Geo Political Importance of Pakistan

By M. Waqas (Ex MPA) Nov 19th, 2008 Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look 36 Comments
Introduction Pakistan is worlds ninth most populous country. It is situated in North West part of south Asian sub continent and lies between 24 and 37 north latitude and 67 and 75 east longitude. It is bounded on the east by India (1950 km) on north & north west by Afghanistan(1200 km) on south west by Iran (800 km) on the south by Arabian Sea. It has also a common border on the north with China (600 km). Pakistan has a land of 769095 sq km, spread over a diverse terrain, comprising steep mountains and deep valleys, fertile plains of Indus valley and deserts in sindh and balochistan. Geographical importance The foreign policy of a country is determined by its geography. (Napoleon) This may be an exaggeration, but there can be no question that geography has had decisive effect upon civilization and upon national development. I will try to high light the geographic factor in the light of following points like Size, Location, Natural resources & geo politics. Size The land area of a state in itself is an element of power. Size effects on the conduct of warfare, population and natural resources. Size also effects on national unity. It is important from administrative and cultural point of view. In this perspective Pakistan is ideal. Its size is greater than many developed countries like UK, France, Japan and its population is less than Japan Indonesia and Malaysia. In this regard land of Pakistan is quite enough for its inhabitants for their use like residence , agriculture , forestry, industry and other facilities of infrastructure like dams roads and motorways. Location Location is perhaps more important than size. Location tends to make a state a land power or a sea power. Pakistan has two of the largest countries of the world as its neighbors .china with a population of over one billion and India with nearly a billion. During the cold war era Pakistan played a role of buffer zone in communism and capitalism. Pakistan is located at the mouth of Indian Ocean. Thus it is the gate way for central Asian states to reach the Indian Ocean. Worlds 75% trade pass through Arabian Sea and Pakistan enjoys the privilege of being a central point in that trade route having 700 km of coastal line and deep sea port of Gawader. Natural Resources Pakistan has the best natural resources of the world. Lack of technology fragile infrastructure and limited financial resources are the main hurdles in the way to explore and utilize these resources. Population

Pakistan is fortunate in this regard that it has greater ratio of young generation while in contrast to that the west is far behind from us. Our only need is to properly educate our youngsters. The vivid proof of our talent is that Pakistanis are showing excellent performance in every sphere of life in the developed countries. Our atomic bomb is another example of the talent of our scientists. Now the question is how to exploit all these positive factors in favor of Pakistan and why so far our leaders failed to avail the opportunities which are spread on all over the horizon and waiting for us to grasp them . May be our young generation find the answer of this question?