History of Pakistan (1947–present)

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The story of history of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan began on 14 August 1947 when the country came into being in the form of

Islamic democratic
country.

Pakistan faced a

infrastructure
to a great extent from 2001 to 2009 but Pakistan is once again developing.

Pakistan is a

.

Pakistan is a

CPEC will play an important role in it. Geographically, Pakistan is also an important country and a source of contact between Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia
.

Pakistan Movement

Important leaders in the

Islamic world. Islamic scholars debated over whether it was possible for the proposed Pakistan to truly become an Islamic state.[2][3]

Another motive and reason behind the Pakistan Movement and

Allama Iqbal is that, to re-establish the Muslim rule in South Asia
. Once Jinnah said in his speech:

The Pakistan Movement started when the first Muslim (

Muhammad bin Qasim) put his foot on the soil of Sindh, the gateway of Islam in India.[4][5]

That is why Jinnah is considered the "great Muslim ruler" in the

Muslim Mughal Era
.

The Founding Fathers of Pakistan meet in Lahore in 1940 to discuss the idea of Pakistan.

While the

Sunni scholars to demonstrate that their view that India's Muslim masses wanted a separate country was in the majority, in their eyes.[14] Those Barelvis who supported the creation of a separate Muslim homeland in colonial India believed that any co-operation with Hindus would be counter productive.[18]

Muslims who were living in provinces where they were demographically a minority, such as the United Provinces where the Muslim League enjoyed popular support,[19] were assured by Jinnah that they could remain in India, migrate to Pakistan or continue living in India but as Pakistani citizens. The Muslim League had also proposed the hostage population theory. According to this theory the safety of India's Muslim minority would be ensured by turning the Hindu minority in the proposed Pakistan into a 'hostage' population who would be visited by retributive violence if Muslims in India were harmed.[3][20]

The Pakistani demand resulted in the Muslim League becoming pitted against both the Congress and the British.[21] In the Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims, polling 89.2% of the total votes.[22] Congress had hitherto refused to acknowledge the Muslim League's claim of being the representative of Indian Muslims but finally recognised to the League's claim after the results of this election. The Muslim League's demand for the creation of Pakistan had received overwhelming popular support from India's Muslims, especially those Muslims who were living in provinces where they were a minority. The 1946 election in British India was essentially a plebiscite among Indian Muslims over the creation of Pakistan.[23][24][25]

The British, while not approving of a separate Muslim homeland, appreciated the simplicity of a single voice to speak on behalf of India's Muslims.[26] To preserve India's unity the British arranged the Cabinet Mission Plan.[27] According to this plan India would be kept united but would be heavily decentralised with separate groupings of autonomous Hindu and Muslim majority provinces. The Muslim League accepted this plan as it contained the 'essence' of Pakistan but the Congress rejected it.[28] After the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan, Jinnah called for Muslims to observe Direct Action Day to demand the creation of a separate Pakistan, which morphed into violent riots between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta. These riots were followed by violence elsewhere, resulting in large-scale displacement in Noakhali (where Muslims attacked Hindus) and Bihar (where Hindus attacked Muslims) in October, and in Rawalpindi (where Muslims attacked and drove out Sikhs and Hindus) in March 1947.[29]

The British Prime Minister Attlee appointed Lord Louis Mountbatten as India's last viceroy, who was given the task to oversee British India's independence by June 1948, with the emphasis of preserving a United India, but with adaptational authority to ensure a British withdrawal with minimal setbacks.[30][31][32][33] British leaders including Mountbatten did not support the creation of Pakistan but failed to convince Jinnah.[34][35] Mountbatten later confessed that he would most probably have sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis.[36]

Soon after he arrived, Mountbatten concluded that the situation was too volatile for even that short a wait. Although his advisers favoured a gradual transfer of independence, Mountbatten decided the only way forward was a quick and orderly transfer of independence before 1947 was out. In his view, any longer would mean civil war.

Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs
, agreed to partition India along religious lines.

Creation of Pakistan

On 14 August 1947 (27th of

Radcliffe Commission. Lord Mountbatten is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe Commission to draw the lines in India's favour.[40][41][42] Punjab's mostly Muslim western part went to Pakistan and its mostly Hindu and Sikh eastern part
went to India, but there were significant Muslim minorities in Punjab's eastern section and light Hindus and Sikhs minorities living in Punjab's western areas.

There was no conception that population transfers would be necessary because of the partitioning. Religious minorities were expected to stay put in the states they found themselves residing in. However, an exception was made for Punjab which did not apply to other provinces.

Gandhi on 22 August that up to then, twice as many Muslims had been killed in East Punjab than Hindus and Sikhs in West Punjab.[49]

More than ten million people migrated across the new borders and between 200,000 and 2,000,000

Kashmir dispute, unresolved as of 2023
.

1947–1958: First democratic era

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the first Governor-General of Pakistan.
1950 documentary about Pakistan

In 1947, the

Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani described Jinnah as the greatest Muslim after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb
.

Usmani asked Pakistanis to remember Jinnah's message of "Unity, Faith and Discipline" and work to fulfil his dream:

to create a solid bloc of all

Muslim states from Karachi to Ankara, from Pakistan to Morocco. He [Jinnah] wanted to see the Muslims of the world united under the banner of Islam as an effective check against the aggressive designs of their enemies.[61]

The first formal step to transform Pakistan into an ideological Islamic state was taken in March 1949 when Liaquat Ali Khan introduced the

Gandhi's pressurisation.[65]
Territorial problems arose with neighbouring
President Harry Truman
.

After gaining Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries

unity of Muslim World.[71] Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction in Pakistan's pan-Islamic aspirations.[72] Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states.[73] Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan.[74]

In a 1948 speech, Jinnah declared that "Urdu alone would be the state language and the lingua franca of the Pakistan state", although at the same time he called for the Bengali language to be the official language of the Bengal province.[75] Nonetheless, tensions began to grow in East Bengal.[75] Jinnah's health further deteriorated and he died in 1948. Bengali leader, Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin succeeded as the governor general of Pakistan.[76]

Second Governor General & Prime Minister of Pakistan
, Khawaja Nazimuddin.

During a massive political rally in 1951, Prime Minister Ali Khan was

first President of Pakistan
, Iskander Mirza.

Suhrawardy's

Peshawar Air Station to the CIA to conduct operations in the Soviet Union.[85]

Differences in East Pakistan further encouraged

I. I. Chundrigar in 1957.[84] Within two months Chundrigar was dismissed. He was followed by Sir Feroz Noon, who proved to be an incapable prime minister. Public support for the Muslim League led by Nurul Amin began to threaten President Mirza who was becoming unpopular, especially in West Pakistan.[82] In less than two years, Mirza dismissed four elected prime ministers, and was increasingly under pressure to call new elections in 1958.[86]

1958–1971: first military era

1958: military rule

Iskandar Mirza

In October 1958 President Iskandar Mirza issued orders for a massive mobilisation of the Pakistan Armed Forces and appointed

martial law, suspended the constitution, and dissolved both the socialist government in East Pakistan and the parliamentary government in West Pakistan.[88]

General Ayub Khan was Chief Martial Law Administrator, with authority throughout the country.[87] Within two weeks President Mirza attempted to dismiss Khan,[87] but the move backfired and President Mirza was relieved of the presidency and exiled to London. General Khan promoted himself to the rank of a five-star field marshal and assumed the presidency. He was succeeded as chief of army staff by General Muhammad Musa. Khan named a new civil-military government under him.[89][90]

1962–1969: presidential republic

Muhammad Ayub Khan

The

civil bureaucracy and public administration had maligned the democratic process in the country and the public were supportive of the actions taken by General Khan.[91] Major land reforms were carried out by the military government and it enforced the controversial Elective Bodies Disqualification Order which ultimately disqualified H. S. Suhrawardy from holding public office.[91] Khan introduced a new presidential system called "Basic Democracy", by which an electoral college of 80,000 would select the president.[89] He also promulgated the 1962 constitution.[89] In a national referendum held in 1960 Ayub Khan secured nationwide popular support for his bid as second president of Pakistan and replaced his military regime with a constitutional civilian government.[91] In a major development all of the infrastructure and bureaucracy of the capital was relocated from Karachi to Islamabad.[92]

The presidency of Ayub Khan is often celebrated as the "Great Decade", highlighting the economic development plans and reforms executed.

communist Afghanistan.[clarification needed] During the controversial 1965 presidential elections, Ayub Khan almost lost to Fatima Jinnah.[97]

In 1965, after Pakistan went ahead with its strategic infiltration mission in Kashmir codenamed

Tashkent Agreement between India and Pakistan in 1965.[102] Witnessing the American disapproval and the USSR's mediation, Ayub Khan made tremendous efforts to normalise relations with the USSR; Bhutto's negotiating expertise led to the Soviet Premier, Alexei Kosygin, visiting Islamabad.[98]

Fatima Jinnah

Delivering a blistering speech at the UN General Assembly in 1965, Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with the atomic scientist Aziz Ahmed present, made Pakistan's intentions clear and announced that: "If India builds the [nuclear] bomb, we will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of own... We have no other choice". Abdus Salam and Munir Khan jointly collaborated to expand the nuclear power infrastructure, receiving tremendous support from Bhutto. Following the announcement, the nuclear power expansion was accelerated with the signing of a commercial nuclear power plant agreement with General Electric Canada, and several other agreements with the United Kingdom and France.

Disagreeing with the signing of Tashkent agreement, Bhutto was ousted from the ministry on the personal directive of President Khan in 1966.[103] The dismissal of Bhutto caused spontaneous mass demonstrations and public anger against Khan, leading to major industrial and labour strikes in the country.[104] Within weeks Ayub Khan lost the momentum in West Pakistan and his image was damaged in public circles.[102] In 1968, Ayub Khan decided to celebrate his "Decade of Development," it was strongly condemned by leftist students and they decided to celebrate, instead, a "Decade of Decadence.[105] Leftists accused him of encouraging crony capitalism, the exploitation of workers and the suppression of the rights and ethnic-nationalism of the Bengalis (in East Pakistan), Sindhis, the Baloch and the Pakhtun[106] Amidst further allegations that economic development and hiring for government jobs favoured West Pakistan, Bengali nationalism began to increase and an independence movement gained ground in East Pakistan.[107] In 1966 the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded provisional autonomy at the Round Table Conference held by Ayub Khan; this was forcefully rejected by Bhutto.[107] The influence of socialism increased after the country's notable economist, Mahbub ul Haq, publishing a report on the private-sector's evasion of taxation and the control of the national economy by a few oligarchs.[108] In 1967 a Socialist convention, attended by the country's leftist philosophers and notable thinkers, took place in Lahore. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was founded with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as its first elected chairman. The Peoples Party's leaders, JA Rahim and Mubashir Hassan, notably announced their intention to "defeat the great dictator with the power of the people."[104]

In 1967, the PPP tapped a wave of anger against Ayub Khan and successfully called for major labour strikes in the country.

serious uprising in East Pakistan. Under pressure from the PPP, public resentment, and anger against his administration, Khan resigned from the presidency in poor health and handed over his authority to the army commander, a little known personality and heavy alcoholic, General Yahya Khan
, who imposed martial law.

1969–1971: Martial law

President General Yahya Khan was aware of the explosive political situation in the country.[104] Support for progressive and socialist groups was rising, and calls for a change of regime were gaining momentum.[104] In a television address to the nation, President Khan announced his intention to hold nationwide elections the following year and to transfer power to the elected representatives.[104] Virtually suspending the 1962 Constitution, President Khan instead issued the Legal Framework Order No. 1970 (LFO No. 1970) which caused radical changes in West Pakistan. Tightening the grip of martial law, the One Unit program was dissolved in West Pakistan, removing the "West" prefix from Pakistan, and a direct ballot replaced the principle of parity.[110] Territorial changes were carried out in four of the country's provinces, allowing them to retain their geographical structures as they were in 1947.[110] The state parliament, supreme court and major government and authoritarian institutions also regained their statuses.[110] This decree was limited to West Pakistan, it had no effect on East Pakistan.[110] Civilians in Ayub Khan's administration were dismissed by the military government which replaced them with military officers.

General Yahya Khan (left), with US President Richard Nixon

The Election Commission registered 24 political parties, and public meetings attracted many large crowds. On the eve of the elections, a cyclone struck East Pakistan killing approximately 500,000 people, though this event did not deter people from participating in the first ever general election.[111] Mobilizing support for their Six Points manifesto the Awami League secured electoral support in East Pakistan.[111] Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party asserted itself even more. Its socialist rationale, roti kapda aur makaan (food, cloth, and shelter) and the party's socialist manifesto quickly popularised the party.[111] The conservative PML, led by Nurul Amin, raised religious and nationalist slogans all over the country.[111]

Out of a total of 313 seats in the National Assembly, the Awami League won 167 seats but none from West Pakistan[111] and the PPP won 88 seats but none from East Pakistan. While the Awami League had won enough seats to form a government without the need for any coalition, West Pakistani elites refused to hand over power to the East Pakistani party. Efforts were made to start a constitutional dialogue. Bhutto asked for a share in government saying Udhar tum, idhar hum, meaning "You in the east, I in the west". The PPP's intellectuals maintained that the Awami League had no mandate in West Pakistan.[112] Although President Khan invited the Awami League to a National Assembly session in Islamabad he did not ask them to form a government, due to opposition from the PPP.[112] When no agreement was reached, President Khan appointed Bengali anti-war activist Nurul Amin as prime minister with the additional office of the country's first and only vice-president.[112]

Mujib announcing the Six points.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman then launched a

parallel government. A guerrilla insurgency was initiated by the Indian-organised and supported Mukti Bahini ("freedom fighters").[113] Millions of Bengali Hindus and Muslims took refuge in eastern India leading to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announcing support for the Bangladesh liberation war and providing direct military assistance to the Bengalis.[114] In March 1971 regional commander Major General Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh
on behalf of Mujib.

Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes on 11 Indian airbases on 3 December 1971, leading to India's entry into the war on the side of Bangladeshi nationalist forces.

Rudolph Rummel and Rounaq Jahan say both sides[119] committed genocide; others such as Richard Sisson and Leo E. Rose believe there was no genocide.[120] Discredited by the defeat, President Khan resigned and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on 20 December 1971.[112]

1971–1977: Second democratic era

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

The 1971 war and the separation of East Pakistan demoralised the nation. With the PPP's assumption of power, democratic socialists and visionaries had authority for the first time in the country's history. Bhutto dismissed the chiefs of the

air force and ordered house arrest for General Yahya Khan and several of his collaborators. He adopted the Hamoodur Rahman Commission
's recommendations and authorised large-scale courts-martial of army officers tainted by their role in East Pakistan. To keep the country united Bhutto launched a series of internal intelligence operations to crack down on fissiparous nationalist sentiments and movements in the provinces.

1971 to 1977 was a period of left-wing democracy and the growth of economic nationalisation, covert atomic bomb projects, promotion of

intelligence services provided an assessment on the Indian nuclear program, concluding that: "India was close to developing a nuclear weapon under its nuclear programme". Chairing a secret seminar in January 1972, which came to be known as "Multan meeting", Bhutto rallied Pakistani scientists to build an atomic bomb for national survival. The atomic bomb project brought together a team of prominent academic scientists and engineers, headed by theoretical physicist Abdus Salam. Salam later won the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing the theory for the unification of the weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces.[121]

The

1973 Constitution with the support of Islamists.[122] The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic and Islam the state religion. It also stated that all laws would have to be brought into accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted.[123] The 1973 Constitution also created institutions such as the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to channel and interpret the application of Islam to the law.[124]

In 1973 a serious nationalist rebellion took place in

higher education system
throughout the country. Bhutto's efforts undermined and dismantled the private-sector and conservative approach to political power in the country's political setup. In 1974 Bhutto succumbed to increasing pressure from religious parties and encouraged Parliament to declare adherents of Ahmadiyya to be non-Muslims.

Relations with the United States deteriorated as Pakistan normalised relations with the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, North Korea, China, and the Arab world. With Soviet technical assistance the country's first steel mill was established in Karachi, which proved to be a crucial step in industrialising the economy. Alarmed by India's surprise

Test Kahuta
, in 1983. Relations with India soured and Bhutto sponsored aggressive measures against India at the United Nations. These openly targeted the Indian nuclear programme.

From 1976 to 1977, Bhutto was in diplomatic conflict with the United States, which worked covertly to damage the credibility of Bhutto in Pakistan. Bhutto, with his scientist colleague Aziz Ahmed, thwarted US attempts to infiltrate the atomic bomb programme. In 1976, during a secret mission, Henry Kissinger threatened Bhutto and his colleagues. In response Bhutto aggressively campaigned for efforts to speed up the atomic project.

In early 1976 Bhutto's socialist alliance collapsed, forcing his left-wing allies to form an

bloodless coup
. Following this Bhutto and his leftist colleagues were dragged into a two-year-long political trial in the Supreme Court. Bhutto was executed in 1979 after being convicted of authorising the murder of a political opponent in a controversial 4–3 split decision by the Supreme Court.

1977–1988: Second military era

General Zia-ul-Haq (right)

This period of military rule, lasting from 1977 to 1988, is often regarded as a period of persecution and the growth of state-sponsored

Barelvis.[138] Zia-ul-Haq forged a strong alliance between the military and Deobandi institutions.[139] Possible motivations for the Islamization programme included Zia's personal piety (most accounts agree that he came from a religious family),[140] his desire to gain political allies, to "fulfill Pakistan's raison d'être" as a Muslim state, or the political need to legitimise what was seen by some Pakistanis as his "repressive, un-representative martial law regime".[141]

President Zia's long eleven-year rule featured the country's first successful

far-leftist forces in direct competition with populist far-right circles. President Zia installed many high-profile military officers in civilian posts, ranging from central to provisional governments. Gradually the influence of socialism in public policies was dismantled. Instead a new system of capitalism was revived with the introduction of corporatisation and the Islamization of the economy. The populist movement against Bhutto scattered, with far right-wing conservatives allying with General Zia's government and encouraging the military government to crack down on pro-Soviet left-wing elements. The left-wing alliance, led by Benazir Bhutto, was brutalised by Zia who took aggressive measures against the movement. Further secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down successfully by the provincial governor, General Rahimuddin Khan. In 1984, Zia held a referendum
asking for support for his religious programme; he received overwhelming support.

Benazir Bhutto in the US in 1988. Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988.

After Zia assumed power, Pakistan's relations with the Soviet Union deteriorated and Zia strove for strong relations with the United States. After the Soviet Union's

Deobandi ulama playing a significant role in encouraging and organising the jihad against the Soviet forces.[145]
In retaliation the Afghan secret police carried out a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of illegal weapons and drugs from Afghanistan. Responding to the terrorism, Zia used "counter-terrorism" tactics and allowed the religiously far-right parties to send thousands of young students from clerical schools to participate in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union.

Problems with India arose when India attacked and took the Siachen glacier, prompting Pakistan to strike back. This led the Indian Army to carry out a military exercise which mustered up to 400,000 troops near southern Pakistan. Facing an indirect war with the Soviet Union in the west, General Zia used cricket diplomacy to lessen the tensions with India. He also reportedly threatened India by saying to Rajiv Gandhi "If your forces cross our border an inch... We are going to annihilate your (cities)...".[146]

Under pressure from President Reagan, General Zia finally lifted martial law in 1985, holding non-partisan elections and handpicking

Indian film industry.[149]

1988–1999: Third democratic era (Benazir–Nawaz)

The 1988 election results showing the left-wing, in red and grey, with a majority.

Democracy returned again in 1988 with general elections which were held after President Zia-ul-Haq's death. The elections marked the return of the Peoples Party to power. Their leader, Benazir Bhutto, became the first female prime minister of Pakistan as well as the first female head of government in a Muslim-majority country. This period, lasting until 1999, introduced competitive two-party democracy to the country. It featured a fierce competition between

fall of global communism
and the United States lessening its interests in Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto, 2004

Prime Minister Bhutto presided over the country during the penultimate period of the

economic sanctions by the United States. In 1989, Bhutto ordered a military intervention in Afghanistan, which failed, leading her to dismiss the directors of the intelligence services. With US aid she imposed the Seventh Five-Year Plan to restore and centralise the national economy. Nonetheless, the economic situation worsened when the state currency lost a currency war with India. The country entered a period of stagflation, and her government was dismissed by the conservative president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
.

The 1990 general election results allowed the right-wing conservative alliance the

in Karachi in 1992. Institutional problems arose with president Ghulam Khan, who attempted to dismiss Sharif on the same charges he had used against Benazir Bhutto. Through a Supreme Court judgement Sharif was restored and together with Bhutto ousted Khan from the presidency. Weeks later Sharif was forced to relinquish office by the military leadership.

Nawaz Sharif, 1998

As a result of the 1993 general elections Benazir Bhutto secured a plurality and formed a government after hand-pickeing a president. She approved the appointments of all four four-star chiefs of staff:

Abdul Waheed of the army; and Farooq Feroze Khan
chairman of the joint chiefs. She oversaw a tough stance to bring political stability, which with her fiery rhetoric earned her the nickname "Iron Lady" from her rivals. Proponents of social democracy and national pride were supported, while the nationalisation and centralisation of the economy continued after the Eighth Five-Year Plan was enacted to end stagflation. Her foreign policy made an effort to balance relations with Iran, the United States, the European Union and the socialist states.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), became involved in supporting Muslims around the world. ISI's Director-General

missile system programs. In 1994 she successfully approached France for the transfer of Air-independent propulsion
technology.

Focusing on cultural development, her policies resulted in growth in the rock and pop music industry, and the film industry made a comeback after introducing new talent. She exercised tough policies to ban Indian media in the country, while promoting the television industry to produce dramas, films, artistic programs and music. Public anxiety about the weakness of Pakistani education led to large-scale federal support for science education and research by both Bhutto and Sharif. Despite her tough policies, the popularity of Benazir Bhutto waned after her husband allegedly became involved in the controversial death of Murtaza Bhutto. Many public figures and officials suspected Benazir Bhutto's involvement in the murder, although there was no proof. In 1996, seven weeks after this incident, Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by her own hand-picked president on charges of Murtaza Bhutto's death.

The 1997 elections showing right-wing parties, in green, with an exclusive mandate in the country.

The 1997 election resulted in conservatives receiving a large majority of the vote and winning enough seats in parliament to change the constitution to eliminate the checks and balances that restrained the prime minister's power. Institutional challenges to authority of the new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, were led by the civilian President

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Fasih Bokharie, and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. These were countered and all four were forced to resign, Chief Justice Shah doing so after the Supreme Court was stormed by Sharif partisans.[154]

Problems with India further escalated in 1998, when television reported Indian nuclear explosions, codenamed Operation Shakti. When this news reached Pakistan, a shocked Sharif called a Defence Committee of the Cabinet meeting in Islamabad and vowed that "she [Pakistan] would give a suitable reply to the Indians...". After reviewing the effects of the tests for roughly two weeks Sharif ordered the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to perform a series of nuclear tests in the remote area of the Chagai Hills. The military forces in the country were mobilised at war-readiness on the Indian border.

Internationally condemned, but extremely popular at home, Sharif took steps to control the economy. Sharif responded fiercely to international criticism and defused the pressure by attacking India for nuclear proliferation and the US for the atomic bombing of Japan:

The World, instead of putting pressure on [India]... not to take the destructive road... imposed all kinds of sanctions on [Pakistan] for no fault of her...! If Japan had its own nuclear capability...[the cities of]...Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not have suffered atomic destruction at the hands of the... United States

— Nawaz Sharif—
Indian media
.

The next year the

Atlantique Incident
, which came on a bad juncture for the Prime minister Sharif who no longer had broad public support for his government.

On 12 October 1999 Prime Minister Sharif's attempt to dismiss General Pervez Musharraf from the posts of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Chief of Army Staff failed after the military leadership refused to accept the appointment of ISI Director Lieutenant-General Ziauddin Butt his replacement.[157] Sharif ordered Jinnah International Airport to be sealed to prevent the landing of a PIA flight carrying General Musharraf, which then circled the skies over Karachi for several hours. A counter coup was initiated and the senior commanders of the military leadership ousted Sharif's government and took over the airport. The flight landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare.[158] The Military Police seized the Prime Minister's Secretariat and deposed Sharif, Ziauddin Butt and the cabinet staffers who took part in this assumed conspiracy, placing them in the infamous Adiala Jail. A quick trial was held in the Supreme Court which gave Sharif a life sentence, with his assets being frozen based on a corruption scandal. He came close to receiving the death sentence based on the hijacking case.[159] The news of Sharif's dismissal made headlines all over the world and under pressure from US President Bill Clinton and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia Musharraf agreed to spare Sharif's life. Exiled to Saudi Arabia, Sharif was forced to be out of politics for nearly ten years.

1999–2007: Third military era (Musharraf–Aziz)

After 1999 many rock music bands performed openly

The presidency of Musharraf featured the arrival of

Kashmiri insurgents carried out the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.[166]

Attempting to legitimise his presidency

electoral college, and was elected president.[171]
Soon after Musharraf increased the role of Shaukat Aziz in parliament and helped him to secure nomination for the office of Prime Minister.

General Pervez Musharraf

Shaukat Aziz became prime minister in 2004. His government achieved positive results on the economic front, but his proposed social reforms were met with resistance. The far-right Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal mobilised in fierce opposition to Musharraf and Aziz and their support for the US intervention in Afghanistan.

heavy fighting
in Warsk with 400 al-Qaeda operatives in March 2004. This new conflict caused the government to sign a truce with the Taliban on 5 September 2006 but sectarian violence continued.

Shaukat Aziz

In 2007 Sharif made a daring attempt to return from exile but was refrained from landing at Islamabad Airport.[174] This did not deter another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, from returning on 18 October 2007 after an eight-year exile in Dubai and London to prepare for the 2008 parliamentary elections.[175][176] While leading a massive rally of supporters, two suicide attacks were carried out in an attempt to assassinate her. She escaped unharmed but there were 136 dead and at least 450 people were injured.[177]

With Aziz completing his term, the liberal alliance now led by Musharraf was further weakened after General Musharraf proclaimed a state of emergency and sacked the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry along with the other 14 judges of the Supreme Court, on 3 November 2007.[160][178][179] The political situation became more chaotic when lawyers launched a protest against this action and were arrested. All private media channels including foreign channels were banned.[180] Domestic crime and violence increased while Musharraf attempted to contain the political pressure. Stepping down from the military, he was sworn in for a second presidential term on 28 November 2007.[181][182]

The 2002 election results with liberals, light green and white, gaining a majority for the first time in Pakistan

Popular support for Musharraf declined when Nawaz Sharif successfully made a second attempt to return from exile, this time accompanied by his

Iqbal Terminal on 25 November 2007.[183][184] Nawaz Sharif filed his nomination papers for two seats in the forthcoming elections whilst Benazir Bhutto filed for three seats including one of the reserved seats for women.[185] Departing an election rally in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a gunman who shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.[186][187][188] The exact sequence of the events and cause of death became points of political debate and controversy. Early reports indicated that Bhutto was hit by shrapnel or gunshots,[189] but the Pakistani Interior ministry maintained that her death was due from a skull fracture sustained when the explosive waves threw her against the sunroof of her vehicle.[190] The issue remains controversial and further investigations were conducted by the UK police. The Election Commission announced that due to the assassination[191] the elections, which had been scheduled for 8 January 2008, would take place on 18 February.[192]

The unity symbol of Pakistan, Minar-e-Pakistan, glances in 2005

The 2008 general elections marked the return of the leftists.

movement to impeach the president on 7 August 2008. Before restoring the deposed judiciary, Gillani and his leftist alliance leveled accusations against Musharraf of weakening Pakistan's unity, violating its constitution and creating an economic impasse.[195] Gillani's strategy succeeded when Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation in an address to the nation, ending his nine-year-long reign on 18 August 2008.[196]

2008–2019: Fourth democratic era

2008 election the leftwing parties, in red held a majority with conservatives
, in green.
Yousaf Raza Gillani

Prime Minister Gilani headed a collective government with the winning parties from each of the four provinces. Pakistan's political structure was changed to replace the semi-presidential system into a parliamentary democracy. Parliament unanimously passed the 18th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, which implemented this. It turns the President of Pakistan into a ceremonial head of state and transfers the authoritarian and executive powers to the Prime Minister.[197] In 2009–11, Gillani, under pressure from the public and co-operating with the United States, ordered the armed forces to launch military campaigns against Taliban forces in the north-west of Pakistan. These quelled the Taliban militias in the north-west, but terrorist attacks continued elsewhere. The country's media was further liberalised, and with the banning of Indian media channels Pakistani music, art and cultural activities were promoted at the national level.

In 2010 and 2011 Pakistani-American relations worsened after a

Hina Khar.[198] Following repeated delays by Gillani in following Supreme Court orders to probe corruption allegations he was charged with contempt of court and ousted on 26 April 2012. He was succeeded by Pervez Ashraf.[199][200]

After the parliament completed its term, a first for Pakistan, elections held on 11 May 2013 changed the country's political landscape when the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N) achieved a near supermajority in the parliament.[201][202] Nawaz Shareef became prime minister on May 28.[203] In 2015, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was initiated. In 2017, the Panama Papers case resulted in the disqualification of Sharif by verdict of the Supreme Court. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became Prime Minister afterwards[204] until mid 2018. The PML-N government was dissolved after completion of the parliamentary term.

General elections were held in 2018 which saw the coming of PTI for the first time in the government. Imran Khan was elected Prime Minister[205] with Arif Alvi, Khan's close ally, as president.[206] The Federally Administered Tribal Areas were merged with the neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018.

2020–present: Post-COVID era

In 2020, the

Imran Khan-led government managed to keep the situation under control.[208][209][210] In April 2022, Khan became the country's first prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion in Parliament.[211] On 11 April 2022, Pakistan's parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, as the country's new prime minister to succeed Imran Khan.[212]

After completing a year and half as

general elections.[213][214][215] In February 2024, Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies became the largest group with 93 seats in general elections. However, PTI was forced to name its candidates as independents.[216] In March 2024, the parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister for a second term. He formed a coalition between his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The PTI remained in opposition.[217]

See also

References

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  7. .
  8. . This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.
  9. ^ Ahmed, Ishtiaq (27 May 2016). "The dissenters". The Friday Times. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2020. However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People's Party in 1934, which later came to be known as 'Ittehad' or 'Unity Party'. ...Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League's demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a 'majority of India's Muslims'. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations ... Shamsul Islam argues that the All-India Muslim League at times used intimidation and coercion to silence any opposition among Muslims to its demand for Partition. He calls such tactics of the Muslim League as a 'Reign of Terror'. He gives examples from all over India including the NWFP where the Khudai Khidmatgars remain opposed to the Partition of India.
  10. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. Believing that Islam was a universal religion, the Deobandi advocated a notion of a composite nationalism according to which Hindus and Muslims constituted one nation.
  11. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. Madani ... stressed the difference between qaum, meaning a nation, hence a territorial concept, and millat, meaning an Ummah and thus a religious concept.
  12. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. Madani makes a crucial distinction between qaum and millat. According to him, qaum connotes a territorial multi-religious entity, while millat refers to the cultural, social and religious unity of Muslims exclusively.
  13. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2017. Besides, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, along with his pupils and disciples, lent his entire support to the demand of Pakistan.
  14. ^ a b "'What's wrong with Pakistan?'". Dawn. 13 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017. However, the fundamentalist dimension in Pakistan movement developed more strongly when the Sunni Ulema and pirs were mobilised to prove that the Muslim masses wanted a Muslim/Islamic state ... Even the Grand Mufti of Deoband, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, issued a fatwa in support of the Muslim League's demand.
  15. Barelvis were supporters of the Pakistan Movement and played a supporting role in its final phase (1940-7), mostly under the banner of the All-India Sunni Conference
    which had been founded in 1925.
  16. . The latter two organisations were offshoots of the pre-independence Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Hind and were comprised mainly of Deobandi Muslims (Deoband was the site for the Indian Academy of Theology and Islamic Jurisprudence). The Deobandis had supported the Congress Party prior to partition in the effort to terminate British rule in India. Deobandis also were prominent in the Khilafat movement of the 1920s, a movement Jinnah had publicly opposed. The Muslim League, therefore, had difficulty in recruiting ulema in the cause of Pakistan, and Jinnah and other League politicians were largely inclined to leave the religious teachers to their tasks in administering to the spiritual life of Indian Muslims. If the League touched any of the ulema it was the Barelvis, but they too never supported the Muslim League, let alone the latter's call to represent all Indian Muslims.
  17. ISBN 978-8131725047. During the 1946 election, Barelvi Ulama issued fatwas in favour of the Muslim League.[permanent dead link
    ]
  18. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. For example, the Barelvi ulama supported the formation of the state of Pakistan and thought that any alliance with Hindus (such as that between the Indian National Congress and the Jamiat ulama-I-Hind [JUH]) was counterproductive.
  19. . Despite their different viewpoints all these theories have tended either to concentrate on the All-India struggle between the Muslim League and the Congress in the pre-partition period, or to turn their interest to the Muslim cultural heartland of the UP where the League gained its earliest foothold and where the demand for Pakistan was strongest.
  20. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2017. Within the subcontinent, ML propaganda claimed that besides liberating the majority province Muslims it would guarantee protection for Muslims who would be left behind in Hindu India. In this regard, it repeatedly stressed the hostage population theory that held that "hostage" Hindu and Sikh minorities inside Pakistan would guarantee Hindu India's good behaviour towards its own Muslim minority.
  21. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2017. At the all-India level, the demand for Pakistan pitted the League against the Congress and the British.
  22. .
  23. . "The idea of Pakistan may have had its share of ambiguities, but its dismissal as a vague emotive symbol hardly illuminates the reasons as to why it received such overwhelmingly popular support among Indian Muslims, especially those in the 'minority provinces' of British India such as U.P."
  24. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2017. In the elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 90 percent of the legislative seats reserved for Muslims. It was the power of the big zamindars in Punjab and Sindh behind the Muslim League candidates, and the powerful campaign among the poor peasants of Bengal on economic issues of rural indebtedness and zamindari abolition, that led to this massive landslide victory (Alavi 2002, 14). Even Congress, which had always denied the League's claim to be the only true representative of Indian Muslims had to concede the truth of that claim. The 1946 election was, in effect, a plebiscite among Muslims on Pakistan.
  25. ISBN 978-0230356986. The 1946 election was, in effect, a plebiscite among Muslims on Pakistan and a mighty success for the League, which won 90 per cent of the Muslim seats.[permanent dead link
    ]
  26. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2017. His standing with the British remained high, however, for even though they no more agreed with the idea of a separate Muslim state than the Congress did, government officials appreciated the simplicity of a single negotiating voice for all of India's Muslims.
  27. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2017. By this scheme, the British hoped they could at once preserve the united India desired by the Congress, and by themselves, and at the same time, through the groups, secure the essence of Jinnah's demand for a 'Pakistan'.
  28. from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  29. , The signs of 'ethnic cleansing' are first evident evident in the Great Calcutta Killing of 16–19 August 1946. Over 100,000 people were made homeless. They were also present in the wave of violence that rippled out from Calcutta to Bihar, where there were high Muslim casualty figures, and to Noakhali deep in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta of Bengal. Concerning the Noakhali riots, one British officer spoke of a 'determined and organized' Muslim effort to drive out all the Hindus, who accounted for around a fifth of the total population. Similarly, the Punjab counterparts to this transition of violence were the Rawalpindi massacres of March 1947. The level of death and destruction in such West Punjab villages as Thoa Khalsa was such that communities couldn't live together in its wake.
  30. ..
  31. from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018. These instructions were to avoid partition and obtain an unitary government for British India and the Indian States and at the same time observe the pledges to the princes and the Muslims; to secure agreement to the Cabinet Mission plan without coercing any of the parties; somehow to keep the Indian army undivided, and to retain India within the Commonwealth. (Attlee to Mountbatten, 18 March 1947, ibid, 972-4)
  32. from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018. When Mountbatten arrived, it was not wholly inconceivable that a settlement on the Cabinet Mission's terms might still be secured...Limited bloodshed called for an united Indian army under effective control. But keeping the army intact was now inextricably linked with keeping India united. This is why Mountbatten started off by being vehemently opposed to 'abolishing the center'.
  33. . Mountbatten had intended to resurrect the Cabinet Mission proposals for a federal India. British officials were unanimously pessimistic about a Pakistan state's future economic prospects. The agreement to an Indian Union contained in the Cabinet Mission proposals had been initially accepted by the Muslim League as the grouping proposals gave considerable autonomy in the Muslim majority areas. Moreover, there was the possibility of withdrawal and thus acquiring Pakistan by the backdoor after a ten year interval. The worsening communal situation and extensive soundings with Indian political figures convinced Mountbatten within a month of his arrival that partition was, however, the only way to secure a speedy and smooth transfer of power.
  34. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2018. Undivided India, their magnificent imperial trophy, was besmirched by the creation of Pakistan, and the division of India was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, Mountbatten among them.
  35. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. Mountbatten's partiality was apparent in his own statements. He tilted openly and heavily towards Congress. While doing so he clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League and its Pakistan idea.
  36. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan if he had known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, his answer was instructive. There was no doubt in his mind about the legality or morality of his position on Pakistan. 'Most probably,' he said (1982:39).
  37. .
  38. .
  39. .
  40. from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018. In particular, Mountbatten put pressure on the supposedly neutral Boundary Commissioner, Sir Cyril Radcliffe-cruelly mocked at the time by W.H.Auden- to make critical adjustments in India's favour when drawing the frontier through the Punjab.
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  43. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2018. Second, it was feared that if an exchange of populations was agreed to in principle in the Punjab, ' there was likelihood of trouble breaking out in other parts of the subcontinent with a view to forcing Muslims in the Indian Dominion to move to Pakistan. If that happened we would find ourselves with inadequate land and other resources to support the influx.' The Punjab could set a very dangerous precedent for the rest of the subcontinent. Given that Muslims in the rest of India, some 42 million, formed a population larger than the entire population of West Pakistan at the time, economic rationality eschewed such a forced migration. However, in the divided Punjab millions of people were already on the move, and the two governments had to respond to this mass movement. Thus, despite these important reservations, the establishment of the MEO led to an acceptance of a 'transfer of populations' in divided Punjab to, 'to give a sense of security' to ravaged communities on both sides. A statement of the Indian government's position of such a transfer across divided Punjab was made in the legislature by Neogy on November 18, 1947. He stated that although the Indian government's policy was 'to discourage mass migration from one province to another'. Punjab was to be an exception. In the rest of the subcontinent migrations were not to be on a planned basis, but a matter of individual choice. This exceptional character of movements across divided Punjab needs to be emphasized, for the agreed and 'planned evacuations' by the two governments formed the context of those displacements.
  44. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2018. Notwithstanding the accumulated evidence of inter-communal tension, the signatories to the agreement that divided the Raj did not expect the transfer if power and the partition of India to be accompanied by a mass movement of population. Partition was conceived as a means of preventing migration on a large scale, because the borders would be adjusted instead. Minorities need not to be troubled by the new configuration. As Pakistan's first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, affirmed, 'the division of India into Pakistan and India Dominions was based on the principle that minorities will stay where they were and that the two states will afford all protection to them as citizens of the respective states'.
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  52. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. An estimated 12–15 million people were displaced, and some 2 million died. The legacy of Partition (never without a capital P) remains strong today ...
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  55. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. The official estimate of the number of abducted women during Partition was placed at 33,000 non-Muslim (Hindu or Sikh predominantly) women in Pakistan, and 50,000 Muslim women in India.
  56. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. The horrific statistics that surround women refugees-between 75,000–100,000 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women who were abducted by men of the other communities, subjected to multiple rapes, mutilations, and, for some, forced marriages and conversions-is matched by the treatment of the abducted women in the hands of the nation-state. In the Constituent Assembly in 1949 it was recorded that of the 50,000 Muslim women abducted in India, 8,000 of then were recovered, and of the 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women abducted, 12,000 were recovered.
  57. from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020. In addition thousands of women on both sides of the newly formed borders (estimated range from 29,000 to 50,000 Muslim women and 15,000 to 35,000 Hindu and Sikh women) were abducted, raped, forced to convert, forced into marriage, forced back into what the two States defined as 'their proper homes,' torn apart from their families once during partition by those who abducted them, and again, after partition, by the State which tried to 'recover' and 'rehabilitate' them.
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