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 |