Pakistan and Kashmir

A Timeline

Islamism, Religious Conflict and Terrorism

Last Updated: 7-15-2006

Independence

• 1947 - Partition of India. Pakistan founded. British withdraw from the subcontinent.

  ---

• 1958 - General Iskander Mirza abrogates the constitution and declares himself president. General Ayyub Khan deposes Iskander Mirza later that year and declares himself president. (Chamieh, p.168)

  ---

• 1965 August-September - 2nd Indo-Pakistani war. Ends in UN-sponsored ceasefire.

  ---

• 1969 - Ayyub Khan resigns under pressure of popular riots. Yahya Khan Agha Mohammad succeeds him as president. (Chamieh, p.168)

  ---

• 1971 - Civil war erupts, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis who are demanding autonomy (and later independence). Indian army invades East Pakistan in support of East Pakistanis and defeats the Pakistani army. East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 6 December 1971. Pakistan loses more than half its population. (BBC)

  ---

• 1971 - Having lost the war over East Bengal, Pres. Yahya Khan Agha Mohammad resigns. (Chamieh, p.169)

  ---

• 1973 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader of Pakistan's Peoples Party becomes prime minister. Advances `Islamic Socialism`. (Chamieh, p.169)

  ---

  "Islamization" Begins

• 1977 July 5 - Coup d'etat brings Gen. Zia-ul Haq to power ousting Ali Bhutto after riots over alleged rigged elections. (Chamieh, p.169) Zia-ul Haq introduces "Islamisation" to Pakistan. Executes ex-president Ali Bhutto (who had appointed him commander of the army).

  ---

• 1978 April 15 - Gen. Zia-ul Haq declares in an interview with BBC `I have a mission, given me by God to bring Islamic order to Pakistan.` (Chamieh, p.170)

  ---

• 1979 November - U.S. Embassy burned to the ground and US marine guard killed after attack by angry mob in Islamabad. The cause of the crowd's anger was a radio report by the Ayatollah Khomeini that Americans were behind the seizure of the Great Mosque in Mecca by a group of Muslim fundamentalist dissidents. No evidence of American involvement has ever been found. (news.bbc.co.uk) (Lewis, p.203)

  ---

• 1981 (early) - Ban on pigeon-flying challenged by custodian of Bab Farid's famous Chisshti shrine at Pakpattan. "This practice, along with kite-flying, had been banned in the district under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code on the grounds that they violated the sanctity and privacy of women. Not only were these favourite Pakistani pastimes, but the keeping of pigeons was associated with many great Sufi saints." (Talbot, p.251)

  ---

• 1984 April 26 - Suppression of Ahmadis. Pres. Zia issues an ordinance which inserts sections 298-B and 298-C into the Pakistan Penal Code. These make it a criminal offense for Ahmadis to `pose` as Muslims, to `preach or propagate by words either spoken or written`, and to use Islamic terminology or Muslim practices of worship. This conflicts with not only the "the universal declaration of human rights but constitution of Pakistan." (Talbot, p.251)

  ---

• 1988 June 25 - Gen. Zia-ul Haq presents an `Islamic Budget` to the country and promises the people `a totally interest-free economy.` (Chamieh, p.170)

  ---

• 1988 - Zia ul Haq is killed when the plane he is traveling in explodes. Elections are held. Ms. Benazir Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister after her party wins. (Chamieh, p.169)

  ---

• 1989 - "Armed resistance to Indian rule" begins in the Kashmir valley. (BBC)

  ---

• 1990 - Benazir Ali Bhutto removed from office by president. Replaced by Mian Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Islamic Democratic Alliance which had won a new election. (Chamieh, p.169)
  
  Allegations of a failed state. Mubashir Hassan, a former finance minister, complains that the legal `state structure in Pakistan has been rapidly collapsing...the police are no longer the police. The magistracy is no longer the magistracy and the tax collector can no longer collect taxes. The collapse of the state has given rise to kidnappers, murderers, bank robbers, drug dealers . . . The whole scene has become a bazaar.` (Kaplan p.333)

  ---

• 1991 November - Federal Shariah Court of Pakistan rules that all forms of interest paid or charged by banks and other financial institutions were un-Islamic and must be scrapped. (Chamieh, p.171)

  ---

• 1993 April 18 - After foreign powers accuse Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of "making Pakistan a base for Islamic terrorists operating in India and the Middle East," President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of corruption and nepotism. Appoints a military-backed government and dissolves parliament calling for new elections. (Chamieh, p.169)

  ---

• 1995 March 8 - Two U.S. diplomats killed and a third wounded in Karachi, Pakistan, by two unidentified gunmen. (fas.org)

  ---

• 1995 November 19 - 16 killed and 60 injured when a suicide bomber drives a vehicle into the Egyptian Embassy compound in Islamabad, Pakistan. Three militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility. (fas.org) Canadian jihadi Ahmed Said Khadr is thought to have provided financing to Egyptian Islamic Jihad for the attack. (Sageman, p.112).

  ---

• 1995 December 3 - Heroin addiction. The number of addicts in Pakistan has reached 1.5 million, over three-quarters of which are under thirty, according to a report that day in The News of Islamabad. (p.251 Talbot)

  ---

• 1997 November 12 - Four U.S. auditors shot to death. Auditors from Union Texas Petroleum Corporation and their Pakistani driver killed after they drive away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. In a letter to Pakistani newspapers, the Aimal Khufia Action Committee also claimed responsibility. (fas.org)

  ---

• 1998 May 6 - Roman Catholic bishop (Bishop of Faisalabad, Dr John Joseph) commits suicide in protest against Pakistani blasphemy laws and recent death sentence passed against a Pakistani Christian (Ayub Masih) for blasphemy. (BBC) A protest against increasing abuse of blasphemy laws "to settle scores" and pry valuable real estate away from members of the small (2%), impoverished Christian minority. Suicide is followed by Muslim attacks on the Christian district in Faisalabad where houses are burned and shops looted.(http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/0522/feat3.html)

  ---

• 1998 May 11 -- India declares itself a nuclear power after exploding several devices at Pokhran test site in the Rajasthan desert. (new yorker, 2-13-2006)

  ---

• 1998 May 28 -- Pakistan detonates five nuclear bombs at an underground site in the western Ras Koh mountain range. (new yorker, 2-13-2006)

  ---

• 1999 October - General Pervez Musharraf leads a military coup in Pakistan, deposing elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. (BBC)

  ---

• 2001 Sept. 16 - Following 9/11 attack on U.S., Pakistan's president, General Musharraf, pledges support for U.S. efforts to arrest bin Laden and appeals to his nation for support. Taliban supporters mount demonstrations. (BBC)

  ---

• 2001 October 28 - 15 Pakistani Christian Protestants killed in Bahawalpur when six masked gunmen shoot up a church. No group claims responsibility, but various militant Muslim groups are suspected of attacking in retaliation against U.S. action against the Taliban in Afghanistan. (U.S. began bombing the Taliban Oct. 7, ground assault Oct. 19. Taliban agree to surrender Kandahar Dec. 6.) (fas.org, Trifkovic, p.237)

  ---

• 2001 October 1 - A car bomb explodes near the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly killing 27 people. Attack blamed on Muslim Kashmiri separatists.

  ---

• 2001 December 13 - 17 people (12 Victims and 5 attackers) killed in an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi. (nytimes.com) Attackers are Kashmiri jihadis armed with numerous guns and bombs attempting to blow up Parliament House and kill hundreds of legislators. Indian government and public are furious. India responds by mobilizing it's armed forces and threatening military action against Pakistan, whose ISI service has traditionally funded and armed Kashmiri jihadis. Confrontation of nuclear states. Nuclear India later stands down. (new yorker, 2-13-2006)

  ---

• 2002 January 23 - Armed militants kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan. (fas.org)

  ---

• 2002 February 21 - Pakistani authorities receive a videotape entitled "The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl" from Islamist militants. Tape shows the slitting of Pearl's throat and cutting off of his head. (fas.org)

  ---

• 2002 March 17 - Five people killed, including a U.S. embassy administrator and her daughter, and 46 are wounded after grenade attack on Protestant International Church in Islamabad. (Trifkovic p.237)

---

• 2002 May 8 - 12 killed and 19 wounded when a car bomb explodes near a Pakistani navy shuttle bus in Karachi. 11 of the killed and 11 of the wounded are French nationals. Al-Qaida is suspected in the attack. (fas.org)

---

• 2002 June 14 - 11 killed and 51 wounded, (including one U.S. and one Japanese citizen) when a car bomb explodes near the U.S. Consulate and the Marriott Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan. Al Qaida and al-Qanin are suspected of the attack. (fas.org)

---

• 2002 August 5 - Six killed (two security guards, a cook, a carpenter, a receptionist, and a private citizen) and a Philippine citizen is wounded after gunmen attack a Christian school attended by children of missionaries from around the world. A group called al-Intigami al-Pakistani claimed responsibility. (fas.org)

---

• 2002 August 6 - 9 killed and 32 wounded when armed Muslim militants attacks a group of Hindu pilgrims with guns and grenades in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba claims responsibility. (fas.org)

---

• 2002 September 11 - Kashmir’s Law Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Lone and six security guards killed in Tikipora Lashkar-e-Tayyiga, Jamiat ul-Mujahedin, and Hizb ul-Mujahedin all claim responsibility. Other militants attack the residence of the Minister of Tourism with grenades, injuring four persons. No group claims responsibility for that. (fas.org)

---

• 2003 December 25 - Attempted Assassination of President Musharraf in Rawalpindi. Two suicide truck bombers kill 14 as President Musharraf’s motorcade passes through Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (An earlier attempt on December 14 caused no casualties.) Pakistani officials suspected Afghan and Kashmiri militants. On January 6, 2004, Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of 6 suspects who were said to be members of Jaish-e-Muhammad. (fas.org)

---

• 2005 October 29 - 61 killed and at least 188 injured in terrorist bombings in Delhi. Two markets in central and south Delhi and in a bus in the Govindpuri area in the south of the city were targeted. The bombings came only two days before the important festival of Diwali (which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains). Islamic Inquilab Mahaz, a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, claimed responsibility for the blasts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_October_2005_Delhi_bombings)

---

• 2006 February 15 - Two killed as thousands rampage in Islamabad and Lahore in protest against allegedly blasphemous cartoons published in Denmark depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Western businesses attacked. Building housing a hotel, banks and a KFC is burned. (cnn.com)

---

• 2006 July 11 - More than 170 people killed and 460 injured by seven bombs on the train network in the Indian financial capital Mumbai (Bombay). (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5169332.stm) A variety of Islamic and Pakistani groups have been named as suspects in the blast. Most have denied involvement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_July_2006_Mumbai_train_bombings#Investigation

References

Chamieh, Jebran, Traditionalists, Militants and Liberal in Present Islam, Research and Publishing House, [1994?]

Kaplan, Robert, The Ends of the Earth : A journey at the Dawn of the 21st Century, New York : Random House, c1996

Lewis, Bernard, "Roots of Muslim Rage" from Inside Islam : The Faith, The People, and the Conflicts of the World's Fastest-Growing Religion,

Sageman, Marc, Understanding Terror Networks by Marc Sageman, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004

Talbot, Ian, Pakistan, a Modern History, New York : St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Trifkovic, Serge. Sword of the Prophet : Islam: History, Theology, Impact on the World, Regina Orthodox Press, 2002

"Indian-Pakistan, Troubled Relations." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/2001.stm

1979: Mob destroys US embassy in Pakistan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/21/newsid_4187000/4187184.stm

"Significant Terrorist Incidents, 1961-2003: A Brief Chronology"
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_chron.html

"A PRIEST DIES FOR HIS CAUSE"
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/0522/feat3.html

HOME