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Pakistan,
officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان),
is a country located in South Asia and the Greater Middle East. It has a
thousand-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south and borders
Afghanistan and Iran to the west, India to the east and the People's
Republic of China in the far northeast.Pakistan is the sixth most populous
country in the world and is the second most populous Muslim country. It was
established as a modern state in 1947, as one of the two parts of the
partitioned British India, but the region has a long history of settlement
and civilisation including the Indus Valley Civilisation. The region was
invaded by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Afghans, and was
incorporated into the British Raj in the nineteenth century. Since
independence, Pakistan has experienced both periods of significant military
and economic growth, and periods of instability, with the secession of East
Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Pakistan is a declared nuclear weapons
state. |
