The
history of Pakistan (
Urdu:
تاريخ پاكِستان ) encompasses the history of the region constituting modern
Pakistan. Prior to
independence in 1947, the territory of modern Pakistan was a part of the
British Indian Empire. Prior to that it was ruled in different periods by local kings and numerous imperial powers. The ancient history of the region comprising present-day Pakistan also includes some of the oldest empires of
Indian Subcontinent[1] and some of its major civilizations.
[2][3][4][5] By the 18th century the land was incorporated into
British India. Pakistan's political history began with the birth of the
All India Muslim League in 1906 to protect "Muslim interests, amid neglect and under-representation" and to oppose Congress and growing
Indian nationalism in return the British Raj would decide to grant local self-rule. On 29 December 1930, philosopher
Sir Muhammad Iqbal called for an autonomous new state in "northwestern India for Indian Muslims".
[6] The League rose to popularity in the late 1930s.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the
Two Nation Theory and led the League to adopt the
Lahore Resolution[7] of 1940, demanding the formation of independent states in the East and the West of British India. Eventually, a
successful movement led by Jinnah resulted in the
partition of India and independence from
Britain, on
14 August 1947.
Self-appointing himself as President after the resignation of President
Rafiq Tarar, Musharraf held nation-wide
general elections in 2002 to transfer the executive powers to newly elected Prime Minister
Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was succeeded in the 2004 by
Shaukat Aziz. During the election campaign in 2007 following the parliament completing its term on 15 November 2007, Benazir Bhutto was
assassinated which resulted in a series of important political developments when
left-wing alliance led by
PPP. The historic
general elections held in 2013 marked the return of PML(N) coming to national prominence with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assuming the leadership of the country for the third time in the history.
Soanian culture[edit]
The
Soanian is an archaeological culture of the
Lower Paleolithic (ca. 1.9 mya to 125,000 BC), contemporary to the
Acheulean. It is named after the
Soan Valley in the Sivalik Hills, near modern-day
Islamabad/
Rawalpindi. In
Adiyala and
Khasala, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi, on the bend of the
Soan River hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered. No human skeletons of this age have yet been found. In the Soan River Gorge many fossil bearing rocks are exposed on the surface. The 14 million year old fossils of gazelle, rhinoceros, crocodile, giraffe and rodents have been found there. Some of these fossils are on display at
Pakistan Museum of Natural History.
Mehrgarh period[edit]
Mehrgarh, (7000–5500
BCE), on the Kachi Plain of
Balochistan, is an important
Neolithic site discovered in 1974, with early evidence of farming and herding,
[11] and dentistry.
[1] Early residents lived in mud brick houses, stored grain in granaries, fashioned tools with
copper ore, cultivated barley, wheat,
jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. As the civilization progressed (5500–2600 BCE) residents began to engage in crafts, including
flint knapping,
tanning, bead production, and
metalworking. The site was occupied continuously until 2600 BCE,
[12] when climatic changes began to occur. Between 2600 and 2000 BCE, region became more arid and Mehrgarh was abandoned in favour of the Indus Valley,
[13] where a
new civilization was in the early stages of development.
[14] Indus Valley Civilization[edit]
The Indus Valley Civilization was a
Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) extending throughout much of what is modern-day
Pakistan today. Along with
Ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilizations of the
Old World, and of the three the most widespread,covering an area of 1.25 million km
2.
[17] It flourished in the basins of the
Indus River, one of the major rivers of
Asia, and the
Ghaggar-Hakra River, which once coursed through eastern Pakistan. At its peak, the civilization hosted a population of approximately 5 million in hundreds of settlements extending as far as the
Arabian Sea, present-day southern and eastern
Afghanistan, the tip of southeastern
Iranand the
Himalayas.
[19] Major urban centers were at
Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa as well as an offshoot called the
Kulli culture (2500–2000 BCE) in southern Balochistan, which had similar settlements, pottery and other artifacts. The civilization collapsed around 1700 BCE, though the reasons behind its fall are still unknown. Through the excavation of the Indus cities and analysis of town planning and seals, it has been inferred that the Civilization had high level of sophistication in its town planning, arts, crafts, and trade.
[20]Early history[edit]
Vedic period[edit]
Archaeological cultures. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with
Indo-Aryans.
Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral groups, with late Harappan urbanization having been abandoned.
[21] After the time of the
Rigveda, Aryan society became increasingly agricultural and was socially organized around the four
varnas, or social classes. In addition to the Vedas, the principal texts of Hinduism, the core themes of the Sanskrit epics
Ramayana and
Mahabharata are said to have their ultimate origins during this period.
[22] The early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the
Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in archaeological contexts.
[23]The
Kuru kingdom[24] corresponds to the
Black and Red Ware and
Painted Grey Warecultures and to the beginning of the Iron Age in South Asia, around 1000 BCE, as well as with the composition of the
Atharvaveda, the first Vedic text to mention iron, as
śyāma ayas, literally "black metal." The Painted Grey Ware culture spanned much of northern India from about 1100 to 600 BCE.
[23] The Vedic Period also established republics such as
Vaishali, which existed as early as the 6th century BCE and persisted in some areas until the 4th century CE. The later part of this period corresponds with an increasing movement away from the previous tribal system towards the establishment of kingdoms, called
mahajanapadas.
Achaemenid Empire[edit]
Much of modern-day Pakistan was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire and forced to pay tributes to Persia
Little is known about the Achaemenid Persian invasion of modern-day
Pakistan as historical sources and evidence are scant about the easternmost regions of the Empire, and fragmentary containing little detail. There is no archaeological evidence of Achaemind control over modern-day Pakistan as not a single archaeological site that can be positively identified with the Achaemenid Empire has been found anywhere in Pakistan, including at
Taxila.
[25] What is known about the easternmost satraps and borderlands of the Achaemenid Empire are alluded to in the
Dariusinscriptions and from Greek sources such as the
Histories of
Herodotus and the later
Alexander Chronicles (Arrian, Strabo et al.). These sources list three Indian tributaries or conquered territories that were subordinated to the Persian Empire and made to pay tributes to the Persian Kings:
Gandhara,
Sattagydia (Thatagus) and
Hindush.
[26]Gandhara and Sattagydia (Thatagus) are listed amongst the provinces inherited by Darius when he seized the throne in 522 BC in his commemorative Behistun inscription, however, the dates of the initial annexation of these two regions is not certain.
[26] The locations of Sattagydia and Hindush and the extent of their boundaries have not been identified either though it is certain that these two tributaries existed along the river Indus as the name Hindush is analogous with the Indus and was derived by the Persians from the
Sanskrit word
Sindhu.
Additionally, much of what constitutes
Balochistan province in southwest Pakistan formed part of the Achaemenid satrap of
Gedrosia.
[27]Greek rule[edit]
Empire of Alexander the Great[edit]
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his
Diadochi (generals) divided the empire among themselves, with the Macedonian warlord
Seleucus setting up the
Seleucid Kingdom, which included the Indus plain.
[30] Around 250 BCE, the eastern part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.
Maurya Empire[edit]
Main article:
Maurya EmpireModern-day Pakistan was conquered by
Chandragupta Maurya, who overthrew the powerful
Nanda Dynasty of
Magadha and established the Maurya Empire: He conquered the trans-
Indus region to the west, which was under Macedonian rule - annexing
Balochistan, the tip of south eastern parts of
Iran and much of what is now
Afghanistan, including the modern
Herat[31] and
Kandahar provinces - and then defeated the invasion led by
Seleucus I, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Seleucus is said to have reached a
peace treaty with Chandragupta by giving him control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush upon intermarriage as well as 500 elephants.
Emperors Chandragupta and
Bindusara expanded the Empire into India's central and southern areas, while
Ashoka pushed further into previously unexplored tribal and forested regions near
Kalinga (modern
Odisha). With an area of 5,000,000 km
2, the Maura Empire was one of the world's
largest empires in its time, and the largest ever in the South Asia. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the
Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now
Assam province near the border with modern
Myanmar (
Burma).
Under Chandragupta and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture and economic activities, all thrived and expanded across India thanks to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Mauryans were followers of
Buddhism and
Hinduism. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of
Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism has been said to have been the foundation of the reign of social and political peace and non-violence across all of
South Asia. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into
Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Mediterranean Europe.
[31] After the
Kalinga War, the Empire experienced half a century of peace and security under Ashoka. Mauryan Empire's decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BC with the foundation of the
Sunga Dynasty in Magadha.
Gandhara civilization[edit]
A coin of
Menander I, who ruled the eastern dominions of the divided Greek empire of
BactriaGreco-Buddhism (or Græco-Buddhism) was the
syncretism between the culture of
Classical Greeceand
Buddhism in the then
Gandhara region of modern
Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE.
[33] It influenced the artistic development of Buddhism, and in particular
Mahayana Buddhism, before it spread to central and eastern Asia, from the 1st century CE onward.
Demetrius (son of the
Greco-Bactrian king
Euthydemus) invaded northern India in 180 BCE as far as
Pataliputra and established an
Indo-Greek kingdom. To the south, the Greeks captured
Sindhand nearby coastal areas, completing the invasion by 175 BCE and were stopped by the Indian
Sunga Empire to the east. Meanwhile, in Bactria, the usurper
Eucratides killed Demetrius in a battle. Although the Indo-Greeks lost part of the Gangetic plain, their kingdom lasted nearly two centuries.
Indo-Greeks[edit]
Indo-Greek Kingdom
possible extent of expeditions
• Capital cities
The Indo-Greek
Menander I (reigned 155–130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out of
Gandhara and beyond the
Hindu Kush, becoming a king shortly after his victory. His territories covered
Panjshir and
Kapisain modern Afghanistan and extended to the
Punjab region, with many tributaries to the south and east, possibly as far as
Mathura. The capital
Sagala (modern
Sialkot) prospered greatly under Menander's rule and Menander is one of the few Bactrian kings mentioned by Greek authors.
[34] The classical
Buddhist text Milinda Pañha praises Menander, saying there was "none equal to Milinda in all India".
[35] His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king,
Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king
Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the
Yuezhiinvasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the
Jhelum River. The last known Indo-Greek ruler was
Theodamas, from the
Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a 1st-century CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription
"Su Theodamasa" (
"Su" was the Greek transliteration of the
Kushan royal title
"Shau" ("
Shah" or "King")). Various petty kings ruled into the early 1st century CE, until the conquests by the
Scythians,
Parthians and the Yuezhi, who founded the Kushan dynasty.
Indo-Scythians[edit]
Indo-Scythian Kingdom
• Possible extent of expeditions
Indo-Parthians[edit]
The
Parni, a nomadic Iranian Central Asian tribe, invaded
Parthia during the 3rd century BCE, drove away its Greek satraps — who had just then proclaimed independence from the Seleucids — and annexed much of the Indus region, thus founding an
Arsacids[citation needed] dynasty of Scythian or Bactrian origin. Following the decline of the central
Parthian authority after clashes with their arch rival the
Roman Empire, a local Parthian leader,
Gondophares established the
Indo-Parthian Kingdom in the 1st century CE. The kingdom was ruled from
Taxilaand covered much of modern southeast Afghanistan and Pakistan.
[40] Christian writings claim that the Apostle
Saint Thomas – an architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of king
Gondophares, had built a palace for the king at
Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before leaving for
Indus Valley in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reach
Malabar Coast.
Kushan Empire[edit]
Main article:
Kushan Empire
Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line), according to the Rabatak inscription.
The next important chapter in Pakistan's history begins with the arrival of another wave of Central Asian tribes called the
Yuezhi, a branch of which was known as the Kushans. The Kushan kingdom (30−375 C.E.) was founded by King
Heraios, and greatly expanded by his successor,
Kujula Kadphises. Kadphises' son,
Vima Taktoconquered territory now in India, but lost much of the west of the kingdom to the Parthians. The fourth Kushan emperor,
Kanishka I, (c. 127 CE) had a winter capital at Purushapura (
Peshawar) and a summer capital at Kapisa (
Bagram). Kushan's brought new trends to the budding and blossoming
Gandhara Art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule.
Punjab and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been seats of learning and art, centres of great religious activity and pivots of political power during that period.
[41] The kingdom linked the
Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the
Silk Road through the Indus valley. At its height, the empire extended from the
Aral Sea to northern India, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between
China and
Rome. Kanishka convened a great Buddhist council in Taxila, marking the start of the pantheistic
Mahayana Buddhism and its scission with
Nikaya Buddhism. The art and culture of Gandhara — the best known expressions of the interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures — also continued over several centuries, until the 5th century CE
White Hun invasions of
Scythia. The travelogues of Chinese pilgrims
Fa Xian (337 – ca.422 CE) and
Huen Tsang (602/603–664 CE) describe the state of famed
Buddhist seminary at
Taxila and the status of
Buddhism in the region of Pakistan in this period.
[42]Gupta Empire[edit]
Main article:
Gupta EmpireThe Gupta Empire existed approximately from 320 to 600 CE and covered much of the
South Asia, including modern Pakistan.
[43] Founded by
Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a
classical civilization[44] and was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries.
[45][46]The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent architectures, sculptures and paintings.
[47][48][49] Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era.
[50] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in
Burma,
Sri Lanka,
Maritime Southeast Asia and
Indochina.
[51]The empire gradually declined due in part to loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories, and from the invasion by the
Hunas from Central Asia.
[52] After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by the Vardhana king
Harsha, who established an empire in the first half of the 7th century.
Rajput dynasties[edit]
Sassanid Empire[edit]
Over the next few centuries, while the Parthians and Kushans shared control of the Indus plain until the arrival of the White Huns, the Persian
Sassanid Empire dominated the region as part of their easternmost territories.
The White Huns[edit]
The Hephthalites (green), c. 500.
The Hephthalites (or Ephthalites), also known as the White Huns, were a nomadic confederation in
Central Asia during the
late antiquity period.The
White Huns, who seem to have been part of the predominantly
Buddhist group, established themselves in Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century, with their capital at
Bamiyan. Led by the Hun military leader
Toramana, they overran the northern region of Pakistan and North western India and made their capital at the city of Sakala, modern
Sialkot in
Pakistan, under Toramana's son, Emperor
Mihirakula, who was a
Saivite Hindu. Hiuen Tsiang narrates Mihirakula's merciless persecution of Buddhists and destruction of monasteries.
[55] The Huns were defeated by the Indian kings
Yasodharman of Malwa and Narasimhagupta of the
Gupta Empire in the 6th century and were driven out of India.
[56][57] White Huns are believed to be among the ancestors of modern-day
Pashtuns[58][59]Rai dynasty[edit]
Main article:
Rai DynastyPāla Empire[edit]
Main article:
Pala EmpireThe Pāla Empire was an Indian imperial power, . It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. At the time of their greatest extent from 770 to 850 A.D. they ruled over Northern parts of Pakistani regions.
[61]Later Medieval Age[edit]
The expansion of the
Arab Caliphate.
Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632
Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661
Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750
Arab Empire[edit]
Although soon after conquering the
Middle East from the
Byzantine empire and the
Sassanid Empire, Arab forces had reached the present western regions of Pakistan, during the period of
Rashidun caliphacy, it was in 712 CE that a young Arab general called
Muhammad bin Qasimconquered most of the Indus region for the
Umayyad empire, to be made the "As-Sindh" province with its capital at Al-Mansurah, 72 km (45 mi) north of modern
Hyderabad in
Sindh. But the instability of the empire and the defeat in various wars with north Indian and south Indian rulers including the
Battle of Rajasthan, where the
Hindu rulers like the south Indian Emperor
Vikramaditya II of the
Chalukya dynastyand Nagabhata of the
Pratihara Dynasty defeated the Umayyad Arabs, they were contained till only Sindh and southern
Punjab. There was gradual conversion to
Islam in the south, especially amongst the native Hindu and Buddhist majority, but in areas north of
Multan, Hindus and Buddhists remained numerous.
[62] By the end of the 10th century CE, the region was ruled by several
Hindu Shahi kings who would be subdued by the
Ghaznavids.
Ghaznavid dynasty[edit]
In 997 CE, the Turkic ruler
Mahmud of Ghazni, took over the
Ghaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sebuktegin, a Turkic origin ruler. Starting from the city of
Ghazni (now in
Afghanistan), Mehmood conquered the bulk of
Khorasan, marched on
Peshawar against the
Hindu Shahis in
Kabul in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of
Punjab(1007), deposed the
Shia Ismaili rulers of
Multan, (1011), Kashmir (1015) and Qanoch (1017). By the end of his reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire briefly extended from
Kurdistan in the west to the
Yamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187. Contemporary historians such as
Abolfazl Beyhaqi and
Ferdowsi described extensive building work in
Lahore, as well as Mahmud's support and patronage of learning, literature and the arts. Mahmud's successors, known as the
Ghaznavids, ruled for 157 years. Their kingdom gradually shrank in size, and was racked by bitter succession struggles. The Hindu
Rajput kingdoms of western India reconquered the
eastern Punjab, and by the 1160s, the line of demarcation between the Ghaznavid state and the Hindu kingdoms approximated to the present-day boundary between India and Pakistan. The
Ghurid Empire of central Afghanistan occupied
Ghazni around 1160, and the Ghaznavid capital was shifted to
Lahore.Later Muhammad Ghori conquered the Ghaznavid kingdom, occupying Lahore in 1187.
[63]Delhi Sultanate[edit]
In 1160,
Muhammad Ghori, a
Turkic ruler, conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids and became its governor in 1173. He for the first time named Sindh
Tambade Gatar roughly translated as the red passage. He marched eastwards into the remaining Ghaznavid territory and Gujarat in the 1180s, but was rebuffed by Gujarat's
Hindu Solanki rulers. In 1186–87, he conquered Lahore, bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid empire. Muhammad Ghori's successors established the
Delhi Sultanate. The Turkic origin
Mamluk Dynasty, (
mamluk means "owned" and referred to the Turkic youths bought and trained as soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world), seized the throne of the Sultanate in 1211. Several Central Asian Turkic dynasties ruled their empires from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211–90), the
Khalji (1290–1320), the
Tughlaq (1320–1413), the
Sayyid (1414–1451) and the
Lodhi (1451–1526). Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi – in
Gujarat,
Malwa (central India),
Bengal and
Deccan – almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule of these large sultanates.
The sultans (emperors) of Delhi enjoyed cordial relations with rulers in the
Near East but owed them no allegiance. While the sultans ruled from urban centers, their military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei for many towns that sprang up in the countryside. Close interaction with local populations led to cultural exchange and the resulting "Indo-Islamic" fusion has left a lasting imprint and legacy in South Asian architecture, music, literature, life style and religious customs. In addition, the language of
Urdu (literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various Turkic dialects) was born during the Delhi Sultanate period, as a result of the mingling of speakers of native
Prakrits,
Persian,
Turkish and
Arabic languages.
During the
Delhi Sultanate and later
Mughal Empire attracted
Muslim refugees,
nobles,
technocrats,
bureaucrats,
soldiers,
traders,
scientists,
architects,
artisans,
teachers,
poets,
artists,
theologians and
Sufis from the rest of the
Muslim world and they migrated and settled in the
South Asia. During the reign of
Sultan Ghyasuddin Balban (1266-1286) thousands of
Central Asian Muslims sought
asylum including more than of 15 sovereigns and their nobles due to the
Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran. At the court of
Sultan Iltemish in Delhi the first wave of these Muslim refugees escaping from the
Central Asian genocide perpetrated by the
Mongol hordes of
Genghis Khan, brought administrators from
Iran, painters from
China, theologians from
Samarkand,
Nishapur and
Bukhara, divines and saints from the rest of
Muslim world, craftsmen and men and maidens from every region, doctors adept in Greek medicine, philosophers from everywhere.
Mughal Empire[edit]
Main article:
Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire at its peak
In 1526,
Babur, a
Timurid descendant of
Timur and
Genghis Khan from
Fergana Valley (modern-day
Uzbekistan), swept across the
Khyber Pass and founded the
Mughal Empire, covering modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
[64] The Mughals were descended from Central Asian
Turks (with significant
Mongol admixture). However, his son
Humayun was defeated by the Afghan warrior
Sher Shah Suri who was from Bihar state of India, in the year 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat to
Kabul. After Sher Shah died, his son
Islam Shah Suri became the ruler, on whose death his prime minister, Hemu ascended the throne and ruled North India from
Delhi for one month. He was defeated by Emperor
Akbar's forces in the
Second Battle of Panipat on 6 November 1556.
Akbar the Great, was both a capable ruler and an early proponent of religious and ethnic
tolerance and favored an early form of
multiculturalism. He declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jainism and rolled back the
jizyatax imposed upon non-Islamic mainly Hindu people. The Mughal dynasty ruled most of the South Asia by 1600. The Mughal emperors married local royalty and allied themselves with local
maharajas. For a short time in the late 16th century,
Lahorewas the capital of the empire. The architectural legacy of the Mughals in Lahore includes the
Shalimar Gardens built by the fifth Emperor
Shahjahan, and the
Badshahi Mosque built by the sixth Emperor,
Aurangzeb, who is regarded as the last Great Mughal Emperor as he expanded the domain to its zenith. After his demise, different regions of modern Pakistan began asserting independence. The empire went into a slow decline after 1707 and its last sovereign, ruling around
Delhiregion.
Post Mughal era[edit]
Afsharid Empire[edit]
The Iranian military genius
Nader Shah overran the entire region during his
invasion of the weak Mughal Empire. Even though the Mughals were slowly declining since 1707, Nader's invasion, humiliation, and
looting of the Mughals would drastically accelerate the pace at which it was going. It would also alert more invaders to overrun the weak Empire and all its territories and regions, including most notably the
British, who would asses their first firm hold in both India and what is now Pakistan just years after Nader's invasion.
Durrani Empire[edit]
Map of durrani Empire in 1747
After Nadir Shah's death, in 1747
Ahmad Shah Abdali the
Afghan general of Nader Shah declared south Afghanistan independendant and established the "Durrani Empire", which encompassed most of
Pakistan, including the shared
Kashmirregion.
Maratha Empire[edit]
Durrani reconquest[edit]
Sikh Empire[edit]
Main article:
Sikh EmpireThe
Sikh Empire (1799–1849) was formed on the foundations of the
Punjabi Army by
Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was proclaimed "
Sarkar-i-Khalsa", and was referred to as the "Maharaja of Lahore".
[69] It consisted of a collection of autonomous
Punjabi Misls, which were governed by Misldars,
[70] mainly in the
Punjab region. The empire extended from the
Khyber Pass in the west, to
Kashmir in the north, to
Multan in the south and
Kapurthala in the east. The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region. The formation of the empire was a watershed and represented formidable consolidation of Sikh military power and resurgence of local culture, which had been dominated for hundreds of years by Indo-Afghan and Indo-Mughal hybrid cultures.
The foundations of the Sikh Empire, during the time of the Punjabi Army, could be defined as early as 1707, starting from the death of
Aurangzeb. The fall of the Mughal Empire provided opportunities for the Punjabi army to lead expeditions against the
Mughals and
Pashtuns. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different Punjabi armies and then semi-independent "misls". Each of these component armies were known as a
misl, each controlling different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762–1799,
Sikh rulers of their misls appeared to be coming into their own. The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the disbandment of the
Punjab Army by the time of coronation of
Ranjit Singh in 1801, creating a unified political state. All the misl leaders who were affiliated with the Army were nobility with usually long and prestigious family histories in Punjab's history.
[70][71]British rule[edit]
British colonization, conquest, and cultural heritage[edit]
Pakistan Movement[edit]
Early period of Pakistan Movement[edit]
In 1877,
Syed Ameer Ali had formed the
Central National Muhammadan Association to work towards the political advancement of the Indian Muslims, who had suffered grievously in 1857, in the aftermath of the failed
Sepoy Mutinyagainst the East India Company; the British were seen as foreign invaders. But the organization declined towards the end of the 19th century.
In 1885, the
Indian National Congress was founded as a forum, which later became a party, to promote a nationalist cause.
[73] Although the Congress attempted to include the Muslim community in the struggle for independence from the
British rule - and some Muslims were very active in the Congress - the majority of Muslim leaders did not trust the party, viewing it as a "
Hindu-dominated" organization.
[citation needed] Some Muslims felt that an independent united India would inevitably be "ruled by Hindus",
[citation needed] and that there was a need to address the issue of the Muslim identity within India.
[citation needed]A turning point came in 1900, when the British administration in the
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh acceded to Hindu demands and made
Hindi, written in the
Devanagari script, the official language. The
proslytisation conducted in the region by the
activists of a new Hindu
reformist movement also stirred Muslim's concerns about their faith. Eventually, the Muslims feared that the Hindu majority would seek to suppress Muslim culture and religion in the region of an independent India.
The Muslim League[edit]
The Musalmans are only a fifth in number as compared with the total population of the country, and it is manifest that if at any remote period the British government ceases to exist in India, then the rule of India would pass into the hands of that community which is nearly four times as large as ourselves ... our life, our property, our honour, and our faith will all be in great danger, when even now that a powerful British administration is protecting its subjects, we the Musalmans have to face most serious difficulties in safe-guarding our interests from the grasping hands of our neighbors.
[75]
The constitution and principles of the League were contained in the
Green Book, written by
Maulana Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include establishing an independent Muslim state, but rather concentrated on protecting Muslim liberties and rights, promoting understanding between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating the Muslim and Indian community at large on the actions of the government, and discouraging violence. However, several factors over the next thirty years, including sectarian violence, led to a re-evaluation of the League's aims.
[76][77] Among those Muslims in the Congress who did not initially join the League was Jinnah, a prominent statesman and barrister in Bombay. This was because the first article of the League's platform was "To promote among the Mussalmans (Muslims) of India, feelings of loyalty to the British Government".
In 1907, a vocal group of Hindu hard-liners within the
Indian National Congressmovement separated from it and started to pursue a pro-Hindu movement openly. This group was spearheaded by the famous trio of
Lal-Bal-Pal -
Lala Lajpat Rai,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak and
Bipin Chandra Pal of Punjab, Bombay and Bengal provinces respectively. Their influence spread rapidly among other like minded Hindus - they called it
Hindu nationalism - and it became a cause of serious concern for Muslims. However, Jinnah did not join the League until 1913, when the party changed its platform to one of Indian independence, as a reaction against the British decision to reverse the
1905 Partition of Bengal, which the League regarded it as a betrayal of the Bengali Muslims.
[78] After vociferous protests of the Hindu population and violence engineered by secret groups, such as
Anushilan Samiti and its offshoot
Jugantar of
Aurobindo and his brother etc., the British had decided to reunite Bengal again. Till this stage, Jinnah believed in Mutual co-operation to achieve an independent, united 'India', although he argued that Muslims should be guaranteed one-third of the seats in any Indian Parliament.
Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal
The League gradually became the leading representative body of Indian Muslims. Jinnah became its president in 1916, and negotiated the
Lucknow Pact with the Congress leader,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by which Congress conceded the principle of
separate electorates and weighted representation for the Muslim community.
[79] However, Jinnah broke with the Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader,
Mohandas Gandhi, launched a law violating
Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, which a temperamentally law abiding barrister Jinnah disapproved of. Jinnah also became convinced that the Congress would renounce its support for separate electorates for Muslims, which indeed it did in 1928. In 1927, the British proposed a constitution for India as recommended by the
Simon Commission, but they failed to reconcile all parties. The British then turned the matter over to the League and the Congress, and in 1928 an All-Parties Congress was convened in Delhi. The attempt failed, but two more conferences were held, and at the Bombay conference in May, it was agreed that a small committee should work on the constitution. The prominent Congress leader
Motilal Nehru headed the committee, which included two Muslims,
Syed Ali Imam and
Shoaib Quereshi; Motilal's son, Pt
Jawaharlal Nehru, was its secretary. The League, however, rejected the committee's report, the so-called
Nehru Report, arguing that its proposals gave too little representation (one quarter) to Muslims – the League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature. Jinnah announced a "parting of the ways" after reading the report, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.
Muslim homeland - "Now or Never"[edit]
Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Resolution with Jinnah and
Ali Khan presiding the session
As the leaders of the
Indian Congress were jailed and restrained, the
Round-tableconference was held, but these achieved little, since Gandhi and the League were unable to reach a compromise.
[80]Witnessing the events in the
Round-table conference,
Jinnah had despaired of politics and particularly of getting mainstream parties like the Congress to be sensitive to minority priorities. During this time in 1930, notable writer and poet,
Muhammad Iqbal called for a separate and autonomous nation-state, who in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt that a separate Muslim state was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated South Asia.
[6][81]In
Urdu and
Persian languages, the name encapsulates the concept of
Pak("pure") and
stan ("land") and hence a "Pure Land".
[84] In the 1935, the
British government proposed to hand over
substantial power to elected Indian provincial legislatures, with elections to be held in 1937.
[85] After the elections the League took office in Bengal and Punjab, but the Congress won office in most of the other provinces, and refused to devolve power with the League in provinces with large Muslim minorities citing technical difficulties.
Meanwhile, Muslim ideologues for independence also felt vindicated by the presidential address of
V.D. Savarkar at the 19th session of the famous Hindu nationalist party
Hindu Mahasabha in 1937. In it, this legendary revolutionary - popularly called
Veer Savarkar and known as the iconic father of the Hindu fundamentalist ideology - propounded the seminal ideas of his
Two Nation Theory or ethnic exclusivism, which influenced Jinnah profoundly.
In 1940,
Jinnah called a general session of the
Muslim League in
Lahore to discuss the situation that had arisen due to the outbreak of the
World War II and the
Government of India joining the war without consulting Indian leaders. The meeting was also aimed at analyzing the reasons that led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general election of 1937 in the Muslim majority provinces. In his speech, Jinnah criticized the
Indian Congress and the nationalists, and espoused the
Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for separate homelands.
[86] Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of
Punjab, drafted the original resolution, but disavowed the final version,
[87] that had emerged after protracted redrafting by the Subject Committee of the Muslim League. The final text unambiguously rejected the concept of a United India because of increasing inter-religious violence
[88] and recommended the creation of independent states.
[89] The resolution was moved in the general session by
Shere-Bangla Bengali nationalist,
AKF Haq, the Chief Minister of
Bengal, supported by
Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and other leaders and was adopted on 23 March 1940.
[7] The Resolution read as follows:
No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign ... That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities, with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in a minority.
[90]
The Working Committee of the Muslim League in Lahore (1940)
In 1941, it became part of the Muslim League's constitution.
[91] However, in early 1941, Sikandar explained to the Punjab Assembly that he did not support the final version of the resolution.
[92] The sudden death of Sikandar in 1942 paved the way over the next few years for Jinnah to emerge as the recognised leader of the Muslims of South Asia.
[78] In 1943, the
Sind Assembly passed a resolution demanding the establishment of a homeland.
[93] Talks between Jinnah and Gandhi in 1944 in Bombay failed to achieve agreement and there were no more attempts to reach a single-state solution.
The
French and
British empires had been under tremendous political and military pressure during the
World War II, and the speculations of disintegration of their colonial empires was rumored in all over the
British India.
[citation needed] In
North-West Frontier Province, the
British militaryhad launched the
military expeditions to quelled the armed rebellion. In 1945, the
general elections were held which saw the leftist
Labour Party forming the government in Britain and many Indians were seeing independence within reach. But, Gandhi and Nehru were not receptive to Jinnah's proposal and were also adamantly opposed to dividing India, since they knew that the Hindus, who saw India as one indivisible entity, would never agree to such a thing.
[78] In the
Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, the League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (polling 89.2% of total votes) on a policy of creating an independent state of Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was not granted.
[78]By 1946, the British had neither the will, nor the financial resources or military power, to hold India any longer. Political deadlock ensued in the Constituent Assembly, and the British Prime Minister,
Clement Attlee, sent a
cabinet mission to India to mediate the situation. When the talks broke down, Attlee appointed
Louis Mountbatten as India's last viceroy, to negotiate the independence of Pakistan and India and immediate British withdrawal.
Mountbatten, of imperial blood and a world war admiral, handled the problem as a campaign. Ignorant of the complex ground realities in British India,
[citation needed] he brought forward the date of transfer of power and told Gandhi and Nehru that if they did not accept division there would be civil war in his opinion
[78] and he would rather consider handing over power to individual provinces and the rulers of princely states. This forced the hands of Congress leaders and the "Independence of India Act 1947" provided for the two dominions of Pakistan and India to become independent on the 14 and 15 August 1947 respectively. This result was despite the calls for a third
Osmanistan in the early 1940s.
Creation of Pakistan[edit]
More than two million people migrated across the new borders and more than one hundred thousand died in the spate of communal violence, that spread even beyond these provinces. Major violence erupted following the division of
Punjab,
Bengal, and
Kashmir which escalated into leading to the
first war between
India and
Pakistan. With assistance and further
United Nations (UN) and
Soviet Union's involvement ended the war but it became a hitherto unresolved
Kashmir dispute.
Following the independence, the Pakistan became involved in continuous territorial disputes with
India (in east) over
Kashmir and
Bengal and with the
Afghanistan (in west) over the
tribal line. Its
political history has been characterized by authoritarian military rule and the brief democratic competition between
right-wing conservatives and
left-wing parties throughout its history.
State and constitution: Pakistan[edit]
First democratic era (1947–1958)[edit]
By the end of months in 1947, the national government led by Prime minister
Ali-Khan was able to settle the core issue of territorial boundaries, with composing the state with
five provinces:
Sindh,
Punjab,
Balochistan,
North-West Frontier, and
East-Bengal, and
four administrative units:
Gilgit–Baltistan (now a province),
Kashmir (also a provisional state),
Tribal Line aligning with the
Local belt.
[94] The harbour city,
Karachi, being the state's first capital. The national government of
Ali Khan was left to face challenges soon after holding the office. With the large numbers of
Indian Muslims immigrating to Pakistan, the
Nationalists in
each province worried that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even internal revolts such as the
Balochistan rebellion in 1948.
[94] Considering this issue,
Ali-Khan established a strong government;
[94] his
Finance secretary Victor Turner announced country's first monetary policy by establishing the
State bank and federal bureaus of
statistics and
revenue to improve the statistical finance, taxation, and revenue collection in the country.
[95] Ideological and territorial problems arose with neighboring communists states,
Afghanistan and
Soviet Union over the
Durand Line in 1949, and with
India over
Line of Control in
Kashmir which was a theater of
first war in 1947.
[94]During the massive political rally in 1951, Prime minister
Liaquat Ali Khan was
assassinated in
Rawalpindi, and Nazimuddin became the second prime minister.
[94] Tensions in
Eastern Pakistan reached to its climax in 1952, when the
East-Pakistani police opened fire on students near the
Dhaka Medical College protesting for Bengali language to receive equal status with
Urdu. The situation was controlled by Nazimuddin who gave a waiver to Bengali language as equal status, a right codified in the 1956 constitution. In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-
Ahmadiyya riots erupted, killing scores of Muslims and destroying their properties.
[99] The riots were investigated by a two-member court of inquiry in 1954,
[100] which was criticised by the
Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the parties accused of inciting the riots.
[101] This event led to the first instance of martial law in the country and began the inroad of military intervention in the politics and civilian affairs of the country, something that remains to this day.
[102]Within two month, Prime Minister
I.I. Chundrigar was dismissed; followed by
Sir Feroz Noon, who proved to be an incapable prime minister. The support of
Pakistan Muslim League led by
Nurul Amin began to get its supports which threatened President Mirza who was unapproved by the
public.
[104] In less than two years, Mirza dismissed four elected prime ministers, and was increasingly in great pressure for calling for new elections in 1958.
[109]First military era (1958–1971)[edit]
His actions also approved General Ayub Khan as the
Chief Martial Law Administrator to enforce the martial law all over the country who asserted his position in all over the country.
[110]Within two weeks, President Mirza also attempted to dismiss General Ayub Khan after Khan's action made him incapable of taking any decisions.
[110] This move backfired on President Mirza who was soon to relieved from his presidency and exiled to
London,
United Kingdom in 1958. The same year, General
Ayub Khan appointed himself to the rank of a five-star
Field Marshaland named a new civil-military government under him.
[112] Upon becoming the President, Ayub Khan was succeeded by General
Muhammad Musa as chief of army staff in 1958.
[113]Presidential republic (1962–1969)[edit]
The presidency of Ayub Khan is often dubbed and celebrated as "Great Decade" which highlighted the economic development plans and reforms executed.
[115] Under Ayub's presidency, the country took a cultural shift when the
pop music industry,
film industry and
drama picture began to notice by public and became extremely popular in the country in the 1960s. Rather than neutrality, Ayub Khan worked closely to make an alliance with the
United States and the
Western world to gained support and proceeded to join two formal military alliances, the
CENTO in 1955;
[116] and the
SEATO in 1962, against the
Soviet bloc.
[117] During this time, the
private-sectorgained more power to control the
national economy, educational reforms, human development and scientific achievements gained a lot of international appraisal from the global community.
[115] In 1961, the
space program was launched with the continuation of
nuclear power program on the other hand. Military aid from the U.S. grew unprecedentedly but the country's
national security was severely compromised following the exposure of the
secret spy operation launching from
Peshawar to
Soviet Union in 1960. The same year, Pakistan signed
Water treaty with India in an attempt to normalize the relations.
[118]The relations with China further strengthened after the Chinese
war with
India, and both countries signed a
boundary agreement which shifted the balance of the
Cold War by bringing Pakistan and China closer together while loosening ties between Pakistan and the United States in 1963.
[119] In 1964, the
Pakistan Armed Forces quelled the suspected pro-communist revolt in the
Western Pakistan allegedly supported by the
Afghanistan, where subsequently
American armourywas used to stop the rebellion. During the controversial
1965 presidential elections, Ayub Khan had almost lost the presidential elections to
Fatima Jinnah.
[120]In 1965, after Pakistan went ahead with its strategic air-borne mission code named the
Operation Gibraltar,
India declared a full-scale war on Pakistan.
[121] The war, which ended militarily in a stalemate, was mostly fought in West as only mild operations were conducted in East by India.
[122] Controversially,
East-Pakistan Army did not interfere in the conflict that brought a great ire in West against East.
[123] The news of war with India was highly unapproved by the
United States which dismayed Pakistan by adopting a policy of denying military aid to both India and Pakistan during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir and the
Rann of Kutch.
[124] A positive gain of the treaties was the re-strengthening of Pakistan's close historical bonds with its western neighbors in Asia.
A successful intervention of
USSR led to signing of
Tashkent Agreement between India and Pakistan in 1965.
[125] Witnessing the American disapproval and USSR's mediation, Ayub Khan made tremendous efforts to normalize relations with USSR and Bhutto's negotiation expertise led to the Soviet Premier,
Alexei Kosygin, visit to Islamabad.
[121]Delivering a blistering speech at the
UN General Assembly in 1965,
Foreign MinisterZulfikar Ali Bhutto with the atomic scientist
Aziz Ahmed present there for good measure, Bhutto made Pakistan's intentions clear and loudly announced that: "If India builds the (nuclear) bomb, we will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of own ... We have no other choice".
[126] Abdus Salam and
Munir Khan jointly collaborated to expand the nuclear power infrastructure, receiving tremendous support from Bhutto.
[126] Following such announcement, the nuclear power expansion was given an accelerated after signing a commercial nuclear power plant agreement with
GE Canada, and several other agreements with the
United Kingdom and
France.
| “ | Pakistan will fight, fight for a thousand years. If.. Indiabuilds the (Atom) bomb ... (Pakistan) will eat grass or (leaves), even go hungry, but we (Pakistan) will get one of our own (Atom bomb) ... We (Pakistan) have no other Choice!... | ” |
—Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 1965, [126] |
Disagreeing with the signing of Tashkent agreement,
Zulfikar Bhutto was ousted from the ministry on personal directives of President Ayub Khan in 1966.
[127] Dismissal of Bhutto led to a spontaneous mass demonstrations and public anger against Ayub Khan, leading to major industrial and labour strikes in the country.
[128] Within weeks, Ayub Khan lost the momentum in the West and his image was destroyed at the public circles.
[125]In 1967, the PPP tapped a wave a of anger against Ayub Khan and successfully called for major labour strikes in the country.
[128] Criticism on the
United States and Ayub Khan further damaged Ayub Khan's authority in the country.
[128] By the end of 1968, Ayub Khan forwarded the
Agartala Case which led the arrests of many of Awami League leaders, but forced to withdraw after serious
provisional uprising in East. Under pressured from PPP, public resentment, and anger against his administration, Ayub Khan resigned from the presidency in poor health and handing over his authority to army commander, a less-known in public and heavy alcohol drinker, General
Yahya Khan, who imposed martial law and suspended the constitution, thus dissolving the presidential republic.
[112][115][128]Martial law in Pakistan (1969–1971)[edit]
Witnessing the events and tensions, President General
Yahya Khan was deeply aware of the explosive political situation in the country, in 1969.
[128] The progressiveness and socialism in the country was rising, and calls for change of regime was gaining momentum.
[128] On a
television address to the nation, President Yahya Khan announced his intention to hold the nationwide
general elections in the following year and set his motion to transfer power to the
elected representatives of the people.
[128] Earliest authoritative decisions were towards the establishment of
National Security Council (NSC) by President Yahya Khan to analyze the military and political situation.
[131] Virtually suspending the
1962 Constitution, President Yahya Khan instead issued the
LFO Order No. 1970 which brought radical changes in
West. Tightening the grip of martial law, the
One Unit program was dissolved in West Pakistan, removing the "West"
prefix from Pakistan, and direct ballot replaced the principle of parity.
[132] Territorial changes were carried out on
four provinces of the country, allowing to retain their geographical structures as it were in 1947.
[132] The LFO No. 1970 had restored the borders and geographical positions of
four provinces as of 1947 and the provincial assemblies and provincial boundaries also were restored.
[132] The state parliament, supreme court and major government and authoritarian institutions also regained their status.
[132] This decree was only limited to West, it had no effects on East.
[132]
General Yahya Khan (left).
Civilians in Ayub Khan's administration were dismissed by the military government appointment of high-profile joint military officers occupying civilian government assignments and posts. The
Election Commission (EC) registered a total of
twenty-four political parties, and the public meetings attracted a lot of huge crowd. On the eve of the elections in 1970, a
cyclone struck
East-Pakistan killing approximately 500,000 people, though this event did not deter the people to participate in
first ever general elections.
[133] Mobilizing support for
Six Pointsmanifesto, the
Awami League secured its electoral support in
East-Pakistan.
[133]The
PPP assert itself even more densely; its socialist rationale, "
Food, Cloth, and Shelter, and party's socialist manifesto quickly popularized the party and in a small span of time.
[133] The intellectuals, philosophers, and
Bhutto's charismatic personality, were the key factors that contributed to the popularity of Pakistan Peoples Party.
[133] The Conservative,
PML led by
Nurul Amin, raised the religious and nationalist slogans all over the country.
[133]In a total 313 seat of National Assembly, electoral results showed the
Awami League, won 167 seats but none from
West Pakistan[133] and PPP won 88 but none from
East Pakistan. Though
Awami League won enough seat to form a government without any qualition,
West Pakistani elites refused to handover power to
East Pakistan party. Efforts were made to start a constitutional dialogue. Bhutto asked for share in government saying 'Udhar tum, idhar hum' , means 'You are in east, I am in west'. The PPP's intellectuals maintained that Awami League had no mandate in Western contingent.
[134] Although President Yahya Khan invited Awami League to for a
National Assembly session in
Islamabad, but did not handed over the powers to form the government due to constant pressure by PPP.
[134] With no united concessions were seemed to be reached, President Yahya Khan consequently appointed Bengali anti-war activist,
Nurul Amin as
Prime Minister with additional office of country's first and only
Vice-President.
[134]Indian intelligence agency, the
RAW, funded and coordinated the insurgency and the final military intervention by
Indian forces led to a large-scale
war on 3 December 1971.
[134] Untrained in guerrilla warfare, the
Eastern high command quickly scrambled its operational capabilities under its commanders, General
Amir Niazi and Admiral
Muhammad Sharif.
[134]Exhausted, outflanked and overwhelmed, the
Eastern high command could no longer continue its fight against the intense guerrilla insurgency, and finally surrendered the
East to
Indian Army.
[134] Nearly 90,000 soldiers taken as
prisoners of warand the result was the de facto emergence of the new nation of Bangladesh,
[9] thus ending 24 years of turbulent union of the two wings.
[134] The figures of the Bengali civilian death toll from the entire civil war vary greatly, depending on the sources. Killing of Bengalis was unsupported by the people of West Pakistan, it continued for illegally continued for nine long months.
[134] Pakistan's official report, by the
Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission, placed the figure at only 26,000, while estimates range up to 3 million. Discredited by the defeat, President General Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on 20 December 1971.
[134]Second democratic era (1971–1977)[edit]
This period starting from 1971 until 1977 was a period of
left-wing democracy, the growth of
national spirit, economic
nationalization, covert
atomic bomb projects, promotion of
scientific,
literary,
cultural activities and the
left-wing socialism. Regarded as the period of
reconstruction,
rehabilitation, re-establishment, and the rise of the
left-wing sphere of the country, the new industrial, manpower development, and the
labour policies were promulgated in the ending weeks of December 1971. In 1972, the country's top
intelligence services provided an assessment on Indian
nuclear program, citing the evidences that: "India was close to developing a nuclear weapon under its
nuclear programme". Chairing a secret winter seminar in January 1972, which came to be known as "Multan meeting", Bhutto rallied a large numbers academic scientists to build the atomic bomb for national survival. The
atomic bomb project brought together a team of prominent academic scientists and engineers, headed by theoretical physicist
Abdus Salam to develop nuclear devices. Salam later won the
Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the theory for unification of weak nuclear forces and strong electromagnetic forces.
[136]In 1973, a serious nationalist rebellion also took place in Balochistan province and led to harsh suppression of Baloch rebels with the
Shah of Iran purportedly assisting with air support in order to prevent the conflict from spilling over into
Iranian Balochistan. The conflict ended later after an amnesty and subsequent stabilization by the provincial military administrator
Rahimuddin Khan. In 1973, Parliament approved a supreme, but a
new constitution, which provided the basis for the
parliamentary democracy in the country. Bhutto and his government carried out major and serious reforms for establishment and development and re-designing of the country's infrastructure. First and foremost, Bhutto supervised the successful promulgation of
1973 constitutionthat validated the parliamentary democracy in the country; the establishment of
Joint Chiefs Committee (as well
Joint Strategic Forces Command), reorganization of the
military, special forces and chain of commands in the military. Steps were taken for democratization of
civil bureaucracy,
election commission and the
political structure, expansion of country's economic and human infrastructure growth, starting first with the
agriculture,
land reforms, and
government-control (
nationalization) of major
private industries,
industrialization and the expansion of the
higher education system throughout the country. In 1974, Bhutto succumbed to increasing pressure from religious parties and helped Parliament to declare the
Ahmadiyya adherents as non-Muslims. Bhutto's efforts undermined and dismantled the private-sector and conservative approach for political power in country's political setup.
Relations with the
U.S. gradually went down, and completing the gap after normalizing the
relations with the
USSR,
Eastern bloc,
North Korea,
China, and the
Arab world. With Soviet technical assistance, the country's
first steel mill was established in
Karachi, which proved to be a crucial step in industrializing the economy. Alarmed by the surprise
nuclear test by India in 1974, the atomic bomb project accelerated as Bhutto redeeming and keeping his 1965 promised, "If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass and leaves, even go hungry. But we will get one of our own, we have no alternative.", to the nation.
[137]This crash project reached a historical milestone in 1978 when the desired level of production of fissile core material was reached as well as first design of
physics package which eventually led to a secret subcritical testings ("
Kirana-I" and "
Test Kahuta") in 1983. Relations with India soured and Bhutto launched aggressive diplomatic war and measures against India at the
United Nations. Openly targeting Indian nuclear programme on multiple occasions and pushing India on the defense, Bhutto's covertly worked on expanding the atomic bomb project on a shortest time possible. From 1976 to 1977, Bhutto more densely emphasized his political position and faced an intense and heated diplomatic war with the United States and President
Jimmy Carter, who worked covertly to damage the credibility of Bhutto in Pakistan. Bhutto, with his scientist colleague
Aziz Ahmed, thwarted any U.S. attempts to infiltrate the atomic bomb programme. In 1976, during a secret mission,
Henry Kissinger threatened Bhutto and his colleague using an inhumane language. After the meeting, Bhutto aggressively put efforts to successfully develop the atomic project before the coming elections.
Second military era (1977–1988)[edit]
This period of military rule, lasting from 1977 to 1988, is often regarded as a period of
great purge and growth of state-sponsored
religious conservatism. Although, President Zia's long eleven-year rule era features the country's first successful
technocracy, but other side, it also features the tug of war between
far-leftist forces in direct competition with populist
far-right circles. President Zia made strong use of installing high-profile military officers from joint services of
joint forces in civilian posts, ranging from central government to provisional governments. Gradually, the socialist influence in the public policies were dismantled disbanded, instead a new system of
capitalism was revived with the introduction of
corporatizationand
Islamization. The
populist front against
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto scattered, with far right-wing conservatives allying with General Zia's government and encouraging the military government crack down on the
Pro-Soviet left-wing elements in the country. The
left-wing alliance led by
Benazir Bhutto was brutalized by Zia who took every mean of aggressive measures against the movement. Further, in his time, secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down successfully by the provincial governor, General
Rahimuddin Khan.
General Zia-ul-Haq (right).
In 1984, Zia held a
referendum asking the civil society for the support of his religious programme that received overwhelming support and extended the term of General Zia as country's administrator for next five years. He then introduced strict
Islamic law in 1978, often cited as the contributing factor in the present climate of
sectarianism and
religious fundamentalism in Pakistan. General Zia's government disbanded the Western styled songs, only patriotic songs were allowed in national television. The
Ordinance XX was introduced to limit the Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims.
Benazir Bhutto, in the U.S. (1988), became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988.
After Zia assuming power, Pakistan's
relations with
Soviet Union deteriorated after Zia renewed strong
relations with the
United States, whilst accelerated the atomic bomb projects to counter the Soviet communism. Repressive situation in
Communist Afghanistaninvited the Soviet Union's
intervention and President
Reaganimmediately jumped to help Zia to supply and finance an
anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, using Pakistan as a conduit. Zia's military administration effectively handled
national security matters and notably managed the multi-billion dollar aid from the United States. An overwhelming majority of
Afghan Pashtun took a refuge in the country fleeing the Soviet occupation. During this time, it was the largest refugee population in the world,
[138] which had a heavy impact on Pakistan and its effects continue to this day. In retaliation, the Afghan secret police,
KHAD, mastered the idea of "
terrorism" after carrying out a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of illegal weapons and drugs from Afghanistan. Responding to the terrorism, Zia used the "counter-terrorism" tactics after allowing the religiously far-right parties to send thousands young students of clerical schools participate in
Afghan Jihad against the
Soviet Union.
Under pressured by President
Ronald Reagan, General Zia finally lifted martial law in 1985, holding
non-partisan electionsand handpicking
Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the new Prime Minister, who readily extended Zia's term as Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his administrative independence grew; for instance, Junejo signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly frowned upon. As retaliation, a controversy was planned after a
large-scale blast at a munitions dump and Prime minister Junejo vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the significant damage caused, implicating several senior generals. In return, General Zia dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988 and called for elections in November 1988. However, before the elections could ever take place, General Zia died in a mysterious plane crash on 17 August 1988 (See
Death of Zia-ul-Haq).
During the end times of Zia's regime, there was a popular wave of cultural change in the country.
[140] Despite Zia's tough rhetoric against the
Western culture and music in the country, the underground
rock music jolted the country and revived the culturecounter attack on
Indian film industry.
[140] The
80's fashion such as hairstyles and clothing was very popular in the country and on casual basis at the five-star hotels in the country and near the residence of President Zia-ul-Haq, the rock bands performed Western-influenced rock music, and generally were welcomed by the public and some government elements.
[140]Third democratic era (1988–1999): Benazir-Nawaz period[edit]
| “ | The Pressler amendmentwas a veto in the hands of India— a tool and a club in the hands of those who stood against America and with the Soviet Union for fifty years ... The United States "ethically" should honour its "contractual obligation" to Pakistan, legally and morally ... | ” |
—Prime minister Benazir Bhutto, 1995, [143] |
Relations with India and Afghanistan worsened in 1995 when allegations were leveled of Pakistan and other countries providing economic and military aid to the group from 1994 as a part of supporting the anti-Soviet alliance. Pakistan was one of three countries which recognized the
Taliban government and Mullah
Mohammed Omar as the legitimate ruler of
Afghanistan.
[144] Benazir Bhutto continued her pressure on India, pushing India on to take defensive positions on its
nuclear programme. Benazir Bhutto clandestine initiatives modernized and expanded the atomic bomb programme after launching the
missile system programs. In 1994, she successfully approached the
France for the technology transfer of
AIP technology to the country. Focusing on culture development, her policies resulted in shaping the rock and pop music industry in the country, and
film industry made its notable comeback after introducing new talent to the public. She exercised tough policies to banned the Indian media in the country, while promoting television industry to produce dramas, films, artist programs, and music, extremely devoting to the country. The grievousness and public angst about the weaknesses of
Pakistan education led to large-scale federal support for science education and research in the country by both
Benazir and
Nawaz Sharif to meet with the competition with India.
Despite her tough policies, the popularity of Benazir Bhutto waned after her husband became allegedly involved in the controversial death of
Murtaza Bhutto. Many public figures and officials suspected even Benazir Bhutto's involvement in the murder, although there were no proves. In 1996, seven weeks passed this incident, Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by her own hand-picked president on charges of Murtaza Bhutto's death.
Problems with India further escalated in 1998, when the
television media reported the Indian nuclear explosions, codename
Operation Shakti. When news flooded in Pakistan, a shocked Sharif called for a
national security meeting in Islamabad and vowed that "she (Pakistan) would give a suitable reply to the Indians ...". After reviewing the effects of tests for roughly two weeks, Sharif ordered
PAEC to perform a series of nuclear tests at the remote area of
Chagai Hills in 1998 itself. The military forces in the country were mobilize at a war-situation level on Indian border.
If [Pakistan] had wanted, she would have conducted nuclear tests 15–20 years ago ... but the abject poverty of the people of the
region dissuaded ... [Pakistan] from doing so. But the [w]orld, instead of putting pressure on (India) ... not to take the
destructive road ... imposed all kinds of sanctions on [Pakistan] for no fault of her.....! If (fellow) Japan had its
own nuclear capability.. (cities of) ...
Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not have suffered
atomic destruction at the
hands of the ... United States ...
Under Nawaz Sharif's leadership, Pakistan became the seventh nuclear power country, the first country in the Muslim world, as well as a declared nuclear-weapon state. The conservative government also adopted environmental policies after establishing the
environmental protection agency. Sharif too continue Bhutto's cultural policies, though he did allowed
Indian channels to be viewed in the country. The next year,
Kargil war by Pakistan-backed Kashmiri militants threatened to escalate to a full-scale war
[10] and increased fears of a nuclear war in South Asia. Internationally condemned, the Kargil war was followed by
Atlantique Incident which came on a bad juncture for the Prime minister Sharif who no longer a hold the public support for his government.
On 12 October 1999, Prime minister Sharif's daring attempt to dismiss General
Pervez Musharraf from the posts of
chairman joint chiefs and
chief of army staff failed after the military leadership refused to accept the appointment of
ISIdirector Lieutenant-General
Ziauddin Butt as chairman and army chief.
[149] General Musharraf returning to Pakistan from a
PIA commercial airliner, Sharif ordered the
Jinnah Terminal to be sealed to prevent the landing of the PIA flight, which then circled the skies over Karachi for several hours. A counter
coup d'état was initiated, the senior commanders of the military leadership ousted Sharif's government and took over the airport; the flight landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare.
[150] The
Military Police seized the
Prime Minister's Secretariat and deposed Sharif, Ziauddin Butt and the cabinet staffers who took part in this assumed conspiracy, shifting placed him in infamous
Adiala Jail. A quick trial was set in
Supreme Court which gave Sharif a life sentence, with his assets being frozen based on a corruption scandal, and he was near receiving the death sentence based on the hijacking case.
[95]Third military era (1999–2007): Musharraf-Aziz period[edit]
The news of the Sharif's dismissal made headlines all over the world and under pressure by the US President
Bill Clintonand
King Fahd of
Saudi Arabia, Musharraf succumbed to spare Sharif's life in an agreement facilitated by Saudi Arabia. Departed to Saudi Arabia to be settled in a
Jeddah in King Fahd's private residence, Sharif was forced to be out of politics for nearly ten years.
After 1999, many rock music bands performed in open stage.
In 2000, the government issued a massive
nation-wide amnesty to the political workers of liberal parties, sidelining the conservatives and leftists in the country.
[154][155] Reviewing the policy to create a counter cultural attack on India, Musharraf personally signed and issued hundreds of license to private sector to open new media houses and set up channels, free from government influence. On 12 May 2000, the
Supreme Court ordered the Government to hold
general elections by 12 October 2002. Ties with the
United States were renewed by Musharraf who endorsed the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as reactionary to
9/11 attacks in the United States, in 2001.
[156] Confrontation with India continued over the
disputed Kashmir, which led to serious
military standoff in 2002 after India alleged Pakistan-backed
Kashmiri militants laid the
attack on
Indian parliament in ending month of 2001.
[157] Military formations and deployment continued in all over the country during this period, with stationing of
XI Corps in
North-western Pakistan while the rest of the components were positioned in
eastern,
southern, and the
northern borders of the country.
[158]Attempting to legitimize his presidency
[159] and assuring its continuance after the impending elections, Musharraf held a controversial
referendum in 2002,
[160] which allowed the extension of his presidential term to a period ending five years.
[161]The
LFO Order No. 2002 was issued by Musharraf in August 2001, which established the constitutional basis for his continuance in office.
[162] The
2002 general elections marked the liberals, the
MQM, and
centrist PML(Q), winning the majority in the
parliament to form the government.
General Pervez Musharraf,
PA.
With
Shaukat Aziz becoming the prime minister in 2004, his regime yielded positive results on economic front and his proposed social reforms were met with resistance. The far-right
religious alliancemobilized itself in fierce opposition to Musharraf and Aziz who were dismayed by their
Post-9/11 alliance with the United States and endorsement of military support to the
U.S. Forces in
2001 campaign in Afghanistan.
[164][165] In over two years, several attempts were survived by Musharraf and Aziz hatched by
al-Qaeda including at least two instances where they had inside information from a member of his military administration.
[154] On foreign fronts, the allegations of
nuclear proliferationfurther damaged Musharraf and Aziz's credibility when country's scientists were accused of suspected activities of giving and sharing the technology to global
atomic proliferation. Repression and subjugation in
Tribal line led to a
heavy fighting in
Warsk between
Pakistan Armed Forces and 400 al-Qaeda operatives who were entrenched in several fortified settlements on March 2004. The hunt for Egyptian
Ayman al-Zawahiri was launched in the
border-side of the country, contributing in sparking the
sectarian violence. This new
war forced the government to sign a truce with the
militants on 5 September 2006; nonetheless the sectarian violence continued.
Since 2001 and onward,
Navaz Sharif and
Benazir Bhutto's popular support was gaining a lot of momentum in the country.
[166] In 2007, Sharif made a daring attempt to return from exile but was refrained from landing at
Islamabad Terminal. Sharif was forcefully departed to Saudi Arabia on a first given flight, whilst outside the airport there were violent confrontations between Sharif's supporters and the police.
[167] This did not deter another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, from returning on 18 October 2007 after an eight-year exile in
Dubaiand
London, to prepare for the
parliamentary elections to be held in 2008.
[168][169] While leading a massive rally of supporters, two
deadly suicide attacks were carried out in an attempt to assassinate Benazir Bhutto, though she escaped unharmed but there were 136 casualties and at least 450 people were injured.
[170]With Aziz completing his term, the liberal alliance now led by Musharraf was further weakened after General Musharraf proclaimed a
state of emergency and sacked the
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry along with other 14 judges of the Supreme Court, on 3 November 2007,.
[151][171][172]Political situation became more chaotic when the lawyers launched a protest against this action but they were arrested. All
private media channels including foreign channels were banned, and Musharraf declared that the state of emergency would end on 16 December 2007.
[173] The global
financial crises,
energy crises,
domestic crime and violence further escalated as Musharraf made desperate attempt to contained the political pressure. Stepping down from the military, Musharraf was sworn in for a second presidential term on 28 November 2007.
[174][175]
The
2002 elections resulted with
liberals (light green and white) gaining majority in the first time in history of Pakistan.
Popular support for Musharraf declined when
Nawaz Sharif, this time accompanied by his
younger brother and his
daughter, successfully made a second attempt to return from exile; hundreds of their supporters, including a few leaders of the party were detained before the pair arrived at
Iqbal Terminal, on 25 November 2007.
[176][177]Nawaz Sharif filed his nomination papers for two seats in the forthcoming elections whilst Benazir Bhutto filed for three seats including one of the reserved seats for women.
[178] Departing an election rally in
Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007,
Benazir Bhutto was
assassinated by a gunman who shot her in the neck and set off a bomb,
[179][180] killing 20 other people and injuring several more.
[181] The exact sequence of the events and cause of death became points of political debate and controversy, because, although early reports indicated that Benazir Bhutto was hit by
shrapnel or the gunshots,
[182] the Pakistan
Interior ministry maintained that her death was due from a skull fracture sustained when the explosive waves threw her against the sunroof of her vehicle.
[183] The issue remains controversial and the investigations were further conducted by
British Scotland Yard. After a meeting in Islamabad, the
Election Commissionannounced that, due to the
assassination,
[184] the elections, which had been scheduled for 8 January 2008, would take place on 18 February.
[185]The
2008 general elections marked the return of the leftists in the country's power politics, on 18 February 2008.
[186][187] The left oriented,
PPP, and conservative
PML, won majority of seats together in the election and formed a coalition government; the liberal alliance then finally faded.
Yousaf Raza Gillaniof PPP became the Prime minister and consolidated his power after ending a policy deadlock in order to lead the
movement to impeach the president on 7 August 2008. Before restoring the deposed
judiciary, Gillani and his leftist alliance leveled accusation against Musharraf for weakening Pakistan's unity, violating its constitution and creating economic impasse.
[188] As momentum on Musharraf gained, President Musharraf began consultations with his close aides on the implications of the impeachment and readily made available himself to reply to the charges levied upon him. Gillani's effective strategy to force Musharraf from presidency succeeded when
Pervez Musharraf announced in a very short long televised address to the nation to announce his resignation, ending his nine-year-long reign on 18 August 2008.
[189]Fourth democratic era (2008–present)[edit]
After the
elections, Yousaf Raza Gillani presided the country as the Prime minister and headed the
collective government, with the winner parties of the
four provinces. Gillani proposed the idea of
collective leadership with the installment major parties of the four provinces in the government; objections raised by conservative PML-N was replaced with centrist,
PML(Q). Presided by Gillani, a major transformation in a political structure was carried out to replace the
semi-presidential system into
parliamentary democracy system. The
Parliamentunanimously passed the
18th amendment to the
Constitution of Pakistan, which signifies the parliamentary democracy in the country. Lessening the powers of the
President to dissolve the parliament unilaterally, it turns the
President into a ceremonial
head of stateand transfers the authoritarian and executive powers to the
Prime Minister.
[194] In 2009-11, Gillani, under pressured from the public and cooperating the with
United States, ordered the
armed forces to launch
military campaigns against Taliban advancing in the country. The
joint-forces operations quelled and crushed the Taliban militias in the country but the
terrorist attacks continued in elsewhere of the country. The country's media was further liberalized with the banning of the
Indian channels, the music, art, and cultural activities were promoted to the national level, devoted to the
nationalist spirit.
In 2010 and 2011, the
anti-American emotions reached a climax after a
CIA contractor killed civilians in
Lahore which further fractured relations with the United States. In the United States as well, the
anti-Pakistan sentiment increased after the execution of the
secret operation conducted in
Abbottabad that killed the
Al-Qaeda supremo
Osama bin Laden, without the knowledge of Pakistan Government. A strong U.S.
criticism was made against Pakistan for supporting a network of hiding al-Qaeda supremo, Gillani called his government to overlook the foreign policy. Steps were taken by Gillani to block all major
supply lines after the
NATO attack. Relations with Russia advanced in 2012, following the secret trip of country's foreign minister
Hina Khar.
[195] Following endless procrastination of Gillani in probing corruption charges as ordered by the Supreme Court, and treating it as contempt of court, the Supreme Court ousted Gillani from the office on 26 April 2012, and was quickly succeeded by
Pervez Ashraf.
[196][197]
