State of Middle East, Focus: Pakistan

Religious studies professor Mahan Mizra lectured on the country of Pakistan last week giving a bit of insight as well as current states of the country.

Pakistan, which is the sixth most populous country in the world, and has the second largest Muslim population behind Indonesia, has had strong developments in its countries over the last 50 years.

Originally included in British India during the English’s rule, Pakistan severed ties in the early 50s and adopted a constitution making the country an Islamic republic. Pakistan’s civil war in 71’ saw the removal of east Bengal into what now is Bangladesh.

One of the more interesting topics of the discussion was Mizra’s description of the geography of Pakistan. The inclusion of the Himalayan mountains as well as deserts and tropic coasts make for a great variance in weather depending on the area.

The focus of the discussion was to explore the similarities between an eastern nation in comparison with a western one, the U.S. According to Mizra the U.S. and Pakistan share similarities as a nation, and although said jokingly, there is truth to that statement. Both countries have adopted constitutions but Pakistan’s struggle has been plagued by political imbalances as well as military struggles for dominance.

The similary in form of government might be in the their written forms but Pakistan’s use of government greatly differs when it comes to religious beliefs. Whereas the U.S. has the notion of no religious decree in government (although we can all agree there still is) Pakistan is open about its Muslim beliefs seeing as the nation is overwhelmingly Muslim.

According to Mizra Pakistan’s growth in military strength has been growing over the years and now has the 7^th largest military in the world and became a nuclear power in the early 90s.

Of Pakistan’s 170 million person population nearly 50 percent of them are under the age of 30 making for a relatively young populated nation. Nearly 80 percent of the population is Muslim and 45 percent of the population are also Punjabis.

Another interesting point would the general dislike for American’s that the country has. And with so much going on in the middle east that has the U.S. name on it can only conjure up more dislike from a nation that isn’t too particularly fond of us. But then again who is? As with most middle eastern nation the U.S. represents opposition on eastern form of thought, and with continued military presence there I don’t think any form of thought will change soon.

Then again, I don’t think many countries besides Pakistan will change their form of thought when it comes to the U.S. as long as we employ the Capitalist way of life. I mean it’s a kill or be killed mentality isn’t it?