Yearbook 2010
Pakistan. The state of similar civil war that Pakistan has been in since 2007 continued unabated during the first half of the year. Only when the country was hit by floods in August, which was described as one of the world’s worst natural disasters in modern times, did the terror attacks temporarily subside.
Economy
Inflation rate | 4.10% |
Unemployment rate | 6% |
Gross domestic product (GDP) | $ 1,061,000,000,000 |
GDP growth rate | 5.40% |
GDP per capita | $ 5,400 |
GDP by sector | |
Agriculture | 24.40% |
Industry | 19.10% |
Service | 56.50% |
State budget | |
Revenue | 15.93 billion |
Expenditure | 25.31 billion |
Proportion of the population below the national poverty line | 12.4% |
Distribution of household income | |
Top 10% | 39.3 |
Lower 10% | 9.9 |
Industrial production growth rate | 6.80% |
Investment volume | 18.1% of GDP |
National debt | 67.00% of GDP |
Foreign exchange reserves | $ 20,020,000,000 |
Tourism | 2012 |
Number of visitors | 966,000 |
Revenue | $ 971,000,000 |
According to COUNTRYAAH, Pakistan has a population of 212.2 million (2018). The mega city of Karachi was hit by repeated political murders followed by riots, in the second largest city of Lahore a series of explosive attacks were carried out. An attack on a volleyball match in the northwest in January demanded close to 100 casualties, a camp for internal refugees in the northwest was attacked in April and at least 30 were killed.
Several assaults were attributed to the domestic Taliban movement, whose fighting against the security forces continued throughout the year, but several bloody attacks also led to settlements between religious extremist groups or rival political parties.
During the first half of the year, a significant number of Afghan Taliban leaders were arrested, described by the US as a breakthrough for cooperation between the US and Pakistani security services. However, other analysts believed that the arrests could be attempts by the Pakistani military security service (Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI) to intercept peace contacts in Afghanistan that have not been sanctioned by ISI.
During the fall, the United States markedly stepped up its attacks with driverless aircraft against suspected terrorist arrests in the border area with Afghanistan. In December, the CIA’s chief of security in Pakistan was forced to leave the country in a hurry for security reasons in December after his name went public.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the two letter abbreviation of PK stands for the country of Pakistan in geography.
In April, a proposal to amend the constitution was submitted to Parliament. Both chambers quickly adopted the proposal, which came into force in the same month after being signed by President Asif Ali Zardari. By signing this, he was deprived of a large part of his powers, which was transferred to the Prime Minister. Among other things, the president is no longer allowed to dissolve parliament or appoint senior military chiefs, not appoint judges or election commissioners and not announce state of emergency in a province. Election of prime minister and provincial leader shall be by open ballot. The prime responsibility for the nuclear arsenal is now with the Prime Minister.
In connection with the constitutional amendments, the North-West Frontier Province also changed its colonial name to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to mark its Pashtun character. The decision triggered riots among ethnic minorities in the area.
A UN report on the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto stated that it could be due to inadequate security measures and that the police investigation was substandard. Several senior police and intelligence chiefs were dismissed or relocated after the report. In December, two police officers were arrested on the orders of an anti-terrorist court.
At the end of the year, the government’s future was uncertain, after two parties left the coalition.
A report from the British London School of Economics claimed that the ISI security service finances, educates and protects the Afghan Taliban to a greater extent than previously known. According to softwareleverage, a speech by British Prime Minister David Cameron, in which he made direct links between the Pakistani state and Islamist terrorism, caused great outrage in Islamabad.
Unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered floods in August. First, the Swat Valley was hit in the north, then the water masses inexorably swept over large land areas along the Indus River and after a few weeks reached the southern parts of the country. Entire villages were destroyed, huge agricultural areas were washed away, industries and workshops were destroyed, about 1,700 people drowned and about 21 million became homeless or otherwise affected. As of December, almost 7 million were homeless and in need of urgent help. In September, the UN appealed for $ 2 billion in disaster relief and had received 49 percent of the amount at the beginning of December. At the same time it was reported that large sums were used incorrectly or not at all. Nearly $ 60 million invested in a fund started by the prime minister had not been used at all.
During the fall, American driverless attack planes, “drones,” carried out a large number of bombers in the clan areas along the Afghan border, and many radical Islamists were reported to have been killed. At one time, among other things, five German citizens were killed. The intensified drone attacks were linked to warnings of planned terrorist attacks in Germany and other European countries. In revenge for the attacks, Islamists set dozens of tankers belonging to NATO on fire in October. They would have spent fuel on the NATO troops in Afghanistan.
In October, the United States pledged another $ 2 billion in military aid to Pakistan, among other things to strengthen the fight against extremists. Among the many secret documents published in December by the Internet site WikiLeaks, it was revealed that the US leadership for many years has been deeply concerned that Pakistani nuclear weapons will end up in the wrong hands and that Pakistan now produces more nuclear weapons than any other country.