cost hundreds of lives and
destroyed
millions of dollars worth of property. A further challenge
to
national stability results from the approximately 1.4
million
Afghan refugees who in early 1994 still had not returned
to their
country. Linguistic diversity is also a divisive force.
Some
twenty languages are spoken, and although Urdu is the
official
language, it is not the native tongue of the majority of
the
population. Islam provides a tenuous unity in relation to
such
diversity. Efforts to build national consensus in the face
of
these obstacles remains central to effective government in
Pakistan.
Data as of April 1994
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