Pakistan profile - Timeline

bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12966786

BBC News

A chronology of key events:

1906 - Muslim League founded as forum for Indian Muslim separatism.

1940 - Muslim League endorses idea of separate state for India's Muslims.

1947 - Muslim state of East and West Pakistan created out of partition of India at the end
of British rule. Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal violence, and millions
are made homeless.

1948 - Muhammed Ali Jinnah, founding leader of Pakistan, dies. First war with India over
disputed territory of Kashmir.

Military rule

1951 - Jinnah's successor Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated.

1956 - Constitution proclaims Pakistan an Islamic republic.

1958 - Martial law declared and General Ayyub Khan takes over.

War and secession

1965 - Second war with India over Kashmir.

1969 - General Ayyub Khan resigns and General Yahya Khan takes over.

1970 - Victory in East Pakistan election for breakaway Awami League, leading to rising
tension with West Pakistan.

1971 - East Pakistan attempts to secede, leading to civil war. India intervenes in support
of East Pakistan, which eventually breaks away to become Bangladesh.

1972 - Simla peace agreement with India sets new frontline in Kashmir.

1973 - Populist Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister.

Zia takes charge

1977 - Riots erupt over allegations of vote-rigging by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party (PPP). General Zia ul-Haq launches military coup.

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1978 - General Zia becomes president, ushers in Islamic legal system.

1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hanged amid international protests.

1980 - US pledges military assistance to Pakistan following Soviet intervention in

Afghanistan.

1985 - Martial law and political parties ban lifted.

1986 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir returns from exile to lead PPP in campaign
for fresh elections.

1988 August - General Zia, US ambassador, and top army brass die in air crash.

Bhutto comeback

1988 November - Benazir Bhutto's PPP wins general election.

1990 - Benazir Bhutto dismissed as prime minister on charges of incompetence and

corruption.

1991 - Conservative Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif begins economic liberalisation

programme. Islamic Sharia law formally incorporated into legal code.

1992 - Government launches campaign to stamp out violence by Urdu-speaking

supporters of the Mohajir Quami Movement.

1993 - Prime Minister Sharif resigns under pressure from military. General election brings
Benazir Bhutto back to power.

Nuclear tests

1996 - President Leghari dismisses Bhutto government amid corruption allegations.

1997 - Nawaz Sharif returns as prime minister after Muslim League wins elections.

1998 - Pakistan conducts its own nuclear tests after India explodes several nuclear
devices.

1999 April - Benazir Bhutto and husband convicted of corruption and given jail sentences.
Ms Bhutto stays out of the country.

1999 May - Kargil conflict: Pakistan-backed forces clash with the Indian military in the icy
heights around Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir. More than 1,000 people are killed on both
sides.

Musharraf coup

1999 October - General Pervez Musharraf seizes power in coup.

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2000 April - Nawaz Sharif sentenced to life imprisonment on hijacking and terrorism
charges over his actions to prevent the 1999 coup. Goes into exile in Saudi Arabia later in
the year after being pardoned by military authorities.

2001 June - Gen Musharraf names himself president while remaining head of the army.

2001 September - President Musharraf backs the US in its fight against terrorism and
supports attacks on the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. US lifts some sanctions
imposed after Pakistan's nuclear tests in 1998.

2002 January - President Musharraf bans two militant groups - Lashkar-e-Toiba and
Jaish-e-Mohammad - and takes steps to curb religious extremism.

2002 April - President Musharraf wins another five years in office in a controversial
referendum.

Thaw with India

2003 November - Pakistan declares a Kashmir ceasefire; India follows suit.

2003 December - Pakistan and India agree to resume direct air links and to allow
overflights of each other's planes from beginning of 2004, after a two-year ban.

2004 February - Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan admits to having leaked nuclear
weapons secrets, reportedly to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

2004 June - Pakistan mounts first military offensive against suspected al-Qaeda militants
and their supporters in tribal areas near Afghan border. US begins using drone strikes to
target al-Qaeda leaders in the area.

2004 April - Parliament approves creation of military-led National Security Council,

institutionalising role of armed forces in civilian affairs.

2005 April - Bus services, the first in 60 years, operate between Muzaffarabad in
Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

2005 August - Pakistan tests its first nuclear-capable cruise missile.

Kashmir quake

2005 October - Earthquake kills tens of thousands of people in Pakistani-administered

Kashmir.

2007 February - Pakistan and India sign an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of
accidental nuclear war.

Musharraf targets judiciary

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2007 March - President Musharraf suspends Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry,
triggering a wave of protests across the country.

2007 July - Security forces storm the jihadist-occupied Red Mosque complex in
Islamabad following a week-long siege.

Supreme Court reinstates Chief Justice Chaudhry.

2007 October - Ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto returns from exile. Dozens of people die
in a suicide bomb targeting her homecoming parade in Karachi.

2007 October-November - Musharraf wins presidential election but is challenged by

Supreme Court. He declares emergency rule, dismisses Chief Justice Chaudhry and
appoints new Supreme Court, which confirms his re-election.

2007 November - Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif returns from exile.

Bhutto killed, Musharraf resigns

2007 December - Benazir Bhutto assassinated at political rally at election campaign rally
in Rawalpindi.

2008 February-March - Pakistan People's Party (PPP) nominee Yusuf Raza Gilani
becomes PM at head of coalition with Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League party following
parliamentary elections in February.

2008 August - President Musharraf resigns after the two main governing parties agree to
launch impeachment proceedings against him.

Nawaz Sharif pulls his PML-N out of the coalition, accusing the PPP of breaking its
promise to reinstate all judges sacked by President Musharraf.

2008 September - MPs elect Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari - the
widower of assassinated former PM Benazir Bhutto - president.

Suicide bombing on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad kills 53 people. Soon after, government
launches major offensive in Bajaur tribal area, killing more than 1,000 militants.

2008 November - The government borrows billions of dollars from the International
Monetary Fund to overcome its spiralling debt crisis.

Tribal areas turmoil

2008 December - India blames Mumbai attacks in November on Pakistani-based

militants, and demands Pakistan take action. Islamabad denies involvement but promises
to co-operate with the Indian investigation.

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2009 March - After days of protests, government yields to demands for reinstatement of
judges dismissed by former President Musharraf.

2009 August - The leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, is killed in US drone
attack in South Waziristan. He is succeeded by Hakimullah Mehsud.

Suicide bombing in northwestern city of Peshawar kills 120 people.

Reform efforts

2010 April - Parliament approves package of wide-ranging constitutional reforms.

Measures include transferring key powers from president to prime minister.

2010 August - Worst floods in 80 years kill at least 1,600 people and affect more than 20
million. Government response widely criticised.

2011 January - A campaign to reform Pakistan's blasphemy law leads to the killing of two
prominent supporters, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in January, and Minorities
Minister Shahbaz Bhatti in March.

2011 May - The founder of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, is killed by American special
forces in Abbottabad.

"Memogate"

2011 December - Government comes under pressure over a leaked memo alleging
senior officials sought US aid against a military coup after the killing of Osama bin Laden
in April.

2012 January - Amid growing tension between government and military over "memogate"
scandal, army chief Gen Pervez Kayani warns of "unpredictable consequences" after PM
Yousuf Raza Gilani criticises army leaders and sacks top defence official.

2012 May - A US Senate panel cuts $33m in aid to Pakistan over the jailing of Pakistani
doctor Shakil Afridi who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden.

2012 June - Supreme Court disqualifies Prime Minister Gilani from holding office after he
declines to appeal against a token sentence in President Zardari corruption row.
Parliament approves Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf as his successor.

2012 July - Pakistan agrees to reopen Nato supply routes to Afghanistan after the US
apologises for killing Pakistani soldiers in November.

Sunni extremist violence increases

2012 September - Muslim cleric Khalid Chishti is arrested on suspicion of planting burnt
pages of the Koran on a Christian girl briefly detained for blasphemy. Amid widespread
condemnation of the case against the girl at home and abroad, a court dropped it

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November.

2012 October - Taliban gunmen seriously injure 14-year-old campaigner for girls' rights
Malala Yousafzai, whom they accused of "promoting secularism". The shooting sparked a
brief upsurge of anger in Pakistan against the militants.

2012 November - Taliban suicide bomber kills at least 23 people at a Shia Muslim
procession in the Rawalpindi.

2013 June - Parliament approves Nawaz Sharif as prime minister after his Muslim
League-N wins parliamentary elections in May.

2014 June - A deadly assault on Karachi's international airport leaves dozens dead.
Uzbek militants fighting with the Pakistani Taliban say they carried out the attack. Peace
talks with the Taliban collapse and the army launches a major offensive on Islamist
hideouts in north-west Pakistan.

2014 October - Teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban but
survived to become a campaigner for girls' education, becomes the youngest person ever
to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Peshawar school attack

2014 December - Taliban kills nearly 150 people - mostly children - in an attack on a
school in Peshawar.

Government responds to the massacre by lifting a moratorium on the death penalty and
launching round-up of terror suspects, although critics complain major terror organisers
are left alone.

2015 April - India protests over Pakistan court release on bail of suspected mastermind of
2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Human rights activist Sabeen
Mehmud shot dead in Karachi.

2015 April - China and Pakistan sign agreements worth billions of dollars to boost
infrastructure. They are designed to end Pakistan's chronic energy crisis and transform
the country into a regional economic hub.

2015 June - Pakistan acknowledges that eight out of ten Taliban members allegedly jailed
for the gun attack on teenage education activist and Nobel Prize laureate Malala
Yousafzai were secretly acquitted at their trial in April.

2016 November - Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is named as new army chief. The position is
arguably the most powerful in the country.

2017 February - The Islamic State group takes responsibility for a suicide bombing at a
major Sufi shrine in Sindh which killed nearly 90 people. Pakistan closes border with
Afghanistan.

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2017 March - Parliament passes a law allowing the country's Hindu minority to register
their marriages for the first time since partition from India in 1947.

Rise of Imran Khan

2017 August - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is forced to resign after being disqualified by
the Supreme Court over corruption charges. He is convicted and given a jail sentence.

2018 August - Former international cricket star Imran Khan becomes prime minister on a
pledge to end corruption and dynastic politics, after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
becomes the largest party in the July general election.

2018 November - Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after eight years
on death row, is freed from prison, prompting violent protests by Islamists.

2019 February - Clashes with India follow an attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e
Mohammad jihadist group on security forces' convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

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Timeline of major political events in Pakistan
trtworld.com/asia/timeline-of-major-political-events-in-pakistan-19015

Pakistan will head to the polls on July 25 to choose a new leader in what will be the
second democratic transition of power in seven decades.

The South Asian nation has been ruled by the military for about half of its history since
independence in 1947.

Ahead of the historic election, we look at major events that have formed the country’s
politics.

August 14, 1947 - Muslim League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah, known as Quaid-e-
Azam (Father of the nation), is sworn in as the first governor-general of Pakistan after
British India is divided into two independent states – the Muslim majority Pakistan
(comprising East and West wings) and Hindu-majority India. Liaquat Ali Khan becomes
the first prime minister.

October 16, 1951 - Liaquat Ali Khan, who drafted the Objectives Resolution – a preamble
to the current constitution – is assassinated in Rawalpindi.

1951-1954 - Several prime ministers are sacked over drafting the constitution and
defining the role of various institutions for governance.

March 23, 1956 - Military strongman Iskander Mirza, who played an important role in
ousting of Governor-General Sir Malik Ghulam, is sworn in as the first president and
approves Pakistan's first constitution.

October 7, 1958 - Iskander Mirza declares martial law.

October 27, 1958 - Army Commander General Ayub Khan dismisses Mirza in the first
successful coup of the country.

January 2, 1965 - Ayub Khan defeats Fatima Jinnah, sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
and is re-elected as president in an election that is marred by allegations of political
rigging by the powerful military.

March 25, 1969 - Ayub hands over power to Army Chief General Yahya Khan, who
imposes martial law for the second time and dissolves all assemblies, after protests led
by politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

December 7, 1970 - First general elections are held with victory of East Pakistani leader
of the Awami League, raising tensions with the country’s West wing.

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March 26, 1971 - Pakistan military experiences one of the heaviest setbacks after
tensions between East Pakistan and West Pakistan over the outcome of the election lead
to a war. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who founded Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), assumes power
as country’s only civilian martial law administrator after Indian intervention in Bangladesh
results in separation.

December 20, 1971 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is elected president

August 14, 1973 - New constitution comes into effect, giving the power of decision-
making to the prime minister and rendering the president as a figurehead. Bhutto, who
formulated the constitutional change, becomes the prime minister and Fazal Ellahi
president.

March 7, 1977 - General elections see a victory for Bhutto's party amid rigging
allegations.

July 5, 1977 - Bhutto is deposed by then army chief General Ziaul Haq and arrested on
charges of authorising a murder of a political opponent. Zia declares martial law.

April 4, 1979 - Bhutto is hanged in Rawalpindi after a controversial trial on charges of

corruption and extrajudicial killings.

February 28, 1985 - General elections are held on a non-party basis. Zia becomes
president as Muhammad Khan Junejo is appointed prime minister. The new national
assembly ratifies Zia's actions over the last eight years.

August 17, 1988 - Zia dies, along with 31 others, including the US ambassador, in a
plane crash.

November 16, 1988 - Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, wins elections,
becoming the country's first female prime minister.

August 6, 1990 - President Ghulam Ishaq Khan sacks Benazir's government on charges
of corruption.

October 24, 1990 - Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister after the Islami Jamhoori
Ittehad (IJI) – a coalition of religious parties and the Pakistan Muslim league widely
believed to have been engineered by the military – wins the elections.

April 19, 1993 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses Sharif's government on charges of
corruption.

July 18, 1993 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Sharif resign.

October 6, 1993 - Benazir is elected prime minister once again.

November 14, 1993 - Farooq Leghari is elected president.

November 5, 1996 - Leghari dismisses Benazir's government on corruption charges.

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February 3, 1997 - Sharif becomes the prime minister for the second time after his party
wins a landslide in general elections.

October 12, 1999 - Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf stages a coup to
topple the civilian government of Sharif.

May 13, 2000 - Supreme Court justices who take their oath under a Provisional
Constitutional Order validate the military coup in the country.

June 20, 2001 - General Musharraf becomes president while holding the post of chief of
army staff.

April 30, 2002 - Musharraf holds a referendum on staying on as president for another five
years. He wins the majority.

October 10, 2002 - General elections are held under Musharraf's military government.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Q wins most seats. Zafarullah Khan Jamali is sworn in as
prime minister.

August 28, 2004 - Shaukat Aziz, then the finance minister, replaces Jamali as prime
minister.

October 18, 2007 - Bomb blast targets a PPP reception rally for Benazir as she returns to
the country for an election bid after a reconciliation deal with Musharraf following an eight-
year exile.

December 27, 2007 - Benazir is assassinated in a gun and bomb attack after addressing
a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

February 18, 2008 - Yousuf Raza Gilani is elected prime minister as the PPP wins
general elections.

September 6, 2008 - Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, is elected president.

April 8, 2010 - Zardari hands over power to dissolve assemblies to the prime minister
shifting the country from a semi-presidential system to a complete parliamentary system.

June 19, 2012 - Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies Gilani from his post after finding
him in contempt of court.

June 22, 2012 - Raja Parvez Ashraf of the PPP is sworn in as prime minister.

May 11, 2013 - General elections are held and Sharif becomes prime minister after his
PML-N wins the polls.

July 28, 2017 - Sharif resigns from office after the Supreme Court disqualifies him over a
corruption case related to ownership of luxury flats in London.

August 1, 2017 - PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi becomes the new prime minister.

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July 14, 2018 - Sharif and daughter Maryam Nawaz are arrested after their return to
Lahore from London, where they were tending to an ailing wife and mother Kulsoom
Nawaz.

July 25, 2018 - Elections to be held in Pakistan.

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