Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
at least 60,000 internally displaced persons, mostly
women and children. The United Nations have set up
refugee camps, but they face roadblocks every step of the
way as the army doesn't want them to see what they have
done. NA TO volunteers have been shot and bombings are
regular occurrences.
Rawalpindi (Pindi) in Punjab, the true heart of Pakistan.
Aside from its governmental capacity , it would function
as a growth pole . With the evolution of Islamabad, in-
dustry and commerce would be decentralized from
Karachi, Punjab would become developed, and a pres-
ence would be maintained close to the unstable regions
of NWFP and Kashmir. Islamabad, meaning “City of
Islam,'' also exemplifies the concept of a forward-thrust
capital.
Islamabad took on its function as capital in 1963. As
there are restrictive laws as to who can live in the new
capital, most workers actually live in Pindi and are
bussed back and forth to their government jobs.
International relations also affected Pakistan' s roller
coaster development. In 1949, the long-established eco-
nomic interchange between Pakistan and India ground to
a halt in a disagreement over monetary policy . But the
Korean War (1950-1953) generated a market for leather,
wool, cotton, and jute products, perfect timing to sup-
port farmers and the newly constructed processing mills.
In 1954, Pakistan signed a mutual defense agreement
with the United States, and this brought substantial
amounts of American investment. However, the eco-
nomic boom ended in 1965 with the outbreak of war
with India over Kashmir.
The United States stopped military assistance to
Pakistan and reduced its level of monetary assistance.
With the breakaway of East Pakistan in 1971 and the per-
ception of India as a “friend of the United States and en-
emy of Pakistan,'' Pakistan turned away from South Asia
and toward the Islamic countries of the Middle East.
Beginning in 1974, hundreds of thousands of work-
ers migrated to the oil-exporting countries of the Mid-
dle East to work in construction, oil, and other
industries, and in services. Large numbers of these
came from poor, barani (dry/not irrigated) regions. Pak-
istan continues to receive remittances from the Persian
Gulf states but these have declined in light of the global
recession and cutbacks in employment. Recently , it in-
corporated Iran and adjacent Islamic states into its
sphere of interest.
Relationships with China were also a factor. Border
disputes were settled in the early 1960s and both countries
pursued closer ties, taking a stand against India. In 1965,
a joint-venture project was begun to link Pakistan and
China by a highway through the Karakoram. Islamabad
would be linked to Beijing via the NWFP and Kashgar,
gateway to China' s ancient Silk Route. Built largely with
human labor (more than 500 died), the 500-mile (805
km) road through the 14,928 feet (4478 m) Khunjerab
Roller Coaster Development
Pakistan was saddled with an infrastructure purposefully
laid to connect cantonments with strategic frontiers and
tuned to economic and military needs of the former Raj.
As a result, the bulk of the road and rail network re-
mained in India. As goods historically moved overseas
via Bombay , Karachi was a rather pathetic port. Pakistan
gained only 5 percent of the Raj' s industry . Although the
British had constructed canal projects, new water power
and irrigation development schemes were essential. In
essence, Pakistan received only the leftovers of the vast
British system.
Long distances, rugged terrain, and cultural com-
plexity , along with an inadequately developed infrastruc-
ture, did not foster the economic or political integration
of Pakistan. In fact, its economic history has been turbu-
lent. Wracked with political instability , policy shifts, and
changing focus, Pakistan muddled its way from one cri-
sis to the next into the twenty-first century .
Although Pakistan was an agricultural country , early
stage planners, many of whom were urbanites from In-
dia, turned to industrialization. Cotton and jute mills
were built for fiber processing previously done in Bom-
bay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata). Agriculture re-
ceived little attention. Farmers were poorly paid for their
crops, and lack of incentive hindered their productivity .
By 1950, this decline, combined with rapid population
growth, made Pakistan a net food importer for the first
time in its history .
The sluggish economy was revived in the 1950s
when landlords returned to the political arena. With a
decade of support from the zamindari, and benefits of the
Green Revolution, Pakistan' s agricultural yields rose to
be among the world' s highest.
Under another military government, a major geo-
graphic shift took place. Karachi, with its immigrant
population, squatter settlements, and other unseemly
aspects, was perceived as unsuitable as the capital of a
new Islamic state. For this and more practical reasons, a
new capital, Islamabad, was to be built adjacent to
 
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