The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Pakistan, or the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a state in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populated nation, with more than 241.5 million inhabitants, boasting the second-largest population of Muslims as of 2023. Islamabad serves as the country's capital, and Karachi is its biggest city and financial hub. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest nation in terms of size. Surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the south, the Gulf of Oman in the southwest, and the Sir Creek in the southeast, it shares land boundaries with India in the east; Afghanistan in the west; Iran in the southwest; and China in the northeast. It has a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's thin Wakhan Corridor. Pakistan is home to a number of ancient civilisations, such as the 8,500-year-old Neolithic settlement of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, the Indus Valley Bronze Age Civilisation and the ancient civilisation of Gan...