ETHNO-TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF PAKISTAN. TO THE PROBLEM OF UNDERSTANDING AND ADMINISTERING OF A COMPOSITE SOCIETY. PART I
A brief analysis of territorial and demographic structure of Pakistan from the viewpoint of its ethnic and changing politico-administrative composition is presented in the article. Taking into account the just published results of the Population census of 2017, it contains some basic facts and figures about the provinces of the federation, its capital district and controlled territories, whose fate is closely linked to the history of the Kashmir problem which lasts for more than 70 years. The author pays attention to the tribal belt that till recently had a special administrative and juridical status. In the conclusion he touches upon the issue of national consolidation and ethnic movements in the country. The first part of the article is dedicated mainly to the northern and eastern regions of the country. Highlighted are the peculiar features of coming into being and politico-administrative system of Azad (free) Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, which are administered by Pakistan but do not belong to it de jure . The central place of the Punjab province along with the adjacent capital Islamabad in the ethno-territorial structure of the state is analyzed. Special attention the author pays to the socioeconomic backwardness of South Punjab with population speaking Seraiki language. The article reveals that the proportion of population speaking Punjabi is contracting constantly, while the weight of those whose mother tongue is Sindhi, Pushto, Seraiki and Baluchi is growing. This process goes on in the cities, even the most populous, like Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sind. Interethnic tensions and overcrowding turned this largest Pakistani megalopolis into one of the most dangerous and unfit for living cities in the world. Meanwhile, the rural Sind remains the stronghold of semi-patriarchal relations where peasantry suffers from lawlessness and poverty.