Country profiles of  Republic of Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka,Maldives, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is bordered by China to the north and by India to the south, east and west.

The Himalaya mountain range runs across Nepal’s northern and western parts, and eight of the world’s ten highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest, are within its territory.

The modern state was formed with the Unification of Nepal by Prithvi Narayan Shah on December 21, 1768. Prior to 2006, Nepal was a kingdom.

It was also the only modern nation with Hinduism as its official religion Nepal is now a federal democratic republic.

Its recent history has involved struggles for democratic government with periods of direct monarchic rule. From 1995 until 2006, Nepal suffered from a Civil War between government forces and guerrillas of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Multi-cultural

On December 28, 2007, the Interim Parliament passed a bill and declared Nepal to be a Federal Democratic Republic. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly officially implemented that declaration on May 28, 2008.

Nepal is a multi-cultural, multi-linguistic and multi religious country. For a relatively small country, Nepal has a diverse landscape, ranging from the humid Terai plains in the south to the mountainous Himalayas in the north, which makes it a major tourist destination.

Hinduism is practised by a huge majority of the people, but the country also has a strong Buddhist tradition; Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama is located in the Terai, one of the three regions of Nepal.

The capital Kathmandu is the largest city in the country. The official language is Nepali and the state currency is the Nepalese Rupee (NPR). Nepal’s Flag is the only national flag in the world that is non-quadrilateral in shape.

It is believed that Lord Vishnu had organized the Nepali people and given them this flag, with the sun and moon as emblems on it.

Hindu Purana

In a Hindu Purana, it is written that it was Lord Shiva who handed the flag to Lord Vishnu, and then Lord Vishnu to Lord Indra, for the purpose for battling demons.

The official version of the flag states the two ruling families in Nepal, the Shahs and the Ranas.

The upper crescent sun signifies the Shah ruling faction and the below Sun signifies the Rana family.

However, over the years the flag signifies the importance of Nepal as a Hindu country and Nepal will continue to exists as long as the sun and the moon. Nepal has seen rapid political changes during the last two decades. Until 1990, Nepal was an absolute monarchy running under the executive control of the king.

Faced with a people’s movement against the absolute monarchy, King Birendra, in 1990, agreed to large-scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as the Head of State and a prime minister as the head of the government.

Nepal’s legislature was bicameral, consisting of a House of Representatives called the Pratinidhi Sabha and a National Council called the Rastriya Sabha.

The House of Representatives consisted of 205 members directly elected by the people.

The National Council had sixty members: ten nominated by the king, thirty-five elected by the House of Representatives and the remaining fifteen elected by an electoral college made up of chairs of villages and towns.

The legislature had a five-year term, but was dissolvable by the king before its term could end. All Nepali citizens 18 years and older became eligible to vote.

The executive comprised the King and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet).

The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election was appointed as the Prime Minister. The Cabinet was appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

The movement in April, 2006, brought about a change in the nation’s governance: an interim constitution was promulgated, with the King giving up power, and an interim House of Representatives was formed with Maoist members after the new government held peace talks with the Maoist rebels.

The number of Parliamentary seats was also increased to 330. In April, 2007, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) joined the interim government of Nepal. On 28 December 2007, the interim parliament passed a bill that would make Nepal a federal republic, with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

The bill was passed by the Constituent Assembly on May 28, 2008.

On 10 April 2008, there was the first election in Nepal for the Constitutional Assembly.

The Maoist party led the poll results, but failed to gain a simple majority in the parliament.

On 28 May 2008, lawmakers in Nepal legally abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic, ending 239 years of royal rule in the Himalayan nation. The newly elected assembly, led by the former communist rebels, adopted the resolution at its first meeting by an overwhelming majority. King Gyanendra left former Royal Palace on June 11.

Election

On 26 June 2008, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala tendered his resignation to the Nepalese Constituent Assembly, which is also functioning as Nepalese Parliament, however a new Prime Minister has yet to be elected by the Nepalese Constituent Assembly.

On 19 July 2008, the first round of voting for the election of the country’s president and vice president took place in the Constituent Assembly. Parmanand Jha became the first vice president of Nepal.

However, the two presidential frontrunners, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav of Nepali Congress and the Maoist-backed candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh, both failed to gain the minimum 298 votes needed to be elected, with Yadav receiving 283 votes and Singh receiving 270. 578 out of 594 CA members registered in the voter list had cast their votes, of which 24 were invalid.

On July 21, 2008, the second round of voting was held. Yadav received 308 votes of the 590 votes casted, securing his election as President.

Domestic product

Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2005 was estimated at just over US$39 billion (adjusted to Purchasing Power Parity), making it the 83rd-largest economy in the world.

Agriculture accounts for about 40% of Nepal’s GDP, services comprise 41% and industry 22%. Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18% and manufacturing/craft-based industry 6%.

Agricultural produce, mostly grown in the Terai region bordering India, includes tea, rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops, milk, and water buffalo meat. Industry mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce, including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain.

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Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala

Born in 1925, Girija Prasad Koirala is the Prime Minister of Nepal and was also Acting Head of State from January 2007 to July 2008. He has been Prime Minister of Nepal four times, serving from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and again since April 2006. He is also the President of the Nepali Congress and leader of the Seven Party Alliance (SPA).

He has been active in politics for over 60 years and is a pioneer of Nepalese labour movement for starting labour movement in the Jute mills of his hometown Biratnagar. In 1991 he became the only democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal since 1959, when his brother B. P. Koirala and the Nepali Congress party had swept the country’s first democratic election.

In 1948 Koirala founded the Nepal Mazdoor Congress, later known as the Nepal Trade Union Congress. Later, in 1952 he became the President of the Morang district Nepali Congress and held that office until he was arrested and imprisoned by King Mahendra following the 1960 royal coup.

Upon his release in 1967, Girija Prasad Koirala, along with other leaders and workers of the party, was exiled in India until his return to Nepal in 1979.

Koirala was General Secretary of the Nepali Congress Party from 1975 to 1991. Koirala was actively involved in the 1990 Jana Andolan which led to the abrogation of the Panchayat rule and the introduction of a multi-party politics in the country.

On April , 2007, Koirala was re-elected as Prime Minister to head a new government composed of the SPA and the CPN (Maoist).

Following the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election, the Constituent Assembly voted to declare Nepal a republic on 28 May 2008. Koirala, speaking to the Constituent Assembly shortly before the vote, said that Nepal was entering a “new era” and that “the nation’s dream has come true”.

The Kingdom of Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia. It is located amid the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by China. Bhutan is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim. The Bhutanese call their country Druk Yul (land of the thunder dragon).

“Bhutan” may be derived from the Sanskrit word Bhu-Utthan (highlands). In another theory of Sanskritisation, Bhots-ant means “End of Tibet”, as Bhutan is immediately to Tibet’s south.

Bhutan is one of the most isolated nations in the world. Foreign influences and tourism are regulated by the government to preserve the nation’s traditional culture, identity and the environment.

In 2006, however, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth happiest country in the world. The landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the Himalayan heights in the north, with some peaks exceeding 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).

The state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism, and the population is predominantly Buddhist, with Hinduism being the second-largest religion. The capital and largest city is Thimphu.

After centuries of direct monarchic rule, Bhutan held its first democratic elections in March 2008. Bhutan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

History

Stone tools, weapons, elephants, and remnants of large stone structures provide evidence that Bhutan was inhabited as early as 2000 BCE, although there are no existing records from that time.

Historians have theorized that the state of Lhomon (literally, “southern darkness”), or Monyul (“Dark Land”, a reference to the Monpa, the aboriginal peoples of Bhutan) may have existed between 500 BCE and 600 CE.

The names Lhomon Tsendenjong (Sandalwood Country), and Lhomon Khashi, or Southern Mon (country of four approaches) have been found in ancient Bhutanese and Tibetan chronicles. The earliest transcribed event in Bhutan was the passage of the Buddhist saint Padma Sambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche) in 747.

After India gained independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1947, Bhutan became one of the first countries to recognise India’s independence. A treaty similar to the one of 1910 was signed August 8, 1949 with the newly independent India.

In 1953, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck established the country’s legislature a 130-member National Assembly to promote a more democratic form of governance. In 1965, he set up a Royal Advisory Council, and in 1968 he formed a Cabinet. In 1971, Bhutan was admitted to the United Nations, having held observer status for three years.

In July 1972, Jigme Singye Wangchuck ascended to the throne at the age of 16 after the death of his father, Dorji Wangchuck.

In the 1980s, in order to strengthen Bhutan’s identity as a nation, the “one nation, one people” campaign was started to foster greater integration of the peripheral ethnic and cultural groups into mainstream Bhutanese society. The age-old code of conduct, known as Driglam namzha, and usage of the official national language, Dzongkha, was promoted.

Over the past decade, Bhutan’s political system has developed from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. In 1999, the fourth king of Bhutan created a body called the Lhengye Zhungtshog (Council of Ministers). The ‘Druk Gyalpo’ (King of Druk Yul) is head of state.

Executive power is exercised by the Lhengye Zhungtshog, the council of ministers.

Legislative power was vested in both the government and the former Grand National Assembly. On the 17th of December 2005, the 4th King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced to a stunned nation that the first general elections would be held in 2008, and that he would abdicate the throne in favour of his eldest son, the crown prince.

King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck took the throne on December 14, 2005 upon his father’s abdication.

The new democratic system comprises an upper and lower house, the latter based on political party affiliations.

Elections for the upper house (National Council) were held on December 31, 2007, while elections for the lower house, the 47-seat National Assembly, were held on March 24, 2008.

Two political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Sangay Ngedup, and the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) headed by Jigmi Thinley, competed in the National Assembly election. The Druk Phuensum Tshogpa won the elections taking 45 out of 47 seats in Parliament.

Judicial power is vested in the courts of Bhutan.

The Chief Justice is the administrative head of the Judiciary.

The Ngultrum is the currency of Bhutan and its value is pegged to the Indian rupee. The rupee is also accepted as legal tender in the country.

Though Bhutan’s economy is one of the world’s smallest, it has grown rapidly in recent years, by eight per cent in 2005 and 14 percent in 2006.

This was mainly due to the commissioning of the gigantic Tala Hydroelectricity project. As of March 2006, Bhutan’s per capita income was US$1,321. Bhutan’s economy is based on agriculture, forestry, tourism and the sale of hydroelectric power to India.

Agriculture provides the main livelihood for more than 80 percent of the population. Agrarian practices consist largely of subsistence farming and animal husbandry. Handicrafts, particularly weaving and the manufacture of religious art for home altars, are a small cottage industry.

Bhutan has a Gross Domestic Product of around USD 2.913 billion (adjusted to Purchasing Power Parity), making it the 162nd largest economy in the world.

Traditions

In a response to accusations in 1987 by a journalist from UK’s Financial Times that the pace of development in Bhutan was slow, the King said that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.”

This statement appears to have presaged recent findings by western economic psychologists, including 2002 Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, that question the link between levels of income and happiness.

The statement signalled his commitment to building an economy that is appropriate for Bhutan’s culture, based on Buddhist spiritual values, and has served as a unifying vision for the economy.

In a survey in 2005, 45 percent of Bhutanese reported being very happy, 52 percent reported being happy and only three percent reported not being happy.

Based on this data, the Happy Planet Index estimates that the average level of life satisfaction in Bhutan is within the top 10 percent of nations worldwide, and certainly higher than other nations with similar levels of GDP per capita.

Bhutan is divided into four dzongdey (administrative zones). Each dzongdey is further divided into dzongkhag (districts). There are 20 dzongkhag in Bhutan.

Large dzongkhags are further divided into sub-districts known as dungkhag.

At the basic level, groups of villages form a constituency called gewog and are administered by a gup, who is elected by the people.

Bhutan has a rich and unique cultural heritage that has largely remained intact due to its isolation from the rest of the world until the early 1960s. One of the main attractions for tourists is the country’s culture and traditions.

Bhutanese tradition is deeply steeped in its Buddhist heritage. Hinduism is the second dominant religion in Bhutan, being most prevalent in the southern regions. Both religions co-exist peacefully and receive support from the government, and enjoy royal patronage.

The Government is increasingly making efforts to preserve and sustain the current culture and traditions of the country. Due to its largely unspoilt natural environment and cultural heritage, Bhutan has aptly been referred to as The Last Shangri-la.

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Prime Minister Jigme Thinley

Prime Minister Jigme Thinley

Lyonpo Jigme Yoser Thinley (born 1952) has been the Prime Minister of Bhutan since April 2008. “Lyonpo” is a title, meaning “minister”.

Thinley was born in Bumthang and joined the civil service in 1974.

In February 1987, Thinley was awarded the title of Dasho and the Red Scarf, and in 1990, under the zonal system, he became administrator of the Eastern Zone.

He then became secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1992 before being appointed as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in January 1994, at which time he was also awarded the Orange Scarf. Later in 1994, he was appointed as Bhutan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations office and other international organizations in Geneva.

Prior to the beginning of democracy, he was Prime Minister twice, from July 20, 1998 to July 9, 1999 and from 30 August 2003 to August 20, 2004.

During this period, chairmanship of the council was based on rotation for a duration of one year, with the order of rotation decided by the number of votes secured during the time of election to the council.

Jigme was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan from 1998 until 2003 and subsequently served as Minister of Home and Cultural Affairs.

On June 2, 1999, Thinley was awarded the Druk Thuksey and Coronation medals.

In March 2008, he stood as leader of the political party Druk Phuensum Tshogpa in Bhutan’s first democratic election.

His party won 45 of the 47 seats in the National Assembly of Bhutan, which enabled Jigme Thinley to become Bhutan’s first ever elected Prime Minister. He took office on April 9.

The Republic of India

The history of India is shrouded in antiquity. The country has been thought of as a nation of philosophers with a well-developed and even idyllic society. Excavations of sites belonging to the Harappan era show that the people lived in brick houses in towns with excellent drainage.

One of the oldest scriptures in the world is the four-volume Vedas that many regard as the repository national thoughts that anticipated some of the modern scientific discoveries.

Despite formidable barriers in the form of the mighty Himalayas and oceans, India also received a succession of foreigners, many of them carrying swords and guns. But nearly all of them stayed on.

Out of these waves of immigration has emerged the composite culture of India and made it a land of unity in diversity. India became a land of assimilation and learning, a land of change and continuity. The Aryans were among the first to arrive in India, which was inhabited by the Dravidians.

Others who came here included Greeks, Persians, Mughal and even British, Portuguese and French. Over the years there have been many major ruling dynasties like the Shakas, the Kushans, the Maurayas and Guptas. Nearly every major religion in the world is represented in India, which is also the land of the Buddha, Lord Mahavira and Guru Nanak Dev, the founders of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

India is the seventh largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world.

Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of 7,517 kilometres. It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) to the east.

India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia in the Indian Ocean.

Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.

Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region’s diverse culture.

Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent resistance.

During the first half of the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations.

In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience.

Finally, on 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but was partitioned with independent governments for the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in accordance to wishes of the Muslim League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state of Pakistan.

Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect.

India has the world’s twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the fourth largest in purchasing power. Economic reforms have transformed it into the second fastest growing large economy; however, it still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition.

A pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations (as part of British India). In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test.

This was followed by five more tests in 1998, making India a nuclear state. Beginning in 1991, significant economic reforms have transformed India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, adding to its global and regional clout.

The Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive constitution of any independent nation in the world, came into force on January 26, 1950.

The preamble of the Constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India has a quasi-federal form of government and a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has three branches of governance: the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.

The President of India is the official head of state, elected indirectly by an electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister, however, exercises most executive powers.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and, by convention, is the candidate supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament. The current President is Prathibha Patil.

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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the 17th and current Prime Minister of India. Singh is a member of the Indian National Congress party, and became the first Sikh Prime Minister of India on May 22, 2004.

He is considered one of the most influential figures in India’s recent history, mainly because of the economic reforms he had initiated in 1991 when he was Finance Minister under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.

He was born on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab. He has an Undergraduate (1952) and a Master’s degree (1954) from Panjab University, Chandigarh; an Undergraduate degree (1957) from Cambridge University (St. John’s College) and a Ph.D (1962) from Oxford University (Nuffield College).

In 1997, the University of Alberta presented him with an Honorary Doctor of Laws. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in June 2005, and in October 2006, the University of Cambridge followed with the same honour.

St John’s College and the University of Cambridge further honoured him by naming a PhD Scholarship after him, the Dr Manmohan Singh Scholarship.

Singh, an economist by profession, worked for the International Monetary Fund in his younger days. Dr. Singh is known to be an unassuming politician, enjoying a formidable, highly respected and admired image.

Due to his work at the UN, International Monetary Fund and other international bodies, he is highly respected around the world. He was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2002.

Republic of Maldives

The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls belonging to the Maldive and Suvadive archipelagoes in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldives is located south of India’s Lakshadweep islands, and about seven hundred kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. The twenty-six atolls of Maldives’ encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, two hundred and fifty islands of which are inhabited.

The inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka’s period, in the 3rd century BC. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives came then under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires. And in 1887 it became a British protectorate.

In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name “Maldive Islands”), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.

The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of population. It is also the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world.

Comparative studies of Maldivian oral, linguistic and cultural traditions and customs confirm that the first settlers were Dravidian people from the nearest coasts, most probably fishermen from the southwest coasts of the modern Indian Subcontinent and the western shores of modern Sri Lanka during the early Chera period.

Buddhism came to the Maldives at the time of Emperor Ashoka’s expansion and became the dominant religion of the people of the Maldives until the 12th century AD.

Western interest in the archaeological remains of early cultures on the Maldives began with the work of H.C.P. Bell, a British commissioner of the Ceylon Civil Service.

Bell was shipwrecked on the islands in 1879, and returned several times to investigate ancient Buddhist ruins. He studied the ancient mounds, called havitta or ustubu (these names are derived from chaitiya or stupa) by the Maldivians, which are found on many of the atolls.

The entire archipelago was conquered by the medieval Chola Tamil emperor Raja Raja Chola I in the early 11th century, becoming a part of the Chola empire. The conversion to Islam is mentioned in the ancient edicts written in copper plates from the end of the 12th century AD.

There is also a locally well-known legend about a foreign saint (a Persian from the city of Tabriz or a Moroccan Berber according to the versions) who subdued a demon known as Rannamaari.

Over the centuries, the islands have been visited and their development influenced by sailors and traders from countries on the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Although governed as an independent Islamic sultanate from 1153 to 1968, the Maldives was a British protectorate from 1887 until July 25, 1965.

After independence from Britain in 1965, the sultanate continued to operate for another three years under King Muhammad Fareed. On November 11, 1968, the monarchy was abolished and replaced by a republic.

Today Tourism, Maldives’ largest industry, accounts for 28% of GDP and more than 60% of the Maldives’ foreign exchange receipts. Over 90% of government tax revenue comes from import duties and tourism-related taxes. Fishing is the second leading sector.

Politics in the Maldives takes place in the framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is the head of Government. The President heads the executive branch and appoints the cabinet. The President is nominated to a five-year term by a secret ballot of the Majlis (parliament), a nomination which is confirmed by national referendum.

Nearly thirty-six members of the existing parliament joined the Dhivehi Raiyyathunge Party (the Maldivian People’s Party) and elected President Gayoom as its leader. Since 1996, the Maldives has been the official progress monitor of the Indian Ocean Commission.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

Born on December 29, 1937, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been the President of the Republic of Maldives since November 11, 1978, succeeding Ibrahim Nasir.

Much of Gayoom’s early life was spent in Egypt. He was among the 15 students selected at the direction of the then-president Mohamed Amin Didi for special education overseas. At the age of 10, he left for Egypt on September 15, 1947, with a stopover in Ceylon for a few days.

However, his departure from Ceylon was delayed for two and a half years because of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, during which he completed his secondary education at Royal College, Colombo.

When the war ended, he left for Egypt in March 1950 along with other Maldivian students. Gayoom attended Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He spent six months learning Arabic so he could enrol in the Faculty of Sharia and Civil Law to study for a Diploma of Education.

In 1966, he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Islamic Sharia and Civil Law, with honours. Gayoom came out first in the Faculty of Islamic Law and Studies at Al-Azhar University and was awarded his graduation certificate by Gamal Abdel Nasser.On March 12, 1973, Gayoom was placed under house arrest for criticising President Ibrahim Nasir’s policies.

He was tried in court and sentenced to banishment for four years on May 14, 1973. On May 21, he was taken to Makunudhoo Island of Haa Dhaalu Atoll. After serving five months of his sentence, Gayoom was released on October 13, 1973 as a result of Nasir’s amnesty following his re-election for another five-year term.

As Ibrahim Nasir’s second term was coming to an end, he wanted someone else running for the presidency. In June 1978, the Citizen’s Majlis was called upon to nominate a presidential candidate.

Forty five voted for Nasir, while the remaining 3 voted for Gayoom. There was another ballot on June 16, in which four people participated. 27 voted for Gayoom, enough for him to be put forward as a candidate.

Five months later, he was elected with 92.96% of the votes as the new President of the Maldives. The grand reception of his inauguration was held at Majeediyaa School on the night of November 10, 1978.

He escaped an assassination attempt last year, when a schoolboy rescued him from a knife-wielding attacker. He has participated in every SAARC summit held so far.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island nation located to the south of the Indian subcontinent. The total land area is 65,610 sq. km. and is astonishingly varied.

A length of 445 km. and breadth of 225 km. encompasses beautiful tropical beaches, verdant vegetation, ancient monuments and a thousand delights to please all tastes.

The relief features of the island consist of a mountainous mass somewhat south of the centre, with height exceeding 2,500 metres, surrounded by broad plains. Palm fringed beaches surround the island and the sea temperature rarely falls below 27AøC.

Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia, and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times.

Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation with faiths other than Buddhism, notably Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population, with Tamils, forming the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include the Muslim Moors and Malays and the Burghers.

Famous for the production and export of tea, coffee, coconuts and rubber, Sri Lanka boasts a progressive and modern industrial economy and the highest per capita income in South Asia. The natural beauty of Sri Lanka’s tropical forests, beaches and landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage, make it a world famous tourist destination.

Recent excavations show that even during the Neolithic Age, there were food gatherers and rice cultivators in Sri Lanka. Very little is known of this period; documented history began with the arrival of the Aryans from North India.

The Aryans introduced the use of iron and an advanced form of agriculture and irrigation. They also introduced the art of government. Of the Aryan settlements, Anuradhapura grew into a powerful kingdom under the rule of King Pandukabhaya. According to traditional history he is accepted as the founder of Anuradhapura.

During the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa, a descendent of Pandukabhaya, Buddhism was introduced in 247 B.C. by Arahat Mahinda, the son of Emperor Asoka of India. This is the most important event in Sri Lankan history as it set the country on the road to cultural greatness. As a new civilisation flourished Sri Lanka became rich and prosperous.

In the mid 2nd century B.C. a large part of north Sri Lanka came under the rule of an invader. From the beginning of the Christian era and up to the end of the 4th century A.D. Sri Lanka was governed by an unbroken dynasty called Lambakarna, which paid great attention to the development of irrigation.

A great king of this dynasty, Mahasen (3rd century A.D.) started the construction of large ‘tanks’ or irrigation reservoirs. Another great `tank’ builder was Dhatusena, who was put to death by his son Kasyapa who made Sigiriya a royal city with his fortress capital on the summit of the rock.

As a result of invasions the kingdom of Anuradhapura fell by the end of the 10th century A.D. Vijayabahu 1 repulsed the invaders and established his capital at Polonnaruwa in the 11th century A.D.

Other great kings of Polonnaruwa were Parakrama Bahu the Great and Nissanka Malla both of whom adorned the city with numerous buildings of architectural beauty. Invasion was intermittent and the capital was moved constantly until the Portuguese arrived in 1505, when the chief city was established at Kotte, in the western lowlands.

The Portuguese came to trade in spices but stayed to rule until 1656 in the coastal regions, as did the Dutch thereafter. Dutch rule lasted from 1656 to 1796, in which year they were displaced by the British. During this period the highland Kingdom, with its capital in Kandy, retained its independence despite repeated assaults by foreign powers who ruled the rest of the country.

In 1815 the kingdom of Kandy was ceded to the British and thus they established their rule over the whole island. Modern communications, Western medical services, education in English, as well as the plantation industry (first coffee then tea, rubber and coconut) developed during British rule.

By a process of peaceful, constitutional evolution, Sri Lanka won back her independence in 1948 and is now a sovereign republic, with membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations Organisation.

The office of Prime Minister of Ceylon was created in advance of independence on 14 October 1947, Don Stephen Senanayake being the first prime minister. On February 4, 1948 the country won its independence as the Commonwealth of Ceylon.

On July 21, 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike took office as prime minister, and became the world’s first female prime minister and the first female head of government in post-colonial Asia.

Sri Lanka is mainly an agricultural country. The chief crop is rice with which the country is almost self sufficient. Tea, rubber and coconut are also important agricultural crops, with tea being a major foreign exchange earner.

In addition, other crops of importance are cocoa and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper and cloves. Sri Lanka is also a major exporter of precious and semi-precious stones. Within the last few years remittances from Sri Lankans employed abroad have contributed a large share towards foreign exchange.

The last three decades have seen tourism emerge as an important industry. There has also been a rapid growth in manufacturing industries.

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President Mahinda Rajapkasa

Born on November 18, 1945 Mahinda Rajapaksa is the current President of Sri Lanka. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa previously served as the country’s Prime Minister from April 6, 2004 until his swearing in as President for a six-year term on November 19, 2005. He is married to Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and is the father of three sons.

Rajapaksa was born in Weerakatiya in the southern rural district of Hambantota. He hails from a well known political family in Sri Lanka. His father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was a prominent politician, independence agitator and former Member of Parliament.

D.M. Rajapaksa, his uncle, was a State Councillor for Hambantota in the 1930s who started wearing the earthy brown shawl to represent kurakkan (finger millet) cultivated by the people of his area, whose cause he championed throughout his life. It is from his example that Rajapaksa wears his characteristic shawl.

Rajapaksa was educated at Richmond College, Galle before moving to Nalanda College, Colombo and later Thurstan College, Colombo.

Following the death of his father in 1967, Rajapaksa took over as the SLFP candidate for Beliatte constituency and was elected to Parliament in 1970 as the youngest Member of Parliament at the age of 24. Later he studied law at the Sri Lanka Law College and took oaths as an attorney-at-law in November 1977.

In 1989 he was re-elected to Parliament to represent Hambantota District under Proportional Representation.

In 1994, following the election victory of the People’s Alliance a political front led by Sri Lanka Freedom Party and headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga, Rajapaksa was appointed Minister of Labour.

After the Parliamentary Elections of 2004, in which the United People’s Freedom Alliance was victorious, Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 13th Prime Minister on April 6, 2004.

While Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister, he also held the Ministry of Highways. He was elected Executive President in the nation-wide election held in November 2005.

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Capital city : Sri Jayawardhanapura Kotte
Largest city : Colombo
Official languages : Sinhala, Tamil ann English
Denonym : Sri Lankan
Government : Democratic Socialist Republic
Independence : February 4, 1948
Area : 65,610 square km
Population : 18.5 million
GDP : $ 86.72 billion
Currency : Sri Lankan Rupee

People’s Republic of Bangladesh

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Myanmar to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means ‘Country of Bengal’ in the official Bengali language.

The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly-formed Pakistan.

However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600 kilometres across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh.

However, the new state had to endure famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative stability and economic progress.

Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world and has a high poverty rate. Geographically the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones.

The government is a parliamentary democracy; however, political rule has been suspended under emergency law since 11 January 2007. Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the OIC, and the D-8.

As the World Bank notes in its July 2005 Country Brief, the country has made significant progress in human development in the areas of literacy, gender parity in schooling and reduction of population growth.

Remnants of civilisation in the greater Bengal region date back four thousand years, when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word ‘Bangla’ or ‘Bengal’ is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from Bang, the Dravidian-speaking tribe that settled in the area around the year 1000 BC.

After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdom of Gangaridai was formed from at least the seventh century BC, which later united with Bihar under the Magadha and Maurya Empires.

Bengal was later part of the Gupta Empire from the third to the sixth centuries CE. European traders arrived late in the 15th century, and their influence grew until the British East India Company gained control of Bengal following the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two zones, with Dhaka being the capital of the eastern zone. When India was partitioned in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines, with the western part going to India and the eastern part joining Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan), with its capital at Dhaka.

Dissatisfaction with the Central Government over economic and cultural issues continued to rise through the next decade, during which the Awami League emerged as the political voice of the Bengali-speaking population.

After its independence, Bangladesh became a parliamentary democracy. In the 1973 Parliamentary Elections, the Awami League gained an absolute majority.

A series of bloody coups and counter-coups in the following three months culminated in the ascent to power of General Ziaur Rahman, who reinstated multi-party politics and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Zia’s rule ended when he was assassinated in 1981.

Bangladesh’s next major ruler was General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, who gained power in a bloodless coup in 1982 and ruled until 1990, when he was forced to resign under Western donor pressure in a major shift in international policy.

Since then, Bangladesh has reverted to a Parliamentary democracy. Zia’s widow, Khaleda Zia, led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to parliamentary victory at the General Election in 1991 and became the first female Prime Minister in Bangladesh’s history.

However, the Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, one of Mujib’s surviving daughters, clinched power at the next election in 1996 but lost to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party again in 2001.

These two female ex-prime ministers are now in imprisonment in a sub-jail due to their suspected attachment with corruption. On January 11, 2007, following widespread violence, a Caretaker Government was appointed to administer the next general election.

Bangladesh is divided into six administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet. Divisions are subdivided into districts (zila).

There are 64 districts in Bangladesh, each further subdivided into upazila (subdistricts) or thana (‘police stations’). Bangladesh is a developing country with a per capita income of US$2300 in 2006 Jute was once the economic engine of the country. Its share of the world export market peaked in the Second World War and the late 1940s at 80 per cent and even in the early 1970s accounted for 70 per cent of its export earnings.

However, polypropylene products began to substitute for jute products worldwide and the jute industry started to decline. Bangladesh grows very significant quantities of rice, tea and mustard. More than three quarters of Bangladesh’s export earnings come from the garment industry, which began attracting foreign investors in the 1980s.

Bangladesh has a culture that encompasses elements both old and new. The Bengali language boasts a rich literary heritage, which Bangladesh shares with the Indian state of West Bengal.

The earliest literary text in Bangla is the eighth century Charyapada. Bangla literature in the medieval age was often either religious (e.g. Chandidas), or adaptations from other languages (e.g. Alaol). Bangla literature matured in the nineteenth century.

Its greatest icons are the poets Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Bangladesh also has a long tradition in folk literature, evidenced by Maimansingha Gitika, Thakurmar Jhuli or stories related to Gopal Bhar.

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Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed

Born on May 1, 1940, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is a noted Bangladeshi economist, civil servant, and a Former Governor of the Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank. He was appointed as the Chief Adviser (Head of the Government) of the non-party interim Caretaker Government of Bangladesh on 12 January 2007.

Prior to this appointment, he worked as Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) from June 2005 to January 2007. PKSF is the largest apex fund for micro credit in the world, currently providing financial and institution-building assistance to over two hundred micro-finance institutions. From October 2001 to April 2005, Dr. Ahmed served as Governor of the Bangladesh Bank.

While he was Governor, Dr. Ahmed introduced wide-ranging reforms in the conduct of monetary and exchange rate policy, in the development of new financial markets (bond market) and financial instruments (securitisation), and in the operation of the financial system.

Previously, Dr. Ahmed served for over twenty years at the World Bank, where his work focused on macroeconomic issues as well as on other sectoral and policy issues related to development. During his years at the World Bank, he worked across a number of countries in South Asia, East Asia and Africa.

Dr. Ahmed began his professional career as a Lecturer in Economics at Dhaka University. He obtained the first position in his class (first class first) in both BA (Hons.) and MA in Economics from Dhaka University. He subsequently received another MA in Development Economics from Williams College, USA, and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University, while on leave from his civil service appointment.
 

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Capital : Dhaka
Official language : Bengali
Government : Parliamentary Republic
Independence : (from Pakistan) March 26, 1971
Area : 147,570 square km
Population : 150,448,340 (2007)
GDP : $ 222.4 billion
Currency : Taka

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia. It is variously designated as geographically located within Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It has religious, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbouring states.

It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. The name Afghanistan means the “Land of Afghans.”

Afghanistan is a culturally mixed nation, a crossroads between the East and the West, and has been an ancient focal point of trade and migration.

It has an important geostrategical location, connecting South, Central and Southwest Asia.

During its long history, the land has seen various invaders and conquerors, while on the other hand, local entities invaded the surrounding vast regions to form their own empires. Ahmad Shah Durrani created the Durrani Empire in 1747, with its capital at Kandahar. Subsequently, the capital was shifted to Kabul and most of its territories ceded to former neighbouring countries.

In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in “The Great Game” played between the British Indian Empire and Russian Empire. On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained full independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign affairs.

Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war, which included foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government.

In late 2001 the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). This force is composed of NATO troops that are involved in assisting the government of President Hamid Karzai in establishing the writ of law as well as rebuilding key infrastructures in the nation. In 2005, the United States and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement committing both nations to a long-term relationship.

In the meantime, multi-billion US dollars have also been provided by the international community for the reconstruction of the country.

Though the modern state of Afghanistan was founded or created in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the land has an ancient history and various timelines of different civilizations. Excavation of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Institution and others suggests that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of the area were among the earliest in the world.

Afghanistan is a country at a unique nexus point where numerous Indo-European civilizations have interacted and often fought, and was an important site of early historical activity.

Through the ages, the region has been home to various people, among them the Aryan (Indo-Iranian) tribes, such as the Kambojas, Bactrians, Persians, Pashtuns, etc.

It also has been conquered by a host of people, including the Median and Persian Empires, Alexander the Great, Kushans, Hepthalites [White Huns], Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. In recent times, invasions from the British, Soviets, and most recently by the United States and their allies have taken place.

On the other hand, native entities have invaded surrounding regions in Iranian plateau and Indian subcontinent to form empires of their own.

Politics in Afghanistan has historically consisted of power struggles, bloody coups and unstable transfers of power. With the exception of a military junta, the country has been governed by nearly every system of government over the past century, including a monarchy, republic, theocracy and communist state.

The constitution ratified by the 2003 Loya jirga restructured the government as an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, (executive, legislature and judiciary).

Afghanistan is currently led by President Hamid Karzai, who was elected in October 2004. The current parliament was elected in 2005. Among the elected officials were former mujahadeen, Taliban members, communists, reformists, and Islamic fundamentalists. 28% of the delegates elected were women, 3 points more than the 25% minimum guaranteed under the constitution.

This made Afghanistan , long known under the Taliban for its oppression of women, one of the leading countries in terms of female representation. Construction for a new Parliament building began on August 29, 2005 .

Afghanistan is administratively divided into thirty-four (34) provinces (welayats), and for each province there is a capital. Each province is then divided into many provincial districts, and each district normally covers a city or several townships.

Afghanistan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It is an impoverished country, one of the world’s poorest and least developed.

Two-thirds of the population lives on fewer than 2 US dollars a day.

Its economy has suffered greatly from the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent conflicts, while severe drought added to the nation’s difficulties in 1998-2001. The economically active population in 2002 was about 11 million (out of a total of an estimated 29 million).

As of 2005, the official unemployment rate is at 40%.The number of non-skilled young people is estimated at 3 million, which is likely to increase by some 300,000 per annum.

The nation’s economy began to improve since 2002 due to the infusion of multi-billion US dollars in international assistance and investments, as well as remittances from expats. It is also due to dramatic improvements in agricultural production and the end of a four-year drought in most of the country.

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Capital (and largest city) - Kabul

Official languages - Dari (Persian) and Pashto

Afghan Government - Islamic Presidential Republic

First Afghan state - October, 1747

Independence from the United Kingdom - August 19, 1919

Population 2007 estimate - 31,889,923

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President Hamid Karzai

Born on 24th A December 1957 Hamid Karzai is the current President of Afghanistan, since December 7, 2004. He became a prominent political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

From December 2001, Hamid Karzai had been the Chairman of the Transitional Administration followed by the Interim President from 2002 until he won the 2004 Presidential election of Afghanistan. Karzai is known for his trademark Karakul hat.

Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun of the Popalzai clan of the Durrani tribe, was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He comes from a family that were strong supporters of the former king, Zahir Shah.

He has six brothers and one sister. Karzai is well-versed in several languages, including Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and French.[5] >From 1979 to 1983, Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.

He then returned to work as a fund-raiser by supporting anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention for the rest of the 1980s. After the fall of Najibullah’s Soviet-backed government in 1992, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Karzai was a member of the Mujahideen and took active part in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.

When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their UN ambassador.

Karzai was a candidate in the October 9, 2004 presidential election. He won 21 of the 34 provinces, defeating his 22 opponents and became the first democratically elected leader of Afghanistan .

As incumbent President Karzai held high name recognition among voters, and was admired by his supporters for his steady leadership during an uncertain post-war period. Karzai was officially sworn in as President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on December 7, 2004 at a formal ceremony in Kabul . Many interpreted the ceremony as a symbolically important “new start” for the war-torn nation.

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Pakistan displays some of Asia’s most magnificent landscapes as it stretches from the Arabian Sea, its southern border, to some of the world’s most spectacular mountain ranges in the north. Pakistan is also home to sites that date back to world’s earliest settlements rivalling those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Located in South Asia, Pakistan shares an eastern border with India and a north-eastern border with China. Iran makes up the country’s south-west border, and Afghanistan runs along its western and northern edge.

The Arabian Sea is Pakistan’s southern boundary with 1,064 km of coastline. The country has a total area of 796,095 sq km and is nearly four times the size of the United Kingdom. From Gwadar Bay in its south-eastern corner, the country extends more than 1,800 km to the Khunjerab Pass on China’s border.

Pakistan emerged on the world map on August 14,1947 . It has its roots into the remote past. Its establishment was the culmination of the struggle by Muslims of the South-Asian subcontinent for a separate homeland of their own and its foundation was laid when Muhammad bin Qasim subdued Sindh in 711 A.D. as a reprisal against sea pirates that had taken refuge in Raja Dahir’s kingdom.

The advent of Islam further strengthened the historical individuality in the areas now constituting Pakistan and further beyond its boundaries. In or about 1500 B.C., the Aryans descended upon the Punjab and settled in the Sapta Sindhu, which signifies the Indus plain.

They developed a pastoral society that grew into the Rigvedic Civilization. The discovery of the Gandhara grave culture in Dir and Swat will go a long way in throwing light on the period of Pakistan ‘s cultural history between the end of the Indus Culture in 1500 B.C. and the beginning of the historic period under the Achaemenians in the sixth century B.C.

The Gandhara grave culture has opened up two periods in the cultural heritage of Pakistan: one of the Bronze Age and the other of the Iron Age. It is so named because it presents a peculiar pattern of living in hilly zones of the Gandhara region as evidenced in the graves.

The first followers of prophet Muhammad to set foot on the soil of the South-Asian subcontinent, were traders from the coast land of Arabia and the Persian Gulf , soon after the dawn of Islam in the early seventh century A.D. The first permanent Muslim foothold in the subcontinent was achieved with Muhammad bin Qasim’s conquest of Sindh in 711 A.D.

It was in the early thirteenth century that the foundations of the Muslim rule in India were laid with extended boundaries and Delhi as the capital. The impact of Islam on the South-Asian subcontinent was deep and far-reaching.

A new language, Urdu, derived mainly from Arabic and Persian vocabulary and adopting indigenous words and idioms, came to be spoken and written by the Muslims and it gained currency among the rest of the Indian population.

Apart from religion, Urdu also enabled the Muslim community during the period of its ascendancy to preserve its separate identity in the subcontinent.

British Expansionism and Muslim Resistance Meanwhile, starting with the East India Company, the British had emerged as the dominant force in South Asia.

Their rise to power was gradual extending over a period of nearly one hundred years. They replaced the Shariah by what they termed as the Anglo-Muhammadan law whereas Urdu was replaced by English as the official language.

The uprising of 1857, termed as the Indian Mutiny by the British and the War of Independence by the Muslims, was a desperate attempt to reverse the adverse course of events.

The 1930s witnessed awareness among the Muslims of their separate identity and their anxiety to preserve it within separate territorial boundaries. During 1937-39, several Muslim leaders and thinkers, inspired by Allama Iqbal’s ideas, presented elaborate schemes for partitioning the subcontinent according to two-nation theory.

The Pakistan demand became popular during the Second World War. Every section of the Muslim community - men, women, students, Ulema and businessmen - were organized under the banner of the All-India Muslim League. In October 1946, an Interim Government was formed.

The Muslim League sent its representative under the leadership of its General Secretary, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, with the aim to fight for the party objective from within the Interim Government. After a short time, the situation inside the Interim Government and outside convinced the Congress leadership to accept Pakistan as the only solution of the communal problem.

The British Government, after its last attempt to save the Cabinet Mission Plan in December 1946, also moved towards a scheme for the partition of India . The last British Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, came with a clear mandate to draft a plan for the transfer of power.

After holding talks with political leaders and parties, he prepared a Partition Plan for the transfer of power, which, after approval of the British Government, was announced on June 3,1947 . As a result, on August 14,1947 , the new state of Pakistan came into existence.

Pakistan is a land of many splendours. The scenery changes northward from coastal beaches, lagoons and mangrove swamps in the south to sandy deserts, desolate plateaus, fertile plains, dissected upland in the middle and high mountains with beautiful valleys, snow-covered peaks and eternal glaciers in the north.A

The variety of landscape divides Pakistan into six major regions A the North High Mountainous Region A the Western Low Mountainous Region A the Baluchistan Plateau, the Potohar Uplands, the Punjab and the Sindh Plains.

Pakistan is divided into four provinces viz., North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab , Sindh and Baluchistan. The tribal belt adjoining NWFP is managed by the Federal Government and is named FATA i.e., Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas have their own respective political and administrative machinery, yet certain of their subjects are taken care of by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas.

Currency Pak. Rupee. Imports Industrial equipment, chemicals, vehicles, steel, iron ore,A petroleum, edible oil, pulses, tea.

Exports Cotton, textile goods, rice, leather items carpets, sports goods, handicrafts, fish and fish prep. and fruit Languages Urdu (National) and English (Official)

Literacy rate 53%

Parliament consists of two Houses i.e., the Senate (Upper House) and the National Assembly (Lower House). The Senate is a permanent legislative body and symbolises a process of continuity in the national affairs. It consists of 100 members.

The four Provincial Assemblies, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Federal Capital form its electoral college. The National Assembly has a total membership of 342 elected through adult suffrage (272 general seats, 60 women seats and 10 non-Muslim seats).

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Official Name - Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Father of the Nation - Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)

Head of the State - Pervez Musharraf, President

Prime Minister - Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani,

Capital - Islamabad

Area Total - 796,095 Sq. km.A

Population - 165 million (estimated)- 132 million (1998 census)

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Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani

Syed Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gillani is the twenty-sixth and current Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was a former Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan (1993-1997) and former Federal Minister (1985-1986).

Born on 9th June 1952 in Karachi, Prime Minister Gilani hails from an influential A political family in Multan. His political journey began during General Zia-ul-Haq’s martial law in 1978. He joined the Central Working Committee of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

He was also a cabinet member in the three-year government of Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, and served as Minister of Housing and Works from April 1985 to January 1986 and as Railways Minister from January 1986 to December 1986.

After a short stint with the Muslim League, Gilani joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1988. In the Benazir Bhutto government of 1988-1990, he was Minister of Tourism from March 1989 to January 1990 and Minister of Housing and Works from January 1990 to August 1990. In the Bhutto government of 1993-1996, he was Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan until February 1997.

He has been elected various times as the Member of National Assembly from Multan. In the 2008 general election, he beat Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) leader Sikandar Hayat Bosan.

Source: Sri Lankan newspapers, google, SAARC website and Wikipedia