Pakistan' Timeline start from 1947 to 2009

Pakistan' Timeline start from 1947 to 2009

Pakistan's first head of state until his death in 1948

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.

1976 - Diplomatic ties established between Pakistan and Bangladesh
1977 - General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq proclaims martial law
1978 -Zia becomes Pakistan's sixth president
1979 Islamic penal code introduced; Bhutto hanged
1983-Zia announces that martial law will be lifted, says army will retain key role in future governments
1985 -General elections held

1988 -Zia dismisses Prime Minister Mohammmad Khan Junejo's government, orders new elections; Zia killed in mysterious place crash; investigation concludes that his death was caused by "criminal act of sabotage;" elections held; Benazir Bhutto sworn in as first woman prime minister of a Muslim nation
1990 - National elections see Benazir Bhutto's PPP losing to coalition of rightist parties; Nawaz Sharif elected prime minister
1993 - President Ishaq Khan dismisses Sharif's government, citing corruption; elections held; Benazir Bhutto's government wins slim margin; Benazir becomes prime minister
1996 -President Farooq Leghari dismisses Benazir Bhutto; accuses her government of corruption and nepotism
1997 - National elections held; Sharif comes to power again
1999 - Army citing corruption, arrests Sharif and takes over. General Pervaiz Musharraf becomes chief executive of Pakistan.

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 Former PM ousted in 1999 coup, lives in exile in Saudi Arabia.

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.

Kashmire

Tensions with India over the region go back decades In Depth: Kashmir flashpointTimeline: 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

Military leader became pivotal player after September 11 attacks Profile: President Pervez Musharraf1999 Special Report: Pakistan after the coup2000 BBC webcast: Musharraf answers viewers' questionsMusharraf addresses nation after 1999 coup 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 ceasefire2003 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. Religious tension spills out into Karachi's streets 2004: Karachi - Volatile metropolis
2004: Pakistan's Shia-Sunni divide.

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 his military role.

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

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

2006 May and June ---After a spate of Taliban suicide bombings and other attacks, Operation Mount Thrust is launched, deploying more than 10,000 Afghan and coalition forces in the south. About 700 people, most of whom are Taliban, are killed.
August ----NATO troops take over military operations in southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition, putting a total of 21,000 American troops and 19,000 NATO troops on the ground.

2006,September---it launches the largest attack in its 57-year history.The Taliban fight back with renewed strength. Suicide bombings and roadside attacks become more frequent and more deadly; nearly 100 are reported to have died from such violence in August and September.
Pakistan is repeatedly blamed for supporting and allowing the infiltration of bombers and insurgents. Pakistani leadership denies supporting the Taliban, but admits that bombers are being trained in border regions.
2006,October and November ---NATO air attacks are blamed for the deaths of dozens of civilians. Tony Blair cautions that the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda could take decades.
Meanwhile, the opium harvest in Afghanistan reaches the highest levels ever recorded, the United Nations reports, as cultivation rises 59% during 2006. Most experts agree that the drug trade is a major source of funding for the Taliban (although there are conflicting opinions about whether or not Al Qaeda is similarly situated). Afghanistan currently produces 92% of the world’s opium.

2007,January ---Mullah Dadullah, a top Taliban commander, vows in a telephone conversation that his forces will not let up. Days later, in an email exchange between journalists and Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban chief makes a similar promise, saying he will never negotiate with the U.S.-backed Karzai government, and that violence will continue until foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

2007,August ---Two women from the group of South Korean hostages held since July 19 by the Taliban are released unharmed to Red Cross workers after days of negotiations. Nineteen hostages from the group remain held.

2007,October ---Eighty Taliban members die during a six-hour battle with U.S.-led coalition force outside a town in southern Afghanistan. Most of the deaths are a result of four bombs dropped in Taliban trenches.

2007,November ---Sixty Taliban militants fire on a town from a mountain overlook in the Day Kundi province pushing out the police and cutting off the main road. One militant dies and one policeman is wounded in fighting. Bakwal and Gulistan districts in Farrah province have also been overrun by the militants.

2008,April ---Three people are killed and about a dozen are wounded when suspected Taliban militants attack President Hamid Karzai, who was taking part in a parade to celebrate Afghan national day.
2008,May---A local Taliban group claims responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 11 people and injured 22 more outside a military base in Marden, Pakistan.
2008,June --- U.S. soldiers launch an air strike aimed at Taliban militants who had crossed the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan and fired on American-led troops.

2009 jan---At least 13 people – 10 militants and three Security Force (SF) personnel – were killed in a clash between the SFs and militants in Balochistan

2009 Feb---Five suspected militants and a soldier were killed and several persons sustained injuries in clashes and bombing by the Pakistan Air Force fighter planes in Bajaur Agency.

2009 March---Two missiles, fired by a US spy plane, killed 12 people and injured three others in the South Waziristan Agency

2009,April---A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of an Imambargah (Shia place of worship) at Chakwal in Punjab province, killing 24 people, including three children, and injuring 140 others, at a religious gathering. The target was the gathering of about 800 people, who were attending a Majlis-e-Aza (a gathering to mourn Imam Hussain) at an Imambargah in Muhallah Sarpak. The Majlis ended at 12:15 pm and the people were preparing to leave the Imambargah when a 15-year old boy, who looked to be an Afghan, stormed into the crowd and blew himself up after private security guards tried to stop him. The Inspector General of Police Shaukat Javed confirmed that the suicide attacker was a single person and said the incident was the continuity of the recent wave of terrorist attacks. He also said the suicide bomber appeared to be a 15-year-old boy whose legs and head, with damage to the face, had been found at the blast site.