PAKISTAN

To enlarge click on photo repeat to shrink

Map source

1500 B.C. The Aryans arrived in the Punjab region.

500s B.C. The Persians conquered the Punjab region and made it part of the Achaemenid Empire.

526 B.C. Alexander the Great took control of most of what is now known as Pakistan.

230 B.C. Greeks from the independent state of Bactria invaded the Indus Valley.

100 B.C. Scythians from Afghanistan came into Baluchistan and Sind.

50 to the mid-200s A.D. The Kushans ruled what is now known as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Western India.

During the Mid-300s The Indus Valley became part of the Gupta Empire.

During the Mid-400s The Huns from central Asia conquered the empire.

711 Arab Muslims invaded Sind.

1000 Turkish Muslims invaded northern Pakistan from Iran.

1206 Most of what is now known as Pakistan became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

1526 Babar, a Muslim ruler from Afghanistan, invaded India and established the Mogul Empire.

1740s The East India Company gained political control over much of India.

1858 The British government took over control of the East India Company, and  all the company's territory became known as British India.

1875 Syed Admad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University) in Aligarh.

1906 The Muslim League was founded as a forum for Indian Muslim separatism.

1940 The Muslim League demanded partition of India along religious lines.

1947 Britain and Hindu leaders agreed to the partition.

14th August 1947 A Muslim state of East and West Pakistan was created out of the partition of India at the end of the British rule. Pakistan became an independent dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations. Hundreds of thousands died in widespread communal violence and millions were made homeless.

1948-1949 India and Pakistan went to war for the first time over the ownership of the Kashmir area.

1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first head of state died.

1951 Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan was assassinated.

1956 Constitution proclaims Pakistan an Islamic republic.

7th October 1958 President Iskander Mirza suspended the 1956 Constitution, imposed martial law, and cancelled the elections scheduled for January 1959

27th October 1958 Martial law was declared and General Ayyub Khan assumed control of a military dictatorship, sending President Mirza into exile.

1960 General Ayyub Khan became president.

1965 Second war with India over the  Kashmir area.

1967 The Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River was completed.

1969 General Khan resigned as leader of Pakistan and handed control of the government over to General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan.

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

1970 A cyclone and tidal wave struck East Pakistan, killing about 200,000 people.

26th March 1971 East Pakistan attempted to secede, leading to a civil war. India intervened in support of East Pakistan which eventually broke away to become an independent nation called Bangladesh.

December 1971  Yahya Khan resigned the presidency and handed over leadership of West Pakistan to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

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

1973 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became prime minister.

1975 The Tarbela Dam on the Indus River was completed.

1977 Riots erupt over allegations of vote-rigging by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

5th July 1977 The military led by General Zia ul-Haq removed President Bhutto from power and arrested him, declared martial law, and suspended portions of the 1973 Constitution. Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq took control of the government.

1978 General Zia became president.

1979 Pakistan formally joined the Non-Aligned Movement.

6th April 1979 Bhutto was executed (hanged)  for crimes committed during his presidency.

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 returned from exile to lead the  PPP in a campaign for fresh elections.

17th August 1988 A plane carrying President Zia, American Ambassador Arnold Raphael, U.S. Brigadier General Herbert Wassom, and 28 Pakistani military officers crashed near Bahawalpur, killing all of its occupants. Chairman of the Senate Ghulam Ishaq Khan became Acting President.

November 1988 Benazir Bhutto formed a coalition government with several smaller parties.

August 1990 President Khan dismissed the Bhutto government and dissolved the national and provincial assemblies.

1990  Benazir Bhutto was dismissed from the office of prime minister on charges of incompetence and corruption.

October 1990 Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly.

1991  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif began an economic liberalisation programme. Islamic Shariah law was formally incorporated into the countries legal code.

April 1993 President Khan dismissed the Sharif government.

May 1993 The Pakistan Supreme Court reinstated the Sharif government.

July 1993 President Khan and Prime Minister Sharif both resigned their positions under pressure from military. Moeen Qureshi took office as head of an interim government.

October 1993 After fresh elections Benazir Bhutto was elected Prime Minister.

November 1993 Farooq Leghari was elected President.

November 1996 President Leghari dismissed the Bhutto government amid corruption allegations.

February 1997 Nawaz Sharif was returned as prime minister after his Pakistan Muslim League party won the elections.

March 1997 The National Assembly amended the Constitution to strip the President of the power to dismiss the government.

December 1997 President Leghari resigned, he was replaced by Rafiq Tarar.

1998 Pakistan conducted its own nuclear tests after India had exploded several nuclear devices.

April 1999 During their absence from the country  Benazir Bhutto and her husband were convicted of corruption and given jail sentences. However, Benazir stayed out of the country.

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

12th October 1999 The army deposed Nawaz Sharif in a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf. The coup is widely condemned, and Pakistan is suspended from the Commonwealth.

14th October 1999 Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf declared himself Chief Executive.

12th May 2000 The Supreme Court unanimously validated the October 1999 coup and granted Musharraf executive and legislative authority for three years from the coup date.

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

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

20th June 2001 Musharraf named himself as President of Pakistan (while remaining head of the army) was sworn in. He replaced the figurehead president, Rafiq Tarar, who vacated his position earlier in the day after the parliament that elected him was dissolved. 

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

September 2001  Musharraf joins in behind the US in its fight against terrorism and supports attacks on Afghanistan. While the US lifted some sanctions imposed after Pakistan's earlier nuclear tests during 1998, but retained others put in place after Musharraf's coup.

December 2001 India imposed sanctions against Pakistan, to force it to take action against two Kashmir militant groups blamed for a suicide attack on the parliament in New Delhi. Pakistan retaliated with similar sanctions.

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

January 2002 President Musharraf banned the two militant groups  Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad,- and took steps to curb religious extremism.

April 2002 President Musharraf won another five years in office during a referendum criticised as unconstitutional and fraught with irregularities.

May 2002  Pakistan test fired three medium-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, amid rumours of impending conflict with India. President Musharraf reported that  Pakistan did not want war, but was ready to respond with full force if attacked.

August 2002  President Musharraf granted himself sweeping new powers, including the right to dismiss an elected parliament, prompting the opposition anger.

October 2002 The first general election was held since the 1999 military coup which resulted in a hung parliament.

November 2002 The  National Assembly elected Mir Zafarullah Jamali,  a member of a party close to General Musharraf  to head a coalition government as the first civilian prime minister since the 1999 military coup.

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

November 2003 Pakistan declared a Kashmir ceasefire, and India followed suit.

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

February 2004 A leading nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted to having leaked nuclear weapons secrets, reportedly to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

April 2004 The  Parliament approved the creation of a military led National Security Council, institutionalising role of the armed forces in civilian affairs.

June  2004  Pakistan mounted a military offensive against suspected al-Qaeda militants and their supporters near the Afghanistan border after attacks on checkpoints, resulting in high casualties.

May 2004  Pakistan was re-admitted to British Commonwealth.

December 2004 President Musharraf said  he would stay on as head of the army, having previously promised to relinquish the role.

January 2005  Tribal militants in Balochistan attacked facilities at Pakistan's largest natural gas field, forcing closure of the main plant.

7th April 2005 Bus services, the first in 60 years, operated between Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

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

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

January 2006 Up to 18 people were killed in a US missile strike, apparently targeting senior al-Qaeda figures, in the northwest.

August 2006  A security force killed prominent Balochistan tribal leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti. Protests over his death later turn violent.

October 2006 A raid on an Islamic seminary in the tribal area of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan killed up to 80 people, sparking anti-government protests. The army reported that madrassa was a training camp for militants.

December 2006 Pakistan reported that it had successfully test-fired a short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

January 2007 Islamabad rejected an assertion by the head of US National Intelligence that al-Qaeda leaders are hiding out in Pakistan.

January-June 2007  Tension mounted between the government and the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad.

2007 February  Sixty-eight passengers were killed by bomb blasts and a blaze on a train travelling between the Indian capital New Delhi and the Pakistani city of Lahore. While Pakistan and India signed an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war.

March 2007 President Musharraf suspended the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, triggering a wave of anger across the country. that included  the first joint protests held by the parties of exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

March-April 2007  Officials reported that around 250 people had been killed in fighting between South Waziristan tribesmen and foreign militants said to be linked to al-Qaeda.

May 2007 Several people were killed in Karachi during rival demonstrations over the dismissal of Chief Justice Chaudhry. Subsequent strikes paralyse much of the country.

June 2007  President Musharraf extended a media control to include the internet and mobile phones amid a growing challenge to his rule.

July 2007 Security forces stormed the militant-occupied Red Mosque complex in Islamabad following a week-long siege. While the Supreme Court reinstated Chief Justice Chaudhry.

October  2007 Musharraf won most the votes in presidential election. The Supreme Court said no winner could be formally announced until it ruled if the general was eligible to stand for election while still army chief. Nearly 200 people died in fighting with Islamic militants in North Waziristan, stronghold of pro-Taleban and al-Qaida groups. Ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned from exile. Dozens of people die in a suicide bomb targeting her homecoming parade in Karachi.

November 2007 Gen Musharraf declared an  emergency rule while still awaiting the Supreme Court's ruling on whether he was eligible to run for re-election. Chief Justice Chaudhry was dismissed. Ms Bhutto was briefly placed under house arrest, and a  caretaker government was sworn in. The new Supreme Court was staffed with compliant judges and dismissed challenges to Musharraf's re-election. Nawaz Sharif returns from exile. Later Musharraf resigned from his army post and was sworn in for second term as president.

15th December 2007 A State of Emergency lifted.

27th December 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassinated at election campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

January 2008 Up to 90 fighters were killed in clashes in the tribal region of South Waziristan, near the Afghan border, where militants have been openly challenging the army.

February 2008 Parliamentary elections and the two main opposition parties gain a clear majority. They later agreed to form a coalition government.

March 2008  Pakistan People's Party (PPP) nominee Yusuf Raza Gilani became prime minister.

May 2008 The disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, said allegations he passed on nuclear secrets were false and that he was made a scapegoat.

August 2008 The two main governing parties agreed to launch impeachment proceedings against President Musharraf, who resigned soon after. Senate Speaker Muhammad Sumroo became acting president. PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower  reported he would be the party's candidate in the presidential election set for the 6th September. The former PM Nawaz Sharif pulled his PML-N out of the coalition government, accusing the PPP of breaking its promise to approve the reinstatement of all judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.

September 2008 Asif Ali Zardari was elected by legislators as Pakistan's new president. The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was devastated in a suicide truck bombing which left at least 50 dead. An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility.

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

December 2008 India said militants who had carried out the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November had Pakistani links, and demanded that  Pakistan took action against them. Islamabad denied any involvement but promised to co-operate with the Indian investigation.

February 2009 The Government agreed to implement Sharia law in north-western Swat valley in an effort to persuade Islamist militants there to agree to a permanent ceasefire.

March 2009 A gunmen in Lahore attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team. Five policemen were killed and seven players injured. After days of protests, the government gave in to opposition demands for reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf. At least 40 people were killed when gunmen stormed a police academy in Lahore.

April 2009  A Swat agreement broke down after Taleban-linked militants tried to extend their power-base. The  Government launched an offensive lasting months to wrest control of north-western districts from the militants.

July 2009 The Pakistani and Indian prime ministers pledge to work together to fight terrorism at a meeting in Egypt irrespective of progress on improving broader relations. While the Supreme Court acquitted opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on hijacking charges, removing the final ban on his running for public office.

August 2009 Pakistan issued a global alert for 13 suspects over November's attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai. President Zardari ordered the suspension of judges appointed under emergency rule in 2007, after the Supreme Court ruled the emergency declared by former President Musharraf to have been unconstitutional.

August 2009 The leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a  US drone attack in South Waziristan.

October 2009 New Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud pledged revenge for the drone attack that killed Baitullah Mehsud. A suicide bombing in north western city of Peshawar killed 120 people.

November 2009 President Asif Ali Zardari handed control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, in apparent attempt to ease political pressure.

December 2009  The Supreme Court ruled that an amnesty decree protecting President Zardari and several of his allies against corruption charges was illegal.

January 2010  A suicide attack on a volleyball match in the north-west killed more than 100 people.

April 2010  The Parliament approved a  package of wide-ranging constitutional reforms. The measures included  transferring key powers from the office of president to prime minister.

August 2010 The worst floods in 80 years killed at least 1,600 people and affect more than 20 million.

September 2010 Pakistan temporarily suspended NATO supply route into Afghanistan after a series of US drone strikes had taken place  in the northwest.

October 2010 Ex-military ruler Musharraf apologised for "negative actions" while he was in power, and launched a political party from exile in UK. There was also rise in targeted political killings, with bombings in the commercial hub of Karachi.

December 2010 50 people were killed in a double suicide attack in Mohmand, near the Afghan border, during a gathering of tribal elders.

January 2011 The Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, who said he was angered by Mr Taseer's support for amendment of the blasphemy law. The draconian law allowed for prosecution for a wide range of perceived slights to Islam. Mr Taseer's funeral saw large-scale protests against and in favour of his killing.

www.robinsonlibrary.com
www.news.bbc.co.uk