Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (), is a country located in South Asia that overlaps with the Greater Middle East. It has a thousand-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south and borders Afghanistan and Iran to the west, India to the east and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast.The Kashmir region is claimed by 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. The Pakistan–China border is not recognized by India.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second most populous Muslim country. It was established as a modern state in 1947, as one of the two parts of the partitioned British India, but the region has a long history of settlement and civilisation including the Indus Valley Civilisation. The region was invaded by Afghans, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, and was incorporated into British Raj in the nineteenth century. Since independence, Pakistan has experienced times of significant military and economic growth, and times of instability, with the loss of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and is a declared nuclear weapons state.

Etymology

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The name "Pakistan" (IPA: ) means "Land of the Pure" in Urdu and Persian and was coined in 1933 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, who published it in the pamphlet Now or NeverText of the Now or Never pamphlet, issued on January 28, 1933 as an acronym of the names of the "Muslim homelands" of western India — P for Punjab, A for Afghania (the Afghan areas), K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and tan for Balochistan. An i was later added to the English rendition of the name to ease pronunciation.

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