General Information

Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان Pākistān

pronunciation (help·info)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a South Asian country located in the mountainous region adjoining Central Asia and the Middle East.^[5]^[6] It has a 1,046 kilometre (650 mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, the Republic of India in the east and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast.^[7] Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. In recent times, Pakistan has been called part of the New Middle East.^[8]

The region forming modern Pakistan was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and then, successively, recipient of ancient Vedic, Persian, Turco-Mongol, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and/or settlement by the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols and the British.^[9] It was a part of British India during the British Raj from 1858 to 1947, until the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. When the Pakistan Movement for a state for Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League resulted in the independence and creation of the state of Pakistan, that comprised the provinces of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Balochistan and East Bengal. With the adoption of its constitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1971, a civil war in East Pakistan resulted in intervention from India and the subsequent independence of Bangladesh. Pakistan's history has been characterized by periods of economic growth, military rule and political instability.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. The country is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies. Pakistan is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Developing 8 Countries, G20 developing nations, Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the Economic Cooperation Organisation. It is also a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organisation, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, G33 developing countries, Group of 77 developing nations, major non-NATO ally of the United States and is a nuclear state.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pakistan Air Force

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (Urdu: پاک فضائیہ, Pak Fiza'ya) is the air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role to provide air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role to provide strategic air transport and logistics capability to Pakistan. The PAF has 65,000 full-time personnel (including approximately 3,000 pilots) and operates approximately 700 aircraft, including 470+ combat aircraft.

Mission statement

The Peregrine Falcon is the military symbol of the Pakistan Air Force and the secondary national bird of Pakistan, after the Chukar.

The primary mission statement of the PAF was given by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, during his address to the passing out cadets of the Pakistan Air Force Academy Risalpur on 13 April, 1948, and has been taken as an article of faith by all coming generations of PAF personnel:

“

A country without a strong air force is at the mercy of any aggressor, Pakistan must build up its own Air Force as quickly as possible, it must be an efficient Air Force, second to none.^[1]

”

But the present scenario has required and enabled the Force to come up with an improved and up-to-date Mission Statement: "To provide, in synergy with other Armed Forces, an efficient, assured and cost-effective aerial defense

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