Pakistan ( ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and converges with Central Asia and the Middle East.Encarta Encyclopedia - PakistanMiddle East Institute: Pakistan It has a 1,046 kilometre (650 mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast.The Kashmir region is claimed by both India and Pakistan. Both countries and China separately administer parts of the region with the Indian and Pakistani-held areas defined by the Line of Control. India refers to Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK), while Pakistan refers to Jammu and Kashmir as Indian Occupied Kashmir. Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor.

The region forming modern Pakistan was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and then, successively, recipient of ancient Vedic, Persian, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and settlement by the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans and the Mongols.Pakistan InfoPlease It was a part of British Raj from 1858 to 1947, when the Pakistan Movement for a state for Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League resulted in the independence and creation of the state of Pakistan, that comprised the provinces of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Balochistan and East Bengal. With the adoption of its constitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1971, a civil war in East Pakistan resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistan's history has been characterized by periods of economic growth, military rule and political instability.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. The country is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies. Pakistan is a founding member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Developing 8 Countries and the Economic Cooperation Organization. It is also a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organization, G33 developing countries, Group of 77 developing nations, major non-NATO ally of the United States and is a nuclear state.