Pervez Musharraf
President

(pronounced "PEAR-vezz moos-HAR-off")

"I would like to move away from the sham democracy we have had in Pakistan. I want a true democracy…"

Pakistan, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is located in the northwest corner of the Indian subcontinent, and is surrounded by Afghanistan, Iran, China, India, and the Arabian Sea. It is comprised of four provinces: Sind, Baluchistan, the North West Frontier Province, and Punjab. Major urban centers include its capital Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. The currency unit is the rupee. Pakistan's total geographical area, excluding the disputed Jammu and Kashmir regions controlled by India, is 803,940 sq km (310,400 sq mi).

The population, estimated at 147,663,429 in 2002, is composed of five ethnic groups: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, and Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendants). Ethnic and linguistic groups generally coincide. Urdu, which is the official...