Pakistan: Timeline of key events

Issue: 150

Geoff Brown


1906

Muslim League founded

1940

Muslim League adopts principle of a separate nation for India’s Muslims

1947

India partitioned creating East and West Pakistan. Around one million die in communal violence, millions more are displaced

1948

Pakistan army invades Balochistan. Dispute over Kashmir leads to first war between India and Pakistan

1952

Student uprising in East Pakistan protesting against Urdu as sole national language

1955

Pakistan joins the Baghdad Pact, later known as the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO)

1958

Pakistan’s first military dictatorship: General Ayub Khan takes over

1965

Second war with India over Kashmir

1968

Mass movement triggered by students leads to overthrow of military dictatorship

1970

Pakistan’s first proper general election. Awami League wins in East Pakistan

1971

Army repression in East Pakistan leads to over a million deaths. Army defeated by India. East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes office as president

1972

Mass strike in Karachi

1977

General Zia leads coup overthrowing Bhutto

1978

Zia introduces elements of sharia law

1979

Bhutto hanged

1980

Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan becomes key US ally

1988

Zia killed in plane crash

1988

Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir, becomes prime minister, holding office 1988-90 and 1993-6

1988

First structural adjustment agreement with the IMF

1991

Nawaz Sharif takes office. Prime minister 1991-3 and 1997-9

1998

India explodes nuclear devices followed by Pakistan carrying out its own nuclear tests

1999

Military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf

2001

Musharraf supports US attacks on Afghanistan

2004

Renewed insurgency in Balochistan

March 2007

Musharraf suspends Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Protest movement across Pakistan

July 2007

Chaudhry reinstated by Supreme Court

Nov 2007

Musharraf declares emergency rule

Dec 2007

State of emergency lifted. Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Aug 2008

Musharraf resigns

Sept 2008

Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, elected president

April 2009

Army invasion of Swat: thousands killed, over two million refugees

Aug 2010

Monsoon floods kill over 1,600, 20 million people displaced

April 2011

Osama Bin Laden, found hiding in Pakistan, is seized and killed by American special forces

May 2013

General election. Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League declared victor. Widespread protests alleging vote-rigging

June 2014

Taliban attack on Karachi airport. Army launches Operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan

Aug 2014

PTI leader Imran Khan and cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri lead march on Islamabad followed by sit-in before Parliament House

Dec 2014

Taliban attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. 150 killed, mostly children. Islamabad sit-in called off

Jan 2015

National Action Plan established to tackle Taliban. Moratorium on use of death penalty lifted

Feb 2016

Eight day strike at Pakistan International Airlines after the military fire on demonstration killing two employees