Pakistan's Profile

[genial.soul]

chronology of key events:

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


MUHAMMED ALI JINNAH
Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1947
Founding father of Pakistan, revered as the 'Great Leader'
Born in Karachi, 1876
Pakistan's first head of state until his death in 1948

1998: Screening the life of Jinnah

1940 - Muslim League endorses idea of separate nation 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, the first governor general of Pakistan, dies.

1948 - 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.

1960 - General Ayyub Khan becomes president.

War and secession

1965 - Second war with India over Kashmir.

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

1970 - Victory in general elections in East Pakistan 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 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister.

Zia takes charge


ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO
Former Prime Minister Bhutto hanged in 1979
Former PM deposed in coup, sentenced in murder trial

On This Day 1979: Deposed Pakistani PM is executed

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

1978 - General Zia becomes president.

1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hanged.

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, the US ambassador and top Pakistan army officials die in mysterious air crash.

Bhutto comeback


General Zia: Killed in mysterious air crash
General Zia's death in 1988 ended 11-year military rule

1999: Echoes of General Zia

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

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

1991 - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif begins economic liberalisation programme. Islamic Shariah law formally incorporated into legal code.

1992 - Government launches campaign to stamp out violence by Urdu-speaking supporters of the Mohajir Quami Movement.

1993 - President Khan and Prime Minister Sharif both resign under pressure from military. General election brings Benazir Bhutto back to power.

Politics and corruption


BENAZIR BHUTTO
Benazir Bhutto: Dogged by corruption charges
Former PM, twice dismissed from office for alleged corruption

2003: Benazir Bhutto's extraordinary career
Women in Power: Benazir Bhutto

1996 - President Leghari dismisses Bhutto government amid corruption allegations.

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

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

1999 April - Benazir Bhutto and her husband convicted of corruption and given jail sentences. Benazir 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.

1999 October - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif overthrown in military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf. Coup is widely condemned, Pakistan is suspended from Commonwealth.

2000 April - Nawaz Sharif sentenced to life imprisonment on hijacking and terrorism charges.

2000 December - Nawaz Sharif goes into exile in Saudi Arabia after being pardoned by military authorities.


NAWAZ SHARIF
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, overthrown in 1999 coup
Former PM ousted in 1999 coup, lives in exile in Saudi Arabia

Profile: Nawaz Sharif

2001 20 June - Gen Pervez Musharraf names himself president while remaining head of the army. He replaced the figurehead president, Rafiq Tarar, who vacated his position earlier in the day after the parliament that elected him was dissolved.

2001 July - Musharraf meets Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in the first summit between the two neighbours in more than two years. The meeting ends without a breakthrough or even a joint statement because of differences over Kashmir.

2001 September - Musharraf swings in behind the US in its fight against terrorism and supports attacks on Afghanistan. US lifts some sanctions imposed after Pakistan's nuclear tests in 1998, but retains others put in place after Musharraf's coup.

Kashmir tensions

2001 October - India fires on Pakistani military posts in the heaviest firing along the dividing line of control in Kashmir for almost a year.

2001 December - India imposes sanctions against Pakistan, to force it to take action against two Kashmir militant groups blamed for a suicide attack on parliament in New Dehli. Pakistan retaliates with similar sanctions.

2001 December - India, Pakistan mass troops along common border amid mounting fears of a looming war.


Street in Chakothi, on the Pakistani side of Kashmir's line of control
Tensions with India over Kashmir go back decades

In Depth: Kashmir flashpoint
Timeline: Pakistan-India tensions

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

2002 January - Musharraf announces that elections will be held in October 2002 to end three years of military rule.

2002 April - Musharraf wins another five years in office in a referendum criticised as unconstitutional and fraught with irregularities.

2002 May - 14 people, including 11 French technicians, are killed in a suicide attack on a bus in Karachi. The following month 12 people are killed in a suicide attack outside the US consulate in the city.

2002 May - Pakistan test fires three medium-range surface-to-surface Ghauri missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Musharraf tells nation that Pakistan doesn't want war but is ready to respond with full force if attacked.

2002 June - Britain and USA maintain diplomatic offensive to avert war, urge their citizens to leave India and Pakistan.


PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
Pervez Musharraf (2005 picture)
Military leader became pivotal player in so-called war on terror
Profile: President Pervez Musharraf

1999: Musharraf's post-coup address
2002 August - President Musharraf grants himself sweeping new powers, including the right to dismiss an elected parliament. Opposition forces accuse Musharraf of perpetuating dictatorship.

2002 October - First general election since the 1999 military coup results in a hung parliament. Parties haggle over the make-up of a coalition. Religious parties fare better than expected.

2002 November - Mir Zafarullah Jamali selected as prime minister by the National Assembly. He is the first civilian premier since the 1999 military coup and a member of a party close to General Musharraf.

2003 February - Senate elections: Ruling party wins most seats in voting to the upper house. Elections said to be final stage of what President Musharraf calls transition to democracy.

2003 June - North-West Frontier Province votes to introduce Sharia law.

Kashmir ceasefire

2003 November - Pakistan declares a Kashmir ceasefire, which is swiftly matched by India.

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 two-year ban.

President Musharraf survives an attempt on his life; bombs explode under a bridge seconds after his car passes over it.


Police restrain man during protest against Shia mosque bomb, Karachi, June 2004
Religious tension spills out into Karachi's streets

2004: Karachi - Volatile metropolis
2004: Pakistan's schisms spill into present
2004 February - Leading nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan admits to having leaked nuclear weapons secrets. Technology is said to have been transferred to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

2004 April - Parliament approves creation of military-led National Security Council. Move institutionalises role of armed forces in civilian affairs.

2004 May - Pakistan readmitted to Commonwealth.

Factional violence in Karachi: Senior Sunni cleric shot dead; bomb attack on Shia mosque kills 16, injures 40.

2004 June - Military offensive near Afghan border against suspected al-Qaeda militants and their supporters after attacks on checkpoints. Earlier offensive, in March, left more than 120 dead.

2004 August - Shaukat Aziz is sworn in as prime minister. In July he escaped unhurt from an apparent assassination attempt.

2004 December - President Musharraf announces that he will stay on as head of the army. He had previously promised to relinquish the role.

2005 January - Tribal militants in Baluchistan attack facilities at Pakistan's largest natural gas field, forcing closure of main plant.


Kashmir quake survivors arrive at temporary camp in Mansehra, Pakistan, Oct 2005
2005 quake killed thousands, left millions without shelter

2005: In Depth - South Asia Quake
2005 7 April - Bus services, the first in 60 years, operate between Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

2005 July - More than 130 people are killed and hundreds are injured in a collision between three passenger trains in Sindh province.

More than 200 suspected Islamic extremists are detained at premises which include religious schools and mosques. The move comes in the wake of deadly bombings in London. Three of the bombers visited Pakistan in 2004.

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

2005 8 October - An earthquake, with its epicentre in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, kills tens of thousands of people. The city of Muzaffarabad is among the worst-hit areas.