Major Events in Pakistani History

1700s – Following the disintegration of the ancient Mughal Empire, the British East India Company gains control over the territory of modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

1920s – The Indian National Congress leads nonviolent protests for independence from British rule. 

1940 – The Muslim League, a forum for Indian Muslims, is founded. The league advocates for a separate nation for India’s Muslim population amid fears of poor representation in the general independence movement.

1947 – Following the end of British colonial rule, the Indian subcontinent is partitioned into separate countries, India and Pakistan. Pakistan is divided into two, a western wing, modern-day Pakistan, and eastern wing, modern-day Bangladesh. Local violence erupts throughout both nations as Muslims migrate to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs to India. Disputes between Pakistan and India over the northern territory of Kashmir lead to an unresolved war. 

1948 – Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who became the first Pakistani head of state in 1947, dies. 

1956 – The Pakistani Constitution declares the nation an Islamic Republic. 

1971 – Bengali-speaking East Pakistan sparks a war to secede and succeeds with Indian intervention. East Pakistan becomes modern-day Bangladesh. 

1980 – The Soviet Union intervenes in Afghanistan, and amid rising tensions between the United States and the U.S.S.R., the U.S. pledges military aid to Pakistan, Afghanistan’s neighbor. 

1998 – India detonates nuclear devices and in response, Pakistan conducts its own nuclear tests. The U.S. places sanctions on Pakistan as a result.

1999 – Following decades of political upheaval and transfers of power between political parties and the military, General Pervez Musharraf seizes power in a coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The following year, Musharraf names himself president while maintaining his position as the head of the military.

2001 – Musharraf gives his support to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The 1998 U.S. sanctions are lifted.

2004 –Pakistan begins its first military operation against Al Qaeda near the border with Afghanistan. Dr. Abdul 
Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s leading nuclear scientist, admits to leaking nuclear weapons secrets to Libya, North Korea and Iran. The first U.S. drone strikes against Al Qaeda leaders near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan are launched.

2007 – Following years of infrequent tension regarding the Kashmir region and nuclear capabilities, Pakistan and India sign an agreement to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, daughter of hanged Prime Minister Ali Bhutto, is assassinated in a car bomb after returning to Pakistan from exile.

2008 – President Musharraf resigns after the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muslim League, the two dominant political parties in the nation’s government, agree to begin impeachment proceedings against him. Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Bhutto, is elected president. 


2011 – Pakistan and India make a symbolic gesture for repairing relations when Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gliani meets with the Indian prime minister to watch a cricket match. U.S. forces kill Osama bin Laden in his compound in Abbottabad. NATO supply routes in Pakistan are shut down after 25 Pakistani soldiers are killed in a NATO attack on a military outpost. The Pakistani government is put under the spotlight after a memo alleging senior officials sought U.S. aid in a military coup is leaked. 

2012 – The jailing of Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi for helping the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency find Osama Bin Laden causes a U.S. Senate panel to cut $33 million in aid to Pakistan. Pakistan agrees to reopen the NATO supply routes after the U.S. apologizes for the attack that killed the Pakistani soldiers. Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai is attacked by Taliban gunmen for campaigning for girls’ rights.