Long-form name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Type: parliamentary with strong executive, federal republic

Capital: Islamabad

Administrative divisions: 4 provinces, 1 tribal area*, and 1 territory**; Baluchistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas*, Islamabad Capital Territory**, North-West Frontier, Punjab, Sind; note--the Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region includes Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK; formerly West Pakistan)

Constitution: 10 April 1973, suspended 5 July 1977, restored 30 December 1985

Legal system: based on English common law but gradually being transformed to correspond to Koranic injunction; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; the late President Zia-ul-Haq's government established Islamic Shariat courts paralleling the secular courts and introduced Koranic punishments for some criminal offenses; martial law courts were abolished in December 1985, and all cases, including those concerning national security, are now tried by civilian judiciary under due process safeguards; on 15 June 1988 the late President Zia issued a temporary presidential decree that makes all laws--including family and inheritance laws that had been exempt--subject to Islamic tenets; the decree requires that senior appellate courts, not just the Federal Shariat Court, be tasked with interpreting and enforcing Islamic law; religious scholars are to be appointed to act as advisers at all levels of the judiciary; the decree also legally binds the government to base its policies on Islamic jurisprudence; the decree is pending in parliament, which must approve it before it becomes permanent

National holiday: Pakistan Day (proclamation of the republic), 23 March (1956)

Branches: Executive--the Constitution provides for a parliamentary system with a president as chief of state and a prime minister as head of government; the president is elected for a five-year term by an electoral college composed of parliament and provincial assembly members; until March 1990 the president names the prime minister, who must then win a vote of confidence; after 1990 parliament will choose the prime minister; Legislative--bicameral parliament, comprising the Senate and the National Assembly; the Senate has 87 members, who serve for six years, a third of which retire every two years; the National Assembly has 207 members, elected for five years, plus 20 women members and 10 members representing minorities; Judiciary--provincial high courts, Supreme Court, and an Islamic (Shariat) court system; the president appoints all judges

Leader: @m5Chief of State President Ghulam ISHAQ KHAN (since 1 December 1988); @m5Head of Government Prime Minister Benazir BHUTTO (since 1 December 1988)

Suffrage: universal from age 21

Elections: opposition agitation against rigging election in March 1977 led to military coup; military promised to hold new national and provincial assembly elections in October 1977 but postponed them indefinitely; nonparty national election was held in February 1985, but boycotted by then outlawed political parties; in mid-August 1988 President Zia was killed in a plane crash; election was held on 16 November 1988, when Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party received a plurality in the National Assembly; presidential election last held in December 1988

Political parties and leaders: parties re-legalized in December 1985; Supreme Court struck down requirements that parties register with the Pakistan Election Commission in June 1988, opening the way for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and its allies to contest parliamentary election without revealing party finances and membership roles; no party holds a majority in the National Assembly; PPP led by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has a plurality with about 45% of the vote; major opposition party is the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo; PML is the main party in the anti-PPP Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA); other parties with significant representation in the National Assembly are the Muhajir Quami Movement, Altaf Hussain; Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Fazlur Rahman; Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Qazi Hussain Ahmed; Awami National Party (ANP), Abdul Wali Khan; Senate is controlled by the PML and its IDA allies; law requires disqualification of any parliamentary delegate who changes party affiliation

Communists: party is outlawed, membership very small; sympathizers estimated at several thousand

Other political or pressure groups: military remains dominant political force; ulema (clergy), industrialists, and small merchants also influential

Member of: ADB, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC--International Wheat Council, NAM, OIC, Economic Cooperation Organization, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WFTU, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Jamsheed K. A. MARKER; Chancery at 2315 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-6200; there is a Pakistani Consulate General in New York; US--Ambassador Robert B. OAKLEY; Embassy at Diplomatic Enclave, Ramna 5, Islamabad (mailing address is P. O. Box 1048, Islamabad); telephone �92� (51) 8261-61 through 79; there are US Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore, and a Consulate in Peshawar

Flag: green with a vertical white band on the hoist side; a large white crescent and star are centered in the green field; the crescent, star, and color green are traditional symbols of Islam

NOTE: The information regarding Pakistan on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Pakistan Government 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Pakistan Government 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.