Administrative divisions

Main articles: Administrative units of Pakistan and Districts of Pakistan

Pakistan is a federation of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as the Islamabad Capital Territory and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the northwest, which include the Frontier Regions. The government of Pakistan exercises de facto jurisdiction over the western parts of the disputed Kashmir region, organised into the separate political entities Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas). The Gilgit–Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009 assigned a province-like status to the latter, giving it self-government.^[97]
Local government follows a three-tier system of districts, tehsils and union councils, with an elected body at each tier.^[98] There are about 130 districts altogether, of which Azad Kashmir has ten^[99] and Gilgit–Baltistan seven.^[100] The Tribal Areas comprise seven tribal agencies and six small frontier regions detached from neighbouring districts.^[101]

Clickable map of the four provinces and four federal territories of Pakistan.

Law enforcement in Pakistan is carried out by federal and provincial police agencies. The four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory each have a civilian police force with jurisdiction limited to the relevant province or territory. At the federal level, there are a number of civilian agencies with nationwide jurisdictions; including the Federal Investigation Agency, the National Highways and Motorway Police, and several paramilitary forces such as the Pakistan Rangers and the Frontier Corps.^[102]
The court system of Pakistan is organised as a hierarchy, with the Supreme Court at the apex, below which are High Courts, Federal Shariat Courts (one in each province and one in the federal capital), District Courts (one in each district), Judicial Magistrate Courts (in every town and city), Executive Magistrate Courts and Civil Courts. Pakistan's penal code has limited jurisdiction in the Tribal Areas, where law is largely derived from tribal customs.^[102][103]

Military

Main article: Pakistan Armed Forces

The JF-17 Thunder, a locally made aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force, takes off during an aerobatics display

A team of Pakistani Special Service Wing soldiers during training

Pakistani Naval guard at the Mazar-e-Quaid.

The armed forces of Pakistan are the eighth largest in the world in terms of numbers in full-time service, with about 617,000 personnel on active duty and 513,000 reservists in 2010.^[104] They came into existence after independence in 1947, and the military establishment has frequently been involved in the politics of Pakistan ever since.^[75] The Chairman joint chiefs (the current chairman is General Shameem Wynne) is the highest principle officer in the armed forces, and the chief military adviser to the government though the chairman has no authority over the three branches of armed forces. The three main branches are the Army (headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani^[105]), the Navy (headed by Admiral Asif Sandila), and the Air Force (headed by Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt), and they are supported by a number of paramilitary forces.^[106] The National Command Authority is responsible for employment, for control of the development of all strategic nuclear organisations and for Pakistan's nuclear doctrine under the nuclear defence theory. Pakistan's defence forces maintain close military relations with China and the United States and import military equipment mainly from them.^[107] The defence forces of China and Pakistan carry out joint military exercises.^{[106][108][109]} Conscription may be introduced in times of emergency, but it has never been imposed.^[110]
Since independence, Pakistan has been involved in four wars with neighbouring India, beginning in 1947 with the First Kashmir War, when Pakistan gained control of present-day Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. The two countries were at war again in 1965 and in 1971,^[111] and most recently in the Kargil War of 1999.^[61] The Army has also been engaged in several skirmishes with Afghanistan on the western border: in 1961, it repelled a major Afghan incursion.^[112] During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Pakistan shot down several intruding pro-Soviet Afghan communist aircraft and provided covert support to factions of the Afghan mujahideen through the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.^[113]
Apart from its own conflicts, Pakistan has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions. It played a major role in rescuing trapped American soldiers from Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 in Operation Gothic Serpent.^{[114][115][116]} Pakistani armed forces are the largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping missions.^[117]

PNS Shah Jahan and PNS Tippu Sultan during a Pakistan Navy drill

Pakistan maintained significant numbers of troops in some Arab countries in defence, training and advisory roles.^[118][119] During the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, PAF pilots volunteered to go to the Middle East to support Egypt and Syria, which were in a state of war with Israel; they shot down ten Israeli planes in the Six-Day War.^[114] In 1979, at the request of the Saudi government, commandos of the Pakistani Special Service Group were rushed to assist Saudi forces in Mecca to lead the operation of the Grand Mosque Seizure.^[120] In 1991 Pakistan got involved with the Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a US-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.^[121]
Pakistani armed forces have been engaged in a war in North-West Pakistan since 2001, mainly against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.^[122][123] Major operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Black Thunderstorm and Operation Rah-e-Nijat.^[124][125]

Kashmir conflict

Main article: Kashmir conflict

The disputed areas of the region of Kashmir. India claims the entire erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir based on an instrument of accession signed in 1947. Pakistan claims all areas of the erstwhile state except for those claimed by China..

The Kashmir conflict is a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, the most northwesterly region of South Asia. The two countries have fought at least three wars over Kashmir—the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999—and several skirmishes over the Siachen Glacier.^[89] India claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir and administers approximately 45.1% of the region, including most of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and the Siachen Glacier. India's claim is contested by Pakistan, which controls approximately 38.2% of Kashmir, consisting of Azad Kashmir and the northern areas of Gilgit and Baltistan.^[89][126]
The conflict of Kashmir has its origin in 1947, when British India was separated into the two states of Pakistan and India. As part of the partition process, both countries had agreed that the rulers of princely states would be allowed to opt for membership of either Pakistan or India, or in special cases to remain independent.^[127] India claims Kashmir on the basis of the Instrument of Accession, a legal agreement with Kashmir's leaders executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, then ruler of Kashmir, agreeing to accede the area to India.^[128][129] Pakistan claims Kashmir on the basis of a Muslim majority and of geography, the same principles that were applied for the creation of the two independent states.^[130][131] India referred the dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948.^[132] In a resolution in 1948, the UN asked Pakistan to remove most of its troops. A plebiscite would then be held. However, Pakistan failed to vacate the region. A ceasefire was reached in 1949 and a Line of Control was established, dividing Kashmir between the two countries.^[127]
Pakistan's position is that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have the right to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations.^[133] India has stated that it believes that Kashmir is an integral part of India, referring to the 1972 Simla Agreement and to the fact that elections take place regularly.^[134] Certain Kashmiri independence groups believe that Kashmir should be independent of both India and Pakistan.