Civil Societies and Culture of Pakistan

Population

144 millions 2002, Population growth rate 2.06% (2002 est.)

Ethnic Groups

In general percentages of population similar to linguistic groups: Punjabis:66percent, Sindhis:13 percent, Pakhtuns:10 percent, Baloch: 3 percent, Muhajirs: 7 percent, and other ethnic groups: 1 percent.

Language
Urdu official language, but English in general use in government,military, business, and higher education. Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English official and lingua franca Urdu of Pakistani and most government ministries), and other Dardack languages 8% .

Religion

About 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim, 77 percent of whom are Sunnis and 20 percent Shia; remaining 3 percent of population divided equally among Christians, Hindus, and other religions.

Education and Literacy

Primary schools: 150,963

Middle schools: 14,595

High schools: 9,808

Arts & science colleges: 798

Professional colleges: 161

Universities: 35 (10 in Private sector)

Marriage
It is a means of allying two extended families; romantic attachments have little role to play. The husband and wife are primarily representatives of their respective families in a contractual arrangement, which is typically negotiated between two male heads of household. It is fundamentally the parents' responsibility to arrange marriages for their children, but older siblings may be actively involved if the parents die early or if they have been particularly successful in business or politics. The terms are worked out in detail and are noted, by law, at the local marriage registry.

Purdah
Space is allocated to and used differently by men and women. For their protection and respectability, women have traditionally been expected to live under the constraints of purdah (purdah is Persian for curtain), most obvious in veiling. By separating women from the activities of men, both physically and symbolically, purdah creates differentiated male and female spheres.

It is practiced in various ways, depending on family tradition, region, class, and rural or urban residence, but nowhere do unrelated men and women mix freely. Among wealthier Pakistanis, urban or rural residence is less important than family tradition in influencing whether women observe strict purdah and the type of veil they wear. In some areas, women simply observe "eye purdah": they tend not to mix with men, but when they do, they avert their eyes when interacting with them.

Religious minorities
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country. The number of all the non-Muslim minorities is 4.919 million in a population of 143 million (2002). These minorities are: Christians, with their largest pockets in Punjab; Hindus, with their largest pockets in Sindh; a small number of Parsis, mainly in the city of Karachi; a small number of Sikhs in Balochistan and NWFP; a small number of Bahais in some urban centres; pockets of indigenous people in Northern Areas and of scheduled castes in Sindh. These are distinct religious groups recognized as such since the British period. In 1974 Pakistan created a new religious minority, Ahmadis. There are also minority Muslim sects, such as Shias, Ismailis and Bohras, that are not treated as religious minorities.

Culture

Pakistan has a rich and unique culture that has preserved established traditions throughout history. Many cultural practices, foods, monuments, and shrines were inherited from the rule of Muslim Mughal and Afghan emperors including the national dress of Shalwar Qameez. Women wear brightly coloured shalwar qameez, while men often wear solid-coloured ones, usually with a sherwani or achkan (long coat) that is worn over the garment.

The variety of Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as the synchronisation of Qawwali and western music by the renowned Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Other major Ghazal singers include Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanum, Tahira Syed, Abida Parveen and Iqbal Bano. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution centre for Afghan music abroad. Until the 1990s, the state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation were the dominant media outlets, but there are now numerous private television channels such as Geo TV, Indus TV, Hum,ARY, KTN, Sindh TV and Kashish. Various American, European, and Asian television channels and movies are available to the majority of the Pakistani population via cable and satellite television. There are also small indigenous movie industries based in Lahore and Peshawar (often referred to as Lollywood and Pollywood). Although Bollywood movies are banned, Indian film stars are generally popular in Pakistan.

Civil Society

Pakistani society is largely multilingual and predominantly Muslim, with high regard for traditional family values, although urban families have grown into a nuclear family system due to the socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional joint family system. Recent decades have seen the emergence of a middle class in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Sukkur and Peshawar that wish to move in a more liberal direction, as opposed to the northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan that remain highly conservative and dominated by centuries-old regional tribal customs. Increasing globalization has increased the influence of "Western culture" with Pakistan ranking 46th on the Kearney/FP Globalization Index. There are an approximated four million Pakistanis living abroad, with close to a half-million expatriates living in the United States and around a million living in Saudi Arabia. As well as nearly one million people of Pakistani descent in the United Kingdom, there are burgeoning cultural connections.

Tourism is a growing industry in Pakistan, based on its diverse cultures, peoples and landscapes. Ancient civilization ruins such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations attract those interested in field and winter sports. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7000m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2. The northern parts of Pakistan have many old fortresses, towers and other architecture as well as the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home to the small pre-Islamic Animist Kalasha community who claim descent from the army of Alexander the Great. Punjab is the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital with many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort.