Timeline Pakistan
A thru 2005
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Atlapedia: http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/pakistan.htm
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History: http://www.geocities.com/junaid_hassan25/history.html
Pakistan: http://www.storyofpakistan.com/default.asp
TravelDocs: http://www.traveldocs.com/pk/index.htm
USLC: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pktoc.html
The capital is Islamabad. Pakistan
is divided into four provinces,
two centrally administered areas, one territory, and one capital
territory. The population in 2003 was 77% Sunni and 20% Shiite.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.40)(SFC, 3/21/05,
p.A8)(www.statoids.com/upk.html)
50 Mil BC The Tethys Sea southern
edge was the habitat of Pakicetus inachus, a small, land mammal (whale
ancestor, pakicetids) that walked on four legs and ate fish from the
shallows of the Tethys. This area is presently a rocky, mountainous
desert in Northern Pakistan. Pakicetus had ears apparently adapted for
underwater use.
(LSA., p. 36)(PacDis, Winter/’96, p.15)(SFC,
9/28/01, p.D5)
7000-5,500BC In 2006 researchers
found evidence of drilled teeth in a Pakistani graveyard.
(SFC, 4/6/06, p.A14)
3200-1600BC The Indus Valley civilization grew up
along the banks of the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. The cities
of Harappa and Mohenjo-Dara showed the development of multi-level
houses and city-wide plumbing. A natural disaster that altered the
course of the Indus River appears to have brought about the collapse of
this civilization.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.1)
3000-1500BC The city of Harappa flourished as part of
the Indus Valley civilization in Pakistan.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.A)
2600-1900BC The Indus Valley Civilization flourished
with Harappa as one of its great cities. Undeciphered Indus Valley
script on inscribed seals and molded tablets have been found there.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
2500-1500BC Mohenjo-daro in southern Pakistan was an
early urban center. As many as 40,000 people lived there
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.74)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)
2300-2000BC There was cultural exchange between the
Indus Valley civilization and Mesopotamia. The Indus Valley, or
Harrapan, civilization was discovered in 1920-21 when engraved seals
were discovered near present-day Sahiwal in Pakistani Punjab at a place
called Harappa.
(EAWC,
p.2)(http://inic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html)
c1000BC Some of the monuments at the Uch Monument
Complex in the Punjab date to this time.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T4)
c500BC The Charsadda site (aka Bala Hisar) in
northern Pakistan was initially occupied during the Achaemenid period.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
c500BC The city of Hund in northern Pakistan was
founded about this time on the banks of the Indus River.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
400-300BC Indo-Greek fortifications mark the Bir-Kot
Shwandai site in northern Pakistan.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
326BC The Charsadda site (aka Bala
Hisar) in northern Pakistan was besieged by Alexander. It then passed
from Mauryan to Indo-Greek, Parthian, Sassanian, and Kushan rule. The
pagan Kalash of Pakistan later claimed to be descendants of Alexander’s
soldiers.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A17)
100-1300AD The Bir-Kot Shwandai site in northern
Pakistan marks an urban settlement.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
1274 Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
(b.1177), born as Seyyed Shah Hussain Marandi in Marand (near the city
of Tabriz) in Azerbaijan (then part of Iran), died in Sindh (later part
of Pakistan). He had migrated to Sindh and settled in Sehwan and was
buried there. He is also known as Shaikh Hussain Marandi. He was a Shia
Sufi in the regions that lie in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Qalander)(Econ, 12/20/08, p.73)
1519 Nanak (1469-1538), born near
Lahore, Pakistan, founded Sikhism, a combination of Hinduism and
Buddhism.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.11)
1556-1605 Akbar the Great during his reign built a
walled Mughal fort at Hund, that now encloses a modern village.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
1566 Akbar began the construction
of the Lahore Fort in northern Pakistan.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
1627-1637 Jahangir’s mausoleum on the right bank of
the Navi River in Lahore was built by his son Shah Jahan.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
1800-1900 Feudal families came to power when the
British made weak vassals into a hereditary land-owning elite loyal to
London.
(WSJ, 8/7/98, p.A1)
1831 Sayyid Ahmad of Rai Bareilly
(b.1786), Islamic warrior, died in a battle against the Sikhs. Sayeed
Ahmad Shaheed was slain in Balakot (later part of Pakistan) while
failing to repel Sikh invaders.
(WSJ, 4/4/08,
p.W5)(www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11151)(AP, 4/6/06)
1843 Charles Napier, the British
conqueror of Sindh province (later part of Pakistan), marveled at the
extent of the Bhutto holdings there.
(Econ, 1/5/08, p.82)
1861 The Murree Brewery Co. Ltd.
was founded by British colonialists.
(SFC, 7/10/00, p.A8)
1876 Dec 25, Mohammed Ali Jinnah
(d.1948), founder of Pakistan (1947), gov. (1947-58), was born in
Karachi.
(SFC, 7/30/03,
p.A11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah)
1920-1921 The Indus Valley, or Harrapan, civilization
was discovered when engraved seals were discovered near present-day
Sahiwal in Pakistani Punjab at a place called Harappa.
(EAWC,
p.2)(http://inic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html)
1933 Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a
student at Cambridge, coined the name Pakistan 14 years before the
country came into existence. It was an acronym derived from the regions
Punjab, Afghania and Kashmir and Sind.
(SSFC, 12/17/06, p.G5)
1935 May 31, In Quetta, India
(later Pakistan), a magnitude 7.5 earthquake killed some 50,000 people.
The earthquake flattened Quetta, killing an estimated 26,000 people in
the city alone, more than half its population.
(AP, 12/27/03)(AP, 10/15/05)
1947 Jun 3, In Britain an
announcement was made in the House of Commons that India was to be
partitioned and that independence would follow. In 2007 Yasmin Khan
authored “The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan.”
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.81)
1947 Jun 15, The All-Indian
Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India. Britain
partitioned the subcontinent.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(HN, 6/15/98)
1947 Aug 14, Pakistan was
founded as an independent country. The Muslim areas in the east and
west became independent Pakistan with Mohammed Ali Jinnah as president.
Independence in Pakistan and India led to bloody conflicts and
thousands died.
(WSJ, 1/9/95, A-8)(TMC, 1994, p.1947)(WSJ, 12/21/95,
p.A-12)(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-10)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1947 Oct 27, The Hindu maharajah
of Muslim-majority Kashmir joined India. The accession, not recognized
by Pakistan, led to a war.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A20)
1947 The 664 princely states of
India were given the choice of which country they wanted to join.
Although most of the people of Kashmir were Muslim, the maharaja was
Hindu and he appealed to India for help.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)
1947 Mohajirs are Muslims who
migrated from India after the subcontinent was partitioned. They were
politically dominant in the southern province of Sindh.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.C3)(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.A13)
1947 At the time of India’s
partition and the creation of Pakistan, many Muslim Biharis moved to
what was then East Bengal. In 1971, when war broke out between West
Pakistan and East Pakistan (or Bangladesh), the Biharis, who mostly
considered themselves Pakistani, sided with West Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharis)
1947 The initial Pakistani army
numbered about 50,000 and established its headquarters in Rawalpindi.
By 1999 the force numbered 500,000.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A25)
1948 May, India and Pakistan went
to war over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which was divided between
the two nations at partition. The Pakistani third was known as Jammu
and Kashmir, while India controlled the eastern two-thirds where 8
million people lived.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.A15)
1948 Sep 11, Mohammed Ali Jinnah
(b.1876, 1st governor of Pakistan (1947-48), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah)
1948 Govindas Vishnoodas Desani
(1909-2000), Kenya-born Pakistani writer in England, authored “All
About Hatterr,” his novel of an absurdist and mystical odyssey in
India. In 1968 he was invited to teach at the Univ. of Texas and spent
11 years there.
(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.M1)
1948 Pakistan established its
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to protect the country against
foreign and domestic security threats.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A6)
1949 Jan 1, The UN brokered a
cease-fire in Kashmir. It granted Kashmir the right to vote on whether
to remain in India or to join Pakistan. No vote took place.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A20)
1951 Oct 16, Pakistan’s PM Liaquat
Ali Khan (b.1896), son of a Punjabi prince, was assassinated in
Rawalpindi, ushering in a period of political instability.
(WSJ, 1/28/08,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaquat_Ali_Khan)
1953 Mar 3, Canadian Comet crashed
at Karachi, 11 killed.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1953 Jun 21, Benazir Bhutto, Prime
Minister of Pakistan, was born. She was elected in 1988 after the
military regime had agreed to free elections following the death of
President Zhia.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1953 Nov 2, Pakistan became an
Islamic republic.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1953 The first attempt to scale
K2, the world’s 2nd tallest mountain, was made by 7 Americans led by
Charles Houston and Robert Bates. The mountain straddled China and
Pakistan. In 1954 they authored “K2: The Savage Mountain.
(WSJ, 4/28/07, p.P8)
1954 Apr, In Pakistan the
government issued the Munir Report, an eloquent expression of the
state’s position on religion. This was made in response to Muslim
leaders in the Punjab who agitated in 1953 to have a rival group
declassified as Muslims.
(WSJ, 4/4/08,
p.W5)(http://aaiil.info/misconceptions/fatwas/munir.htm)
1954 Jul 31, Italians Lino
Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni first scaled Pakistan’s K2, the
world's second-highest mountain.
(AP, 7/27/04)
1954 Sep 8, SEATO (Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization), a sister organization to NATO, was created under
the Manila Pact by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, to
stop communist spread in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos).
The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand signed the mutual defense treaty.
SEATO dissolved in 1977.
(HNQ, 4/2/01)(http://tinyurl.com/hpawj)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain,
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance
intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was
formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet
pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S.
provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1956 Mar 23, Pakistan became an
independent republic within the British Commonwealth. Officially the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan became the first Islamic
republic,
(HFA, '96, p.26)(AHD, p.943)(AP, 3/23/97) (HN,
3/23/98)
1956 May 12, East Pakistan was
struck by a cyclone and tidal waves.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)
1957 Sep 29, In Montgomery, West
Pakistan (later renamed to Sahiwal, Pakistan), an express train
collided with stationary oil train and 250 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1958 Oct 7, In Pakistan President
Iskander Mirza abrogated the Constitution and declared Martial Law in
the country. Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan was named chief martial
law administrator.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayub_Khan)
1958 Oct 27, In Pakistan Field
Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan carried out the country’s first military
coup. He announced that "our ultimate aim is to restore democracy but
of the type that people can understand." Corruption had become so
widespread within the national and civic systems of administration that
Ayub Khan was welcomed as a national hero by the people. This launched
more than a decade of military rule.
(www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A065)(SFEC, 8/3/97,
p.A15)(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A22)
1960 Jun 11, In Pakistan a house
packed with wedding celebrants collapsed killing 30.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1960 Oct 11, A hurricane ravaged
East Pakistan and some 6,000 died.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1963 Mar, Pakistan and China
signed a historic border agreement. Three years later, the two
countries agreed to construct a road that would provide a hitherto
non-existent road-link for mutual benefit. In 1978 the Karakoram
Highway from Kashgar, China, to the edge of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was
completed.
(www.pakpost.gov.pk/philately/stamps2003/karakoram_highway.html)
1963 May 20-1963 May 23, In East
Pakistan a cyclone killed about 22,000 along coast of the Bay of Bengal.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1965 Apr 5, The second
Indo-Pakistani conflict began when fighting broke out in the Rann of
Kachchh, a sparsely inhabited region along the West Pakistan-India
border.
(Encyclopaedia.com, 2002)
1965 Apr 9, India and Pakistan
engaged in a border fight.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1965 May 25, India and Pakistan
engaged in border fights.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1965 Aug 6, Indian troops invaded
Pakistan. Indo-Pakistani fighting spread to Kashmir and to the Punjab,
The 2nd Indo-Pakistani conflict started without a formal declaration of
war. Skirmishes with Indian forces started as early as August 6 or 7.
(http://ph.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0858805.html)(MC, 8/6/02)
1965 Aug 14, The first major
engagement between the regular armed forces of India and Pakistan took
place. The next day, Indian forces scored a major victory after a
prolonged artillery barrage and captured three important mountain
positions in the northern sector. Later in the month, the Pakistanis
counterattacked, moving concentrations near Tithwal, Uri, and Punch.
Their move, in turn, provoked a powerful Indian thrust into Azad
Kashmir. Other Indian forces captured a number of strategic mountain
positions and eventually took the key Haji Pir Pass, eight kilometers
inside Pakistani territory.
(Encyclopaedia.com,
2002)(http://ph.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0858805.html)
1965 Sep 1-19, Indian gains led to
a major Pakistani counterattack in the southern sector, in Punjab,
where Indian forces were caught unprepared and suffered heavy losses.
The sheer strength of the Pakistani thrust, which was spearheaded by
seventy tanks and two infantry brigades, led Indian commanders to call
in air support. Pakistan retaliated on September 2 with its own air
strikes in both Kashmir and Punjab.
(http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr65/fkashmir1965)
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(HN,
9/6/98)(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A20)(MC, 9/1/02)(Encyclopaedia.com, 2002)
1965 Sep 20, The India-Pakistani
war was at the point of stalemate when the UN Security Council
unanimously passed a resolution that called for a cease-fire. New Delhi
accepted the cease-fire resolution on September 21 and Islamabad on
September 22, and the war ended on September 23. The Indian side lost
3,000 while the Pakistani side suffered 3,800 battlefield deaths.
(http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr65/fkashmir1965)
1965 Sep 22, Pakistan agreed to
the UN brokered cease-fire that India affirmed the day before. [see Jan
10, 1966]
(HNQ, 4/26/99)
1965 Dec 15, In Karachi, Pakistan,
a cyclone killed some 10,000 people.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1966 Jan 10, The Tashkent
Agreement, was signed in the Soviet city of Tashkent, and officially
ended a 17-day war between Pakistan and India. It required that both
sides withdraw by February 26, 1966, to positions held prior to August
5, 1965, and observe the cease-fire line agreed to on June 30, 1965.
The agreement was brokered by Soviet premier Aleksey Kosygin and signed
by Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan President
Ayub Khan. The Indian prime minister died the day after signing the
agreement.
(HNQ,
4/26/99)(www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr65/fkashmir1965)
1967 The Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) was formed under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
(Econ, 7/8/06, Survey p.7)
1967 Pakistan’s 7-year, $518
million Mangla Dam project on the River Jhelum was completed. Richard
Byers (d.2004) served as chief project engineer for the Guy F. Atkinson
Co.
(www.waterinfo.net.pk/pdf/md.pdf)(SFC, 12/22/04,
p.B4)
1968 Sep 5, Hijackers killed 21
people aboard a Pan Am jet in Karachi Pakistan.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1968 Baba Hassan Din, English
convert to Sufism, died in Lahore, Pakistan. In the 1950’s he had
adopted a boy named Hafiz Iqbal, and raised him to be a scholar. Both
were later recognized as Sufi saints.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.73)
1969 Apr 14, Tornado struck Dacca
in East Pakistan killing 540.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1969-1971 Gen. Yahya Khan led Pakistan’s military
regime.
(WSJ, 7/28/05, p.D8)
1970 Jun 28-1970 Jun 29, Reinhold
and Gunther Messner of Tyrol, Italy, reached the 26,650-foot peak of
Nanga Parbat in northern Pakistan. Gunther (24) died during the
descent. In 2005 Reinhold retrieved his brother’s remains.
(WSJ, 12/10/03, p.A1)(SFC, 9/5/05, p.A2)
1970 Dec 7, In Pakistan polling
began for 300 seats in the National Assembly. The Awami League emerged
as the single largest party in the National Assembly by winning 160
seats. It was also able to win 288 out of 300 seats in the East
Pakistan Assembly. However, the party failed to win even a single seat
in the four Provincial Assemblies of West Pakistan. The Pakistan
People’s Party, led by landlord Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, won a majority in
West Pakistan. Mr. Bhutto and military leader, Gen. Yahya Khan, refused
to honor the results.
(www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A140&Pg=2)
1970 Chester Bowles (1901-1986),
former governor of Connecticut and US ambassador to India and Nepal
(1951-1953), wrote a piece in the NY Times titled “Will We Ever Learn
in Asia.” Here he outlined America’s alliance with Pakistan and
prophesied that contradictions underlying the alliance would harm vital
American interests.
(SSFC, 1/6/08, p.E1)
1970s In the late 1970s Gen. Zia
al-Huq enacted the Hudood Ordinances based on strict Islamic
principles, which criminalized extramarital intimacy and left the
burden of proof on rape victims.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A10)
1971 Mar 21, Sheik Mujibur Rahman
(Mujeeb-ur Rehman), head of the Awami League, declared East Pakistan
(later Bangladesh) independent of Pakistan. Pakistani Pres. Yahya Khan
ordered the army in; several million East Bengali refugees fled to
India. Rahman was the father of later PM Hasina Wajid.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 12/31/00,
p.B3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Pakistan)
1971 Mar 25, Sheik Mujibur Rahman
was arrested in Dhaka. Pakistani forces started Operation Searchlight,
a systematic plan to eliminate any resistance. Thousands of people were
killed in student dormitories and police barracks in Dhaka.
(WUD, 1994, p.
1688)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)
1971 Mar 26, East Pakistan
proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh. [See Mar 21]
This is considered the official Independence day of Bangladesh.
(AP,
3/26/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War)
1971 Mar 27, PM of India, Indira
Gandhi, expressed full support of her government to the Bangladeshi
struggle for independence. The Bangladesh-India border was opened to
allow the Bangladeshi Refugees safe shelter in India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)
1971 Dec 3, The 3rd Indo-Pakistani
war began when India intervened in the Pakistani civil war. Pakistan
attacked Indian airfields and India mobilized its army after nearly 10
million refugees poured into India. The India-Pakistani civil war ended
with independence for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A12)(SSFC,
12/30/01, p.A22)
1971 Dec 6, India recognized the
Democratic Republic of Bangladesh and Pakistan broke off diplomatic
relations. Bangladesh later accused Pakistan of war atrocities that led
to the death of some 3 million people during the 9-month war.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B3)
1971 Dec 6, Bangladesh became
independent from Pakistan following a 9-month war in a struggle led by
Sheik Mujibar Rahman. Sheik Rahman was nominated as president on Dec 20
and released from prison on Dec 22; he returned to Bangladesh Jan 10.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-10)
1971 Dec 16, Pakistani forces in
East Pakistan surrendered to the allied forces of India and Bangladesh,
jointly known as the Mitro Bahini. Bangladesh gained independence.
Bangladesh later accused Pakistan of war atrocities that led to the
death of some 3 million people during the 9-month war.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)(SFC,
12/31/00, p.B3)
1971 Dec 17, A cease fire began
between India and Pakistan in East Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)
1971 Dec 20, In Pakistan Ali
Zulfikar Bhutto (1928-1979), a Sindhi landlord, took over as President
and Chief Martial Law Administrator. He implemented a policy of quotas
that promoted the Sindhi language and favored rural Sindhis over
Muhajirs in university admissions and public sector jobs. This led to a
student movement, led by Altaf Hussein and Farooq Sattar, that later
became the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
(www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P019&Pg=2)
1971 Dec 20, Sheik Mujibar Rahman
was nominated as president of Bangladesh. He was released from prison
in Pakistan on Dec 22 and returned to Bangladesh Jan 10.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-10)
1971 Pakistan’s Gen. Tikka Khan
(1915-2002) led the crackdown against Bengali separatists. His tactics
won him the name “Butcher of Bengal.” From 1972-1976 he served as Chief
of the Army Staff under PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
(SFC, 3/29/02,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikka_Khan)
1971 Following Pakistan’s defeated
by India and Bangladesh in the Bangladesh war. Pakistan decided to
develop a nuclear weapons program.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)
1972 Jul 2, India and Pakistan
signed the Simla Agreement that provided for a bilateral settlement of
disputes and a "Line of Control" in Kashmir. Article 6 of the accord
clearly states: "Both governments agree... to discuss further the
modalities and arrangements for the establishment of durable peace and
normalization of relations," including "a final settlement of the Jammu
and Kashmir."
{India, Pakistan, Kashmir}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla_Agreement)(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)
1972 Oct 29, Palestinian
guerrillas killed an airport employee and hijacked a plane, carrying 27
passengers, to Cuba. They forced West Germany to release 3 terrorists
who were involved in the Munich Massacre.
(HN, 10/29/98)
1972 A 675-page report on the 1971
Pakistani defeat by Indian forces was written by a commission under
Justice Hamoodur Rahman and called the surrender of Pakistani forces in
East Pakistan shameful. The report was not declassified until 2000.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B3)
1973 A constitution was written
and gave parliament the authority to elect the president and prime
minister. It was suspended by Gen. Musharraf in 1999.
(SFC, 3/23/02, p.A13)
1973 Kashmir Singh (b.1941) was
arrested for espionage in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. His cover
story was that he was a trader in electronic goods traveling on
business. During his trial in the 1970s, Singh had repeatedly denied he
was an agent for Indian military intelligence. Following his release in
2008 he admitted that he had been a spy.
(AP, 3/8/08)
1973-1974 In Pakistan sporadic fighting between the
Baluchi insurgency and the army started in 1973. The largest
confrontation took place in September 1974 when around 15,000 Balochs
fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baloch_Insurgency_and_Rahimuddin's_Stabilization)
1973-1979 Some 15,000 Balochi men, women and children
were killed by the Pakistan army and the Frontier Corps.
(www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050124/nation.htm)
1974 Jan 1, Nawab Akbar Shahbaz
Khan Bugti (1927-2006), governor of Balochistan, Pakistan, resigned
shortly after Bhutto launched an army operation in Balochistan. The
army had deployed 100,000 men in Baluchistan and with the help of the
Iranian air force killed large numbers of Baluchis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawab_Akbar_Bugti)
1974 Feb 22, Pakistan officially
recognized Bangladesh.
(http://pakistanspace.tripod.com/74.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/58uluz)
1974 Sep, In Pakistan the army put
down a tribal rebellion in Baluchistan, reportedly leaving about 3,000
dead. Some 15,000 Balochs fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force.
(AP,
8/28/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baloch_Insurgency_and_Rahimuddin's_Stabilization)
1974 Nov 30, India and Pakistan in
accordance with the Simla Agreement, signed a Protocol for Trade. This
Protocol ended a 10-year trade ban and expired in 1978.
(http://publishedforscholar.wordpress.com/2006/12/18/india-pakistan-relations/)
1974 Dec 28, The 6.0 Patan
earthquake in Pakistan killed some 5,300 people.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1974_12_28.php)
1975 Pakistan’s PM Zulfikar Ali
Bhuto created a political cell within the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) through an executive order. The cell monitors Pakistani politics
and politicians.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A6)
1975 Pakistan’s atomic development
program took off with the return of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan (b.1935), a
Belgian trained metallurgist. China was reported to have supplied
highly enriched uranium and a nuclear bomb design. Khan was convicted
in absentia by the Netherlands in 1983 for stealing confidential
material, but the conviction was later overturned on a technicality.
Khan retired in 2001.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)(ST, 1/28/04, p.A9)
1976 Apr 1, Pakistan’s PM Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto appointed Zia-ul-Haq as Chief of Army Staff, ahead of a
number of more senior officers.
(www.elections.com.pk/candidatedetails.php?id=6887)
1977 Mar 7, Ali Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party won elections.
(www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A142)
1977 Jul 5, Pakistan's army under
Gen Mohammad Zia ul-Haq seized power. The civilian government was
ousted by the military and martial law was imposed.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.B3)(SFEC, 8/3/97,
p.A15)(www.ppp.org.pk/history.html)
1977 Oct, Pakistan’s Gen. Zia
ul-Haq (1924-1988) announced the postponement of the electoral plan and
decided to start an accountability process of the politicians.
(www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P020&Pg=2)
1977 Pakistan’s Gen. Zia-ul-Haq
said: "The survival of this country lies in democracy and democracy
alone."
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A22)
1978 Sep 6, James Wickwire of
Seattle and Louis Reichardt of San Francisco became the first Americans
to reach the summit of Pakistan's K-2, the world's second-highest
mountain.
(AP, 9/6/03)
1978 The Karakoram Highway from
Kashgar, China, to the edge of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was completed.
(NH, 5/96, p.9)
1978 The Islamic law of hudood was
enacted to ban “all forms of adultery, whether the offense is committed
with or without the consent of the parties.”
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A12)
1978-2008 India over this period exchanged 949
Pakistani fishermen in exchange for 2,304 Indian fishermen, which each
side had apprehended for wandering into their respective waters in the
disputed Sir Creek area. In early 2009 trade unions said India still
held 357 Pakistani fishermen and that Pakistan held 48 Indian fishermen.
(WSJ, 1/13/08, p.A10)
1979 Apr 4, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
(51), the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, was hanged after he was
convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.
(AP, 4/4/99)(HN, 4/4/99)
1979 Apr 6, The U.S. cut off aid
to Pakistan, because of that country’s covert construction of a uranium
enrichment facility.
(HNQ, 11/14/99)
1979 Nov 21, A mob attacked the US
Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing two Americans.
(AP, 11/21/99)
1979 Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, military
dictator of Pakistan, began his Islamization program. It declared
drinking a “heinous crime” punishable by public flogging and led many
people to turn to drugs.
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A16)
1979 Pakistan introduced the
Hudood ordinances, which included a clause stating that to prove rape,
a woman must have at least 4 male witnesses. If the woman fails to
provide proof, she herself faces the charge of adultery.
(SSFC, 7/9/06, p.A18)
1979 Refugee camps were
established around Peshawar, Pakistan, for those fleeing Afghanistan
following the Soviet invasion.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A19)
1979 Abdus Salam (1926-1990),
Pakistan-born physicist, shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Sheldon
Glashow and Steven Weinberg for work on unifying the electromagnetic
force and the weak nuclear force.
(SFC, 11/22/96,
p.A28)(www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/physics/1979b.html)
1979-1988 Under the rule of Gen. Mohammed Zia al-Huq
madrassas (religious schools) were established among the refugees to
help repel the presumed threat of Communism.
(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A14)
1980 Jan 13, The United States
offered Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in
Afghanistan.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1980 The Nazoo Anna School was
founded in Peshawar, Pakistan, for girls from Afghan refugee camps by
Nazaneen Jabarkhel Majeed. It was named after a female Afghan freedom
fighter.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.A10)
1981 Mar 2, A Pakistan Airways
Boeing 720 was hijacked by 3 Pakistani terrorists. The passengers and
crew were released March 15 in Syria.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/15/newsid_2818000/2818437.stm)
1981 In Pakistan Nawaz Sharif (31)
was appointed by General Zia ul-Haq as the finance minister of Punjab
state.
(WSJ, 9/5/07, p.A4)
1981 Since this year the
government of Pakistan has not taken a national census.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-1)
1981-1988 Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) and the US CIA carried out massive covert operations against
Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A6)
1982 Pakistan acquired several
nuclear-capable missiles from China shortly after the US sold F-16
fighter planes to Taiwan.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A16)
1982-1986 Benazir Bhutto lived in exile in England.
(WSJ, 11/5/96, p.A18)
1983 Dec 30, A 7.2 earthquake
killed 26 people in Afghanistan (14) and Pakistan (12).
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A10)
1983 In Pakistan the Mohajir Qami
Movement was founded to represent the Mohajirs. In Karachi the Mohajirs
comprised 60% of the population.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.C3)
1984 Apr, India sent troops to
occupy the Siachen glacier following suspicious mountaineering
expeditions from Pakistan. Over the next 15 years some 10,000 Indian
and Pakistani casualties, largely due to frostbite and mountain
sickness, resulted.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A25)
1985 Feb, In Pakistan Mohammed
Khan was elected prime minister in the first elections since imposition
of martial law in 1977. Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party
boycotted the elections.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1985 In Pakistan Nawaz Sharif (31)
became chief minister of Punjab state during a period of martial law.
(WSJ, 9/5/07, p.A4)
1985 The South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with
the aim of promoting economic cooperation and alleviating poverty in
South Asia. Members included Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1985 India built up its nuclear
capabilities and refused Pakistan’s offers of mutual inspections and
nonproliferation pledges.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1986 Jan, The first PC virus,
called Brain, was discovered in the wild. Though it achieved fame
because it was the first of its type, the virus was not widespread as
it could only travel by hitching a ride on floppy disks swapped between
users. The first virus to hit computers running a Microsoft Corp.'s
operating system (DOS) came when two brothers in Pakistan wrote a boot
sector program now dubbed "Brain," purportedly to punish people who
spread pirated software.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4630910.stm)(AP, 9/1/07)
1986 Mar, Pakistan acquired
weapons-grade uranium.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1986 Apr 10, Benazir Bhutto (33),
daughter of former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, returned to Pakistan.
(http://tinyurl.com/onqk2)
1986 Aug 14, Pakistani opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto was arrested.
(http://tinyurl.com/yynudk)
1986 Sep 5, The Pakistan army
stormed a hijacked US B-747 in Karachi and 22 people were killed. In
2001 Zayd Hassan Abd Al-latif Masud Al Safarini, jailed in Pakistan for
15 years, arrived in Alaska and was expected to face a 1991 indictment
for the 1986 hijacking of a Pan Am jet. In 2003 Safarini pleaded guilty
and agreed to 3 life sentences plus 25 years. On Jan 3, 2008, Pakistani
authorities freed and deported four Palestinians convicted in the
hijacking.
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A3)(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A4)(AP,
9/5/06)(AP, 1/3/08)
1987 Dec 18, Pakistani opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto was married in a traditional Islamic ceremony to
businessman Asif Ali Zardari.
(AP, 12/18/97)
1987 Pakistan claimed a nuclear
bomb-building capability.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1987 Iran acquired centrifuge
designs for a uranium enrichment program that was similar to technology
used in Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A3)
1988 Jan 10, In Pakistan Farooq
Sattar (28), a founding member of the MQM, became Karachi’s youngest
mayor.
(WSJ, 12/5/07, p.A22)(http://tinyurl.com/36566r)
1988 Apr 14, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, the United States and the Soviet Union signed agreements
providing for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and
creation of a nonaligned Afghan state. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
announced the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The Soviets pulled out of
Afghanistan after nine years of fighting. Afghan rebels rejected the
pact and continued fighting.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(WA, 1997,p.737)(TMC, 1994,
p.1988)(AP, 4/14/98)
1988 Apr 29, Pres. Zia-ul Haq
dismissed the government Mohammed Khan Junejo on charges of
incompetence.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1988 May 29, Pakistan Pres. Zia
ul-Haq fired government and disbanded the parliament.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1988 Aug 17, Pakistani President
Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (63) and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in
a mysterious plane crash. Zia, president from 1977-1988, was
responsible for the 1977 overthrow and 1979 death of Premier Bhutto.
Zia did much to turn Pakistan towards Islamic fundamentalism. Bhutto’s
daughter, Benazir Bhutto, became prime minister in November.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-1)(AP, 8/17/98)(Econ, 6/14/08,
p.103)
1988 Nov 16, Voters in Pakistan
cast ballots in their first open election in 11 years, resulting in
victory for populist candidate Benazir Bhutto.
(AP, 11/15/98)
1988 Nov 19, Benazir Bhutto was
elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1988 Dec 1, Benazir Bhutto was
named 1st female PM of a Moslem country, Pakistan.
(www.cnn.com/resources/video.almanac/1988/index.html)
1988 Dec 2, Benazir Bhutto was
sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.
(AP, 12/2/98)
1988 Dec, Tahir Mirza Hussain
(18), a British Pakistani visiting relatives near Chakwal, Pakistan,
was physically and sexually assaulted by a taxi driver with a gun. A
struggle followed during which the gun went off and driver Jamshad Khan
was fatally injured. Hussein reported the incident to police and was
arrested. In 1989 he was sentenced to death. In May, 1996, a high court
acquitted him of all charges, but an Islamic court charged him with
armed robbery and in August, 1998, he was again sentenced to death.
(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.A16)
1988 Benazir Bhutto (b.1953)
authored her autobiography. She served 2 terms as prime minister of
Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996). In 2007 she published an update.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.89)
1988 In Peshawar, Pakistan,
“The Essential Guide for Preparation” by Sayyid Imam al-Sharif
(b.~1950), aka Dr. Fadl, appeared and became one of the most important
texts in training for jihadis. Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, a co-founder of
al-Qaida, was jailed in Yemen in 2001 and transferred to Egypt in 2004,
where he changed his radical position and published "Document of Right
Guidance for Jihad Activity in Egypt and the World," also
transliterated as "Rationalizing Jihad in Egypt and the World". In it
he proclaimed “We are prohibited from committing aggression, even if
the enemies of Islam do that.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyed_Imam_Al-Sharif)
1988 Rafiq Tarar, a Tablighi
Muslim, was elected by the Parliament under PM Nawaz Sharif.
(SFC, 11/3/01, p.A7)
1988 Pakistan's main spy agency
(ISI) gave military training to Kashmiri rebels (JKLF) battling
security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir. ISI training ended in
1989. The information was only made public in 2005 by JKLF leader
Amanullah Khan in the 1st volume of his Urdu-language biography
"Jehed-e-Musalsal" (Continuous Struggle).
(Reuters, 6/17/05)
1988-1998 The fighting in Kashmir left 300,000 dead
over this period.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)
1989 Feb 12, In Pakistan 5 Moslem
rioters were killed in Islamabad protesting the "Satanic Verses" novel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_(novel))
1989 Jun 2, Prime Minister Bhutto
told a joint session of the US Congress that Pakistan does not have
nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1989 Nov 24, In Peshawar,
Pakistan, Abdulla Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian intellectual, was
assassinated in a car bombing reportedly ordered by Osama bin Laden for
suspected CIA ties.
(SFC, 8/19/98,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Yusuf_Azzam)
1989 Nov, Rebellion erupted in
India-held Kashmir and small arms sniping between Indian soldiers and
rebels became routine. Many of the Islamic separatists trained in
Pakistan
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A12)(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A20)
1989 Mohammad Ahsan Dar founded
Hizbul Mujahedeen for Kashmir Muslim fighters. The group went under the
wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan’s best connected Islamic
political party.
(WSJ, 10/12/01, p.A6)
1989 Lashker-e-Tayyaba was created
in Pakistan to fight against India in Kashmir. Pres. Musharraf banned
Lashker-e-Tayyaba in January, 2002, under pressure from the US.
(SSFC, 7/30/06, p.A10)
1989 Pakistan ordered 60 F-16
fighter jets from the US and paid for 28 of them. The US Congress
stopped the sale in 1990.
(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A18)
1990 Jan 4, In Sindh Province,
Pakistan, an overcrowded 16-car passenger train collided with standing
freight train and more than 210 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1990 Jan, India opened fire in
Kashmir. Over 30,000 people were killed over the next 12 years.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)
1990 Feb 7, In Pakistan riots
broke out between rival political parties and 22 people were hurt.
(http://tinyurl.com/htbtm)
1990 Jul, A bomb blast in the
eastern city of Lahore killed a woman and 3 men. Sarabjit Singh was
later arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for the bombing. In
2005 his death sentence was upheld. Relatives said he is a farmer who
crossed the border into Pakistan while drunk, and then was confused
with a man named Manjit Singh, whom Pakistan blames for a series of
bombings in Lahore.
(AFP, 9/27/05)
1990 Aug 6, Pakistan’s PM Benazir
Bhutto was ousted after 20 months in office by Pres. Ghulam Ishaq Khan
on charges of incompetence and corruption. An interim government was
led by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. It was later estimated that $1.5 billion
was received in bribes, kickbacks and commissions from a variety of
enterprises.
(SFC, 11/5/96, p.A9)(SFC, 8/20/98, p.B10)
1990 Oct 24, Nawaz Sharif’s
nine-party Democratic Alliance won a 2/3 majority in the National
Assembly.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1990 Nov, Bhutto’s Pakistan
People’s Party lost elections that put Nawaz Sharif into power with a
2/3 majority.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1990 Some 70 tons of hashish was
transported across the country by camel and loaded onto 2 freighters.
28 tons were loaded onto the freighter Saratoga Success, which collided
with another ship and after 2 typhoons ended up beached in the
Philippines. The freighter Lucky Star left Pakistan in 1991 with the
other 48 tons and stopped to pick up the 28 tons on the Saratoga. The
final destination was Vancouver, BC, but US federal agents intercepted
the $250 million shipment.
(SFC, 4/19/97, p.C1)
1990 Pres. Bush imposed sanctions
against Pakistan under the 1986 Pressler Amendment when he was unable
to certify that Pakistan did not have a nuclear bomb. This stopped the
sale of 28 F-16 airplanes to Pakistan for which $658 million was
already paid to General Dynamics. Pakistan had ordered and paid for 71
F-16 fighter bombers. $157 million was returned. In 1998 New Zealand
agreed to lease the planes for about $105 million and the money to be
paid to Pakistan.
(SFC, 5/9/97, p.E2)(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A15)(SFC,
12/3/98, p.A18)
1991 Feb 1, Afghanistan and
Pakistan were hit by an earthquake and 1,200 died.
(http://tinyurl.com/dsnjk)
1991 Pakistan’s government
sent troops to Karachi to quell rising violence. Since then the
MQM abandoned democracy and took to the streets in an insurrection.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-6)
1992 Jan 1, Altaf Hussain
(b.1953), leader of Pakistan’s MQM party, fled to Saudi Arabia and
after a month to London. PM Nawaz Sharif soon deployed the army to
Karachi for a massive anti-MQM operation and the city descended into an
undeclared civil war.
(WSJ, 12/5/07,
p.A22)(www.elections.com.pk/candidatedetails.php?id=6881)
1992 Sep 28, A Pakistani jetliner
crashed in Nepal, killing all 167 people aboard. The crew had
miscalculated their altitude.
(AP, 9/28/97)(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A10)
1992 The Pakistan Cricket team led
by Imran Khan won the World Cup Championship.
(WSJ, 12/2/96, p.A1,8)
1992 The radical Islamic Movement
for the Enforcement of Islam in English was founded.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A10)
1992 Ramzi Yousef, nephew of
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (Khaled Sheikh Mohammed), dispatched from
Pakistan a childhood friend Abdul Hakim Murad to the US to begin
plotting the 1st World Trade Center attack.
(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A6)
1993 Jan 8, Asif Nawaz Khan Janjua
(56), Pakistan’s 10th Chief of Army, died under mysterious
circumstances while jogging near his home in Rawalpindi. His widow
later accused the government of poisoning her husband.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asif_Nawaz)(www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14397943.html)
1993 Mar, Benazir Bhutto began a
campaign to oust Nawaz Sharif.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1993 Apr 18, Nawaz Sharif’s
government was dismissed by Ishaq Khan on corruption charges. The
interim government was led by Balkh Sher Mazari.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1993 May 26, The Supreme Court
restored the government of Nawaz Sharif.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1993 Jun 5, In Somalia, militiamen
loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
(AP, 6/5/98)
1993 Jul 18, Shariq and Ishaq Khan
resigned under army pressure. An interim government, headed by former
world bank v.p. Moeen Qureshi, called for new elections.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1993 Aug 25, The United States
applied limited sanctions against China and Pakistan after concluding
the Chinese had sold M-11 missile technology to the Pakistanis.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A4)(AP, 8/25/98)
1993 Sep 9, About a hundred Somali
gunmen and civilians were killed when U.S. and Pakistani peacekeepers
fired on Somalis attacking other peacekeepers.
(AP, 9/9/98)
1993 Oct 7, Bhutto returned to
power after general elections. Nov, Benazir Bhutto was re-elected to
office. Murtazza Bhutto, brother of Benazir Bhutto, returned after 16
years in Syria to challenge his sister for the leadership of the ruling
party.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)(WSJ, 11/5/96, p.A18)
1993 Oct 19, Benazir Bhutto was
returned to the premiership of Pakistan.
(AP, 10/19/98)
1993 Greg Mortenson of Bozeman,
Montana, first visited Pakistan to climb K2, the world’s 2nd highest
peak. He failed in climbing the mountain but became interested in the
region. In 1996 he built a school in Korphe, Pakistan, the first
many. By 2008 he had built 55 schools and authored the memoir: “Three
Cups of Tea: One Man’s Extraordinary Journey to promote Peace… One
School at a Time” (2006).
(SSFC, 4/6/03, Par p.5)(Econ, 5/3/08,
p.92)(www.threecupsoftea.com/)
1994 Feb 20, Three armed Afghans
seized a school bus in Islamabad with some 70 passengers including
Pakistani children.
(http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402c&L=pakistan&T=0&F=&S=&P=452)
1994 Sep, Naseerullah Baber,
Pakistan’s interior minister, arranged a peace convoy to run rice,
clothing and other gifts through Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C3)
1994 The Indian Parliament
unanimously decided that its goal was to extend its rule to all of
“Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)
1994 The Pakistani spy agency, the
Interservices Intelligence directorate (ISI), figured prominently in
the rise of the Taliban with arms, logistics and men.
(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A6)
1995 Mar 3, A car bomb exploded in
Karachi, Pakistan, at a Shiite mosque and 10 people were killed.
(www.dawn.com/2004/06/09/local4.htm)
1995 Mar 8, Two United States
diplomats were killed, one injured, when their car was ambushed as they
were driving to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
(AP, 3/8/00)
1995 Apr 11, Pres. Clinton
expressed sympathy for Pakistan's anger over the blocked sale of
American fighter jets, telling visiting PM Benazir Bhutto that it was
"not right" for the United States to keep the planes and refuse to give
the money back. Pakistan received jets in 2005
(AP, 4/11/00)(Reuters, 3/26/05)
1995 Jul, Pakistan’s PM Benazir
Bhutto, under pressure from army commanders, began peace talks with the
MQM. The talks foundered, then restarted, only to reach another
deadlock. At year's end the two sides were still hurling accusations at
each other.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9112820/PAKISTAN)
1995 Jul, Four hostages: Donald
Hutchings, Keith Mangan, Paul Wells and Dirk Hasert were seized by
Kashmir guerillas, who call themselves Al Faran. In May ‘96 a Muslim
insurgent, who claimed to have been involved, said the men were killed
and buried in the mountains in Dec. The captured rebel Nasir Mehmood
said in a police report that the hostages were killed Dec 13, 1995 by
guerrillas of Harkat-ul-Ansar, a group based in Pakistan. The Al Faran
name was coined to confuse Indian authorities.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A6)(SFC, 12/23/96, p.A12)(SFC,
4/898, p.A12)
1995 Oct, The government of Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto devalued the currency and imposed a temporary
tariff on imports.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-6)
1995 Nov 19, A suicide bomber of
the Egyptian Jihad self-destructed in the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad
and killed 15 others. 59 were wounded. Islamic militants opposed to the
Cairo regime claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-1)(MC, 11/19/01)(WSJ, 7/2/02,
p.A8)
1995 Dec, A car bomb killed at
least 25 and injured more than 100 in the heart of Peshawar’s market
district.
(WSJ, 12/22/95, p.A-1)
1995 In Pakistan PM Bhutto
launched another crackdown in Karachi against the MQM.
(WSJ, 12/5/07, p.A22)
1995 In Karachi, Pakistan,
unidentified gunmen bound, blindfolded and shot to death 15 migrant
workers. The government blamed the deaths on the Mohajir Qaumi Movement
(MQM). Mohajirs are Indian Muslims who came to Karachi when Pakistan
was founded. The leader of the MQM was Altaf Hussain, who lived in
exile in London.
(V. Sun, 11/3/95, p.A-16)(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-6)
1995 A coup attempt by Islamic
radical was foiled. 23 military officers were arrested and jailed.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A25)
1995 In Pakistan Dassault Aviation
of France agreed to pay Asif Zardari and a partner $200 million for a
$4 billion jet fighter contract. The deal fell apart When Bhutto’s
government was dismissed.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)
1995 Washington said Pakistan
received M-11 missiles from China, capable of carrying nuclear
warheads. [see Jun 13, 1996]
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1995 Shahnawaz Toor, a worker for
the US Drug Enforcement Agency, was murdered in Karachi. In 1998 Saulat
Mirza, a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was arrested for the
murder.
(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B2)
1995 In eastern Pakistan several
gunmen shot at a crowd of Shiite Muslims in the Punjab provincial town
of Jhang. In 2006 a judge sentenced Aslam Moyavia, a Sunni Muslim
extremist, to death for the killing.
(AP, 6/13/06)
1996 Mar 21, The US decided to
proceed with plans to deliver weapons to the Islamabad government. $368
mil has already been paid for a naval Orion aircraft and two types of
missiles.
(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar, The Supreme Court warned
Benazir Bhutto against interfering in the appointment of judges.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1996 Apr 18, The US government
will deliver $368 million in military equipment to Pakistan that was
paid for in the 1980’s. Pakistan will also get $120 mil in cash that it
paid for weapons and spare parts that were never manufactured.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.A-8)
1996 Apr 28, In Pakistan a bomb
killed 40 people aboard a bus traveling home for a Muslim festival in a
town southeast of Lahore. They were going home to celebrate the most
sacred holiday in Islam, Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.
(SFC, 5/5/96, p.T-9)
1996 May 8, A bomb killed at least
6 and injured 38 aboard a bus in Punjab province.
(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jun10, Three bombings killed
6 and injured 48 in Punjab Province.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A1)
1996 Jun 13, A Washington Times
report said that Chinese M-11 missiles have been deployed in Pakistan
in the last few months.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A1,4)
1996 Jul 23, A bomb killed 9 at
Lahore Int’l. airport in the Punjab province. It was the 13 bombing in
the Punjab this year.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul, Shabana Akhtar was the
1st-ever Pakistani athlete to compete in the Olympics.
(AFP, 9/5/04)
1996 Aug 18, In Pakistan 18 people
were killed when 7 masked gunmen opened fire on a group of Shiite
worshipers in central Punjab province. 100 were injured. The militant
Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Guardians of the Friends of the prophet
were blamed.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 30, The US State Dept.
sent a diplomatic note to China protesting the sale of equipment for
use in nuclear facilities in Pakistan.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A12)
1996 Aug 31, Over the past week
more than a million Pakistanis were displaced by fierce floods. The
central Punjab Province had 4.5 million acres of crops swamped.
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A4)
1996 Sep 20, Murtazza Bhutto,
brother of Benazir Bhutto, and 6 followers were killed in a clash with
police in Karachi, Pakistan. He led the Shaheed Bhutto faction of the
Pakistan People’s Party.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 23, Gunmen attacked a
Sunni Muslim mosque and killed 16 and wounded 45 people. The attack
followed the killing of a Shiite leader the night before in Bahawalpur.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A12)
1996 Sep, Greg Mortenson of
Bozeman, Montana, founder of the Central Asia Institute (cai@ikat.org),
built a school in Korphe, Pakistan. The project expanded to 28 school
buildings, 15 water projects and 4 women’s vocational centers by 2003.
Villages were required to increase girls’ enrollment by 10% a year.
(SSFC, 4/6/03, Par p.5)
1996 Oct, Opposition politicians
staged protests and strikes that demanded the resignation of Prime
Minister Bhutto.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1996 Nov 4, Pres. Farooq Leghari
dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Until new elections are held
civilian administrators will run the show. He accused Ms. Bhutto of
allowing corruption and nepotism to become widespread in the
government. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was held by police in
Islamabad.
(SFC, 11/5/96, p.A9)(WSJ, 11/6/96, p.A18)(SFC,
1/30/97, p.A9)
1996 Nov 5, Meraj Khalid was named
interim prime minister.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A21)
1996 Dec 2, Imran Khan, former
cricket player, led the Movement for Justice Party and planned to run
for prime minister.
(WSJ, 12/2/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 19, Benazir Bhutto’s
husband, the former investment minister, was released from jail, and
shortly after charged with the murder of Bhutto’s brother.
(WSJ, 12/20/96, p.A1)
1996 The United Arab Emirates,
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan recognized the Taliban after they seized the
Afghan capital Kabul. All three countries cut ties with the Taliban
after it sheltered al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks on the US.
(AP, 2/24/06)
1997 Jan 6, In Pakistan rulers
established a security council to give the army an official role in
running the country.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.A9)
1997 Jan 8, Gas cylinders aboard a
truck leaked in Lahore and killed at least 30 people with 900 taken to
hospitals. The gas was identified as either ammonia or chlorine.
(WSJ, 1/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Jan 29, The Supreme Court
upheld Bhutto’s dismissal and ordered new elections to proceed.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1997 Feb 4, In Pakistan the Muslim
League won elections with 140 of 217 parliament seats. Nawaz Sharif was
re-elected as prime minister.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)(WSJ, 9/5/07, p.A4)
1997 Feb 28, At 2:10 a.m. a 7.3
earthquake struck in Baluchistan. At least 8 people were killed and
many injured. Reports next day indicated that some 80 people had died.
(WSJ, 2/28/97, p.A1)(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C1)
1997 Mar 3, A train derailed in
eastern Punjab just outside Khaniwal and at least 136 people were
killed and 450 injured.
(SFC, 3/4/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 7, The US State Dept.
expressed concern over reports of Chinese nuclear-capable M-11
missiles sold to Pakistan.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.E3)
1997 Sep 7, In the disputed
Kashmir region Indian and Pakistani gunners exchanged artillery fire
and 14 villagers on the Pakistani side were reported killed and 5 were
reported killed on the Indian side.
(WSJ, 9/8/97, p.A16)
1997 Nov 11, In Pakistan 4
American oil company employees and their driver were shot dead in
Karachi. It was believed to be a retaliation for the conviction of Amil
Kasi for the 1993 murder of 2 CIA employees. Two gunmen were sentenced
to death for the murders in 1999. [see Nov 12]
(SFC,11/12/97, p.C14)(WSJ, 8/23/99, p.A1)
1997 Nov 12, Four U.S. businessmen
and a Pakistani were killed by gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan, apparently
in retaliation for the murder conviction of Mir Aimal Kasi in the
shooting deaths of two CIA employees. [see Nov 11]
(AP, 11/12/98)
1997 Dec 2, Prime Minister Nawaz
Shariff prevailed over Pres. Farooq Leghari, who resigned. Chief
Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was demoted by his colleagues on the nation’s
Supreme Court.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Dec 24, Two trains collided
at Rustam Sargana in the eastern Punjab and killed at least 35 people
and injured 100.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.B4)
1997 Dec 31, Rafiz Tarar won the
presidential election with 374 votes in the National Assembly. He faced
a Jan 12 court hearing on charges of defaming the judiciary last month.
The Pakistan general election turnout was 34.4%.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)(SFC, 10/11/02, p.A10)
1997 Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif and
India’s Inder Kumar Gujral agreed to a process of dialogue, but
relations soured after the BJP came to power in India.
(Econ, 1/10/04, p.35)
1997 In Pakistan Mohammed Ali
Rahimi, director of the Iranian cultural center in Multan, was killed
along with other Shiites by Sunni extremists. Shakeel Anwar (d.2002)
was wanted for the killings.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A10)
1997 Hafiz Shafiur Rahman was
arrested in Multan in eastern Pakistan weeks after he shot Ijaz Shah,
the district president of Tehrik-e-Jaaferi, a political group
representing minority Shiite Muslims. Rahman was convicted in 1999 and
hanged in 2006.
(AP, 8/9/06)
1998 Jan 9, From Pakistan it was
reported that investigators have uncovered a pattern of secret payments
by foreign governments for business favors during the 2 terms when
Benazir Bhutto served as Prime Minister. These included a $10 million
payment, deposited into a Asif Zardari account by a Middle East gold
bullion dealer, for a monopoly contract to sustain Pakistan’s jewelry
industry. Officials said $80 million may be in Swiss banks.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 11, In Lahore, Pakistan,
24 Shiite Muslims were killed in an attack by the Sipah-e-Sahabah
(Friends of the Guardians of the Prophet), a militant Sunni group. The
Shiites were at a ceremony marking the 2-year anniversary of the death
of their teacher, Mohammed Hussein Rizwan.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A10)
1998 Feb 19, Kanwar Ahson was
arrested in Karachi, a Mohajir-dominated city of 14 million, for having
sex outside of marriage with his lover Riffat Afridi, who was in
hiding. The couple were of rival ethnic groups and the Afridi’s father
refused to allow them to marry. They married last week and set off a
riot where 2 people were killed and 8 injured.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A14)
1998 Feb 21, Two Iranian engineers
were killed in “sectarian violence.”
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.T14)
1998 Mar 2, At least 300 people
were killed in flash floods in the Turbat district of southwestern
Baluchistan province. 1,500 people were reported missing.
(SFC, 3/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Mar 23, Rival groups clashed
in Karachi and 17 people were killed.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.T14)
1998 Apr 6, Pakistan reported a
successful test of medium-range missile from its Kahuta nuclear
research lab. It was capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range
of 900 miles.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1998 Apr 22, It was reported that
hundreds of schools in the Punjab have no students, but still collect
money for nonexistent teachers. Shabaz Sharig, the chief minister of
Punjab for less than a year, has called in the army to investigate. The
literacy rate in Pakistan was 35% compared to 65% in India.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 25, In July a Pakistani
defector claimed that the military leadership of Pakistan decided to
launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on New Delhi within 48 hours. Dr.
Iftikhar Khan Chaudry also claimed that Pakistan had already armed and
deployed nuclear warheads at 2 sites along the Indian border. Chaudry
(29) was described as a low-level engineer with no access to military
planning data. Pakistani new media later said Chaudry was a low-level
accountant at a bathroom fixtures company until Nov 1997, when he
resigned. He was later identified as a fraud with no more than a high
school education.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 7/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/3/98,
p.D2)(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A9)
1998 May 4, The Clinton
administration invoked sanctions against North Korea and Pakistan for a
secret 1997 missile deal. Pakistan’s military named the acquired
missile, Ghauri, after a famous Muslim warrior who slew a Hindu emperor
named Prithvi, the name of a Russian made Indian missile.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A16)
1998 cMay 7, Bishop John Joseph
(67), a Catholic human rights crusader, shot himself in the head to
protest the country’s blasphemy law. His death triggered a 2 day riot
when police clashed with mourners who carried his body to the
Faisalabad cathedral for his funeral.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 12, A day after India's
first atomic test blasts in 24 years, neighboring Pakistan said it was
ready to test a nuclear device itself.
(AP, 5/12/99)
1998 May 14, Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US all imposed
penalties on India for its nuclear testing. Pakistan was pressured to
refrain from testing its own nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A15)
1998 May 23, From India and
Pakistan it was reported that temperatures had reached 120 degrees and
claimed 34 lives. Most of the fatalities occurred in the southwestern
Indian state of Maharashtra.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 28, Pakistan matched
India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the
Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed
penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported
that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13) (SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP,
5/28/99)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a
nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)
1998 May 30, An estimated 6.9
earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Shari Basurkh was
hit hardest and some estimates put the death toll up to 3,000. The
estimated deaths later reached 5,000.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/22/02)
1998 Jun 7, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded on a passenger train in the southern Sindh province near
Sukkur. 26 people were killed and 45 wounded. Pakistan later blamed the
Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). India denied involvement.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A18)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)(WSJ,
6/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 11, Pakistan announced a
moratorium on nuclear tests and offered to enter into bilateral talks
with India.
(WSJ, 6/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 12, The G8 industrialized
nations agreed to halt all loans to India and Pakistan except those for
humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 23, Pakistan and India
agreed to negotiations in Sri Lanka. Their prime ministers would meet
during a South Asian summit starting Jul 29.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Jul 2, In Shawan, Pakistan,
Haji Mohammad Alam Channa, the world’s tallest man at 7 feet 7 and 1/4
inches, died at age 42 from kidney disease.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)
1998 Jul 3, In Indian-held Kashmir
Pakistani shelling forced over 2,000 villagers to flee and 7 people
were reported killed in Dawar.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 4, In Pakistan Zuhair
Akram Nadeem, a former provincial and federal legislator, was shot a
killed by 2 men on motorcycle.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 21, Pakistan announced
austerity measures to cope with imposed sanctions.
(WSJ, 7/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 31, Talks between India
and Pakistan broke down following border fighting in Kashmir that
killed 50 people.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 7, It was estimated that
some 500 feudal-style families ruled Pakistan. In 1999 it was reported
that 200 feudal families owned most of the land and industries.
(WSJ, 8/7/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A25)
1998 Aug 7, In Pakistan Sadik
Howaida (34), later named as Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, was detained at the
Karachi airport. He reportedly confessed to participating in the
bombing in Nairobi. He said that he and 2 coconspirators had left
Nairobi and planned to enter Afghanistan a few days before the bombing.
He acknowledged that the team was recruited and financed by Osama bin
Laden who was ensconced in a fortress-style hideout in Kandahar. Odeh
later refused to admit responsibility to American officials.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A17)(SFC, 8/17/98, p.12,17)(SFC,
8/18/98, p.A6)
1998 Aug 10, Fighting in Kashmir
resumed and 19 people were reported killed in battles between Indian
security forces and Pakistan-backed separatist rebels.
(WSJ, 8/11/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 12, Benazir Bhutto was
indicted on charges of illegally awarding a contract to a Dubai-based
company for the import of gold and silver during her rule.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.C5)
1998 Aug 27, Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif announced the coming end of secular law and a new rule of
Islamic law based on the Koran.
(WSJ, 8/31/98, p.A18)
1998 Sep 6, In Peshawar an
estimated 15,000 members of the Movement for the Enforcement of Islam
in English marched against the American missile attack in Afghanistan.
The US did not inform Pakistan of the strikes that crossed Pakistani
air space.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A5)
1998 Sep 10, In Pakistan a court
sentenced a Muslim to death for blasphemy. Ghulam Akbar Kahn, a Shiite
Muslim, took the name of Mohammed in vain during a May 1995 scuffle
with a rival Sunni Muslim.
(SFC, 9/11/98, p.D4)
1998 Sep 19, In Pakistani
controlled Kashmir Indian artillery fire killed 9 people and wounded 11
others over the last 2 days.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A17)
1998 Sep 23, In Pakistan Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he would sign the nuclear test ban
treaty within the year. Sharif also met with Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee of India and agreed to resume talks on Kashmir.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 6, In Karachi 6 people
were killed in sectarian violence.
(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.A13)
1998 Oct 7, Gen’l. Jehangir
Karamat resigned 2 days after advocating a direct political role for
the military.
(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.A13)
1998 Oct 30, Prime Minister Sharif
dismissed the Sindh provincial government and imposed federal rule
following a fallout between the Pakistan Muslim League and the
Muttaheda Qami Movement over the recent killing of Hakim Said, a critic
of the MQM and a leading physician.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 31, The government
planned to use direct rule in Karachi, where near daily violence this
year has left 750 people dead.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A16)
1998 Nov 6, Pres. Clinton decided
to lift most of the sanctions against India and Pakistan for their
nuclear tests in May, as a reward for steps taken toward nuclear
control agreements.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 10, India and Pakistan
negotiated disputes as 3 Indian soldiers were killed in border fire
across the Kashmir cease-fire line.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.D6)
1998 Nov 20, Prime Minister Sharif
ordered soldiers to quell violence in Karachi and suspended civil
rights in Sindh province, which surrounds the city.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 5, Pakistan's sinking
credit rating and unsuccessful talks with U.S. officials in Washington
caused a major setback to the stock market.
(UPI, 12/6/98)
1998 PM Bhutto appointed Gen.
Pervez Musharraf as director-general of military operations.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A20)
1998 Osama bin laden founded al
Qaeda in Peshawar, Pakistan.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.)
1999 Jan 3, In Pakistan a bomb
intended for Prime Minister Sharif killed 3 civilians and a police
official. The Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM) was suspected. The MQM
represented Urdu-speaking people who immigrated from British India in
1947.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)
1999 Jan 4, In Sha Jamal,
Pakistan, in the eastern Punjab gunmen on motorcycle opened fire on
Shiite Muslim worshipers and killed 16 people and wounded at least 25.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A22)(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A8)
1999 Jan 8, In Pakistan it was
reported that some 50,000 Pakistanis were being kept as slaves by
powerful landlords in the Sindh province. Gov. Moinuddin Haider
acknowledged the problem and promised to investigate.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 17, In Pakistan Islamic
laws were imposed in tribal areas of the northwest with punishments to
include lashings, amputations of hands and feet, and executions.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 19, Indian and Pakistani
troops clashed in Kashmir and 4 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
(WSJ, 1/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 20, Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee of India rode to Pakistan by bus to meet with Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif for 2 days of talks.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A17)
1999 Feb 21, The leaders of India
and Pakistan signed documents and a joint statement to reduce the risk
of nuclear war and to resolve conflicts in Kashmir.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Mar 16, The first passenger
bus service between India and Pakistan was scheduled to begin.
(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A22)
1999 Apr 6, In Lahore Samia Imran
was killed by a gunman accompanied by her mother under the practice of
karo kari. Samia had sought divorce from an abusive husband and was
perceived as causing dishonor to her family.
(SFC, 1/11/00, p.A11)
1999 Apr 13, Pakistan test-fired a
ballistic missile, the Ghauri II, at Dina. It was reported to have a
range of 1200 miles.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A14)
1999 Apr 14, Pakistan tested a
Shaheen I missile with a range of 450 miles.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.C16)
1999 Apr 15, In Pakistan a court
convicted Benazir Bhutto in absentia of corruption and sentenced her to
5 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/16/99, p.A18)
1999 May 16, In Pakistan a
gasoline truck overturned and exploded while people attempted to
salvage leaking fuel in Adda Rodu Sultan. Some 65 people were killed
and at least 75 injured.
(SFC, 5/17/99, p.A12)
1999 May 20, In Pakistan a cyclone
struck the Arabian Sea coast and left an estimated 700 people missing,
many of whom were presumed dead. Residents said that as many as 3,500
people were missing. 200 bodies were recovered after 2 days.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.A13)(SFC, 5/22/99, p.A16)
1999 May 25, India launched air
strikes in the disputed mountains of the Kargil and Drass regions of
Kashmir against suspected Pakistani infiltrators. Gen Musharraf was
later identified as the architect of Pakistan’s (July) Kargil campaign.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.C2)(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A13)(SSFC,
1/6/02, p.A14)
1999 May 27, India lost 2 fighter
jets, a MiG-21 and a MiG-27, to Pakistani fire on the Pakistani
side of Kashmir. Pakistan promised to return one dead pilot and to hold
the other as hostage.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A12)
1999 May 28, In the Kashmir border
conflict Muslim guerrillas shot down a Indian helicopter and 4
Indian soldiers were killed. Pakistan offered to hold peace talks with
India.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A10)(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A10)
1999 May 30, In Kashmir Indian
fighter jets pounded militants in the Kargil sector for the 5th day.
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A10)
1999 May 31, India agreed to hold
talks with Pakistan over Kashmir, but there was no let up in the Indian
offensive against guerrillas.
(SFC, 6/1/99, p.A8)
1999 May, Najam Sethi, editor of
the Friday Times weekly, was arrested. He was barred a month later from
leaving Pakistan to accept a human rights award from Amnesty Int'l.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 1, Pakistani authorities
said 10 school children were killed by an Indian artillery shell that
his a school near the Line of Control dividing India and Pakistan in
Kashmir. India claimed to have killed 470 Muslim fighters and Pakistani
soldiers. In Kargil Pakistani forces shelled for the 26th consecutive
day.
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.C2)
1999 Jun 2, In Kashmir Islamic
guerrillas rejected India's offer of safe passage out of the battle
zone.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 3, Pakistan freed Indian
fighter pilot, Flight Lt. Nachiketa, as a good will gesture.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.D2)
1999 Jun 5, India rejected
proposed talks with Pakistan for Jun 7 as inconvenient. Indian Gen'l.
Chopra estimated 200 intruders had been killed and said 54 Indian
soldiers were killed.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A22)
1999 Jun 6, India resumed air
strikes in Kashmir as troops pushed back guerrillas occupying disputed
territory.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 8, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks on Kashmir Jun 11, while India continued
airstrikes and a ground offensive.
(WSJ, 6/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 9, The Pakistan army
handed over to India the bodies of 6 severely mutilated Indian soldiers.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 12, India and Pakistan
met for talks on Kashmir with little success as each blamed the other
for the insurgency.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 13, Pakistan accused
India of using chemical weapons in its Kashmir offensive, as India
claimed to have captured a key mountain peak.
(WSJ, 6/14/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 16, Pakistan admitted
deep involvement on the Kashmir border war with India.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.C3)
1999 Jun 21, Indian soldiers
cleared Islamic guerrillas from a 2nd Kashmir mountain outpost, Point
5203, and killed at least 10 guerrillas.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 26, Pakistan gave tacit
admission that its fighters were involved in the Kashmir region against
Indian forces. India claimed to have lost 5 men and that 4 infiltrators
were killed. Islamabad claimed that an offensive was repulsed and that
12 Indian soldiers were killed.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, p.A23)
1999 Jun 29, In Kashmir Indian
fighters raided 13 guerrilla positions at Point 4700 and at least 40
people were killed, 25 of them Indians.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 2, The Pakistani army
reported that 58 Kashmiri civilians had been killed and 158 wounded
over the last 2 month by Indian shelling.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 4, Pakistani PM Nawaz
Sharif met with Pres. Clinton and announced that it would abandon its
seized positions in Kashmir. Meanwhile India claimed a victory at Tiger
Hill. In 2002 it was revealed that Clinton confronted Sharif with
intelligence reports that the Pakistani military was preparing missiles
with nuclear warheads.
(SFC, 7/5/99, p.A8)(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A11)
1999 Jul 6, In Kashmir fighting
continued despite a US-Pakistan pact to push for peace. India reported
55 mercenaries killed along with 9 Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 10, In India the prime
minister said most of the Pakistani soldiers had been cleared out of
the Indian side of Kashmir.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, p.A26)
1999 Jul 11, In India and Pakistan
top commanders agreed to the withdrawal of Islamic militants from
Kashmir along with a complete cease fire.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 27, A bomb in
Pakistan-ruled Kashmir killed 7 people and injured 40 when it exploded
on a bus in the Kotli district.
(WSJ, 7/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 4, In Kashmir 4 days of
fighting left at least 50 people dead including 32 militants and 7
Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A16)
1999 Aug 10, An Indian jet shot
down a Pakistani naval reconnaissance plane over the disputed Sir Creek
area. All 16 people in the plane were killed.
(www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9908/10/india.pak.plane.01/index.html)
1999 Aug 14, Separatist rebels in
India killed at least 7 people in Kashmir and Assam attacks on Pakistan
Independence Day.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 17, Pakistan said 6
soldiers and 2 civilians were killed in shelling by India.
(WSJ, 8/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 21, It was reported that
many serfs in the Sindh province of Pakistan, estimated at 50,000, were
setting themselves free and demanding better lives. Most of the
laborers were minority Hindus.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A13)
1999 Sep 1, In Kashmir Pakistani
soldiers attacked Indian posts over the last 2 days and left 22
soldiers dead.
(SFC, 9/2/99, p.A16)
1999 Sep 9, In Peshawar over 5,000
Islamic students marched for Osama bin Laden and chanted "Death to
America." They suspected that Washington was preparing an attack on
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.D4)
1999 Sep 17, Opposition
politicians and the Christian community accused the government of
colluding with Maulana Ajmal Qadri, leader of the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam,
who had called for the killing of legislators who oppose Islamic law in
Pakistan.
(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D6)
1999 Sep 20, Asif Ali Zardari, the
jailed husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was indicted
with 8 other people on charges of drug trafficking.
(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 1, In Pakistan gunmen
attacked Shiites in Karachi and killed 9 people in a mosque. A
retaliatory attack on a Sunni Muslim school left 4 dead. Another 5
people were killed in eastern Punjab.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A13)
1999 Oct 12, In Pakistan Gen'l.
Pervez Musharraf led a military coup after Prime Minister Shariff tried
to fire him and replace him with Gen'l. Zia Uddin. Musharraf avoided
martial law and left the parliament intact. Sharif refused to let a
passenger plane land in Karachi with 198 people aboard that included
Gen. Musharraf. The coup cut short a Pakistani commando operation set
up by the CIA to get Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A21)(SFC,
4/6/00, p.A12)(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A10)
1999 Oct 15, In Pakistan Gen'l.
Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the
constitution.
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 17, In Pakistan Gen'l.
Musharraf announced a unilateral reduction of troops on the India
border, the establishment of a military-technocrat ruling council, and
an eventual return to civilian rule. He unveiled a 7-point agenda to
save the nation.
(SFC, 10/18/99, p.A10)(http://tinyurl.com/ruuth)
1999 Oct 25, In Pakistan Gen.
Musharraf announced that he would head the formation of a 7-person
National Security Council to run the country until elections.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 25, In Kashmir Indian
troops killed 4 Pakistani soldiers with artillery and small arms in the
mountainous Uri sector.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.C2)
1999 Nov 6, In Pakistan a
10-member civilian cabinet, named by Gen. Musharraf, formally took
office.
(SFEC, 11/7/99, p.A24)
1999 Nov 11, Javed Iqbal (40)
killed his 87th victim, Mohammad Imran (15). Iqbal dissolved the bodies
in vats of chemicals and left photos and notes that described his
victims. The story became public in Dec. when his killings reached 100
and he made his story public. Iqbal surrendered in Lahore, Pakistan, on
Dec 30. He was found strangled with bed sheets in his cell on Oct 7,
2001.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B2)(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/10/01, p.A1)
1999 Nov 12, In Pakistan several
explosions near American structures struck in downtown Islamabad and
injured 6 people. It was speculated that Taliban supporters were linked
to the blasts.
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.D2)(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 17, In Pakistan over 20
of the country's wealthiest and most powerful people were arrested for
corruption. A law was drawn up at 2 a.m. to give the government the
right to prosecute any former official for suspected corruption back to
1985.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.A20)
1999 Dec 27, In northeast Pakistan
Salamat Shah, a Shiite Muslim, opened fire and killed 12 members of a
rival Sunni Muslim group, Sipa-e-Sahaba, during a funeral procession in
Sikunder Pur.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.A10)
1999 Abdul Qadeer Khan, a
Pakistani scientist, visited North Korea and was shown 3 nuclear
devices according to a report he made public in 2004.
(SFC, 4/13/04, p.A1)
2000 Jan 5, In Karachi, Pakistan,
freed militant Masood Azhar called on some 10,000 followers to
liberated Kashmir and to destroy India and the US.
(SFC, 1/6/00, p.A8)
2000 Jan 26, Six of the Supreme
Court's 13 judges refused to take a new oath under the provisional
military government. Of 102 judges, 89 took the oath. The oath
protected the military from legal action.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.C16)
2000 Jan 28, In Karachi, Pakistan,
a bomb exploded in a Mosque and killed 4 people with 28 wounded.
(SFC, 1/29/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 10, In Jammu-Kashmir a
train explosion killed at least 5 people. In northern Kashmir gunmen
burst into 2 homes in Pattan village and killed 6 people with 3 wounded.
(SFC, 2/11/00, p.D2)
2000 Feb 18, In Kashmir a land
mine killed 10 police officers in Tral. Another 6 were seriously
wounded. Militants for independence or union with Pakistan claimed
responsibility.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 25, Pakistan accused
India that soldier had crossed the border of Pakistan-controlled
Kashmir and killed 14 civilians.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Feb 27, India claimed that
Pakistani soldiers had crossed the cease-fire line of Jammu-Kashmir and
killed one Indian officer and 6 other soldiers.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Mar 10, In Pakistan attorney
Iqbal Raad and 2 others were killed by gunmen 3 days before closing
arguments in the hijacking trial of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A8)
2000 Mar 16, In Pakistan a judge
sentenced Javed Iqbal (42), the killer of 100 children, to die the same
way his victims died, by strangulation, dismemberment and dissolvement
in acid.
(SFC, 3/17/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar 23, Pakistan announced
that local elections would begin in Dec.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar, The Jaish-e-Mohammad
group formed in Pakistan under Maulana Masood Azhar as a merger of
militant Islamic groups dedicated mostly to freeing Muslims from Indian
rule in Kashmir. In December, 2001, Pres. Musharraf banned the group.
(SFC, 11/10/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 7/30/06, p.A10)
2000 Apr 4, In Pakistan Arif Khan
(45), the governor of Kunduz province in Afghanistan, was shot and
killed along with his bodyguard by 2 gunmen in Peshawar.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 5, In Pakistan Nawaz
Sharif was sentenced to life in prison for hijacking and terrorism due
to his Oct 12 refusal to let a passenger plane land with 198 people
aboard.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 6, In Pakistan the
Anti-Terrorist Court declared the former PM Nawaz Sharif guilty of
attempted hijacking and terrorism and sentenced him to two life
imprisonment terms of 25 years each which would run concurrently.
(www.ciaonet.org/olj/sa/sa_jan01kus01.html)
2000 Apr 6, Iqbal Masih, a slain
child labor spokesperson, was named in Sweden as the first winner of
the World’s Children’s prize. Masih was gunned down at age 13 after
speaking out against child labor in carpet factories where he had
worked from age 5-10. Prize money was earmarked to establish the Iqbal
Masih Freedom Center for the Rights of the Child in Pakistan.
(SFC, 4/8/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 12, In Pakistan at least
11 people were killed in Mulawali when gunmen hurled a grenade into a
prayer meeting of Shiite Muslims followed by automatic rifle fire. 30
people were injured.
(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 20, It was reported that
1.5 million Pakistanis, out of a total population of 150 million, were
addicted to heroin.
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 29, In Pakistan it was
reported that the worst drought in 100 years ravaged southern Sindh and
Baluchistan provinces. Up to 500 people were dead from diseases related
to the drought.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A14)
2000 May 12, Pakistan’s Supreme
Court ruled that the military takeover in October 1999 was justified
under the "doctrine of necessity." Pres. Musharraf had dismissed 13
senior judges and got the remaining judges to decree that his coup was
legal and necessary.
(www.ciaonet.org/olj/sa/sa_jan01kus01.html)(Econ,
7/8/06, Survey p.6)
2000 Jun 4, A new government tax
caused protests and strikes. In Peshawar police broke up a rally with
tear gas and batons. Small traders refused to open their shops and
transport workers joined the strikes.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.T10)
2000 Jul 15, Farooq Sattar, a
leader of the Muttahida Qami Movement of Indian Muslims, was sentenced
to 14 years in jail for corruption.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 16, A bomb exploded on a
train leaving Hyderabad. 10 people were killed and 30 injured.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 22, Deposed Premier Nawaz
Sharif was sentenced to 14 years in prison for tax evasion and barred
from politics for 21 years.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.A16)
2000 Aug 24, India and Pakistan
traded accusations over a clash in Kashmir. India claimed that 10
Pakistani fighters were killed, while Pakistan said 2 were killed.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D8)
2000 Sep 19, In Islamabad a bomb
exploded in a produce market and 16 people were killed and over 80
people were wounded.
(SFC, 9/20/00, p.A14)
2000 Dec 4, Pakistan said it won’t
insist to being party to peace talks with Kashmiri separatists but that
it must be a party to the final settlement.
(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 9, Former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif along with 17 relatives was released from prison and sent
into exile as guests of the royal family of Saudi Arabia. He agreed to
stay out of politics and forfeited property valued at $8.3 million.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.A28)(WSJ, 12/11/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 17, Pakistan was reported
to be $36 billion in debt to foreign lenders. It collected income taxes
from only 1% of the people and was weighed down by defense expenditures
to finance the conflict with India.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D6)
2000 Dec 20, India and Pakistan
took steps to reduce tensions in Kashmir. India extended its cease-fire
and Pakistan announced a partial troop withdrawal.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.A20)
2000 cDec 24, Noor Jehan, singer
known as the Melody Queen, died in Karachi at age 74.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.B5)
2000 Dec 25, In Kashmir a
car bomb went off in the Indian controlled area and 8 people were
killed with 23 injured. The Pakistan-based rebel groups Jamaat-ul
Mujahedeen and Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 12/26/00, p.C4)
2000 Dec 25, Bombs exploded in 4
cities. 36 people were injured in Lahore.
(SFC, 12/26/00, p.C4)
2000 Dec 31, Staggered elections
for municipal and district councils began. A third of the seats were
reserved for women, another third for the poor.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B3)
2000 Pakistan’s Pres. Musharraf
dismissed 13 senior judges and got the remaining judges to decree that
his coup was legal and necessary.
(Econ, 7/8/06, Survey p.6)
2001 Jan 10, It was reported that
some 18,000 Afghan refugees had crossed the border into Pakistan in
recent weeks.
(SFC, 1/10/01, p.A8)
2001 Jan 16, In Kashmir 11 people
died when militants attacked the airport at Srinagar. The
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrillas claimed responsibility. The
group was later banned in Pakistan but reappeared under the name
Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
(SFC, 1/17/01, p.A11)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.39)
2001 Jan 26, A 7.9 (7.7)
earthquake hit India and Pakistan as India prepared to celebrate
Republic Day. It was an intraplate earthquake along a thrust fault 300
miles south of the boundary between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian
Plates. Some 20,000-50,000 people were killed and over 14,000 injured
across Gujarat state. 10 people were reported killed in Pakistan. The
quake caused an underground river, either the Saraswati or Indus, to
reappear that had disappeared in a 19th century quake. [see Jan 31]
(SFC, 1/26/01, p.A16)(SFC, 1/27/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
1/29/01, p.A1)(SFC, 2/17/01, p.D8)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.R12)
2001 Jan 28, In Karachi, Pakistan,
masked gunmen ambushed a religious school’s van and killed 5 Sunni
Muslims.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Jan 28, In Peshawar,
Pakistan, an angry mob torched the English language newspaper, the
Frontier Post. It had just published a letter to the editor titled "Why
Muslims hate Jews."
(LSA, Fall/03, p.38)
2001 Feb 22, Pakistan said it may
put nuclear missiles on its submarines. It recently acquired 3
submarines from France.
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A20)
2001 Mar 21, Military rulers
arrested at least 20 opposition leaders. 1,600 people have been jailed
in the last 3 days.
(WSJ, 3/22/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 31, In Pakistan a
stampede at a shrine in Pakbattan Sharif left 40 dead as thousands
rushed for the “paradise door.”
(WSJ, 4/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar, The Karachi Race Club
was closed down. Care of many horses stopped and over 50 died by July.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.D3)
2001 Apr 6, The Supreme Court set
aside the conviction of Benazir Bhutto and her imprisoned husband Asif
Ali Zardari and ordered a retrial.
(SFC, 4/7/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 9, Hundreds of thousands
of radical Muslims, followers of the Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom brand of
Islam, gathered for a rally in Peshawar.
(SFC, 4/10/01, p.A12)
2001 May 13, Pakistan refused to
give refugee status to tens of thousands of Afghans living in the
northwest part of the country. An estimated 50,000 Afghans were on the
move inside Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/14/01, p.A12)
2001 May 23, India called off a
6-month cease-fire in Kashmir and at the same time invited Pakistan’s
military leader to visit and discuss how to bring peace to the region.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.C2)
2001 May 24, Pakistan’s foreign
minister, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, accused India of state terrorism in
Kashmir and said his nation would accept an invitation from India for
talks.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A16)
2001 May 29, Pakistan accepted
India’s offer for peace talks on Kashmir.
(WSJ, 5/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 20, Gen'l. Pervez
Musharraf dismissed the president and named himself to the post. He
also dissolved the national Assembly and 4 provisional assemblies.
(WSJ, 6/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 1, A bomb exploded at the
crowded Prince movie theater in Karachi and at least one person was
killed.
(SFC, 7/2/01, p.B1)
2001 Jul 2, Local elections were
held in Karachi.
(SFC, 7/2/01, p.B1)
2001 Jul 10, In Kashmir 25 people
were killed as India pressed an offensive against Islamic insurgents.
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 14, Gen. Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan arrived in India for talks on Kashmir and other issues with
PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
(SSFC, 7/15/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 15, Gen. Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan met with PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and talked on issues
including, Kashmir, trade, terrorism and nuclear safeguards. They also
agreed to continue discussions for a 2nd day.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 16, In India the leaders
of Pakistan and India failed to reach an accord on their half-century
dispute over Kashmir, ending a landmark three-day summit on a solemn
note. They did agree to meet later in the year in Pakistan.
(SFC, 7/17/01, p.A6)(AP, 7/16/02)
2001 Jul 23, Flash floods killed
at least 150 people. In Islamabad 24 inches of rain broke a 100-year
record.
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/25/01, p.A9)
2001 Jul, Mohammed Siddque Kanju,
foreign minister, was shot dead along with a former legislator during
an election campaign in Punjab. Shakeel Anwar was wanted for the
murders.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A10)
2001 Sep 13, The US requested that
Pakistan grant air and land space for military actions in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 15, Pakistan agreed to
close its border with Afghanistan and pledged full support to combat
int’l. terrorism.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 16, Pakistan told
Afghanistan to surrender Osama bin Laden within 3 days or face almost
certain military action.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 17, Pakistan virtually
shut down its 1,560-mile border with Afghanistan. Some 1.2 million
Afghan refugees in the North-West Frontier Province were confined to
dozens of camps in the region.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 21, Islamic groups
planned a general strike to protest Pakistan’s support of the
anti-terrorist coalition.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A20)
2001 Sep 22, Pakistan confirmed
that it had pulled its senior diplomats out of Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A14)
2001 Sep 22, Pres. Bush lifted
sanctions on India and Pakistan.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 28, Pres. Bush authorized
$50 million in aid to Pakistan.
(SFC, 9/29/01, p.A10)
2001 Sep 30, Pres. Musharraf said
that some 7-8 thousand madrassas comprised the biggest welfare
organization anywhere in the world, providing free education and living
arrangements for up to 700,000 mostly poor children. Pakistan spent
about 2% of its GNP on public education.
(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A14)
2001 Oct 1, In Srinagar, capital
of Jammu and Kashmir, a Pakistani-based suicide squad struck at the
Legislative Assembly and 38 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 11/7/01, p.A17)(AP,
10/1/06)
2001 Oct 2, India demanded that
Pakistan shut down the Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of the Prophet Mohammad)
militant group responsible for the Oct 1 attack in Srinagar that killed
40 people. India also asked the US to outlaw the group and to freeze
its assets.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A11)
2001 Oct 4, Pakistan announced
that it sees sufficient grounds for an indictment against Osama bin
Laden.
(WSJ, 10/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 5, Fazlur Rehman, head of
the Jumiat-Ulema-I-Islami, led a peaceful protest of some 20,000 in
Rawalpindi in a pro-Taliban demonstration.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A6)
2001 Oct 7, Muslim clerics called
for a holy war to counter the attacks in Afghanistan. Fazlur Rehman, a
top fundamentalist politician, was arrested. Most of the Arab world
appeared relatively calm.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A6)
2001 Oct 8, Violent protests hit
the main cities. At least one protester was killed in Quetta.
(SFC, 10/9/01, p.A4)
2001 Oct 9, Pakistan cracked down
on continuing violent anti-US protests and 4 people were killed. Some
radical clerics were arrested.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 9, A Pakistani serial
killer, Javed Iqbal, committed suicide rather than face his sentence.
He was to be chopped up and dissolved in acid for having abused and
killed over 100 children.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 14, In Pakistan thousands
of Muslims clashed with police in Jacobabad and at least 1 protester
was killed.
(SFC, 10/15/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 15, India shelled
Pakistani posts along their line in Jammu Kashmir for aiding Islamic
militants. One woman was killed and 25 civilians wounded.
(SFC, 10/16/01, p.B1)
2001 Oct 20, Pakistan confirmed
that it was holding talks with a senior Taliban commander, Mullah
Jalaluddin Haqqani, on the makeup of a future Afghan government.
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A18)
2001 Oct 22, Pakistan reached a
agreement with the Taliban to accept the return of thousands of
refugees. The Taliban agreed to set up 2 refugee camps inside
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A12)
2001 Oct 24, Some 4,000 armed men
blocked and held the Karakoram Highway, the main road to China, and
demanded that Musharraf step down by Nov 7. Some 10,000 Pashtun
tribesmen held the hills over the highway.
(WSJ, 10/30/01, p.A17)(SFC, 10/31/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 26, Some 40,000 marched
in Karachi to protest US air strikes. Another 10,000 protested in
Quetta.
(SFC, 10/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 28, Gunmen attacked St.
Dominic’s Catholic Church in Bahawalpur and shot to death at least 16
people. In Quetta a bomb on a bus killed 3 passengers. 13 Islamic
militants were arrested in connection with the shooting.
(SFC, 10/29/01, p.A1,8)(WSJ, 10/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 31, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf ordered the arrest of anyone using a mosque loudspeaker for
anything other than the traditional call to prayer. He also banned the
use of mosques to “spread sectarian hatred.”
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 31, The US Consulate in
Lahore received a letter that was later confirmed to contain anthrax.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A10)
2001 Nov 1, A statement attributed
to bin Laden accused the government of supporting a Christian crusade
and urged people to defend their faith.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 3, Some 500,000 Muslims
gathered In Raiwind, Punjab, for the annual Tablighi Ijtimah
(Congregation of Preaching). Their movement was founded in 1950 in
India.
(SFC, 11/3/01, p.A7)
2001 Nov 4, Pakistan arrested Qazi
Hussain Ahmed, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamaat-e-Islami party, after
he defied a ban on public protests. Ahmed was charged with sedition the
next day.
(SFC, 11/5/01, p.A9)(WSJ, 11/6/01, p.A18)
2001 Nov 7, Pakistan halted the
news conferences of Afghan ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef, who used the
event to announce civilian casualties caused by US bombings.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A4)
2001 Nov 8, Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez
Musharraf stopped in Paris and London on his way to meet with Pres.
Bush. He called for an end to military operations before the month of
Ramadan.
(SFC, 11/9/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 9, A Pakistani newspaper
published a Nov 7 interview with Osama bin Laden in which he claimed to
have chemical and nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A5)
2001 Nov 9, Police in Dera Ghazi
Khan shot and killed 4 protesters during a strike called by extremist
religious parties.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A5)
2001 Nov 10, Pres. Bush also met
with Gen. Musharraf and pledged to boost aid to Pakistan.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 11, A Pakistani newspaper
(Ausaf) published the second part of an interview in which Osama bin
Laden was quoted as saying he had nothing to do with the anthrax
attacks in the United States, and declared he would never allow himself
to be captured.
(AP, 11/11/02)
2001 Nov 21, India border forces
in Kashmir killed at least 12 suspected Islamic guerrillas trying to
cross a cease-fire line with Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A21)
2001 Nov 22, Pakistan ordered the
Taliban to close its embassy in Islamabad.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 23, Pakistani airplanes
were being used to evacuate pro-Taliban Pakistani fighters in Kunduz.
(SFC, 11/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov, Ihsan Khan, a Pakistani
cab driver in Washington DC, won 1 $55.2 million jackpot. His lump sum
payout was over $32.4 million. Khan returned to Pakistan and in 2005
was elected mayor of Batagram, just days before a major earthquake in
the area.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A26)
2001 Dec 11, Pakistani officials
said 2 nuclear scientists, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majid,
talked with Osama bin Laden last August in Kabul about nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons.
(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A19)
2001 Dec 18, Hundreds of al Qaeda
and Taliban fighters were reported to have slipped into Pakistan from
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 19, Al Qaeda prisoners in
Pakistan revolted and 14 were killed. Another 18 escaped.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 21, India recalled its
top envoy from Pakistan and suspended bus and train service between the
2 countries.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 23, India troops moved
closer to the Pakistani border and heavy fire was exchanged. 2 Indian
soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 25, India and Pakistan
armies exchanged artillery fire in the mountains of Kashmir.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 26, India deployed
missile batteries and increased jet fighter patrols along its border
with Pakistan.
(SFC, 12/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 27, India banned
Pakistan’s national airline from entering its airspace and ordered
Pakistan to withdraw half of its diplomats from New Delhi. Pakistan
followed suite.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)(AP, 12/27/02)
2001 Zafran Bibi was sentenced to
death by stoning for being raped by her husband’s brother. She gave
birth to a daughter and was confined to a solitary cell in Kohat as her
case pended appeal under Islamic law of hudood. In 2002 her conviction
was overturned.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A12)(SFC, 6/7/02, p.A13)
2001 Dec 28, Pakistan arrested
some 50 leading members of 2 Islamic militant groups: Lashkar-e-Tayyaba
and Jaish-e-Mahammed.
(SFC, 12/29/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 30, Pakistan arrested
Hafiz Saeed, leader of Lashkar-eTayyaba (Army of the Pure) as India
moved more troops to the border.
(SFC, 12/31/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 31, Pakistani high
command planned to pull some 50,000 troops off the Afghan border and
redeploy them along the India border.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A10)
2001 Hafiz Iqbal, a Sufi gnostic
and street sweeper in Lahore, died. He was later recognized as a Sufi
saint.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.73)
2002 Jan 1, Pakistan ordered the
country’s military intelligence agency to cut off backing for Islamic
militant groups fighting in Kashmir.
(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, In India, Kashmir,
militants detonated 2 grenades near the legislature killing 1 police
officer and wounding at least 24. 2 soldiers were later killed by
militants at an Indian military post in Darhal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, Foreign ministers of
India and Pakistan shook hands at a regional summit in Nepal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 4, Pakistan continued to
round up alleged militants. Some 200 were said to have been arrested in
the last 10 days. Key leaders of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed
were among the detained. Pakistan also handed over senior al Qaeda
trainer al-Shaykh al-Libi to the US military.
(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A3,15)
2002 Jan 6, India shot down an
unmanned Pakistani spy plane. Pres. Vajpayee met with PM Tony Blair in
New Delhi.
(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 8, India and Pakistan
traded fire on their Kashmir border.
(WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 9, A US KC-130
aerial refueler crashed at Kharan, Pakistan, and all 7 marines aboard
were killed.
(SFC, 1/10/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/10/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 12, Pakistan’s Pres.
Musharraf vowed to crack down on militant Islamists using Pakistan as a
base of operations in Kashmir. Musharraf also announced new regulations
on education criteria for the estimated 6,000 madrassas, the Islamic
schools.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/21/02, p.A10)
2002 Jan 14, In Pakistan police
continued a round-up of Islamic militants and increased the number of
detainees to nearly 1,500.
(SFC, 1/15/02, p.A10)
2002 Jan 16, The government
announced electoral reforms and freed non-Muslims to vote along with
the Islamic majority. Lower house seats were increased to 350 from 237
and college graduation was made a requirement for candidates.
(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A13)
2002 Jan 16, Pakistan police
arrested 5 al Qaeda members in Punjab province as they attempted to
flee disguised under burqas.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 21, In Kashmir 21 people
died in violence.
(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 23, Daniel Pearl, Wall
Street Journal reporter, was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan, by the
“National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.” A
deadline to kill him was extended a day pending 4 demands that
included: the return of Pakistanis in Cuba; access to lawyers for
Pakistani detainees in the US; the return of a former Taliban
ambassador; and the release of F-16 jets purchased by Pakistan in the
1980s. Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh became the chief suspect.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A8)(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A6)(SFC,
2/1/02, p.A24)(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 24, Pres. Musharraf
announced legislative elections for October.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A14)
2002 Jan, Pakistan banned the
militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2002 Feb 2, In Pakistan police
arrested 2 people in Karachi linked to the Jan 23 kidnapping of WSJ
reporter Daniel Pearl.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb 5, In Pakistan 2 men
associated with the kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl were arrested
in a Karachi suburb. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (28), Islamic militant,
turned himself in to Ejah Shah, the home secretary in Punjab province.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)
2002 Feb 8, Interim Afghan leader
Hamid Karzai met with Pakistan Pres. Musharraf in Islamabad and they
agreed to bury past misunderstandings.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 9, The US and Pakistan
signed an agreement to enhance defense cooperation.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A19)
2002 Feb 12, In Pakistan police
arrested Ahmed Saeed Sheikh, the prime suspect in the kidnapping of WSJ
reported Daniel Pearl. Pakistan charged 3 men in connection with the
kidnapping. They and a fourth man were later convicted of Pearl's
murder.
(SFC, 2/13/02, p.A18)(AP, 2/11/03)
2002 Feb 13, Pres. Bush welcomed
Pres. Musharraf to the White House. Musharraf sought a revival of arms
deals and relaxed tariffs on textiles. The Bush administration agreed
to $142 million in trade benefits.
(SFC, 2/14/02, p.A10)(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 13, Ahmed Omar Saeed
Sheikh (28), Islamic militant, said he believed WSJ reporter Daniel
Pearl was dead. Sheikh said Pearl was shot and killed during a failed
escape attempt on Jan 31.
(SFC, 2/14/02, p.A8)(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)
2002 Feb 19, It was reported that
Pakistan had begun disbanding the Afghan and Kashmir units of its
Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 21, It was acknowledged
that WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl was dead after a video was received that
showed an assailant slash his throat.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 22, Pakistan complained
over the US sale to India of surveillance radar, the AN/TPQ-36
Firefinder system.
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 26, Gunmen killed 11
people and wounded 17 others in an attack on the Shiite Sha-e-Najaf
mosque in Rawalpindi. The Sunni group Army of the Prophet’s Companions
was believed responsible.
(SFC, 2/27/02, p.A9)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 28, A gunmen attacked a
police bus in a bid to free prisoners that included a suspect in the
slaying of Daniel Pearl. A policeman and a prisoner were killed.
(WSJ, 3/1/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 4, In Kashmir separatist
violence left at least 17 people dead. This included 8 Islamic
militants killed by Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 8, Pakistan prepared to
expel thousands of foreign students studying at religious schools.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A13)
2002 Mar 11, Shakeel Anwar, head
of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremist group, was killed in a gun battle
with police. He was wanted in the slaying of 38 people including a
former foreign minister.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A10)
2002 Mar 14, Pres. Musharraf said
the war in Afghanistan is over. The 12 day Operation Anaconda left as
many as 800 enemy fighters dead.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A14)
2002 Mar 17, In Islamabad,
Pakistan, 2 attackers hurled grenades into a Protestant Int’l. Church
and 5 people were killed including a US Embassy employee, Barbara
Green, and her daughter Kristen Wormsley (17). Investigators later
believed that the attack was by a lone suicide bomber, one of the dead.
(SFC, 3/18/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A10)
2002 Mar 20, In Pakistan Gen.
Musharraf met with members of the Muslim League and planned a
referendum to support his rule for another 5 years. Civilian opposition
leaders condemned the plan.
(SFC, 3/23/02, p.A13)
2002 Mar 23, Members of the
Alliance for Restoration of Democracy were arrested and a rally for the
ouster of Pres. Gen. Musharraf was blocked.
(SSFC, 3/24/02, p.A22)
2002 Mar 28, In Pakistan police in
Faisalabad and Lahore seized over 40 suspects in the Islamabad bombing.
At least 2 suspects were killed in Faisalabad. Abu Zubaydah, a top al
Qaeda commander, was among those arrested.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A10)(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A17)(SFC,
4/2/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 28, Tikka Khan (87),
former army chief, died. He was known as the “Butcher of Bengal” for
his 1971 crackdown on Bengali separatists.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A24)
2002 Apr 3, Gen. Musharraf visited
Afghanistan and presented Hamid Karzai with a $10 million donation.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 10, Binyam Mohamed
(b.1978), an Ethiopian citizen who had lived in Britain for 7 years,
was arrested in Pakistan. He was held incommunicado in Pakistan,
Morocco and Afghanistan and then was taken to Guantanamo Bay in 2004
for internment.
(Econ, 2/7/09,
p.49)(www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/08/torture-humanrights)
2002 Apr 25, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded at a Shiite mosque in Bukker, Punjab, and 12 people were
killed.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.A14)
2002 Apr 30, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf won a resounding mandate for 5 more years in office, but the
turnout was estimated at only 25-30%. Published figures showed 97.7%
support and over 50% turnout and much voter fraud was alleged.
(SFC, 5/1/02, p.A10)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A10)
2002 May 2, A bomb exploded in
Karachi and a boy (12) was killed.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)
2002 May 8, In Pakistan a bomb
destroyed a shuttle bus in Karachi. 11 of 14 dead were French naval
engineers helping to build a submarine for Pakistan.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/9/02,
p.A1)
2002 May 8, Abdullah Al Mujahir,
also known as Jose Padilla, was arrested as he flew from Pakistan into
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Padilla was alleged to be
al-Qaida connected and suspected of plotting to build and detonate a
radioactive ''dirty'' bomb in an attack in the United States. A public
announcement of his arrest was delayed until Jun 10. In 2008 Padilla
was sentenced to just over 17 years in prison for terrorism-related
charges. Adham Amin Hassoun was sentenced to over 15 years for
recruiting Padilla. Kifah Wael Jayyousi was sentenced to over 12 years
for financing the al-Qaida cell.
(AP, 6/10/02)(SFC, 1/23/08, p.A4)
2002 May 14, In Kashmir 3 Islamic
militant attacked an Indian army base and killed 34 civilians and
soldiers in Kaluchak. India held Pakistan responsible.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A13)(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A11)(WSJ,
5/16/02, p.A1)
2002 May 16, In Karachi police
uncovered a body believed to be WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A11)
2002 May 18, India and Pakistan
traded fire for a 2nd day across the Line of Control. India gave its
Pakistan ambassador 1 week to return home and bombarded 13 sectors in
Kashmir.
(SSFC, 5/19/02, p.A11)
2002 May 19, Weekend fighting in
Kashmir between India and Pakistan left at least 15 people killed.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.A8)
2002 May 20, Palestine called for
int’l. monitors for the Kashmir border. 2 Indian soldiers were killed
in fighting.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A9)
2002 May 21, Fighting between
Indian and Pakistan soldiers in Kashmir killed 9 civilians and wounded
7 others. Gunmen in Srinagar assassinated Abdul Ghani Lone (70), a
moderate Kashmiri separatist leader.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A9)(SFC, 5/22/02, p.A13)(WSJ,
5/22/02, p.A1)
2002 May 25, Pakistan tested a
medium-range Ghauri missile. Mortar fire was traded with India on the
Kashmir border and 3 suspected Islamic militants were killed along with
2 Indian soldiers.
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.A12)
2002 May 25, Pres. Bush and Putin
pressured Pakistan’s Pres. Musharraf to stop incursions into
Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.A12)
2002 May 28, Pakistan test-fired a
short-range missile, the 3rd test in 4 days.
(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A6)
2002 May 29, In Kashmir
cross-border shelling killed at least 23 people and wounded 17.
(WSJ, 5/30/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 1, The UN ordered its
employees in India and Pakistan to evacuate their families over a
growing concern of war.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 3, Pakistan blocked
financial assistance to 115 Islamic schools for their alleged
involvement in militancy and violence.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 3, India and Pakistan
exchanged fire in Kashmir and at least 8 civilians were killed and 23
injured.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 5, India PM Vajpayee said
his country would consider jointly monitoring the disputed Kashmir
border with Pakistan. Pakistan rejected India’s proposal for joint
patrols in Kashmir.
(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A1)(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 7, Pakistan reported that
it had shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 10, India eased tensions
with Pakistan as it lifted a 5-month ban on Pakistani aircraft flying
over it and pulled back a naval flotilla from the Pakistani coast.
(SFC, 6/11/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 14, In Pakistan suicide
bomber blew up a truck at the US consulate in Karachi killed 14 people
and injured many more. No Americans were believed killed. The Bush
administration planned to evaluate how many U.S. personnel should be
kept in Pakistan. The Lashkar-e-Omar coalition, formed in January, was
blamed.
(AP, 6/14/02)(SFC, 6/14/02, p.19)(SFC, 6/15/02,
p.A1)(AP, 6/14/03)
2002 Jun 14, In Kashmir India and
Pakistan continued cross border shelling. Pakistan reported Indian
shelling killed 6 civilians, including 3 children.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 21, In Kashmir 13
suspected Islamic militants were killed in the Indian-controlled
section. Rebels killed Ghulam Rasool, a member of the governing
national Conference Party. In the Pakistan-controlled section a sniper
opened fire on a truck carrying 22 people and 10 were killed when it
plunged into a ravine.
(SFC, 6/22/02, p.A6)
2002 Jun 22, In Meerwala,
Pakistan, Mukhtar Mai (18) was gang raped in the Punjab on orders from
a tribal council after her brother (11) was accused of socializing with
a higher-caste Mastoi girl. It was later reported that the affair was
fabricated to cover up sodomy of boy by Mastoi tribesmen. Six death
sentences were handed down for the crime on Sep 1. In 2005 a lower
court overturned 5 convictions, but Pakistan’s high court threw out the
acquittal. In 2009 Mukhtar Mai married the police officer who was
assigned to protect her as her case gained notoriety, becoming his 2nd
wife.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A10)(SFC, 7/12/02, p.A13)(Reuters,
9/1/02)(AP, 3/11/05)(AP, 3/18/09)
2002 Jun 26, Ten Pakistani
soldiers and two suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in a gun
battle in the lawless tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 6/26/02)(SFC, 6/27/02, p.A9)
2002 Jun 29, Pakistan issued a
"most wanted" list of 10 suspected Islamic militants and offered big
rewards for their capture in connection with the killing of U.S.
reporter Daniel Pearl and the bombing of Western targets.
(Reuters, 6/29/02)
2002 Jul 3, In Pakistan security
forces killed 4 al Qaeda fighters near the Afghan border at Germa. 3
security men were killed. A land dispute broke out in Northern
Waziristan near the Afghan border and 21 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A10)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 13, In Mansahra, northern
Pakistan, 9 foreigners and three Pakistanis were hurt when an
unidentified assailant hurled a hand grenade at a tourist party.
(Reuters, 7/13/02)(SSFC, 7/14/02, p.A20)
2002 Jul 15, A court in Pakistan
sentenced British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed to
death for the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, drawing
a threat of reprisals and calls for Muslims to respond. A Pakistani
judge convicted four Islamic militants in the kidnap-slaying of Wall
Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
(Reuters, 7/15/02)(SFC, 7/15/02, p.A1)(AP, 7/15/03)
2002 Jul 16, In India-controlled
Kashmir a grenade wounded at least 13 people in Anantnag.
(SFC, 7/17/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 18, In Pakistan Anwar
Kenneth (40), a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to
death by hanging. He had called Islam a fake religion and said he was
Jesus Christ.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 27, In Pakistan a court
sentenced Wajihul Hassan (27) to death for making derogatory comments
about the prophet Mohammed and Islam.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A14)
2002 Aug 5, Six Pakistanis were
killed and at least three people wounded when masked men burst into the
compound of a Christian missionary school near the town of Murree and
opened fire.
(Reuters, 8/5/02)
2002 Aug 9, Three Pakistani nurses
were killed when militants lobbed two grenades at a crowd of women
leaving a missionary hospital chapel, the second assault on a Christian
target in Pakistan in less than a week.
(AP, 8/9/02)
2002 Aug 21, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf announced sweeping changes to the Constitution that boosted
the power of his authoritarian regime. His decrees included a security
council that institutionalized the military’s role in government; power
to fire the prime minister and dissolve the legislature; a requirement
for all candidates to have university degrees.
(SFC, 8/22/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.A20)(SSFC,
10/12/02, p.A20)
2002 Aug 23, Pakistan accused
India of launching a heavy ground an air attack on northern Kashmir.
(SFC, 8/24/02, p.A8)
2002 Sep 8, In eastern Pakistan 4
suspected militants, including two linked to a bloody attack on a
church last year, were killed in a shootout with the police.
(Reuters, 9/8/02)
2002 Sep 11, In Karachi, Pakistan,
2 al Qaeda suspects were killed and 5 captured after police stormed an
apartment. Key al Qaeda member Ramzi Binalshibh, who is wanted by
Germany for his alleged role in planning and carrying out the hijacked
plane attacks on the US, was arrested after a long running gun battle
in Pakistan.
(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A3)(AP, 9/14/02)
2002 Sep 25, In Pakistan the
Islamic Martyrs Brigade (Lashkar Fedayan-e-Islami) held a secret
meeting in Peshawar and announced planned suicide attacks against
American troops in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A18)
2002 Sep 25, In Pakistan 2 gunmen
burst into the offices of a Christian welfare organization in the city
of Karachi and opened fire, killing six people, three of them
Christians, and wounding two others.
(Reuters, 9/25/02)(SFC, 9/26/02, p.A22)
2002 Sep 25, Indian forces killed
five suspected Islamic militants trying to cross into Indian Kashmir
from Pakistan as new tensions were stoked between the nuclear rivals
over an attack on an Indian temple.
(AP, 9/25/02)
2002 Sep 26, In Pakistan a
passenger train derailed as it crossed a weakened bridge in the
southwest, killing 16 people and injuring 70 others.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Oct 4, Pakistan said it
successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic
missile. It was named Hatf-IV (Shaheen-1) and had a range of 700 km
(430 miles).
(AP, 10/4/02)
2002 Oct 10, Pakistan held
elections under emergency laws imposed by General Musharraf in 1999. 4
people were killed and at least 42 wounded in clashes at several
polling stations during an election meant to return the country to
civilian rule. A party loyal to President Pervez Musharraf emerged on
top in elections which were dismissed as flawed by EU observers. The
United Action Forum, a coalition of 6 Islamist parties, won 51 of 272
seats and secured control of 2 of 4 provincial assemblies. The PPP won
at least 70 of the seats. All the Islamist parties combined won 11% of
the popular vote.
(Reuters, 10/12/02)(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A8)(WSJ,
10/11/02, p.A10)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.50)
2002 Oct 18, Pakistan matched
India’s pledge to demobilize along the border.
(WSJ, 10/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 3, A moderate earthquake
jolted northern Pakistan, killing seven people and injuring 30, many of
them critically.
(AP, 11/3/02)
2002 Nov 14, Pakistani Aimal Khan
Kasi (Kansi) was put to death by injection at a prison in Jarratt, Va.,
for the slayings of two CIA employees in 1993. [see Nov 14, 1997]
(AP, 11/14/03)(Econ, 3/10/07, TQ p.29)
2002 Nov 21, In Pakistan Mir
Zafarullah Khan Jamali, a moderate government loyalist, was elected PM.
(SFC, 11/22/02, p.A11)
2002 Nov 21, In northern Pakistan
a 5.5 earthquake hit the Gilgit region and at least 25 people were
killed.
(SFC, 11/22/02, p.A18)
2002 Nov 25, Pakistan's military
said it had killed and wounded several Indian troops in the heaviest
exchange of fire across the military control line in disputed Kashmir
in recent days.
(AP, 11/25/02)
2002 Dec 5, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded at the Macedonian Consulate and 3 people were killed. Revenge
for a Mar 2 killing of 7 militants in Skopje was suspected.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.A16)
2002 Dec 11, A Pakistan human
rights group said 461 women had been killed this year by family members
in so-called honor killings in Punjab and Sindh, up from 372 last year.
(SFC, 12/12/02, p.A14)
2002 Dec 19, In Pakistan Asif
Ramzi, a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, died with 3 others in a covert
bomb-making facility in Karachi.
(SFC, 12/20/02, p.A24)
2002 Dec 21, In Pakistan 2 people
were killed in Hyderabad when a bomb ripped through their bus.
(Reuters, 12/21/02)
2002 Dec 25, In Pakistan a grenade
killed a girl and two other worshippers at a church in the village of
Chianwala, about 40 miles northwest of Lahore.
(AP, 12/25/02)(WSJ, 12/26/02, p.A1)
2003 Jan 10, It was reported that
an estimated 3,000 Pakistani boys are sold each year to the gulf states
to work as camel jockeys.
(SFC, 1/10/03, p.A17)
2003 Jan 25, Pakistan marked its
entry into the space age when its first communication satellite,
PAKSAT-I, formally began operations.
(AP, 1/25/03)
2003 Jan 27, India and Pakistan
resumed shelling along the Kashmir border, and New Delhi warned
Pakistan it would be "erased from the world map" if Islamabad used
nuclear weapons against India.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Feb 4, In central Pakistan
fireworks being loaded into shipping containers caught fire, setting
off a series of powerful explosions that killed at least 17 people,
including two children, and injured dozens.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 5, The Israeli military
demolished the home of a Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip,
killing an elderly woman inside, while in the West Bank, troops shot
dead a Palestinian policeman.
(AP, 2/5/03)
2003 Feb 19, In Pakistan
heavy rains fell for a 5th day and left over 26 people dead. The
country had experienced 5 years of drought.
(SFC, 2/20/03, A9)
2003 Feb 20, In Pakistan a
military plane crashed into a mountainside in a remote northwestern
region, killing all 17 people on board, including the chief of the air
force, Mushaf Ali Mir (57).
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Feb 22, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Turkmenistan invited India to join their $3.2-billion
natural gas pipeline project, indicating the plan would not be
economically viable without New Delhi’s participation.
(AP, 2/22/03)
2003 Feb 22, In southern
Pakistan gunmen opened fire inside a Shiite mosque, killing at least 9
worshippers and injuring at least 10 others.
(AP, 2/22/03)(SSFC, 2/23/03, A17)
2003 Mar 1, In Pakistan a
joint raid outside Islamabad by CIA and Pakistani agents led to the
arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (Khaled Sheikh Mohammed), the
suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, along with 2
others. Documents and computer files later revealed that the al Qaeda
biochemical weapons program was well advanced.
(AP, 3/1/03)(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 2, In Karachi,
Pakistan, religious coalitions joined tens of thousands of others in a
march to protest a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq.
(AP, 3/3/03)
2003 Mar 7, Pakistan’s
Baluchistan provincial home minister said that two sons of Osama
bin Laden, Saad and Hamza bin Laden, were arrested in southwestern
Afghanistan. The report was later proved false.
(AP, 3/7/03)
2003 Mar 9, In Rawalpindi,
Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people protested a possible US war
with Iraq.
(SFC, 3/10/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 15, In Pakistan
authorities near Lahore arrested Yassir al-Jaziri, a suspected key
al-Qaeda figure.
(SFC, 3/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 26, India test-fired a
short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, and Pakistan
immediately announced it had tested a similar missile.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 26, In India gunmen
fatally shot a senior Hindu nationalist in western Gujarat state.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 31, In southern Pakistan
gunmen in paramilitary uniforms shot dead 12 people and wounded 26
others in an attack linked to a tribal feud.
(AP, 3/31/03)
2003 Mar, Majid Khan, a 1999
graduate of a Baltimore-area high school, was seized in Pakistan and
held until 2006 in secret CIA custody. In September 2006, US
authorities transferred him and other high-value detainees to
Guantanamo, where they may be charged and face prosecution under a new
military tribunal system.
(AP, 12/9/07)
2003 Apr 14, Four Islamic
militants were convicted in a deadly bombing outside the U.S. Consulate
in Pakistan.
(AP, 4/14/04)
2003 Apr 19, A Pakistani
helicopter flying over tribal areas in southern Pakistan came under
fire from the ground, injuring three US officials and four Pakistani
army personnel.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 Apr 25, A Pakistani army
helicopter crashed into a mountain in northern Pakistan, killing all 13
military personnel on board.
(AP, 4/25/03)
2003 Apr 29, Pakistani police
arrested six men linked to al-Qaida, including a Yemeni man, Tawfiq
Attash Khallad, wanted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks and the
bombing of the USS Cole.
(AP, 4/30/03)(WSJ, 5/1/03, A1)
2003 Apr, Amrat Cola was launched
in Pakistan.
(SFC, 6/27/03, p.D1)
2003 May 2, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks and restore diplomatic and air links.
(AP, 5/2/03)(WSJ, 5/5/03, p.A1)
2003 May 5, Pakistan will get rid
of its nuclear arsenal if rival India does as well, a Pakistani Foreign
Ministry spokesman said.
(AP, 5/6/03)
2003 May 15, In Karachi, Pakistan,
a series of explosions shook 18 Shell gas stations, slightly injuring
four employees.
(AP, 5/15/03)
2003 May 28, Pakistani police
arrested about three dozen opposition lawmakers from a provincial
assembly during two protests against constitutional changes made by
Pakistan's president to increase his power.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 Jun 1, In Pakistan the
Islamist-ruled Northwest Frontier province passed legislation to adopt
Shariah as the supreme law. A day earlier 5-times-a-day prayer was made
compulsory.
(SFC, 6/3/03, p.A8)
2003 Jun 1, In southern Pakistan a
motorboat taking people on a sightseeing trip sank in a lake, killing
at least 26 people.
(AP, 6/1/03)
2003 Jun 8, In Quetta, Pakistan,
near the Afghan border 2 gunmen on motorcycles sprayed a group of
policemen with machine-gun fire, killing at least 11 officers and
wounding 9.
(AP, 6/8/03)
2003 Jun 24, Pres. Bush met
with Pakistan's Pres. Musharraf and promised a $3 billion aid package
that did no included F-16s.
(WSJ, 6/25/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 30, Pakistan's new
ambassador to India arrived to take up his post, saying his country was
ready to restore normal ties with its nuclear rival after a gap of 18
months.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 4, In Quetta, Pakistan, 3
assassins attacked a Shiite Muslim mosque and killed 44 worshippers
during prayers. Angry Shiites rioted in the streets burning cars and
tires.
(SFC, 7/5/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/6/03)(SSFC, 7/6/03, p.A6)
2003 Jul 11, India and Pakistan
resumed bus service, a transportation link that was disrupted 18 months
earlier due to threats of war.
(AP, 7/11/03)
2003 Jul 21, Monsoon rains were
reported to have killed at least 579 people in South Asia. India
reported a total of 263 deaths, Bangladesh 169, Pakistan 78, and Nepal
69.
(AP, 7/21/03)
2003 Jul 25, In eastern Pakistan
police commandos stormed a jail after five prisoners took nine visiting
judges and 50 female detainees hostage, officials said. The raid ended
the drama, but left three of the justices dead.
(AP, 7/25/03)
2003 Aug 3, In northern Pakistan
dynamite used for building a water channel blew up in a village,
killing at least 45 people and injuring 150 others.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2003 Aug 10, India's prime
minister called for an end to bloodshed between Pakistan and India in a
statement read before a peace conference in Islamabad.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 10, In Pakistan gunmen on
motorcycles opened fire on a van in the southern port city of Karachi,
killing five people.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 14, A Greek oil tanker
that ran aground Jul 27 off the port city of Karachi broke apart, but
officials said the worst was over and rich fishing grounds nearby were
not threatened. The ship carried 378,000 to 450,000 gallons. It leaked
an estimated 12,000 metric tons.
(AP, 8/14/03)(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A3)
2003 Aug 16, In southern Pakistan
unidentified gunmen shot to death Ibn-e-Hasan (45), a Shiite Muslim
doctor, sparking rowdy protests by hundreds of youths.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Sep 20, In central Pakistan a
train slammed into a bus, killing 27 people and injuring 6.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 24, India rejected
Pakistan's invitation to negotiate a settlement concerning the disputed
province of Kashmir.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 26, Nawabzada Nasrullah
Khan (85), head of Pakistan's main opposition alliance and one of its
greatest democracy advocates, died.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Oct 2, Pakistan's army
launched its largest offensive against al-Qaida and other militants in
a rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing at least 12
suspects.
(AP, 10/2/03)
2003 Oct 3, Pakistan test-launched
a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, saying it was the
first in a series of tests scheduled for the next few days.
(AP, 10/3/03)
2003 Oct 3, In Karachi, Pakistan,
gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Shiite Muslim employees of
Pakistan's space agency, killing six and wounding at least six others.
(AP, 10/3/03)
2003 Oct 6, In Pakistan gunmen
assassinated Maulana Azam Tariq, a hardline Sunni Muslim politician and
four other people, spraying their car with automatic weapon-fire before
fleeing.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 18, In Karachi,
Pakistani, attackers riding motorcycles opened fire at a restaurant,
killing three people in apparent gang violence.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct, Pakistan security
operatives arrested Javed Hashmi, head of the 15-party Alliance for the
Restoration of Democracy, for treason and attempting to incite
rebellion among the armed forces. 9 days earlier he had gone public
with an anonymous letter, purportedly from army officials, that
challenged Pres. Musharraf's cooperation with the US.
(SFC, 3/23/04, p.F1)
2003 Nov 22, Five Pakistani
prisoners arrived home after being freed by American authorities from
the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(AP, 11/22/03)
2003 Nov 25, The Indian and
Pakistani armies agreed to stop firing across their frontier, including
in disputed Kashmir, starting at midnight in a further easing of
tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Dec 1, India and Pakistan
agreed to restore airline overflight and landing rights by Jan. 1, 2004.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2003 Dec 14, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a bomb exploded on a
bridge just after his motorcade crossed. In 2005 a military court found
6 air force personnel guilty of trying to assassinate Musharraf and 4
were sentenced to death.
(SFC, 12/15/03, p.A6)(WSJ, 10/5/05, p.A1)
2003 Dec 15, In Pakistan police
arrested 10 people suspected of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida in
two nighttime raids at Rawalpindi.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 22, Pakistan acknowledged
that some scientists participating in its nuclear program may have been
involved in the proliferation of sensitive technology.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 24, Pakistan's Pres. Gen.
Pervez Musharraf agreed to step down as head of the armed forces by the
end of 2004, part of a deal with the hardline Islamic opposition to end
a long standoff that has stalled this nation's return to democracy.
Musharraf also agreed to scale back some of the special powers he
decreed himself after taking power in a 1999 military coup.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2003 Dec 25, In Pakistan bombers
set off 2 massive blasts near Pres. Pervez Musharraf's motorcade,
killing 15 people in the 2nd assassination attempt against Musharraf in
11 days. The president was unhurt, but at least 46 other people were
wounded.
(AP, 12/25/03)(SFC, 12/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Pakistan’s population was 77%
Sunni and 20% Shiite.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.40)
2004 Jan 1, Pakistan's Pervez
Musharraf won a vote of confidence that supporters hailed as the final
step on the general's journey from dictator to democrat. Opponents
derided the proceedings, which will keep the Pakistani leader in power
as president until 2007.
(AP, 1/1/04)
2004 Jan 1, A Pakistani airline
flew from Lahore to New Delhi and back, re-establishing a commercial
link that was cut by a war scare in 2002.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 3, India's PM Atal Bihari
Vajpayee made a historic visit to Pakistan ahead of a key South Asian
summit, greeted with a warm handshake by PM Zafarullah Khan Jamali. The
airport ceremony would have been unimaginable just one year ago.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Jan 5, Pakistan's President
Pervez Musharraf held much-anticipated, face-to-face talks with Indian
leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the sidelines of a South Asian summit.
(AP, 1/5/04)
2004 Jan 6, India and Pakistan
agreed on talks to formally tackle all issues including Kashmir.
(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 15, India and Pakistan,
resumed rail services across their border. The frontier had been closed
for 2 years.
(SFC, 1/16/04, p.A16)
2004 Jan 15, In Karachi, Pakistan,
a car bomb blew up outside a Christian Bible society, injuring 12
people.
(AP, 1/15/04)
2004 Jan 18, Pakistani agents
arrested seven al-Qaida suspects and confiscated weapons during a raid
in the southern city of Karachi.
(AP, 1/18/04)
2004 Jan 26, Pakistan joined the
list of countries affected by the bird flu disease that has sparked
mass chicken culls across the region.
(AP, 1/26/04)
2004 Feb 2, Pakistan said Abdul
Qadeer Khan, the founder of its nuclear program, has acknowledged in a
written statement that he sent sensitive technology to Iran, Libya and
North Korea to aid their atomic programs.
(AP, 2/2/04)
2004 Feb 5, Pakistan's Pres.
Musharraf pardoned Abdul Qadeer Khan after Kahn absolved Islamabad of
selling nuclear secrets to Iran.
(WSJ, 2/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 14, In northern Pakistan
two strong earthquakes triggered landslides and toppled walls that
killed at least 24 people and injured about 30 others.
(AP, 2/15/04)(AP, 2/16/04)
2004 Feb 16, India and Pakistan
began historic meetings aimed at preparing for a sustained peace
dialogue on Kashmir and other disputes.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2004 Feb 17, India and Pakistan
reached a broad agreement on the timetable for sustained peace talks on
disputed Kashmir and other tough issues separating the South Asian
neighbors.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 22, US and British
special forces reportedly had cornered Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan
border.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 28, In Pakistan a suicide
attacker blew himself up in a Shiite Muslim mosque in a city near
Islamabad.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 Mar 2, Attacks on Shiite
Muslims in Pakistan and Iraq killed at least 193 people. The Shiites
were celebrating Ashoura, the holiest day in their religious calendar.
An Iranian vice president blamed al-Qaida for the attacks.
(AP, 3/2/04)(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 3, Pakistani authorities
detained at least 15 tribal leaders in a remote border region near
Afghanistan for failing to turn over suspected al-Qaida fugitives.
(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 9, Pakistan tested its
longest-range missile yet, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and
hitting targets deep inside neighboring India.
(AP, 3/9/04)
2004 Mar 10, India's cricketers
arrived for their first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 13, In Pakistan the India
cricket team beat a Pakistan team at Karachi's National Stadium in a
match that came down to the final ball.
(SSFC, 3/14/04, p.A15)
2004 Mar 15, Pakistani police
diffused a large bomb inside a van parked in front of the US Consulate
in Karachi.
(SFC, 3/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 16, Hundreds of Pakistani
troops clashed with tribesmen suspected of sheltering al-Qaida and
Taliban fugitives near the Afghan border. At least 15 paramilitary
soldiers and 24 suspects including some foreigners presumed to be
members of al-Qaida, were killed in the raid on a mud-brick compound at
Kaloosha.
(AP, 3/16/04)(AP, 3/17/04)
2004 Mar 19, Thousands of
Pakistani army reinforcements joined a major offensive in tribal border
villages where al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri and hundreds
of other militants are believed surrounded.
(AP, 3/19/04)
2004 Mar 20, The Pakistani
military commander leading a five-day assault on armed militants holed
up in mud fortresses said a "high-value" terror suspect remained
inside, possibly wounded, but there was no way to know whether it was
al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. The government death toll reached 34.
(AP, 3/20/04)(SFC, 3/20/04, p.A10)
2004 Mar 20, The hunt for
terrorists on Pakistan's frontier appears to be narrowing on an Uzbek
terror group that once trained in Afghanistan.
(AP, 3/20/04)
2004 Mar 21, Pakistani forces
agreed to allow a 25-member tribal council free passage into a battle
zone in an effort to negotiate a peace deal with local elders
sheltering hundreds of al-Qaida fighters. Up to 6,000 Pakistani forces
were engaged with some 500 foreign militants, in the Wana area of South
Waziristan. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was suspected to
be involved.
(AP, 3/21/04)(SFC, 3/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 22, In Pakistan
assailants launched two rocket attacks on government forces on the edge
of a bloody offensive against al-Qaida militants and 15 soldiers were
killed near Sarwakai. A mile-long tunnel from a tribal compound toward
the Afghan border was discovered.
(AP, 3/23/04)(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.A1)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.A11)
2004 Mar 25, An Indian court
sentenced four Pakistanis to death for "waging war" against India after
they were caught smuggling the deadly explosive RDX into the country in
1999.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 26, The bodies of 8
Pakistani soldiers, executed by Al Qaeda-linked militants, were found
near Wana. They had been taken hostage in fighting near the Afghan
border.
(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Apr 2, Pakistan's 2-week
operation in South Waziristan wound down. The military said 63 foreign
and local militants had been killed along with at least 46 security
forces.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.A11)
2004 Apr 5, Pakistan gave
tribesmen 2 weeks to expel foreign terrorists.
(SFC, 4/6/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 17, In southern Pakistan
assailants opened fire on a vehicle, killing four Afghans and wounding
another person.
(AP, 4/17/04)
2004 Apr 21, Sami Yousifzai,
Pakistani journalist, was detained along with American freelance
journalist Eliza Griswold and their hired driver at a military
checkpoint in the Northwest Frontier province. Griswold was soon
released.
(SFC, 5/25/04, p.A6)
2004 Apr 28, Pakistan said it will
reduce the size of its army by 50,000, but military officials said this
1st reduction in its 57-year history men will not hurt fighting
strength.
(AP, 4/28/04)
2004 May 3, A car packed with
explosives went off as a bus carried Chinese engineers to a port
project in remote southwestern Pakistan, killing 3 of them and injuring
11 other people.
(AP, 5/3/04)
2004 May 4, Pakistan and China
signed a deal for the construction of a nuclear power plant, the second
such plant to be built in Pakistan with Beijing's help.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 7, In Karachi, Pakistan,
a bomb exploded at a Shiite Muslim mosque packed with worshippers,
killing 13 people and wounding more than 200 in a suspected suicide
attack.
(AP, 5/7/04)
2004 May 11, In Pakistan Shabaz
Shariff, the brother of deposed PM Nawaz Sharif, was deported to Saudi
Arabia 90 minutes after landing in Lahore.
(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A9)
2004 May 22, The Commonwealth of
Britain and its former colonies lifted a four-year suspension of
Pakistan.
(AP, 5/22/04)
2004 May 25, Officials in southern
Pakistan reported that 9 people have died and 1,600 have been sickened
after drinking contaminated water from a state-operated reservoir.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 May 26, In Pakistan 2 cars
exploded minutes apart outside an English-language school near the U.S.
consul's residence in Karachi, killing a policeman and wounding 25
other people.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 30, In Pakistan gunmen
killed Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, a senior pro-Taliban cleric, sparking
riots across Karachi city by thousands of his Sunni Muslim supporters
who ransacked shops, banks and a police station.
(AP, 5/30/04)
2004 May 31, In Pakistan 20-25
people were killed in Karachi in an apparent suicide bombing at a
crowded Shiite Muslim mosque.
(AP, 6/1/04)(WSJ, 8/19/04, p.A11)
2004 Jun 3, In Pakistan police and
Shiite Muslim protesters clashed the northern city of Gilgit, killing
one man. Investigators named an al-Qaida-linked militant group as their
chief suspect in the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in Karachi that
triggered mass rioting.
(AP, 6/3/04)
2004 Jun 9, At least 20 militants
were killed in a gunbattle with the Pakistani army in a tense border
region where hundreds of al-Qaida militants are suspected to be hiding.
(AP, 6/10/04)
2004 Jun 10, In Pakistan gunmen
opened fire on a motorcade carrying the top military official in
Karachi, killing 11 men including 8 soldiers. The general was unhurt.
(AP, 6/10/04)(WSJ, 8/19/04, p.A11)
2004 Jun 12, In central Pakistan a
powerful bomb exploded outside the home of a senior security official,
killing one person and wounding three.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2004 Jun 13, Pakistani troops
ended a major operation to flush out al-Qaida suspects and their local
supporters from hide-outs in a remote region near Afghanistan. 72
people died, including 17 security personnel.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 16, In Pakistan a bus
collided with a truck and plunged from a bridge near Islamabad, killing
at least 40 passengers and injuring 10.
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 17, Pakistan's army
killed Nek Muhammad (Nek Mohammed), a renegade Wazir tribal leader,
tracing him to a mud-brick compound near Wana via a satellite phone and
then leveling the building in a helicopter assault. He was accused of
sheltering al-Qaida fighters. Army troops killed 30 tribesman suspected
of shielding al-Qaida fugitives. As many as 70 "foreign terrorists"
were also killed in the operation. In southern Pakistan Munawar
Soharwardi, a leading opposition politician, was slain in a drive-by
shooting.
(AP, 6/17/04)(AP, 6/18/04)(AP, 6/23/04)(Econ,
4/14/07, p.44)
2004 Jun 20, India and Pakistan
announced they would establish a new hot line to alert each other of
potential nuclear accidents or threats.
(AP, 6/20/04)
2004 Jun 26, Pakistan Prime
Minister Zafarullah Jamali told a meeting of ruling party members he
had resigned from office, dissolved the cabinet and nominated as his
successor president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Chaudhry
Shujaat Hussain.
(AP, 6/26/04)
2004 Jun 30, Pakistan’s parliament
named Chaudhry Shujaat-Hussain, president of the ruling por-Musharraf
Muslim League party, as PM. Shaukat Aziz, finance minister, was named
prime-minister-in-waiting. Aziz was required to resign from the senate
and then win a by-election prior to a league vote for PM.
(Econ, 7/3/04, p.36)
2004 Jul 19, Indian Foreign
Minister Natwar Singh said he would push for progress in talks to
promote better ties with Pakistan when he meets Pakistani leaders this
week.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 25, Pakistan arrested
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian al-Qaida suspect, wanted by the
United States in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania.
(AP, 7/29/04)
2004 Jul 30, In Pakistan an attack
on Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister designate, was a response to Pres.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf's transferring wanted militants to U.S. custody.
7 people were killed plus the suicide bomber. In 2005 police arrested 3
brothers for harboring suicide bombers, who made the attack on Aziz
that left 9 bystanders dead.
(AP, 7/31/04)(AP, 1/18/05)
2004 Jul 30, A small bomb exploded
in Faisalabad, an industrial city of eastern Pakistan, wounding 18
people, mostly children.
(AP, 7/30/04)
2004 Aug 4, In Kashmir Muslim
militants killed nine Indian troopers in an attack on a paramilitary
camp, just hours before India and Pakistan, which both claim the
region, began a round of peace talks.
(AP, 8/5/04)
2004 Aug 5, A Pakistan army
helicopter crashed amid the al Qaeda hunt and 13 people were killed.
(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 6, Reuters learned from
Pakistani intelligence sources that computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor
Khan, arrested secretly in July, was working under cover to help the
authorities track down al Qaeda militants in Britain and the United
States when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers.
(Reuters, 8/7/04)(SFC, 8/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 7, A bomb exploded
outside a car dealership in Karachi, Pakistan, killing two people and
wounding three.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 8, In Pakistan 2 bombs
ripped through an Islamic school, killing 8 and injuring 42.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 8, Pakistan confirmed
that Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a senior bin Laden operative, had been
captured in the UAR and transferred to Lahore.
(SFC, 8/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 11-15, Pakistani
officials arrested around a dozen local and foreign militants who
hatched a plot to launch strikes on August 13 and Pakistan's 57th
Independence Day celebrated on August 14. The plot was masterminded by
an Egyptian Al-Qaeda suspect named Sheikh Esa alias Qari Ismail.
(AFP, 8/22/04)
2004 Aug 12, Pakistan authorities
said they had arrested five more suspected members of Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaida network in the past 48 hours.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 21, Pakistani officials
said they had arrested at least five al-Qaida-linked terrorists who
were plotting suicide attacks on government leaders and the U.S.
Embassy.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 23, Afghan Pres. Hamid
Karzai arrived in Pakistan for talks with his Pres. Pervez Musharraf on
eradicating Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters from their common border.
(AP, 8/23/04)
2004 Aug 27, Pakistan's National
Assembly elected former finance minister Shaukat Aziz prime minister,
after he was hand-picked for the post by military leader Pres. Pervez
Musharraf.
(Reuters, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 28, Pakistan's economic
czar Shaukat Aziz was sworn in as PM and said his government's greatest
challenge would be combating terrorism and maintaining law and order.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Aug 29, A rocket attack and a
remote control bomb killed 2 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers in the
western tribal regions where troops are hunting al Qaeda-linked
militants.
(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Sep 1, Pakistani officials
said security forces have arrested two "important" al Qaeda operatives,
including an Egyptian and a Saudi national.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2004 Sep 6, India and Pakistan
ended 2-day talks to settle their dispute over Kashmir. Yasin Malik,
the chairman of pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF),
said the dispute could not be settled unless residents of the region
are included in talks. India’s Natwar Singh and Pakistan’s Khurshid
Kasuri closed the 1st stage of an 8-part “composite” dialogue.
(AFP, 9/6/04)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.38)
2004 Sep 8, India and Pakistan
opened up their countries to cross-border group tourism for the first
time and announced a series of high-level contacts to push forward the
peace process.
(AP, 9/8/04)
2004 Sep 9, Pakistani jets pounded
a suspected training facility for foreign militants in a two-hour
barrage in tribal South Waziristan, killing 50 people. Pakistani troops
assaulted a suspected terror hideout, killing at least six militants.
Five of the six dead were foreigners.
(AP, 9/9/04)(AP, 9/10/04)
2004 Sep 12, Pakistani security
forces and militants clashed in fighting that killed at least nine
people in the mountains near the Afghan border.
(AP, 9/13/04)
2004 Sep 15, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf backed out of his pledge to give up his post as army chief.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 26, In Pakistan Amjad
Hussain Farooqi, accused in two attempts on the life of President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, died in a four-hour shootout at a
house in the southern town of Nawabshah. He was also wanted for his
alleged role in the 2002 kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
(AP, 9/27/04)
2004 Oct 1, In eastern Pakistan a
suicide attacker detonated a huge bomb inside a crowded Shiite Muslim
mosque during prayers, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens
more.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A9)
2004 Oct 2, In eastern Pakistan
thousands of minority Shiite Muslims rampaged through the city of
Sialkot in a riot sparked by a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that
killed 31 people.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Pakistan 2 bombs
planted in a car and motorcycle exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim
radicals in Multan, killing at least 39 people and wounding about 100
others. Authorities in response banned all political and religious
meetings except Friday Prayer. In 2006 Irfan Ali Shah was found guilty
of masterminding the bombing in Multan.
(AP, 10/7/04)(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A1)(NYT, 10/8/04,
p.A5)(AP, 9/1/06)
2004 Oct 9, In Karachi, Pakistan,
gunmen killed Mufti Muhammad Jamil Ahmed, a leading pro-Taliban Sunni
Muslim cleric and an associate.
(AP, 10/9/04)(SFC, 10/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 10, In Pakistan a suicide
attacker detonated a bomb at a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of
Lahore, leaving at least four people dead.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 12, Pakistan successfully
test-fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile that would be able
to hit most cities in neighboring India.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 12, in northwest Pakistan
an attacker tossed a grenade into a wedding ceremony at the home of an
Afghan refugee, killing four people and injuring 35.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, In Pakistan talks
aimed at freeing two Chinese engineers taken hostage by al-Qaida-linked
militants in a lawless region near the Afghanistan border have broken
down and tribal elders said they would support the military using force
to free the pair.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 14, Pakistan's lower
house of parliament passed a bill to allow President Pervez Musharraf
to stay on as army chief despite his pledge to give up the job by the
end of the year.
(Reuters, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Pakistani special
forces attacked kidnappers holding two Chinese engineers near the
Afghan border, killing all five of the al-Qaida-linked militants. One
of the hostages was killed in the raid, while the other survived.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Nov 11, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh announced a reduction in troops in disputed Kashmir in a fresh
initiative to push forward a fraying peace process with Pakistan.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 13, Pakistan said its
army has demolished several terrorist hideouts and killed 30 to 40
militants in South Waziristan in an effort to capture foreign fighters
and Pakistani militant leader Abdullah Mehsud.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 17, India's PM Manmohan
Singh paid a rare visit to the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir,
marking the start of a partial troop withdrawal that has been hailed by
rival Pakistan as an important step in easing tensions. Pakistan's
powerful Islamic parties dismissed the partial pullout of Indian troops
from Indian-administered Kashmir as tokenistic "eyewash", saying a
plebiscite was the only solution to the half-century dispute. India
began pulling an estimated 40k of some 500k soldiers from Kashmir.
(AP, 11/17/04)(AFP, 11/17/04)(WSJ, 11/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 23, In Kashmir suspected
Muslim rebels shot dead five people in overnight attacks.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, Pakistani Prime
Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived in India to help push forward a fragile
peace process.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 30, Pakistan's acting
president signed legislation that will allow Gen. Pervez Musharraf to
remain as both head of the state and army chief beyond Dec. 31.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov, Pakistan released from
prison Asif Zardari, husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.45)
2004 Dec 10, In southwestern
Pakistan a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded next to an army truck
parked at a crowded outdoor market, killing at least 10 people and
wounding 27.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 21, Pakistani police
arrested the husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto in the killing of a
former judge and his son in 1996, taking him back into custody just a
month after he'd been freed on bail.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 22, The husband of
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was freed from house arrest,
a day after he was detained for failing to attend a court hearing.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 24, A Pakistani military
spokesman said a soldier has been sentenced to death and another
soldier given 10 years imprisonment after they were convicted in the
Dec 14, 2003, attempt to assassinate President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 27, The foreign
secretaries of nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan began two-day
talks that will include their first formal dialogue on disputed Kashmir
since they launched a peace process a year ago.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 28, India and Pakistan
concluded a 2-day dialogue on their dispute over Kashmir.
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 30, Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf reiterated his intention to retain his dual role of
army chief and called on the opposition to accept the decision of the
majority.
(AP, 12/30/04)
2004 In Baluchistan, Pakistan,
Bugti and Marri tribesmen ended a 50-year feud.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.38)
2004 Maualana Fazlullah, local
leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammad, began preaching in
Swat, NWFP, Pakistan. By 2007 he drew more than 15,000 weekly to his
Friday prayers. His vision of militant Islam reached thousands more in
the valley by way of his illegal radio station, which he used until
recently to warn parents not to send their girls to school.
(CSM, 5/29/07)
2005 Jan 1, Pakistan was forecast
for 5.7% annual GDP growth with a population at 156.4 million and GDP
per head at $580.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.91)
2005 Jan 8, In northern Pakistan
at least 11 people were killed, including six family members who were
burned alive, during sectarian unrest after riots broke out following
the shooting of a popular Shiite leader.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, In Pakistan’s SW
Baluchistan province assailants fired rockets at wells and a gas
pipeline, killing a woman and wounding 14 other people. The attacks
followed the rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid (31) a week earlier by a
government soldier.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 27, Pakistani police
arrested 23 Afghans in raids in the border city of Quetta on suspicion
of links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 30, In Karachi, Pakistan,
gunmen riding three motorcycles opened fire outside a Sunni Muslim
mosque, killing a Sunni cleric who once belonged to an outlawed group
suspected of committing sectarian violence and his bodyguard.
(AP, 1/30/05)
2005 Feb 7, Pakistan, as part of a
peace deal in south Waziristan, paid 4 tribal militants a total of
$842,000 so they could pay back money received from al Qaeda to fight
Pakistani troops.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 10, Heavy rains caused
the Shakidor Dam to burst in southwestern Pakistan, releasing a torrent
of water that killed at least 135 people. The country's total number of
dead from weeklong rains and avalanches soon grew to 278.
(AP, 2/11/05)(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 13, Pakistani officials
said severe flooding and avalanches have killed around 350 people after
a week of torrential rain and heavy snow, while 2,000 others were
missing and tens of thousands left homeless.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 15, In Pakistan gunmen
opened fire on mourners returning from a funeral near a Muslim shrine
on the outskirts of Islamabad, killing at least 2 people and injuring
several others.
(AP, 2/15/05)
2005 Feb 16, India and Pakistan
agreed to start a bus service across a ceasefire line dividing the
disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir beginning on Apr 7.
(Reuters, 2/16/05)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.39)
2005 Feb 18, Pakistan deployed
specially trained anti-Al-Qaeda commandos to guard against sectarian
violence as two Sunni militants planning to attack parades by rival
Shiites blew themselves up.
(AFP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 23, India and Pakistan
agreed to cut red tape and ease barriers that hamper bilateral trade.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 27, In southeastern
Pakistan at least 10 children died when a bus carrying them on a school
field trip drove off a highway.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2005 Mar 2, Pakistani police
arrested a man wanted in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl and already sentenced to death in absentia for a hotel
bombing that killed 11 French engineers.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 3, Pakistani tribal
militants, demanding greater political and economic rights, blew up a
railway line to Iran in the third attack on the track in recent weeks.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 4, In southwestern
Pakistan police said Ramzan Mengal, an Islamic militant accused of
killing as many as 130 Shiite Muslims over recent years, was arrested
in Quetta.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 5, Pakistani troops
raided a hideout of suspected al-Qaida militants in a remote tribal
area near Afghanistan. A shootout left 2 foreigners dead. 11 people
were arrested.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 6, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf, ending years of chilly relations with Uzbekistan,
promised to catch and extradite any Uzbek-born terrorist hiding in his
country.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 10, Pakistan's
information minister acknowledged that Abdul Qadeer Khan, a rogue
scientist at the heart of an international nuclear black market
investigation, gave centrifuges to Iran, but insisted the government
had nothing to do with the transfer.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 11, Pakistan's highest
Islamic court threw out the acquittal of five men convicted of raping
Mukhtar Mai in 2002 on orders from a village council, saying a lower
appeals court had no jurisdiction to rule on the case.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 15, Pakistan issued
release orders for 589 Indian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill
towards New Delhi.
(Reuters, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 17, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province 17 minority Hindus were killed when their temple
was hit by rockets during fighting between renegade tribesmen and
security forces in Dera Bugti. Officials later said up to 45 people,
including eight soldiers, were killed in the clashes between the
Frontier Corps troops and Bugti tribesmen. Of the 67 people killed
about half died when the ghetto was shelled by government forces.
(AP, 3/21/05)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.37)
2005 Mar 18, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province bombs exploded in two trains killing two people
and wounding nine.
(AP, 3/18/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province a bomb exploded as minority Shiite Muslims
congregated at a shrine in a remote town, killing at least 39 people
and wounding 16.
(AFP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 22, Pakistan released 564
Indians, mostly fisherman, from its prisons in a goodwill gesture
toward neighboring India.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 25, Washington announced
it would sell F-16 fighters to Pakistan.
(Reuters, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 28, In Peshawar,
Pakistan, thousands of opposition activists chanted "Death to
dictatorship!" in the latest demonstration against Pres. Gen. Pervez
Musharraf's grip on power.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 30, Nepalese Finance
Minister Madhukar Shumsher Rana and Pakistan's Minister of State for
Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar concluded two days of talks by
signing an agreement to boost trade and investment. Pakistan offered
Nepal five million dollars in trade credits and talks on a free trade
agreement after the first meeting of senior economic officials of the
two countries in a decade.
(AFP, 3/30/05)
2005 Apr 1, In Pakistan
motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead a Shiite scholar and injured two
people including his daughter in a suspected sectarian attack in Lahore.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Apr 3, In eastern Pakistan
hundreds of Islamic radicals protesting against the participation of
women in a road race hurled stones and bricks at competitors, and
clashed with police, leaving at least 18 people injured.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 5, Rebels opposed to a
bus link joining parts of Kashmir controlled by rivals India and
Pakistan set off bombs and fought gun battles with troops, two days
before the service was due to start.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 6, Pakistani police
arrested some 40 faithful of the Muttahida Majlis Amal in Gujranwala as
they protested a mixed sporting event. The MMA, a 6-party religious
alliance, has demanded the ouster of Pres. Musharraf for being pro-West
and secular.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.38)
2005 Apr 7, Passengers on historic
bus trips between the Pakistani and Indian portions of Kashmir crossed
a bridge spanning the de facto border, voyages both sides hope will
lead to lasting peace on the subcontinent. Kashmiris walked across the
“Peace Bridge,” on the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
(AP, 4/7/05)(SFC, 4/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 8, In Washington DC
Humayun A. Khan (47) of Islamabad, Pakistan, was indicted for supplying
India and Pakistan with outlawed components for nuclear weapons and
ballistic missile systems.
(SFC, 4/9/05, p.A8)
2005 Apr 14, India freed 24
Pakistani prisoners in an apparent response to similar gestures by
Islamabad ahead of President Pervez Musharraf's visit to New Delhi.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 16, Pakistan's Pres. Gen.
Pervez Musharraf arrived in India to discuss the Kashmir dispute in an
effort to ease five decades of hostility.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 16, Indian troops shot
dead 7 Muslim rebels, including 2 commanders of Kashmir's main rebel
group as Pakistani Pres. Pervez Musharraf visited India for the first
time in 4 years.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 16, Pakistani authorities
seized nearly two tons of morphine worth millions of dollars from a
remote southwestern village near the Afghan border.
(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 17, The leaders of India
and Pakistan agreed to work to roll back their military deployments on
a Himalayan glacier that is claimed by both countries and believed to
be the world's highest battlefield, concluding the first day of talks
intended to push forward a 15-month-old peace process.
(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 18, India and Pakistan
agreed to open up the militarized frontier dividing Kashmir, capping a
landmark visit to New Delhi by President Pervez Musharraf.
(Reuters, 4/18/05)
2005 Apr 25, Pakistan said the
start of a free trade agreement with Sri Lanka in June is expected to
double business between the 2 countries to almost 300 million dollars
in the first year.
(AP, 4/25/05)
2005 May 2, Pakistani authorities
arrested Abu Farraj al-Libbi, head of al-Qaida operations in Pakistan.
The nation's most-wanted militant had a $10 million bounty on his head.
A 2nd militant was seized with al-Libbi, who has a five-million-dollar
US bounty on his head, was himself a key Al-Qaeda figure with a reward
tag of four million dollars.
(AP, 5/4/05)(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 3, In Pakistan a
parliamentary committee issued 32 recommendations on how the government
should address grievances in Baluchistan.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.37)
2005 May 3, On World Press Freedom
Day Pakistan police beat journalists with sticks and detained at least
30 of them for staging a rally in the capital, Islamabad.
(Reuters, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, In Lahore, Pakistan,
gas cylinders exploded in the basement of an apartment building as
residents slept, causing the three-story structure to collapse. At
least 25 people were killed and 20 injured.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 11, India and Pakistan
agreed to start a bus service between the cities of Lahore and
Amritsar, and share information on fishermen in each other's custody.
(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 May 21, In Lahore, Pakistan,
some 300 male and female runners participated in .06-mile footrace in a
symbolic victory for co-ed running.
(SFC, 6/1/05, p.A8)
2005 May 24, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded in the house of a tribal elder in South Waziristan region,
killing five women and a child.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 26, India and Pakistan
exchanged ideas on ending a two-decade-old military standoff on
Kashmir's Siachen glacier, as senior defense officials began a two-day
meeting.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 May 27, Talks between India
and Pakistan to break their two-decade-old stand-off on Kashmir's
Siachen glacier, the world's highest battlefield, ended in apparent
deadlock.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber set off explosives in the midst of Shiite Muslims reciting the
Quran, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens gathered for a religious
festival at a shrine near Islamabad.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 30, In Pakistan a blast
ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in the southern city of Karachi,
leaving at least 4 people dead, 3 of them the attackers, and a dozen
injured in a suspected suicide bombing.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 30-31, In Pakistan a mob
angered by an al-Qaida-linked suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque set a
KFC restaurant afire in overnight rioting, killing six employees and
bringing the day's overall death toll to 11. Police in southern
Pakistan later arrested eight Shiite Muslims for attacking the KFC
restaurant.
(AP, 5/31/05)(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 May 31, Pakistan’s Pres. Gen.
Pervez Musharraf said Senior al-Qaida terrorist suspect Abu Farraj
al-Libbi, arrested on May 2, will be sent to the US for prosecution. He
is believed to be behind two assassination attempts against Musharraf
and could have received the death penalty here.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 4, In Pakistan Gul
Hassan, Islamic militant and member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
group, was convicted and sentenced to death for planning two suicide
attacks that killed 45 minority Shiite Muslims on May 7 and May 31,
2004, at mosques in Karachi.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 10, A Pakistani court
ordered the release next week of 12 men connected to a notorious June
22, 2002, gang-rape of Mukhataran Mai, including six convicted of the
crime.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 12, Pakistan's army
seized control of the national telecoms firm after trade unions called
a strike against the company's privatization next week.
(AFP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 13, Australia and
Pakistan signed a new counter-terrorism pact during a visit by
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 17, Pakistan said it has
completed arrangements to sell 26 percent of its state-run telephone
company amid employee protests over the sale.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 22, South Asia endured
one of its hottest summers on record and at least 375 people were
reported to have died from sunstroke and dehydration in a month-long
heat wave sweeping India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 24, India refused
permission for Pakistan's information minister, who once sheltered
anti-Indian Kashmiri separatists, to visit its part of Kashmir on a new
"peace bus".
(AP, 6/24/05)
2005 Jun 27, An undersea cable
carrying data between Pakistan and the outside world developed a
serious fault, virtually crippling data feeds, including the Internet.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 27, It was reported that
a heat wave across Pakistan has killed about 175 people over the past
eight days.
(Reuters, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 28, Pakistan's Supreme
Court overturned the acquittals of 13 men accused of gang-raping a
villager and ordered the suspects arrested in a case that has drawn
international attention to the brutal treatment of women in this
conservative Muslim country.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jul 5, In Pakistan police
arrested 7 men in Chaniot, Punjab province, who a week earlier
allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped a married woman in retaliation for
her cousin's affair with one of the suspect's daughters.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 7, In Pakistan 2 masked
gunmen opened fire on an intelligence officer in a remote northwestern
tribal region, killing him before fleeing.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 11, A boat rescuing
flood-hit Pakistani villagers hit a power cable and 14 people,
including eight children, were electrocuted.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 Jul 13, In southern Pakistan
3 trains collided in a deadly chain reaction after a train driver
misread a signal, killing 133 people and injuring hundreds in the
country's worst crash in more than a decade.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 14, US and Afghan
soldiers fought Taliban insurgent near the Pakistan border inside
Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi, the top army commander in
Paktia, said the Afghan base was attacked in the Lwara area. The next
day Pakistani troops found the bodies of 24 suspected Taliban
militants. Pakistan protested the US cross-border raid.
(AP, 7/15/05)(WSJ, 7/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 16, Pakistani security
officials said 3 of the 4 London suicide bombers recently visited
Pakistan. Investigators probed whether they met with Al-Qaeda-linked
militant groups.
(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 16, Pakistani soldiers
fought militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan
border. 18 people, mostly women and children, died in the clash.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistani police
arrested a man accused of killing 14 homeless people in the past three
weeks by bludgeoning them to death with bricks.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistan arrested 5
Taliban leaders.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 22, In Pakistan more than
2,000 supporters of a coalition of radical Muslim groups rallied in
Islamabad to condemn a crackdown on Islamic militants that has netted
more than 200 suspects.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 22, Assailants killed
five tribal elders who had helped Pakistan's army hunt for
al-Qaida-linked militants in a remote, lawless region near the Afghan
border.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 25, Indian and Pakistani
trucks laden with goods rolled across the border for the first time in
50 years.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, Officials reported
that Pakistani security forces have rounded up about 600 suspected
militants and Islamic clerics in a week-long crackdown that followed
the July 7 London attacks.
(AFP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, In eastern Pakistan
Hashim Qadeer, an Islamic militant who set up the initial meeting (Jan
23, 2002) between Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and his
kidnappers, was arrested. The suspect was a member of two outlawed
militant groups, Harkat-ul Mujahedeen and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
(AP, 7/28/05)(WSJ, 8/8/05, p.A9)
2005 Jul 28, Pakistan's President
Pervez Musharraf said all the estimated 1,400 foreign nationals
studying in the country's madrassas would have to leave the Islamic
seminaries.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 4, Pakistan's Supreme
Court blocked a proposal by an Islamist-controlled provincial
government to introduce what critics say would be a Taliban-style
judicial system enforced by religious police.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 6, India and Pakistan
agreed to set up a telephone hotline to prevent accidental nuclear
conflict and also agreed to notify each other before testing ballistic
missiles.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 8, India and Pakistan
agreed to extend a two-year-old cease-fire in disputed Kashmir, but did
not discuss the question of reducing their military presence there.
(AP, 8/8/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Pakistan Derik
Cyprian, a former Cabinet minister who disappeared Aug. 2, was found
strangled to death on a dirt road on the outskirts of Lahore.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 11, Pakistan test fired
its first cruise missile without warning archrival India under a new
treaty requiring notification of tests involving missiles capable of
carrying nuclear warheads. The Foreign Ministry said the missile
notification agreement formalized by the two nuclear-armed nations over
the weekend did not cover cruise missiles.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 14, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf urged the country to reject conservative religious
forces saying they were a hurdle to progress and wanted to push the
country into backwardness.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 18, In Pakistan a
homemade bomb exploded near a polling station as clashes between
supporters of rival candidates in Pakistani municipal elections left 7
dead and 82 injured.
(AP, 8/19/05)
2005 Aug 21, Security forces
arrested 10 suspected militants from Pakistan's North Waziristan region
and recovered weapons, wigs and women's outfits from a fake madrassa.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 25, Clashes between rival
political gangs in Pakistan left 11 people dead and dozens more injured
as voters went to the polls in the second round of key local elections.
(AP, 8/25/05)
2005 Aug 26, A Pakistani military
court sentenced five men to death for their roles in a 2003 suicide
plot to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In India nearly 5,000
people held a rally as shops and businesses shut down in Amritsar, the
hometown of Sarabjeet Singh facing death by hanging in Pakistan for
allegedly spying. They demanded clemency and his immediate return home.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 30, India and Pakistan
agreed to release hundreds of fishermen and other civilians in each
other's jails, a goodwill measure that comes as part of a peace process
between the two countries.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug, A report, only made
public in 2008, marked confidential and bearing the official seal of
Spain's Defense Ministry charged that Pakistan's spy service was
helping arm Taliban insurgents for assassination plots against the
Afghan government.
(AP, 10/1/08)
2005 Sep 1, The foreign ministers
of Israel and Pakistan, a Muslim country that has long taken a hard
line against the Jewish state, met publicly for the first time, a
diplomatic breakthrough that both ministers linked to Israel's
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2005 Sep 4, Pakistan's opposition
called for a country-wide strike to press their demand for the
resignation of President Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 9/4/05)
2005 Sep 6, Pakistan said it has
sent 9,500 more troops to the border with Afghanistan to prevent
infiltration by militants intent on disrupting Afghan elections later
this month.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 7, Hundreds of Afghan
refugees attacked a UN refugee agency office in northwest Pakistan in
protest at delays in repatriating them. Pakistan has ordered the
closure of all refugee camps in its semi-autonomous tribal regions
because of security concerns. It originally gave an August 31 deadline
but it has since given them until September 15.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 8, In Pakistan Mufti
Mohammed Sabir, a suspected Islamic militant, was arrested in Karachi
after a shootout. He was wanted in connection with making a car bomb
used in a suicide attack May 8, 2002, that killed 15 people, including
11 French engineers.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, In Pakistan 3
suspected foreign militants were arrested after a shootout with
Pakistani forces near Afghanistan. A bystander was killed and her son
wounded by stray bullets during the clash near Miran Shah, capital of
the North Waziristan tribal area.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 10-2005 Sep 13, A
Pakistani army operation in North Waziristan destroyed a major al-Qaida
hide-out. The army arrested 21 suspected militants, including
foreigners, and a government official accused of helping them in a
remote northwestern tribal region near Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/13/05)
2005 Sep 12, Pakistan’s President
Pervez Musharraf offered to construct a security fence to deter
incursion of militants and drug merchants from Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 14, In Pakistan gunmen on
a motorcycle murdered a minority Shiite Muslim in Quetta before fleeing.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 21, In eastern Pakistan a
fireworks explosion triggered a fire at a roadside restaurant, leaving
five people dead and fifteen injured.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Pakistan 2
bombings in Lahore killed six people and injured 26.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 23, Religious schools in
Pakistan agreed to register with the government on condition the
process is approved by parliament and they don't have to reveal their
sources of funding.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Pakistan a
security official said agents raided a home near the capital of
Islamabad and arrested Asif Chotto, the reputed head of
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an al-Qaida-linked militant group accused of killing
hundreds of minority Shiites.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 29, Clashes between
Pakistani troops with militants suspected of links with al-Qaida in
remote tribal regions near the Afghan border left at least 4 soldiers
dead.
(AP, 9/30/05)
2005 Oct 2, Assailants fired
rockets at a Pakistani army base, killing a soldier and three
government employees in a spate of violence in the lawless tribal area
along the Afghan border.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 3, India and Pakistan
signed a deal requiring them to notify each other of plans for
ballistic missile tests.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 4, Pakistani security
forces arrested Abdul Latif Hakimi, the chief spokesman of
Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, describing his capture as a major
blow to the Islamic militia.
(AFP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 7, In eastern Pakistan
assailants with assault rifles attacked a mosque belonging to a small
Muslim sect, killing at least eight people and wounding 19.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 8, A 7.6-magnitude
earthquake hit Kashmir near the Pakistan-India border reaching to
Afghanistan. It reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides and
flattened an apartment building, killing thousands of people in India
and Pakistan. Pakistani officials said the death toll ranged between
nearly 20,000 and 30,000. The newly reopened "Peace Bridge" linking the
Indian and Pakistani portions of disputed Kashmir nearly collapsed
during the earthquake. The death toll from the quake reached 87,350.
The UN estimated that 3 million people were left homeless by the
earthquake.
(AP, 10/9/05)(SSFC, 10/9/05, p.A1)(AP,
11/8/05)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.44)
2005 Oct 9, A UN official said
more than 2.5 million people have been left homeless by the devastating
7.6-magnitude earthquake that shook India and Pakistan.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 10, Eight American
helicopters that will carry supplies and rescue teams to remote areas
hit by a weekend earthquake landed in Pakistan as the US pledged $50
million for relief in a gesture that officials hope will show sometimes
skeptical Pakistanis that Washington is a true ally. Pakistan said up
to 40,000 people were feared dead in the weekend earthquake, as
frustration over the slow rescue effort turned to anger and scattered
looting.
(AP, 10/10/05)(AFP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, India and Pakistan
set aside their often-bitter rivalry when Islamabad accepted an offer
of aid for earthquake victims.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Pakistan survivors
scuffled over the badly needed food, the first large-scale aid to make
it overland to the devastated city of Muzaffarabad. Officials estimated
that the death toll would surpass 35,000.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 15, The death toll in
Pakistan's devastating earthquake rose to nearly 40,000, while rain,
snow and frigid temperatures compounded the misery of millions of
homeless victims.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 18, Gen’l. Musharraf
announced that Pakistan was ready to allow Kashmiris to cross the “line
of control,” dividing Indian and Pakistani controlled areas, to help
their families.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.45)
2005 Oct 19, Two strong
aftershocks from the Oct 8 deadly earthquake shook South Asia,
unleashing landslides and setting off another wave of panic among
survivors of the disaster. A new tally from officials in India and
Pakistan pushed the death toll to 79,000.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 25, Pakistan’s Supreme
Court banned making, selling and flying kites due to deaths from
kite-flying rivalries during an annual kite flying festival. The ban
was extended in December until at least the next meeting of the court
on Jan. 26.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 27, The WHO reported that
tetanus has killed 22 people and lack of food or shelter could threaten
thousands more survivors of Pakistan's massive earthquake.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 30, Pakistan and India
made an unprecedented agreement to open their heavily militarized
border in disputed Kashmir to aid the flow of relief goods and reunite
divided families in the aftermath of South Asia's colossal earthquake.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Nov 2, Pakistan army's
disaster relief chief said the official death toll in Pakistan from the
Oct. 8 earthquake jumped to more than 73,000, with about the same
number listed as severely injured.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, Pakistan reported that
its agents killed one suspected al-Qaida terrorist in a raid in Quetta
and arrested, Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian and top al-Qaida
operative sought by the US under a $5 million reward. The slain suspect
was a Saudi named Shaikh Ali Mohammed al-Salim who had been living with
Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, who allegedly
had a role in the March 11, 2004, Madrid mass-transit bombings. Al-Suri
was the author of a 1,600-page opus titled: The Global Islamic Call to
Resistance.”
(AP, 11/3/05)(AP, 5/2/06)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.30)
2005 Nov 4, A ferry overloaded
with people heading to a memorial for three drowned boaters capsized in
the Arabian Sea off southern Pakistan, killing about 60 people.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, In northwestern
Pakistan suspected militants set off a blast while making bombs at
their compound, killing at least eight people, including a woman and
three children.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 7, India and Pakistan
opened their frontier in Kashmir for earthquake relief, but police had
to fire tear gas to disperse protesters who were banned from taking
part in the symbolic crossing.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, One month after South
Asia's Oct. 8 earthquake, the estimated death toll shot up sharply to
87,350 following a new count of Pakistan's casualties.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Dhaka, Bangladesh,
a 2-day summit aimed to alleviate poverty and boost trade and
cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Leaders called for greater cooperation within
the region to deal with the aftermath of disasters like the Kashmir
earthquake and last year's devastating tsunami.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 13, In northeastern
Pakistan a bus with 50 people on board plunged into a river gorge in
the quake-stricken area.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 15, In southern Pakistan
a powerful car bomb exploded outside a KFC restaurant, setting off a
massive fireball that overturned cars and shattered steel and glass. 3
people were killed and 22 injured.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 17, In Pakistan a court
official said 3 men from an underground Pakistani tribal group have
confessed to involvement in a car bomb blast near a US fast food chain
outlet that killed 3 people. Police said the trio belong to a group
called the Baluchistan Liberation Army.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 19, India and Pakistan
opened their disputed border in Kashmir for the first time in 58 years,
a temporary measure to allow divided families to check on each other
after the region's devastating earthquake.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 23, Australia's PM John
Howard visited Pakistan's devastated earthquake zone and announced a
further 37 million dollars in aid for victims of the disaster.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Dec 1, Hamza Rabia, one of
al-Qaida's top five leaders, a key associate of Ayman al-Zawahri, was
tracked down with US help and killed by Pakistani security forces in a
rocket attack near the Afghan border. Pakistani authorities said he was
killed with 5 other militants.
(AP, 12/03/05)(SSFC, 12/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 8, In northwestern
Pakistan an explosion ripped through two munitions shops in a bazaar in
a tribal town, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 30.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 11, In eastern Pakistan a
firecracker thrown by a celebrant at a wedding set fire to a bus filled
with guests, killing at least 40 people.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 17, India and Pakistan
agreed to begin work by 2007 on a pipeline to bring natural gas from
Iran, moving ahead with the project despite US disapproval. Iran hoped
to break ground this year on a 1,700 mile, $4 billion natural gas
pipeline to deliver gas across Pakistan to India. The US opposed the
line and threatened sanctions under the 1996 Iran Libya Sanctions Act
(ILSA) law.
(AP, 12/18/05)(WSJ, 6/24/05, p.A4)
2005 Dec 23, In Pakistan Nazir
Ahmed (40), angry that his eldest step-daughter allegedly committed
adultery, slit her throat as she slept, then killed his 3 daughters in
the village of Gago Mandi in eastern Punjab province.
(AP, 12/24/05)(SFC, 12/29/05, p.A8)
2005 Dec 26, India freed eight
Pakistani prisoners as part of peace efforts between the South Asia
rivals, while the two governments scheduled new talks to resolve their
long-standing dispute over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 30, In northwestern
Pakistan an avalanche killed at least 25 people who were digging for
gemstones.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Louise Brown authored “The
Dancing Girls of Lahore: Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan’s
Ancient Pleasure District.”
(SSFC, 7/24/05, p.B2)
2005 Husain Haqqani authored
“Pakistan,” an examination of the symbiotic relations between the
ruling military government and the country’s mosques.
(WSJ, 7/28/05, p.D8)
2005 In Pakistan Ali Salim began
hosting “Late Night with Begum Nawazish Ali,” a risque show in which he
starred as South Asia’s first cross-dressing television host.
(SFC, 5/17/06, p.A1)
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