President Zia died 

in a plane crash in 1988, and Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the country's first
female Prime Minister. The PPP was followed by conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N), and over the next decade the leaders of the two
parties fought for power, alternating in office while the country's situation worsened; economic indicators fell sharply, in contrast to the 1980s.
This period is marked by prolonged stagflation, instability, corruption, nationalism, geopolitical rivalry with India, and the clash of left wing-
right wing ideologies.[113] As PML (N) secured a supermajority in elections in 1997, Nawaz Sharif authorised nuclear testings (See:Chagai-
I and Chagai-II), as a retaliation to the second nuclear tests ordered by India, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in May 1998.[114]

President George W. Bush meets with President Musharraf in Islamabad during his 2006 visit to Pakistan.

Military tension between the two countries in the Kargil district led to the Kargil War of 1999, and turmoil in civic-military relations allowed
General Pervez Musharraf to take over through a bloodless coup d'état.[115][116] Musharraf governed Pakistan as chief executive from 1999 to
2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008—a period of enlightenment, social liberalism, extensive economic reforms,[117] and direct
involvement in the US-led war on terrorism. When the National Assembly historically completed its first full five-year term on 15 November
2007, the new elections were called by the Election Commission.[118]
After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007, the PPP secured the most votes in the elections of 2008, appointing party member Yousaf
Raza Gillani as Prime Minister.[119] Threatened with impeachment, President Musharraf resigned on 18 August 2008, and was succeeded
by Asif Ali Zardari.[120] Clashes with the judicature prompted Gillani's disqualification from the Parliament and as the Prime Minister in June
2012.[121] By its own financial calculations, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $118 billion,[122] sixty thousand
casualties and more than 1.8 million displaced civilians.[123] The general election held in 2013 saw the PML (N) almost achieve a

supermajority, following which Nawaz Sharif was elected as the Prime Minister, returning to the post
for the third time in fourteen years, in a democratic transition. [124] In 2018, Imran Khan (the chairman
of PTI) won the 2018 Pakistan general election with 116 general seats and became the 22nd Prime
Minister of Pakistan in election of National Assembly of Pakistan for Prime Minister by getting 176
votes against Shehbaz Sharif (the chairman of PML (N)) who got 96 votes.[125] In April 2022, Shehbaz
Sharif was elected as Pakistan's new prime minister, after Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote in
the parliament