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Pakistan
Regional and Ethnic Factors
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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