Asia's seventh largest country, occupying the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent. It covers an area of 307,374 square miles (796,096 square km), excluding the Pakistani-held part of Jammu and Kashmir in the northeast. The capital is Islamabad. Pakistan was brought into being at the time of the Partition of British India in 1947 in order to create a separate homeland for India's Muslims in response to the demands of Islamic nationalists, demands that were articulated by the All India Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. From independence in 1947 until 1971, Pakistan (both de facto and in law) consisted of two regions—West Pakistan, in the Indus River basin, and East Pakistan, located more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away in the Ganges River delta. In response to grave internal political problems, however, an independent state of Bangladesh was proclaimed in East Pakistan in 1971. Since 1947 the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, along the western Himalayas, has been disputed between Pakistan and India, with each holding sectors. The country extends for more than 990 miles (1,600 km) from south to north and for about 550 miles (880 km) from west to east. It is bounded to the west by Iran, to the north by Afghanistan, to the northeast by China, to the east and southeast by India, and to the south by the Arabian Sea. The population in 1992, including Afghan refugees and residents of Pakistani-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, was estimated to be 130,129,000.