9.3 Pakistan and Bangladesh

Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)

The physical area of Pakistan is equivalent to the US states of Texas and Louisiana combined. Much of Pakistan’s land area comprises either deserts or mountains. The high Himalayan ranges border Pakistan to the north. The lack of rainfall in the western part of the country restricts agricultural production to the mountain valleys and near the river basins.  The Indus River flows roughly northeast when traversing the Himalayan and Karakoram Mountains, then southwest along the eastern side of Pakistan forming the Indus plain before flowing into the Arabian Sea.  On the Indus Plain, fluvial sediments are deposited in large areas found between river channels and oxbow lakes formed from the constantly changing river channels. These “lands between the rivers” are called “doabs” and represent some of the most fertile land in the Indian subcontinent. The Indus River flows from the northern part of the Karakoram mountains and creates a large, fertile floodplain that comprises much of eastern Pakistan. Pakistan has traditionally been a land of farming. The Indus River Valley and the Punjab are the dominant core areas where most of the people live and where population densities are remarkably high.

Figure 9.16

Approximately 64 percent of the population lives in rural areas and in agricultural landscapes. Despite the rural nature of the population, the average family size has decreased from seven to four in recent decades. Nevertheless, the population has exploded from about 34 million in 1951 to more than 227 million according to the 2020 census. About half of the population is under the age of twenty; 35 percent is under the age of fifteen. An absence of family planning has created an ever-increasing population, which is likely to have dire consequences for the economic future of Pakistan. Service and infrastructure catering to the needs of this youthful population are not available to the necessary degree. Schools and educational opportunities for children particularly in rural areas are not adequately funded. As of 2010, only about 50 percent of Pakistan’s population was literate.

Figure 9.17 Political Map of Pakistan

Karachi, a port city located on the Arabian Sea, was the capital city of Pakistan at the time of independence.  In the early 1960s, Field Marshal Muhammad Ayyub, the first president of Pakistan, decided to build a new capital city in the foothills of the Himalayas in the vicinity of the garrison city of Rawalpindi and ancient city of Taxila. The President himself was from the same area.  There were also several strategic reasons for relocating the capital to the north, including a need to establish a presence near Kashmir, a strategically more secure location, the proximity to Pakistan’s most important defense industrial complex, and the moderate climate and scenic beauty of the Himalayan Mountains.  The groundbreaking of the capital city took place around mid-1960.  This example of a forward capital was an expression of geopolitical assertiveness by Pakistan against India.

The lingua franca of the country for the business sector and the social elite continues to be English, even though Urdu is considered the national language of Pakistan and is used as a lingua franca in many areas. More than sixty languages are spoken in the country. There are as many ethnic groups in Pakistan as there are languages. The three most prominent ethnic groups are Punjabis, Pashtuns, and Sindhis.

Regions of Pakistan

The three main physical geographic regions of Pakistan are the Indus River Basin, the Baluchistan Plateau, and the northern highlands. These physical regions are generally associated with the country’s main political provinces. The four main provinces include Punjab, Baluchistan (Balochistan), Sindh (Sind), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North West Frontier). To the north is the disputed region of Kashmir known as the Northern Areas. Each of these regions represents a different aspect of the country. The North West Frontier has a series of Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan that have been traditionally under their own local control. Agents under Tribal Agencies have attempted to administer some type of structure and responsibility for the areas, with little success.

Religion and Politics in Pakistan

Today most of the people living in Pakistan are Muslim. About 96 percent of the population in Pakistan is Muslim. The remaining about 4 percent are Hindus, Christians, and other religions.  Islam is considered the state religion of Pakistan. The state is a federal republic with a parliamentarian style of government. As an Islamic state following the Sharia laws of the Koran, it has been a challenge for Pakistan to try to balance instituting democratic reforms while staying true to fundamental Islamic teachings. Pakistan has held elections for government leaders, and the status of women has improved. Women have held many governmental and political positions, including serving as prime minister, and judges of the superior judiciary.  The current supreme court of Pakistan has two justices who are women.  The military has been a foundation of power for those in charge. As a result of weak economic conditions throughout the country, it has been the military that has received primary attention and is the strongest institution within the government. Pakistan has demonstrated its nuclear weapons capability in recent years, which established it as a major player in regional affairs.

Pakistan has suffered from inadequate funding for public schools. As a rule, the wealthy urban elites have been the only families who could afford to send their children to college. Poor families who lack the means to send their children to college often send them to Islamic religious schools called madrassas, which teach children the Koran, Islamic law, and other disciplines. Much of the funding for religious schools comes from private donations and also from outside sources such as Saudi Arabia. Although madrassas do not provide the skills needed for making a living in the modern world, it has been contributing to improving the general literacy among the adult population.  Pakistan has worked to build schools, colleges, and universities to educate its people. The situation is that population growth has been outpacing what little budget is allocated for educational purposes.

The government of Pakistan has struggled to meet the challenge posed by the democratic structure of its constitution. The combination of a federal republic and an Islamic state creates a unique and at times difficult balance in administrative politics. The legislative body of Pakistan consists of a National Assembly and a Senate. The leader of the National Assembly is the prime minister. The elected president (elected by the senate or upper chamber of the house) not only is the commander in chief of the armed forces but is also head of state. The military establishment and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency hold major political power in Pakistan. The political leadership has often vacillated between military and civilian rule.

Environmental Issues in Pakistan

Pakistan is confronted with a range of natural disasters and environmental issues including frequent flooding in low-lying areas, frequent earthquakes in northern areas, and air and water pollution. Northern areas of Pakistan including the federal capital city of Islamabad, all lie in close proximity to the most tectonically active region of the western Himalayas. This is where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates are at the colliding path and the major fault and thrust complexes, such as the MBT (Main Boundary Thrust) Fault are present (Figure 9.27). Shifting and colliding of tectonic plates are the cause of frequent earthquakes in the area.  There have been several major earthquakes in Pakistan’s recent history. For instance, an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude in 2005 in the northern region of PKP and Pakistani-control Azad Kashmir, and in neighboring India and Afghanistan, claimed thousands of lives and destruction of property and more in neighboring areas. Hardest hit outside of Pakistan was the portion of Kashmir that is controlled by India. Many countries, including the United States, stepped up and supported the aid effort to reach people in the devastated region. Major earthquakes that cause devastation for the large populations here are common along this tectonic plate boundary.  In 2010, another earthquake in the Hunza Valley of Gilgit Baltistan triggered a landslide that blocked the Hunza River, creating a lake. Several villages and farming land along the river were inundated.  The lake also blocked a portion of the Karakoram Highway, which cut off people of the upper Hunza Valley from the rest of the country for several months (see Natural Hazards in Northern Areas).

Figure 9.27

Figure 9.28

Another environmental issue in Pakistan is water pollution. Industrial wastes, agricultural runoff, and raw sewage discharges into rivers and streams contaminate the drinking water sources. In rural areas, people mainly rely on untreated well water for their consumption. The water sources are heavily polluted, triggering disease and health problems. Some urban areas also lack public water works to handle fresh water supplies or to dispose of sewage properly. Floods and natural runoff can also carry pollutants from the land or urban areas into the rivers and streams that are used by human communities. The net effect of all these factors is that most of Pakistan’s population lacks access to safe drinking water. Air pollution is also becoming a serious environmental issue in major cities.

Deforestation is another environmental problem in Pakistan, because the demand for wood for cooking fuel and building is on the rise. Only about 2.5 percent of Pakistan is forested. In the last two decades, Pakistan has lost about one-fourth of its forest cover. The removal of forests causes widespread soil erosion during heavy rains and decreases natural habitats for organisms and wild animals. Efforts to protect the biodiversity of the country have been minimal and are complicated by the increase in population, which is expected to double in about forty-five years if population growth remains on its current trajectory. The reality is that deforestation is likely to continue in Pakistan, with little hope of a solution anytime soon.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a low-lying country that is associated with the types of marshy environments found in tropical areas and river deltas. The region is extremely prone to flooding, particularly during the monsoon season because of the high amount of rainfall. One of the most important rivers of Bangladesh flows southward from the Himalayas through India and into Bangladesh. While in India, this river is known as the Brahmaputra River, but when it enters Bangladesh, it is known as the Jamuna River. It provides a major waterway for this region and empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Figure 9.30 Political Map of Bangladesh

 

Contributing to the immense flow of water through the country are the Ganges and the Meghna rivers, which join up with the Brahmaputra River near the sea. The Ganges flows through northern India and is a major source of fresh water for a large population before it reaches Bangladesh. The Meghna is a collection of tributaries within the boundaries of Bangladesh that flows out of the eastern part of the country. The Meghna is a deep river that can reach depths of almost two thousand feet with an average depth of more than one thousand feet. The hundreds of water channels throughout the relatively flat country provide transportation routes for boats and ships that move goods and people from place to place. There are few bridges, so land travel is restricted when rainfall is heavy.

Population and Globalization

Bangladesh is about the size of the US state of Wisconsin but is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.  According to the 2022 census, the population of Bangladesh is over 171 million, whereas the land area of the country is only 55,556 square miles, which translates to more than 3000 persons living in one square mile area.  In comparison, the population density of the U.S. is only 96 persons living in one square mile area.  Most of the population in Bangladesh is rural and engaged in agriculture.  The rural areas often suffer from a lack of adequate transportation, infrastructure, and public services. Poverty is high in rural areas. Income levels average the equivalent of a few US dollars per day. The larger cities, such as the capital of Dhaka, have modern conveniences and better infrastructure.  Like other South Asian countries, Bangladesh also has rural-to-urban migration problems, making cities extremely crowded (Figure 9.31).

There are many ethnic groups in Bangladesh, and many languages are spoken. The official and most widely used language in Bangladesh is Bengali (Bengal), which is an Indo-Aryan language of Sanskrit origin and has its own script. A Presidential Order in 1987 made Bengali the official language of the government of Bangladesh. Bengali is also the main language in the Indian state of West Bengal, which neighbors Bangladesh. English is used as the lingua franca among the middle and upper classes and in higher education. Many minor languages are spoken in Bangladesh and in the region. The majority of the population, about 90 percent, is Muslim. There is a sizable minority, about 9 percent, that adheres to Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, or animism.

Figure 9.31 Street Scene in Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh

Bangladesh suffers from a demographic dilemma. Its tropical climate, availability of fresh water, and productive agricultural land have augmented a high population growth rate. The ever-increasing population is a growing concern. The government has stepped up its support for women’s health, birth control, and family planning services. This is an Islamic country, but practical approaches and common sense in regard to population control have won out over Islamic fundamentalism, which has not always supported family planning. This poor and highly populated country has experienced political problems. Most of the people work in agriculture, while the remaining population is primarily concentrated in the service sector. Small business enterprises have been encouraged by the issuing of microcredit, or small loans, to assist people in using their skills to earn income.

Globalization is evident in Bangladesh. As a result of the availability of cheap labor, sweatshops have been implemented to manufacture clothing for export to world markets. The country also receives financial remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas in places such as the oil-rich region of the Middle East, which also is predominantly Muslim and is attracting cheap labor for its economic development projects funded by oil revenues. One example of how Bangladesh has been able to acquire materials such as steel is in the recycling of old ships. Shipping companies that have ships that are no longer viable for modern shipping have brought them to the shores of Bangladesh to be stripped down, taken apart, and the materials recycled.

Environmental Issues

The northeast part of Bangladesh receives the highest amount of rainfall from summer monsoons, averaging about eighteen feet per year, while the western part of the country averages only about four feet per year.  Bangladesh can grow abundant food crops of rice and grain in the fertile deltas of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers (Figure 9.32).  About 55 percent of the land area is arable and can be used for farming, but flooding causes serious damage to cropland by eroding soil and washing away seeds or crops. Every year, countless people die because of the flooding, which can cover as much as a third of the country. One of the worst flooding events in Bangladesh’s history was experienced in 1998, when river flooding destroyed more than three hundred thousand homes and caused more than one thousand deaths, rendering more than thirty million people homeless.

Most parts of Bangladesh are fewer than forty feet above sea level, and the country is vulnerable to major flooding according to various global warming scenarios. Half of the country could be flooded with a three-foot rise in sea level. Storm surges from cyclones killed as many as one hundred fifty thousand people in 1991, and the death toll of 300–500 thousand from the Great Bhola Cyclone of 1970 is often cited as the world’s largest. In comparison, about two thousand people died when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2006. The high death toll from flooding does not receive its due attention from Western news media. Environmental concerns increase with the long-term projections of climate change. If sea level rises or if storms increase, then the low-lying agricultural lands of Bangladesh will suffer even more flooding and devastation. This would decrease the food supply of a growing population.

Another environmental problem for Bangladesh is deforestation. Wood is traditionally used for cooking and construction. The needs of a larger population have caused widespread deforestation. Brick and cement have become alternative building materials, and cow dung has become a widely used cooking fuel even though it reduces the fertilizer base for agriculture. Even so, these adaptations have not halted the deforestation problem. The main remaining forests are located along the southern borders with India and Burma (Myanmar) and in the northeast of the country.

Figure 9.32 Man Working in a Rice Field in Bangladesh

 

Bangladeshis suffer because of widespread water pollution from naturally occurring arsenic that contaminates water wells. The pyrite bedrock underneath much of western Bangladesh has large amounts of arsenic in it. Millions of people drink groundwater contaminated with this arsenic on a daily basis. Arsenic kills people slowly by building up in their bodies, rotting their fingernails, and giving them dark spots and bleeding sores. Arsenic is a slow killer and a carcinogen that increases the risk of skin cancer and tumors inside the body. Villagers in Bangladesh began being affected by these symptoms in the 1970s. In 1993, official tests indicated that up to 95 percent of the wells in one of the villages in the western region were contaminated. The widespread water contamination has also had a social cost. Reports indicate that husbands are sending their disfigured wives back to their families of origin, and some young people are remaining single. Stories are told of people who believe that these health problems are contagious or genetic and can be passed on to children, which causes dilemmas for women who are trying to find husbands.