that the constitution of Pakistan would be based
on democratic and Islamic principles. This paved
the way for the 1956 Constitution, which provided
for a parliamentary form of government, though it
was soon followed by a period of martial law. In
the civil war of 1971, the eastern region of Paki-
stan became the independent state of bangladesh.
In 1977 Prime Minister Zia-ul-Haq (r. 1977–88)
introduced strict Islamic codes that included obliga-
tory Islamic zakat taxes, sharia courts, enforcement
of Islamic punishments, partial elimination of bank
interest, and Islamic-oriented revisions of school
curriculum. Since then, major debates and periods
of political instability have continued to center
around the appropriate role of Islam and Islamic
law in the state. Though sharia remains the guiding
paradigm for Pakistan’s legal system—interpreted
and implemented to varying degrees province by
province—Pervez Musharraf, who took power by
force in 1999, was a moderate on issues of the role
of Islam in the state. He was driven from office by
popular opposition in 2008 and the new govern-
ment also holds moderate religious views.
Since the partition of the Indian subconti-
nent, Pakistan has had strained relations with its
neighbor India. A major point of dispute has been
the contested boundaries of kashmir, which led
most recently to the Kargil war in 1999. In 1998,
the same year that India tested nuclear devices,
Pakistan became the world’s seventh country to
develop nuclear capabilities, and tension between
the two countries took on a new dimension with
the possibility of nuclear confrontation.
Pakistan has been home to or has supported
a number of Islamist movements and organiza-
tions. The Jamaat-i islami, founded by abU al-ala
maWdUdi (d. 1979) in India, has been active in
Pakistani affairs since the country’s creation. Pri-
vately managed mosques and madrasas (Islamic
schools) have provided the majority of educa-
tional opportunities in the country as well as a
base for independent, and often oppositional,
Islamist organizations. During the 1980s Pakistan
cooperated with the United States and other coun-
tries in helping the aFghan mujahidin conduct a
guerrilla war against Soviet forces that occupied
Afghanistan in 1978. Millions of Afghans came to
Pakistan as reFUgees to escape the turbulence in
their native land, and the refugee camps in eastern
Pakistan provided fertile ground for recruiting
fighters. The Pakistani intelligence service (ISI)
later gave aid to the taliban, a radical Islamist
organization that ruled most of Afghanistan from
1996 to 2001. Since 2001 the Pakistani govern-
ment has supported the United States in its anti-
terrorism efforts in a military campaign against
the Taliban and al-Qaida hideouts along the
Afghan-Pakistani border.
See also all-india mUslim leagUe; crime and
pUnishment; Jamiyyat al-Ulama-i islam; madrasa.
Megan Adamson SijapatiFurther reading: Husain Haqqani, Pakistan: Between
Mosque and Military (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, 2005); Moham-
mad Asghar Khan, ed., Islam, Politics, and the State: The
Pakistan Experience (London: Zed Books, 1985); Soofia
Mumtaz, Jean-Luc Racine, and Imran Anwar Ali, eds.,
Pakistan: The Contours of State and Society (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002).Palestine
Since Roman times, the term Palestine has referred
to a region in the eastern Mediterranean rich
in spiritual and historical significance. It is his-
torically diverse in religions and ethnicities, a
characteristic that has contributed to the modern
Palestinian experience as one of conflict, struggle,
and controversy. Palestine is claimed as sacred
space by Jews, Christians, and Muslims and is
often referred to as the “Holy Land.” As the focus
of both spiritual longing and political contest for
many centuries it has drawn world attention far
beyond its borders, particularly in the past 100
years following the emergence of modern nation-
alism in Palestine.K 542 Palestine