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Pakistan - People and society
Ninety-seven per cent of the140 million people in Pakistan, are
Muslim. Laws, culture, and traditions all reflect this. The population
is made up of different ethnic groups. One of these -- the Mohajirs
(meaning ‘emigrants’) -- came from areas which are in
today's India, when the country was created in 1947.
The official language is English, and most of the people can understand
and speak Urdu as well. However, Urdu is the mother tongue of only
seven per cent of the population. The other main languages are Sindhi,
Punjabi, Pushto, Baluchi, Siraiki, Potohari, Hindko, and Brahwi.
More than half the working population is involved in agriculture.
Manufacturing, mining, and service industries are the other large
employers. Many people go abroad in search of work.
Sport
The most famous sporting achievement for Pakistan was winning the
Cricket World Cup in 1992. This wasn’t a one-off. In 1995,
Pakistan were reigning world-champions in four separate sports;
cricket, field hockey, squash, and snooker. The national sport is
hockey, but ‘the people’s sport’ is cricket. Shahbaaz
is the most famous hockey player in the country. Jahangir and Jansher
Khan were squash champions of the world for 14 consecutive years.
Famous names in cricket include Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar,
and Fazal Mahmood.
Arts and Crafts
The ancient civilisations of Moen-Jo-Daro and Harrappa were making
clay pots and bricks in the region of modern Pakistan in 5,000 BC.
Amazingly, the foot-driven potter’s wheel of that period is
still in popular use today. Potters and metal workers tend to draw
on ancient artefacts for their inspiration. Jewellery especially
reflects an ancient art, which reached perfection during the Moghul
period, in ornately engraved gold chokers, bracelets, and earrings.
Many tribal and mountain women pierce the outer ridges of their
ears, so they can wear several hoops and studs. Basketry, woodwork,
and carpet-making are still widely practised crafts.
Music
Up until the early 1980s, commercial pop music was limited to the
urban/upper classes in Pakistan. Film tunes and Western songs, to
which Urdu lyrics were added, were popular. In 1980, 13-year-old
Nazia Hassan changed that, blending Eastern and Western sounds,
and topping Pakistan’s charts. Currently, Junoon are the biggest
rock band in South Asia; they single-handedly brought rock to Pakistan.
Also very popular is qawwali - the undulating music of
Islamic Sufi mystics.
Introduction
|| History
|| Geography
& Environment
People &
Society || Factfile
|| Oxfam in Pakistan
Photos: Sarah Errington and Zehra Hussein/Oxfam
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