|
Pakistan
Table A. Chronology of Important Events
Period Description
ANCIENT EMPIRES
ca. 2500-1600 B.C. Indus Valley culture
ca. 1500-500 B.C. Migrations of Indo-Aryan-
speaking tribes; the Vedic
Age.
ca. 563-483 B.C. Life of Siddartha Gautama--the
Buddha; founding of Buddhism.
ca. 321-180 B.C. Mauryan Empire; reign of
Ashoka (r. ca. 274-236 B.C.);
spread of Buddhism.
ca. 180 B.C.-A.D. 150 Saka dynasties in Indus
Valley.
ca. A.D. 78-ca. 200 Kushan Empire; Gandharan art
flourishes.
ca. A.D. 319-ca. 600 Gupta Empire; classical age in
northern India.
COMING OF ISLAM
711 Muhammad bin Qasim, an Arab
general, conquers Sindh and
incorporates it into Umayyad
Caliphate.
1001-1030 Mahmud of Ghazni raids Indian
subcontinent from Afghanistan.
1192 Muhammad of Ghor defeats
Rajputs.
1206-1526 Delhi Sultanate.
1398 Timur destroys Delhi.
THE MUGHAL PERIOD
1526 Babur defeats last Lodhi
sultan in first Battle of
Panipat, thus laying
foundation of Mughal Empire.
1556 Akbar victorious in second
Battle of Panipat.
1556-1605 Reign of Akbar.
1605-27 Reign of Jahangir; in 1612
East India Company opens first
trading post (factory).
1628-58 Reign of Shah Jahan, builder
of Taj Mahal.
1658-1707 Reign of Aurangzeb, last great
Mughal ruler.
1707-1858 Lesser emperors; decline of
Mughal Empire.
BRITISH PERIOD
1757 Battle of Plassey and British
victory over Mughal forces in
Bengal; conventional date for
beginning of British rule in
India.
1799-1839 Sikh kingdom established in
Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit
Singh.
1830s Institution of British
education and other reform
measures.
1838-42 First Anglo-Afghan War.
1843 British annex Sindh,
Hyderabad, and Khairpur.
1845-49 Sikh Wars; British annex
Punjab; Kashmir sold to Dogra
Dynasty, to be ruled under
British paramountcy.
1857-58 Uprising, variously known as
Indian Mutiny, Sepoy
Rebellion, and by Indian
nationalists as First War of
Independence.
1858 East India Company dissolved;
rule of India under British
crown (the British Raj)
begins; marks formal end of
Mughal Empire.
1878-80 Second Anglo-Afghan War.
1885 Indian National Congress
formed.
1893 Durand Line established as
boundary between Afghanistan
and British India.
1905 Partition of Bengal.
1906 All-India Muslim League
founded.
1909 Morley-Minto Reforms establish
separate electorates for
Muslims.
1911 Partition of Bengal annulled.
1916 Congress-Muslim League Pact
(often referred to as Lucknow
Pact) signed.
1919 Montague-Chelmsford Reforms;
Third Anglo-Afghan War.
1935 Government of India Act of
1935.
1940 Muslim League adopts "Pakistan
Resolution" demanding separate
nation for Muslims of India.
"Two Nations Theory"
articulated by Muslim League
leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah and
others.
1946 August Muslim League observes "Direct
Action Day." Widespread
communal rioting spreads to
many parts of India.
1947 June Legislation introduced in
British Parliament calling for
independence and partition of
India; communal rioting and
mass movements of population
begin, resulting in next
months in 250,000 deaths and
up to 24 million refugees.
INDEPENDENT PAKISTAN
1947 August Partition of British India;
India achieves independence
and incorporates West Bengal
and Assam; Pakistan is created
and incorporates East Bengal
(East Wing, or East Pakistan)
and territory in the northwest
(West Wing, or West Pakistan);
Jinnah becomes governor
general of Pakistan; Liaquat
Ali Khan becomes prime
minister.
October Start of first Indo-Pakistani
War over sovereignty of
Kashmir.
1948 September Jinnah dies; Khwaja Nazimuddin
becomes governor general.
1949 January United Nations-arranged cease-
fire between Pakistan and
India takes effect.
1951 October Liaquat assassinated;
Nazimuddin becomes prime
minister; Ghulam Mohammad
becomes governor general.
1955 August Ghulam Mohammad resigns;
succeeded by Iskander Mirza.
October One Unit Plan establishes the
four provinces of West
Pakistan as one administrative
unit.
1956 March Constitution adopted; Mirza
becomes president.
1958 October Mirza abrogates constitution
and declares martial law;
Mirza sent into exile; Chief
Martial Law Administrator
(CMLA) General Mohammad Ayub
Khan assumes presidency.
1965 August Start of second Indo-Pakistani
War over Kashmir.
1969 March Martial law declared; Ayub
Khan resigns; CMLA General
Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan
assumes presidency.
1970 July One Unit Plan abolished; four
provinces reestablished in
West Pakistan.
December First general elections; Awami
League under Mujib secures
absolute majority in new
National Assembly; West
Pakistan-dominated government
declines to convene assembly.
1971 March East Pakistan attempts to
secede, beginning civil war;
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib),
imprisoned in West Pakistan,
declared provisional
president.
April Formal declaration of
independence of Bangladesh
issued; Mujib named president.
December Pakistan launches preemptive
air strikes against India;
India invades East Pakistan;
India recognizes Bangladesh;
Pakistani military forces in
East Pakistan surrender to
Indian armed forces, marking
Bangladeshi independence;
Yahya Khan resigns; Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto becomes CMLA and
president.
1972 July Bhutto and India's prime
minister, Indira Gandhi,
conclude Simla Agreement,
adjusting 1949 cease-fire line
between Pakistan and India and
creating new line of control.
1973 August New constitution goes into
effect; Bhutto becomes prime
minister.
1976 February Pakistan and Bangladesh
establish diplomatic
relations.
1977 March General elections; massive
victory by Bhutto's party
evokes widespread rioting and
protest.
July Army chief of staff, General
Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, appoints
himself CMLA and proclaims
martial law.
1978 September Mohammad Zia ul-Haq becomes
nation's sixth president,
replacing Fazal Elahi
Chaudhry.
1979 February Islamic penal code introduced.
April Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hanged.
November Mob storms and burns down
United States Embassy in
Islamabad, killing two
Americans and two Pakistani
employees; United States
cultural centers in Rawalpindi
and Lahore also torched;
attacks in response to
Iranian-inspired rumors that
United States citizens
responsible for November 20
attack on Grand Mosque in
Mecca.
December Large-scale movements of
Soviet troops and military
equipment into Afghanistan.
1980 January United States president Jimmy
Carter pledges military
assistance to help Pakistan
defend itself against Soviet
threat; Carter offers US$400
million, rejected by Zia as
"peanuts."
1983 August President Zia ul-Haq announces
that martial law will be
lifted in 1985 but warns that
army will retain key role in
future governments.
1985 January Non-Islamic banking abolished.
February General elections held for
National Assembly.
March Mohammad Khan Junejo invited
by Zia to form civilian
cabinet.
July Economy declared to be in
conformity with Islam.
1986 August Movement for the Restoration
of Democracy (MRD) launches
campaign against government,
demanding new general
elections; Benazir Bhutto
arrested in Karachi.
December New federal cabinet sworn into
office by President Zia with
Mohammad Khan Junejo
continuing as prime minister.
May Prime Minister Junejo expands
federal government to include
five new ministers and three
new ministers of state;
President Zia dismisses Junejo
government, dissolves national
and provincial assemblies, and
orders new elections to be
held within ninety days.
August Zia, the United States
ambassador to Pakistan, and
top army officials killed in
mysterious airplane crash near
Bahawalpur in Punjab; Ghulam
Ishaq Khan, chairman of
Senate, sworn in as acting
president; General Mirza Aslam
Beg becomes chief of the army
staff.
October Salman Rushdie's novel,
The Satanic
Verses, banned in
Pakistan; joint United States-
Pakistani investigatory
committee concludes that Zia's
death was caused by "criminal
act of sabotage."
November Elections held for National
Assembly; Pakistan People's
Party (PPP) wins ninety-three
out of 207 seats contested.
December Benazir Bhutto sworn in as
first female prime minister of
a Muslim nation; PPP and MQM
parties sign "Karachi
Declaration," an accord to
restore peace in Sindh;
Pakistan and India sign
accords at South Asian
Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) summit in
Islamabad, including agreement
not to attack each other's
nuclear facilities.
June Combined Opposition Parties
(COP), consisting of most
opposition groups, formed in
National Assembly, with Ghulam
Mustafa Jatoi as leader.
February Soviet Union completes
withdrawal of troops from
Afghanistan.
September Pakistan's largest ever
military exercise, Zarb- e -
Momin (Sword of the Faithful),
commences.
October Pakistan rejoins Commonwealth
of Nations.
December Ethnic riots in Sindh claim
scores of lives.
1990 May-June Ethnic troubles mount in
Sindh; rift develops between
PPP and coalition partners.
August President Ghulam Ishaq Khan di
smisses Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto, her cabinet, and
National Assembly; orders new
elections for October 24,
1990; Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
becomes caretaker prime
minister.
October United States president George
Bush is unable to deliver
annual certification that
Pakistan does not possess
nuclear weapons as condition
of continued assistance and
arms and technology transfers,
leading to cutoff of most aid.
National elections held;
Bhutto's PPP loses to
coalition of rightist parties.
November Mian Nawaz Sharif elected
prime minister.
1991 February Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
liberalizes economy, lifts
controls on foreign currency
entering country, and
announces policies to
encourage new investment;
numerous pro-Iraq
demonstrations and widespread
public opposition to Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's
support of Desert Storm but
pro-United Nations stance
reiterated.
May Shariat Bill is adopted by
National Assembly.
July Opposition members call upon
president to dismiss
government because of
deteriorating law and order
situation, particularly in
Sindh.
1992 December Babri Mosque in Ayodya, India,
destroyed by Hindu
fundamentalists seeking to
build Hindu temple on
contested site; communal
violence mounts over incident;
Pakistan asks Indian
government to protect Muslims
in India.
1993 April President Ishaq Khan dismisses
government of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, citing
corruption.
July President Ishaq Khan and Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif resign
under pressure from military;
World Bank officer, Moeen
Qureshi, named caretaker prime
minister pending elections in
October.
October Benazir Bhutto's PPP wins slim
margin in national elections
and builds coalition
government; Benazir appointed
prime minister.
November PPP stalwart, Farooq Leghari,
defeats acting President
Wassim Sajjad and becomes
president.
Data as of April 1994
|
