Pakistan

Core values & worldview

If you ask a Pakistani what their country is, you will often hear first about faith, then family, then a story of struggle. Pakistan was the first modern state created in the name of a religion, and for most Pakistanis being Pakistani and being Muslim are tightly bound together. The kalima, the call to prayer and the words insha’Allah (if God wills) and alhamdulillah (praise be to God) run through ordinary conversation.^•

What was Pakistan for? This is the country’s great unfinished argument. Some point to Jinnah’s 11 August 1947 speech promising freedom of worship and see a Muslim-majority democracy that should treat all citizens equally. Others point to the 1949 Objectives Resolution, which declared that sovereignty belongs to God, and want laws based more fully on Islam. Most people hold some of both, and the argument shows up in textbooks, courts and elections.^•

Family above all. Extended families often live together or close by, and big decisions, from university subjects to marriage partners, are family matters. Respect for elders is deep: you stand when an older relative enters, you don’t smoke in front of your father, and you call older strangers “uncle” and “aunty”.^•

Hospitality and generosity. Pakistanis are famously hospitable. Guests are pressed with tea and food, and refusing is hard. Pakistanis are also generous givers: private charity, religious giving (zakat and sadaqa) and volunteer organisations such as the Edhi Foundation fill many gaps the state leaves.^•

Pride and grievance. Many Pakistanis feel their country is misunderstood: known abroad for terrorism, coups and floods rather than for its poets, cricketers, mountains and hospitality. That can produce both fierce pride and a weary, self-mocking humour.^•

Daily life & customs

The day and the week. Prayer times shape the rhythm of the day for many, and Friday is the main congregational prayer, with shops and offices slowing at midday. Ramadan changes everything: offices shorten hours, and families gather at sunset to break the fast with dates, pakoras and fruit chaat.^•

Festivals and holidays. The two Eids are the high points of the year. At Eid al-Adha many families sacrifice a goat, sheep or cow and share the meat with relatives and the poor, and cities fill with livestock markets beforehand. Shia Pakistanis mourn Imam Husayn during Muharram with processions and gatherings. National days include Pakistan Day (23 March), Independence Day (14 August), Defence Day (6 September), Iqbal Day (9 November) and the Quaid’s birthday on 25 December.^•

Weddings. A Pakistani wedding is several days of events: the mehndi with henna, songs and dancing, the nikah (the religious contract), the baraat when the groom’s party arrives, and the walima reception given by the groom’s family. Many marriages are arranged or “assisted” by families, ranging from introductions the couple can refuse to stricter arrangements; cousin marriage is common.^•

Language and manners. Urdu is the common tongue, but at home most people speak Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi or another language, and educated Pakistanis switch freely into English. Assalam-o-alaikum is the standard greeting, and Allah hafiz or Khuda hafiz the goodbye. Urdu has several levels of politeness; using aap, the respectful “you”, is a good habit.^•

Food, cricket and dramas. Food is a serious matter: biryani, karahi, nihari, haleem, kebabs and endless cups of sweet milky chai. Cricket is played in every street and park. Evenings for many families mean watching Pakistani TV dramas, which are also popular in India and the diaspora.

Women’s lives. These vary enormously by class, region and family. Pakistan had a woman prime minister in 1988, and women serve as pilots, judges and CEOs, yet female literacy and workforce participation remain low, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan records hundreds of so-called honour killings a year. Since 2018 the annual Aurat (Women’s) March has become a flashpoint between feminists and conservatives.^•

Wounds & sensitivities

Partition. Families from Punjab and the Urdu-speaking cities often have stories of loss and flight in 1947. For many it is a story of both sacrifice and achievement. See Independence and Partition.

India. The rivalry with India, rooted in Partition and Kashmir and renewed with each crisis, runs deep, especially in state media and textbooks. Yet many Pakistanis love Bollywood, share a language with Indians and get on warmly with them abroad. Assuming hatred, or treating Pakistan as a breakaway part of India, both irritate.^•

Kashmir. Kashmir is felt as an unhealed wound and a matter of justice for fellow Muslims. Many Pakistanis react strongly to it being described only as a security problem or as “terrorism”. See Kashmir: Wars over a Divided Valley.^•

1971. The loss of East Pakistan is painful and often avoided. Some Pakistanis acknowledge the atrocities committed by the army; others focus on Indian intervention. Approach it gently. See 1971: War and the Loss of East Pakistan.^•

Being seen as a terror state. Pakistanis have been the largest group of victims of terrorism in their own country, and being treated with suspicion at airports or in the news is a constant sore point. See The War on Terror and the Years of Bombings.^•

Religion and blasphemy. Insults to the Prophet provoke intense reactions, and blasphemy accusations can be deadly: in 2011 the Governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated by his own bodyguard for criticising the blasphemy law, and mobs have attacked churches and homes, as in Jaranwala in 2023. Many Pakistanis privately worry about this, but public criticism of the laws is risky.^•

Modern attitudes

Politics. Pakistani politics is loud and polarised. Imran Khan, the 1992 cricket captain turned prime minister (2018–2022), was removed by a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022 and jailed in 2023; his supporters, especially the young, believe he was ousted by the army, while opponents see him as a divisive populist who was brought to power by that same army. After violent protests on 9 May 2023, a crackdown followed, and the 2024 election was marred by rigging allegations. Since the brief war with India in May 2025, army chief Asim Munir, promoted to field marshal, has been the dominant figure in the state.^•

Economy and leaving. Inflation, debt crises and repeated IMF programmes have hit the middle class hard, and many young Pakistanis dream of going abroad. Remittances from workers in the Gulf, Britain and North America are a lifeline for millions of families.^•

Religion and society. Most Pakistanis are religiously observant, and public life has become more visibly religious since the 1980s. At the same time there is a vigorous liberal press, a thriving arts and music scene, and constant debate about women’s rights, minority rights and the role of clerics.^•

Climate. After the 2022 floods, extreme heat and glacier melt, climate change feels immediate, and many Pakistanis see their country as a victim of emissions produced elsewhere.^•

Not all Pakistanis are the same

Punjabis are the largest group: Punjabi is the mother tongue of about 37% of Pakistanis, and more than half live in Punjab province. They dominate the army, bureaucracy and business; Lahore is their cultural capital. Pashtuns, about a fifth of the population by language, live mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and along the Afghan border, with a code of honour and hospitality called Pashtunwali, and huge numbers work in Karachi and the Gulf. Sindhis take pride in the Indus heritage and the Sufi poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, and back the Bhutto family’s Pakistan Peoples Party. Baloch, in the vast, resource-rich and poor south-west, have a long history of insurgency and grievances over enforced disappearances. Muhajirs, descendants of Urdu-speaking migrants from India, shape Karachi’s life and politics. Saraiki speakers in southern Punjab, Kashmiris, Hazaras, the peoples of Gilgit-Baltistan and many others each have their own story.^•

Sunni and Shia. Most Pakistani Muslims are Sunni, divided among Barelvis, who revere Sufi saints and shrines, Deobandis, who are more scripturalist, and smaller Ahl-e-Hadith groups. Shia Muslims are a substantial minority, often estimated at 10–15%, and have suffered sectarian attacks, especially the Hazaras of Quetta. Ismailis, followers of the Aga Khan, are prominent in Gilgit-Baltistan and Karachi.^•

Religious minorities. In the 2023 census about 2% of Pakistanis were Hindus, mostly in Sindh, and about 1.4% Christians, mostly in Punjab; there are also small Sikh, Parsi and Kalash communities. Ahmadis, legally declared non-Muslim in 1974, face particular persecution. Minorities have produced national heroes, from Christian air force pilots to the Parsi founders of Karachi’s institutions, but many face discrimination, poverty and, in the case of Hindu and Christian girls, reports of forced conversion and marriage.^•

Class and place. An English-speaking elite in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad lives a world apart from rural villagers, and the gap shapes almost everything, from schooling to marriage to politics.^•

The diaspora. About 1.6 million people in England and Wales identified as Pakistani in the 2021 census, many with roots in Mirpur in Pakistani Kashmir, and millions more work in the Gulf or live in North America. British Pakistanis may feel deeply Pakistani, deeply British, or both.^•

Meeting someone

Conversation starters

• Food. Ask about their favourite biryani, their mother’s cooking or the best place for nihari. You may get invited to dinner.
• Cricket. Asking about 1992, Wasim Akram or Babar Azam will light up most faces.
• Where their family is from. Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, a village in Punjab: everyone has a home town and a regional identity to share.
• Music and poetry. Nusrat, Coke Studio, Faiz or Iqbal are wonderful openings. Many people can quote a couplet.^•
  • Muhammad Iqbal — Encyclopaedia Britannica
• The mountains. Hunza, Skardu and the Karakoram Highway are a source of real national pride.

Topics to approach carefully

• India and Kashmir. Strong feelings, and not always the ones you expect. Listen before giving your view.
• The army. Some revere it and some resent it, and in Pakistan itself open criticism can be risky.
• 1971. It is painful and often not much discussed.
• Religion and blasphemy. Never joke about the Prophet; avoid pressing someone on the blasphemy laws or Ahmadis unless they raise it.
• Terrorism. Don’t ask a Pakistani to explain or answer for it. They have often suffered from it themselves.
• Imran Khan. Politics can divide families. Ask what they think rather than offering your own verdict.

Common misconceptions

• “Pakistan is basically the same as India.” The two share a great deal of history, food and language, but Pakistan has its own distinct identity, peoples and story since 1947, and centuries of regional history before that.^•
  • The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics — Ayesha Jalal, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2014)
  • Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy — Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Routledge
• “Pakistan is an Arab country” or “a desert country.” It is South Asian, with its own languages, and ranges from mangrove coast and the fertile Indus plains to three of the world’s great mountain ranges.^•
  • Pakistan — Encyclopaedia Britannica
• “Pakistanis are all extremists.” Militant groups exist, but the great majority of Pakistanis reject them, and they have been their main victims.^•
  • Update on the Human Costs of War for Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2001 to mid-2016 — Neta C. Crawford, Watson Institute, Brown University (2016)
  • Pakistan: A Hard Country — Anatol Lieven, Allen Lane (2011)
• “Pakistani women are all oppressed.” Women’s lives vary enormously, and Pakistan elected a woman to lead it decades before many Western countries did. Real problems exist, and Pakistani women activists are the loudest voices against them.^•
  • Benazir Bhutto — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • State of Human Rights in 2023 — Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2024)
• “Pakistan has always been a military dictatorship.” It has had long periods of elected government and an energetic press, judiciary and civil society, even as the army’s influence remains strong.^•
  • The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan — Aqil Shah, Harvard University Press (2014)