PAKISTAN - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. IX, p. 354

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

PAKISTAN. —

I. GEOGRAPHY

A federal state constituted on 15 Aug. 1947, formally associated with the British Commonwealth. It comprises two separate territories: West Pakistan (795,000 sq. km.; 35 million inhabitants; 44 per sq. km.), including the former (British) units of West Punjab, Sind, the North-West Frontier Province, and Baluchistan; and East Pakistan, 1,500 km to the east (140,000 sq. km.; 45 million inhabitants; 322 per sq. km.), which includes East Bengal and the district of Sylhet. Still undecided is the attribution of Kashmir (219,000 sq. km.; 5 million inhabitants; 24 per sq. km.) to Pakistan (or to the Indian Union); its population is predominantly Muslim, while the ruling dynasty is Hindu. With a total area of 935,000 sq. km. and over 80 million inhabitants—42 million of whom are in East Pakistan—Pakistan is thus the largest and most populous Muslim state in the world; Muslims constitute about three-quarters of the population (over two-thirds of the Muslims of the former Indian Empire). There are 225,000 Catholics in the country. The possible annexation of Kashmir would further strengthen the Muslim character of the state; its proportions would then become 1.15 million sq. km. with over 85 million inhabitants (74 per sq. km., compared with 110–120 in the Indian Union).

Pakistan is essentially an agricultural country, but with secure industrial potential that political independence and separation from India will not fail to develop. In East Pakistan, situated in a typically monsoonal zone, rice is the principal crop, along with jute; indeed, Pakistan holds a world primacy in jute production. In West Pakistan, with its semi-arid climate, vast irrigation works are being constructed: alongside cereals (wheat, barley), cotton is the leading crop, and rice has recently been introduced. Significant quantities of other products (oilseeds, sesame, flax, colza, castor, and especially tobacco and sugarcane) complete the already varied picture of Pakistani agriculture. Forests are few. The inventory of mineral resources is steadily increasing, with coal (340,000 tons in 1949), petroleum (118,000 tons), rock salt, and chromite already being exploited. Hydroelectric potential is also considerable.

The partition of the former Indian Empire left Pakistan with only a very small share of the pre-existing industrial infrastructure (e.g., the major center of jute processing, Calcutta, lies outside Pakistan), yet large-scale plants have already been established for food processing, textiles, and engineering, particularly in West Pakistan.

Trade has already assumed significant proportions, tending to free itself from traditional dependence on the metropolis. The two main ports are: in West Pakistan, Karachi (1.2 million inhabitants), which is also the state capital, and in East Pakistan, Chittagong (125,000 inhabitants). There are also about fifteen urban centers with populations exceeding 100,000: Lahore (in Punjab) has about 1 million, and Dhaka (Bengal) over half a million; Hyderabad (Sind) and Rawalpindi (Punjab) each have over 300,000.

BIBL.: C. R. Ali, *P.*, Cambridge 1947; Reyaz Ul-Hasan, *Alcune notizie sulle condizioni demografiche ed economiche del P.*, in *Boll. Soc. geogr. ital.*, 8th ser., 1 (1948), pp. 238–41; M. B. Pithawalla, *An Introduction to P.: its resources and potentialities*, Karachi 1948. Giuseppe Caraci

II. HISTORY

The history of Pakistan up to 1947 India (v.). For the immediate antecedents of the new state formation, it may be recalled that within the movement for autonomy and then for independence in India, led since 1885 by the Indian National Congress, the All India Muslim League emerged in 1906 as the first expression of separate Muslim aspirations. Until 1932, Hindus and Muslims acted jointly in common claims; in 1932 a Pakistan National Movement arose, later absorbed by the Muslim League, which demanded an autonomous Muslim state. It resisted the federal state project for India envisaged by the 1935 Constitution, which came into force in 1937. In 1940, the leader of the Muslim League, in a speech at Lahore, explicitly enunciated the demand for a Muslim state. After the Second World War, negotiations with the British authorities led to the actual formation of the two new Dominions of India and Pakistan. The proclamation of Pakistan, with its capital at Karachi, took place on 15 Aug. 1947.

Pending the Constitution, which is still in preparation, the president of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan serves as head of state. The first president of the Constituent Assembly was Mohammed ‘Ali Jinnah (Jinnah), born in Karachi in 1876 and leader of the Muslim League from 1937. He died on 11 Sept. 1948; he was succeeded by Tamiz ad-Din Khan. The general outlines of the new Constitution, so far enunciated in the debates of the Constituent Assembly (among other things, in a speech by Prime Minister Liaquat ‘Ali Khan at the beginning of 1949), suggest that Pakistan will be a federal state with a democratic republican basis; Islam will be the state religion, and laws will be framed in accordance with Islamic principles. English is currently the official language, but proposals have been made to replace it with Urdu (the lingua franca of Indian Muslims) and Arabic (the language of religious instruction in Muslim countries).

Pakistan is divided into two territories, West and East, separated by some two thousand kilometers of Indian territory; this situation weakens its state cohesion, especially since there are marked ethnic differences between the two vastly distant parts. In its three years of existence, Pakistan has had to overcome serious economic difficulties, also in connection with the movement of millions of people from one side to the other following the 1947 partition. In foreign policy, Pakistan acts in accord with Britain, seeking to assert collaboration with other Islamic states. Relations with neighboring India have been and remain difficult; the most intractable issue is that of Kashmir, whose government adhered to the Indian Union in 1947, while a predominantly Muslim population rose under a free government (Azad Kashmir Government) with the support of Pakistan. The situation repeatedly threatened to escalate into open war between Pakistan and India. United Nations mediation led to a truce between the parties, but has not yet succeeded in defining the modalities for a plebiscite. The latest proposal, made by Sir Owen Dixon in 1950—that the plebiscite be held under the authority of United Nations officials, with a temporary suspension of the authority of the current governments in the two contested zones—failed due to opposition from India.

There are also border disputes with Afghanistan, as Afghan support backs the aspirations of the Pathan tribes for autonomy in their territory.

**Ettore Rossi**

**III. EVANGELIZATION.** — In East Pakistan, formerly East Bengal, Jesuits, Dominicans, and Augustinians arrived toward the end of the 16th century to minister primarily to the Portuguese in various trading posts and among the servants of the Great Mughal. The Augustinians in particular founded several parishes in East Bengal, which remained under their care until the 19th century under the bishop of São Tomé de Meliapore; they also served in Dhaka, Chittagong, and Dania, among other places.

After the reorganization of the missions in India in the 19th century, Eastern Bengal from 1850 constituted an apostolic vicariate, entrusted to the Congregation of the Holy Cross; from 1876 to 1886 it was served by the Cassinese Benedictines of the Anglo-Belgian Congregation. In 1884 it was definitively declared exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdiocese of Goa, and only a few parishes remained under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Saint Thomas of Meliapur until the convention between the Holy See and Portugal in 1929. In 1886, with the establishment of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in India, Eastern Bengal was elevated to the diocese of Dacca in 1887. From Dacca the diocese of Chittagong was carved out in 1927, also entrusted to the Congregation of the Holy Cross. In the northern part of Eastern Pakistan, in Dinajpur, the mission was begun in 1855 by the Lombard Seminary for Foreign Missions. From 1870 it was part of the apostolic prefecture of Central Bengal, erected as a diocese in 1886 under the name of Krishnagar in 1887, from which Dinajpur was separated in 1927 as an independent diocese, entrusted to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan. With the creation of the new State of Pakistan, the territory of the dioceses of Chittagong and Dinajpur came to be divided between India and the new State, so that on 14 and 15 July 1950 the territory of the two dioceses was reduced to the area belonging to Eastern Pakistan. At the same time, on 15 July 1950, Dacca was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese with the suffragan sees of Chittagong, Dinajpur, and the new diocese of Jessore.

In Western Pakistan, in the Punjab region, the first missionaries of the Society of Jesus arrived at the court of Akbar in Lahore in 1591, but were expelled in 1614. The year 1624 marked a resumption of the mission, which however could not be sustained. The few faithful were subsequently visited occasionally from Agra and Delhi. During and after the British occupation of the Punjab, the Capuchins founded churches in various locations, including Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi. In 1850 the apostolic vicariate of Punjab was erected, later elevated to a diocese in 1856 under the name of Lahore. In 1887 the apostolic prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir was detached, entrusted to the missionaries of the Mill Hill Missionary Society, elevated to a diocese in 1947 under the name of Rawalpindi. From the diocese of Lahore the apostolic prefecture of Multan was detached in 1936 and entrusted to the Dominicans, elevated to a diocese in 1939. In the other part of Western Pakistan, in Sindh and Baluchistan, Carmelites and Augustinians were present at the beginning of the 17th century, but due to persecutions around 1672 they had to cease their activities. After the British occupation of Sindh, the Carmelites returned. In Baluchistan the Mill Hill Fathers established a station at the end of the 19th century. Both the Carmelites and the Mill Hill Fathers gave way to the Jesuits, with the territory becoming part of the diocese of Bombay. In 1935 the Dutch Franciscans took over the mission in Sindh and Baluchistan, elevated to a diocese in 1948 under the name of Karachi. In 1950 Karachi became an archdiocese with the suffragan sees of Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi; at the same time the archbishop of Karachi was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Pakistan, and in 1951 became Apostolic Internuncio to the government.

In Pakistan the Catholic Church, with approximately 225,000 members among approximately 80 million inhabitants, constitutes an almost imperceptible minority. Socially, Christians are in a disadvantaged position, being mostly Chuhras in the Punjab or Santals in Bengal. The Catholic mission seeks contact with the local population through schools and charitable works; there are, above all, hospitals run by the “Catholic Medical Missionaries” and the “Medical Missions Sisters” in Rawalpindi and Karach

i. Despite their small numbers, Christians enjoy the necessary freedoms for schools and charitable works from the government

See pl. XXXIX.

BIBL.: H. Josson, La mission du Bengale occidental, I, Bruges 1921; M. A. Mathis, With the Holy Cross in Bengal, Washington 1924; E. Maclagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul, London 1932; Clemente da Terzorio, Le missioni dei Minori Cappuccini, IX, Roma 1935; G. Brambilla, Il Pontificio Istituto delle Missioni Estere e le sue Missioni, III, Bengal, Milano 1941; anon., In the Land of the Sindi and the Baluchi, Karachi 1947.

GIOVANNI ROMMERSKIRCHEN