Pakistan is an independent nation-state, established as an Islamic Republic with Islam as the state religion, operating under a federal parliamentary democratic system. Its origin lies in the Partition of India, a division of British India set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947. The country legally came into existence at midnight on August 14–15, 1947, to solve the demand for a separate homeland for Muslims, based on the two-nation theory.
The country is governed by the Constitution of 1973, which establishes a parliamentary form of government with the Prime Minister as the functional head and the President as the head of state. The mechanism of governance includes a bicameral legislature, the Majlis-e-Shoora, comprising the directly elected National Assembly (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). The Constitution also guarantees fundamental rights and provides for an independent judiciary.
Pakistan's geopolitical identity is intrinsically connected to India, with their relationship rooted in the 1947 Partition and ongoing disputes like Jammu and Kashmir. Both nations are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), though their bilateral tensions have often hampered the organization's progress.
The constitutional framework has seen recent significant changes, notably the 26th Constitutional Amendment passed in October 2024, which amended Article 175 to change the method of selecting the Chief Justice of Pakistan. More recently, the 27th Constitutional Amendment was passed on November 13, 2025, which created the new constitutional post of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and granted unprecedented powers to the military leadership.