From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of South Asia
Stone Age	before 3300 BCE
Mature Harappan	2600–1700 BCE
Late Harappan	1700–1300 BCE
Iron Age	1200–300 BCE
Maurya Empire	• 321–184 BCE
Middle Kingdoms	230 BCE–1279 CE
Gupta Empire	•280–550
Islamic Sultanates	1206–1596
Mughal Empire	1526–1707
Maratha Empire	1674-1818
Sikh Confederacy	1716-1849
British India	1858–1947
Modern States	1947 onwards
Timeline
This box: view • talk • edit

The history of Pakistan is a part of the histories of Afghanistan, India, and Iran and traces back to the earliest known human settlements in South Asia.^[1][2] Spanning the western expanse of the Indian subcontinent and the eastern borderlands of the Iranian plateau, the region of modern Pakistan was the birthplace of some of South Asia's major civilizations and the subcontinent's gateway to the Middle East and Central Asia.^[3]

Important archaeological sites include the palaeolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley.^[4] Situated on the first coastal migration route of Homo sapiens out of Africa, the region was inhabited early by modern humans.^[5] Village life in South Asia began with the neolithic site of Mehrgarh,^[6] while the first urban civilization was the Indus Valley Civilization, with major sites at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.^[7]

In the following millennia, the region absorbed many influences — including the Vedic-Buddhist site of Taxila, the Greco-Buddhist site of Takht-i-Bahi, the 14th-century Islamic-Sindhi monuments of Thatta, and the 17th-century Mughal monuments of Lahore. From the late 18th century, the region was gradually appropriated by the British East India Company — resulting in 90 years of direct British rule, and ending with independence in 1947, through the efforts of, among others, Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Since then, Pakistan has experienced both civilian and military rule, and experienced significant economic and military growth but there have been periods of instability, such as the secession of East Pakistan in 1971 as the new nation of Bangladesh.

Contents 1 Neolithic and Bronze age 2 Persian and Greek age 3 Later dynasties 4 The early Muslim period 5 The early modern period 6 Colonial era 7 Pakistan movement 8 Independence 9 First military era (1958-1971) 10 Second democratic era (1971-1977) 11 Second military era (1977-1988) 12 Third democratic era (1988-1999) 13 Third military era (1999-onwards) 14 References 15 Further reading 16 See also 17 External links

Neolithic and Bronze age

Main articles: Mehrgarh, Indus Valley Civilization, and Vedic period

Mehrgarh, (7000-3200 BCE) is an important Neolithic site on the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, and is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia.^[8] Mehrgarh was discovered in 1974 by the archaeological team of Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh — in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.0 km²) site — was a small farming village dated 7000-5500 BCE. Early Mehrgarh residents lived in mud brick houses, stored their grain in granaries, fashioned tools with local copper ore, and lined their large basket containers with bitumen. They cultivated six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. Later residents (5500-2600 BCE) put much effort into crafts, including flint knapping, tanning, bead production, and metal working. The site was occupied continuously until about 2600 BCE.^[9] Between 2600 and 2000 BCE, climatic changes caused Balochistan to became more arid causing Mehrgarh to be abandoned as the inhabitants migrated to the fertile Indus valley.^[10] Since the Indus Valley Civilisation was the early stages of development, Mehrgarh is regarded one of it's precursors.^[11] In April 2006, "eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults" were discovered in Mehrgarh, providing the oldest evidence for the drilling of teeth in vivo (in a living person).^[12]

The Indus Valley civilization developed between 3300-1700 BCE on the banks of the Indus River and covered large areas of present-day Pakistan and India. The major urban centers were at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Ganweriwala, Lothal, and Rakhigarhi with more than a thousand settlements spread as far as the Arabian Sea coast of India, southeastern Iran and the Himalaya mountains. At its peak, there may have been more than five million people in India.^[13] The Kulli culture (2500 - 2000 BCE) of southern Balochistan may have been an offshoot of the Indus Valley civilisation because it had similar settlements, pottery and other artifacts. The Indus Valley civilisation has been tentatively identified as proto-Dravidian, but this cannot be confirmed until the Indus Valley script has not been definitively deciphered.^[14] The Indus Valley civilization collapsed abruptly around 1700 BCE, possibly due to a cataclysmic earthquake or the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River.

In the early part of the second millennium BCE, Indo-European tribes from Central Asia or the southern Russian steppes migrated into the region,^[15] and settled in the Sapta Sindhu area between the Kabul River and the Upper Ganges-Yamuna Doab.^[16] The resulting Vedic culture lasted until the middle of the first millennium BCE when there were marked linguistic, cultural and political changes.^[17] During the Vedic culture, the hymns of the Rigveda were composed and the foundations of Hinduism were laid. Although limited archaeological and epigraphic evidence of the migration exists in South Asia, similar migrations of Indo-European peoples were recorded in other regions. The city of Taxila, in present-day northern Pakistan, became important in Hinduism (and later in Buddhism). According to tradition, the Mahabharata epic was first recited at Taxila at the snake sacrifice of King Janamejaya, one of the heroes of the story.^[18]

Persian and Greek age

Main articles: Greek conquests in India, Maurya Empire, Greco-Buddhism, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and Indo-Greek kingdom

The Indus plains were ruled as a satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire for almost two centuries from the reign of Darius the Great (522-485 BCE). According to Herodotus, it was the most populous and richest satrapy of the empire.^[19] It was during the Persian rule that the name "India" was coined. The Achaemenids used the Aramaic script for the Persian language, but after the end of Achaemenid rule, the use of Aramaic script in the Indus plain gradually diminished in favour of other scripts, such as Kharoṣṭhī (a script derived from Aramaic) and Greek which became more common after the arrival of the Macedonians and Greeks. The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism began when Alexander the Great overthrew the Achaemenid empire in 334 BCE, defeating Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes (near modern Jhelum). After conquering much of the Punjab region, Alexander's troops refused to advance any further into India^[20] so Alexander turned southwest and travelled along the Indus valley.^[21] Along the way he engaged in several battles and founded several new Macedonian/Greek settlements in Gandhara and Punjab, before marching his army westward across the Makran desert towards modern Iran.

During Alexander's time on the Indus plain, he found an ally in Chandragupta Maurya, who went on to found the Mauryan dynasty that lasted about 180 years. He raised his own military force and overthrew the Nanda Dynasty in Magadha using Macedonian tactics.^[22] Alexander's Diadochi (generals) divided his empire after his death in 323 BCE, with Seleucus setting up the Seleucid Kingdom, which included the Indus plain.^[23] Chandragupta Maurya took advantage of the fragmentation of power and captured the Punjab and Gandhara.^[24] Later, the eastern part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (third–second century BCE). Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka the Great, (273-232 BCE) expanded the Mauryan empire to it's greatest extent covering most of South Asia. He converted to Buddhism after feeling remorse for his bloody conquest of the kingdom of Kalinga in Orissa. His Edicts were written on pillars in Aramaic (the lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire) or in Kharoṣṭhī.^[25]

Greco-Buddhism (or Græco-Buddhism) was the syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism in the area of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the fourth century BCE and the fifth century CE.^[26] Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it spread central and eastern Asia from the 1st century CE. Demetrius (the son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus) invaded northern India in 180 BCE as far as Pataliputra and established an Indo-Greek kingdom that lasted nearly two centuries. To the south, the Greeks captured Sindh and nearby coastal areas. The invasion was completed by 175 BCE, and the Sungas were confined to the east, although the Indo-Greeks lost some territory in the Gangetic plain. Meanwhile in Bactria, the usurper Eucratides killed Demetrius in battle.

The Indo-Greek Menander I (reigned 155-130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out of Gandhara and beyond the Hindu Kush, becoming king shortly after his victory. His territories covered the eastern dominions of the divided Greek empire of Bactria (Panjshir and Kapisa) and extended to the Punjab region, with many tributaries to the south and east, possibly as far as Mathura. The capital Sagala (modern Sialkot) prospered greatly under Menander's rule. Menander is one of the few Bactrian kings mentioned by Greek authors, among them Apollodorus of Artemita, who claimed that he was an even greater conqueror than Alexander the Great. Strabo says Menander was one of the two Bactrian kings who extended their power farthest into South Asia.^[27] The Milinda Pañha, a classical Buddhist text, praises Menander, saying that "there was found none equal to Milinda in all India."^[28] Menander's empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king, Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the Yuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River. Various petty kings ruled into the early first century CE, until the conquests by the Scythians, Parthians and the Yuezhi, who founded the Kushan dynasty. The last known Indo-Greek ruler was Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a signet ring of the 1st century CE, bearing the Kharoshthi inscription "Su Theodamasa" ("Su" was the Greek transliteration of the Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah" or "King")).

Later dynasties

Main articles: Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthian Kingdom, Kushan Empire, Indo-Sassanids, and Gupta Empire

The Indo-Scythians were a local dynasty descended from the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated from southern Siberia into ancient Bactria, Sogdiana, Kashmir and finally into Arachosia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara in Pakistan to Mathura in India. Scythian tribes disseminated further east into northwestern India and throughout the Iranian plateau in the west.

The Parni were a Central Asian nomadic Iranian tribe who defeated and supplanted the Seleucid rulers of Iran and later annexed all of what is today Pakistan. Following the decline of the central Parthian authority in Iran following clashes with the Roman Empire, a local Indo-Parthian Kingdom was established during the 1st century CE, by a Parthian leader named Gondophares. The kingdom was ruled from Taxila and covered much of modern southeast Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.^[29]

The Kushan kingdom was founded by King Heraios, and greatly expanded by his successor, Kujula Kadphises. Kadphises' son Vima Takto conquered territory now in India, but lost much of the western parts of the kingdom, including Gandhara, to the Parthian king Gondophares. The fourth Kushan emperor, Kanishka I, (circa 127 CE) ruled from from a winter capital at Purushapura (now Peshawar) and a summer capital at Kapisa (now Bagram). The kingdom linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilised Indus valley. At the height of the dynasty, the territory extended from the Aral Sea through modern Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan into northern India. The loose unity and comparative peace encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created flourishing urban centers. Kanishka convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir, which marked the official beginning of the pantheistic Mahayana Buddhism and its scission with Nikaya Buddhism.

The art and culture of Gandhara are the best known expressions of the interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures, which continued over several centuries until the fifth century CE invasions of the White Huns (Indo-Hephthalites), and later the expansion of Islam. During the remaining centuries before the coming of Islam in 711, the White Huns, Indo-Parthians, and Kushans shared control of the Indus plain while the Sassanid Persian empire dominated much of western and southern Pakistan.

The Gupta Empire arose in northern India around the second century CE and much of what is today Sindh made up the northwesternmost province of the empire. The era of the Guptas was marked by a local Hindu revival, although Buddhism continued to flourish.

The Sassanid Empire, who were close contemporaries of the Guptas, began to expand into Pakistan, where they established their rule. The mingling of Indian and Persian cultures in this region gave birth to the Indo-Sassanid culture, which flourished in Balochistan and western Punjab. The last western Buddhist Hindu dynasty, the Shahis, may have been influenced by this culture.

The early Muslim period

Main articles: Muslim conquests, Ghaznavid Empire, Muhammad Ghori, and Delhi Sultanate

In 712 CE, a Syrian Muslim chieftain named Muhammad bin Qasim conquered most of the Indus region for the Umayyad empire, but the instability of the empire resulted in effective control only over Sind and southern Punjab. The capital of the administrative province of "As-Sindh" was at Al-Mansurah, 72 km north of modern Hyderabad. There was gradual conversion to Islam in the south, especially amongst the native Buddhist majority, but in areas north of Multan, Buddhists, Hindus and other non-Muslim groups remained numerous.^[30] In 997 CE Mahmud of Ghazni conquered the bulk of Khorasan and in 1005 marched on Peshawar, followed by the conquest of Punjab in 1007, Balochistan in 1011, Kashmir in 1015 and Qanoch in 1017. By the end of his reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to the Yamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187. Contemporary historians such as Abolfazl Beyhaqi and Ferdowsi described extensive building work in Lahore, as well as Mahmud's support of literature and the arts.

In 1160, the Muhammad Ghori conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids, and in 1173 Muhammad became governor of Ghazni. He raided eastwards into the remaining Ghaznavid territory, and invaded Gujarat in the 1180s, but was rebuffed by Gujarat's Solanki rulers. In 1186-7 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznavid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control. Muhammad returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Rajput Ghakkar tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Ghakkar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206. Muhammad's successors established the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, while the Mamluk Dynasty (mamluk means "slave" and referred to the Turkic slave soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world) in 1211 seized the imperial throne. Several Turko-Afghan dynasties ruled from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211-90), the Khalji (1290-1320), the Tughlaq (1320-1413), the Sayyid (1414-51), and the Lodhi (1451-1526). Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi in the Deccan and in Gujarat, Malwa (central India), and Bengal, almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate.

The sultans of Delhi enjoyed cordial relations with Muslim rulers in the Near East but owed them no allegiance. The sultans ruled from urban centers--while military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei for towns that sprang up in the countryside. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the sultanate was its temporary success in insulating the South Asia from the potential devastation of the Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the thirteenth century, which nonetheless led to the loss of Afghanistan and western Pakistan to the Mongols (see the Ilkhanate Dynasty). The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion left lasting monuments in architecture, music, literature, and religion. In addition it is surmised that the language of Urdu (literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various Turkic dialects) was born during the Delhi Sultanate period as a result of the mingling of Sanskritic prakrits and the Persian, Turkish, Arabic.

The early modern period

Main articles: Mughal Empire, Durrani Empire, and Sikh Confederacy

From the 16th to the 19th century CE the formidable Mughal empire covered much of South Asia and played a major role in the economic and cultural development of the region. The empire was one of the three major Islamic states of its day and sometimes contested its northwestern holdings such as Qandahar against the Uzbeks and the Safavid Persians. The Mughals were descended from Persianized Central Asian Turks (with significant Mongol admixture). The third emperor, Akbar the Great, was both a capable ruler and an early proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance and favored an early form of multiculturalism. For a short time in the late 16th century, Lahore was the capital of the empire. The architectural legacy of the Mughals in Lahore includes the Shalimar Gardens built by the fifth emperor, Shahjahan, and the Badshahi Mosque by the sixth emperor, Aurangzeb.

In 1739, the Persian emperor Nader Shah invaded India, defeated the Mughal Emperor Mohammed Shah, and occupied most of Balochistan and the Indus plain. After Nadir Shah's death, the kingdom of Afghanistan was established in 1747, by one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Abdali and included Kashmir, Peshawar, Daman, Multan, Sind and Punjab. In the south, a succession of autonomous dynasties (the Daudpotas, Kalhoras and Talpurs) had asserted the independence of Sind, from the end of Aurangzeb's reign. Most of Balochistan came under the influence of the Khan of Kalat, apart from some coastal areas such as Gwadar which were ruled by the Sultan of Oman. The Sikh Confederacy (1748-1799) was a group of small states in the Punjab which emerged in a political vacuum created by rivalry between the Mughals, Afghans and Persians.^[31] The Confederacy drove out the Mughals, repelled several Afghan invasions and in 1764 captured Lahore. However after the retreat of Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Confederacy suffered instability as disputes and rivalries emerged.^[32] The Sikh empire (1799-1849) was formed on the foundations of the Confederacy by Ranjit Singh who proclaimed himself "Sarkar-i-Wala", and was referred to as the Maharaja of Lahore.^[31] His empire eventually extended as far west as the Khyber Pass and as far south as Multan. Amongst his conquests were Kashmir in 1819 and Peshawar in 1834, although the Afghans made two attempts to recover Peshawar. After the Maharaja's death the empire was weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. The British annexed the Sikh empire in 1849 after two Anglo-Sikh wars.^[33]

Colonial era

Main articles: Anglo-Afghan wars, British Raj, and History of Balochistan

During the middle of the second millennium, several European countries, such as Great Britain, Portugal, Holland and France were initially interested in trade with South Asian rulers including the Mughals and leaders of other independent Kingdoms. The Europeans took advantage of the fractured kingdoms and the divided rule to colonize the country. Most of India came under the crown of the British Empire after a failed insurrection in 1857, in the name of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, against the British East India Company.

The Anglo-Afghan wars took place in 1839, 1842 and 1878 and resulted in the eventual loss of Pashtun/Afghan territory to the expanding British Indian empire. Following the 2nd Anglo-Afghan war, a tenuous peace resulted between Afghanistan and the British empire based in India. For Afghan ruler Abdur Rahman Khan, delineating the boundary with India (through the Pashtun area) was far more significant, and it was during his reign that the Durand Line was drawn. Under pressure, Abdur Rahman agreed in 1893 to accept a mission headed by the British Indian foreign secretary, Sir Mortimer Durand, to define the limits of British and Afghan control in the Pashtun territories. Boundary limits were agreed on by Durand and Abdur Rahman before the end of 1893, but there is some question about the degree to which Abdur Rahman willingly ceded certain regions. There were indications that he regarded the Durand Line as a delimitation of separate areas of political responsibility, not a permanent international frontier, and that he did not explicitly cede control over certain parts (such as Kurram and Chitral) that were already in British control under the Treaty of Gandamak.

The Durand Line cut through both tribes and villages and bore little relation to the realities of topography, demography, or even military strategy. The line laid the foundation, not for peace between the border regions, but for heated disagreement between the governments of Afghanistan and British India, and later, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The issue revolves around the Pashtun nationalist movement known as Pashtunistan.

During much of the 19th century, the British and Russian Empires engaged in what came to be known as the Great Game as both sides intrigued over Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Often arming local Pashtun and Tajik tribesmen, both sides sought to undermine the other, while the rulers of Afghanistan were able to maintain some measure of independence in-spite of the loss of territories to the east to British India.

Pakistan movement

Main articles: Muslim League, Pakistan Movement, and Lahore Resolution

The concept of an independent Muslim nation emerged from the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In 1885, the Indian National Congress was founded to promote a nationalist cause.^[34] Although the Congress attempted to include the Muslim community in the independence struggle and some Muslims were very active in the Congress, the majority of Muslim leaders did not trust the party, viewing it as a "Hindu-dominated" organization.^[35] Some Muslims felt that an independent united India would inevitably be "ruled by Hindus", and that there was a need to address the issue of the Muslim identity within India. Thus in 1877, Syed Ameer Ali formed the Central National Muhammadan Association to work towards the political advancement of the Muslims, but the organisation declined towards the end of the nineteenth century. A turning point came in 1900 when the British administration in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), acceded to Hindu demands and made Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, the official language. The Muslims feared that the Hindu majority would seek to suppress Muslim culture and religion in an independent India. The All-India Muslim League was founded on December 30th, 1906, on the sidelines of the annual All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in Shahbagh, Dhaka.^[36] The meeting was attended by three thousand delegates and presided over by Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk. The resolution was moved by Nawab Salimullah which was seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. Nawab Viqar-ul-Milk declared:

The musalmans are only a fifth in number as compared with the total population of the country, and it is manifest that if at any remote period the British government ceases to exist in India, then the rule of India would pass into the hands of that community which is nearly four times as large as ourselves …our life, our property, our honour, and our faith will all be in great danger, when even now that a powerful British administration is protecting its subjects, we the Musalmans have to face most serious difficulties in safe-guarding our interests from the grasping hands of our neighbors.^[37]

The constitution and principles of the League were contained in the "Green Book", written by Maulana Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include establishing an independent Muslim state, but rather concentrated on protecting Muslim liberties and rights, promoting understanding between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating the Muslim and Indian community at large on the actions of the government, and discouraging violence. However, several factors over the next thirty years including sectarian violence led to a re-evaluation of the League's aims.^[38][39] Among those Muslims in the Congress who did not initially join the League was Muhammed Ali Jinnah, a prominent Bombay lawyer. This was because the first article of the League's platform was "To promote among the Mussalmans (Muslims) of India, feelings of loyalty to the British Government". Jinnah did not join the League until 1913, when it changed its platform to one of Indian independence as a reaction against the British decision to reverse the 1905 Partition of Bengal, which the League regarded as a betrayal of the Bengali Muslims.^[40] At this stage Jinnah believed in Muslim-Hindu co-operation to achieve an independent, united India, although he argued that Muslims should be guaranteed one-third of the seats in any Indian Parliament.

The League gradually became the leading representative body of Indian Muslims. Jinnah became its president in 1916, and negotiated the Lucknow Pact with the Congress leader, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by which Congress conceded the principle of separate electorates and weighted representation for the Muslim community.^[41] However, Jinnah broke with the Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader, Mohandas Gandhi, launched a Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, which Jinnah disapproved of. Jinnah also became convinced that the Congress would renounce its support for separate electorates for Muslims, which indeed it did in 1928. In 1927 the British proposed a constitution for India as recommended by the Simon Commission, but they failed to reconcile all parties. The British then turned the matter over to the League and the Congress, and in 1928 an All-Parties Congress was convened in Delhi. The attempt failed, but two more conferences were held, and at the Bombay conference in May, it was agreed that a small committee should work on the constitution. The respected Congress leader Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal) headed the committee, which included two Muslims, Syed Ali Imam and Shoaib Quereshi. The League, however, rejected the proposal (the Nehru Report) that the committee returned, arguing that it gave too little representation (one quarter) to Muslims – the League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature. Jinnah reported a "parting of the ways" after reading the report, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.

The election in Britain of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government in 1929 fuelled new hopes for progress towards self-government in India. Gandhi traveled to London, claiming to represent all Indians and criticising the League as sectarian and divisive. Round-table talks were held, but these achieved little, since Gandhi and the League were unable reach a compromise. The fall of the Labour government in 1931 ended this period of optimism. By 1930 Jinnah had despaired of Indian politics and particularly of getting mainstream parties like the Congress to be sensitive to minority priorities. A fresh call for a separate state was then made by the writer and philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt that a separate Muslim state was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated South Asia.^[42][43] The name was coined by Cambridge student and Muslim nationalist Choudhary Rahmat Ali,^[44] and was published on January 28, 1933 in the pamphlet Now or Never.^[45] He saw it as an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in northwest India — P for Punjab, A for the Afghan areas of the region, K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and tan for Balochistan, thus forming "Pakstan".^[46] An i was later added to the English rendition of the name to ease pronunciation, producing "Pakistan". In Urdu and Persian the name encapsulates the concept of "pak" ("pure") and "stan" ("land") and hence a "Pure Land". In the 1935, the British administration proposed to hand over substantial power to elected Indian provincial legislatures, with elections to be held in 1937. After the elections the League took office in Bengal and Punjab, but the Congress won office in most of the other provinces, and refused to share power with the League in provinces with large Muslim minorities.

In 1940, Jinnah called a general session of the Muslim League in Lahore to discuss the situation that had arisen due to the outbreak of the Second World War and the Government of India joining the war without consulting Indian leaders. The meeting was also aimed at analyzing the reasons that led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general election of 1937 in the Muslim majority provinces. In his speech, Jinnah criticized the Indian National Congress and the nationalist Muslims, and espoused the Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for separate Muslim homelands.^[47] Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of the Punjab, drafted the original resolution, but disavowed the final version,^[48] which followed endless redrafting by the Subject Committee of the Muslim League. The final text unambiguously rejected the concept of a United India because of increasing inter-communal violence^[49] and recommended the creation of an independent Muslim state.^[50] The resolution was moved in the general session by Shere-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, the Chief Minister of Bengal, supported by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and other Muslim leaders and was adopted on 23 March 1940.^[51] The Resolution read as follows:

No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign ... That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities, with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in a minority.^[52]

In 1941 it became part of the Muslim League's constitution.^[53] However, in early 1941, Sikandar explained to the Punjab Assembly that he did not support the final version of the resolution.^[54] The sudden death of Sikandar in 1942 paved the way over the next few years for Jinnah to emerge as the recognised leader of the Indian Muslims.^[40] In 1943, the Sind Assembly passed a resolution demanding the establishment of a Muslim homeland.^[55] Talks between Jinnah and Gandhi in 1944 in Bombay failed to achieve agreement and there were no more attempts to reach a single-state solution.

With the election of another Labour government in Britain in 1945 and seeing independence within reach, Gandhi and Nehru were adamantly opposed to dividing India. They knew that the Hindus, who saw India as one indivisible entity, would never agree to such a thing.^[40] In the Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, the League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (and about 89.2% of Muslim votes) on a policy of creating an independent state of Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was not granted.^[40] By 1946 the British had neither the will, nor the financial or military power, to hold India any longer. Political deadlock ensued in the Constituent Assembly, and the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, sent a Cabinet Mission to India to mediate the situation. When the talks broke down, Attlee appointed Louis Mountbatten as India's last Viceroy, to negotiate the partition of India and immediate British withdrawal. Mountbatten told Gandhi and Nehru that if they did not accept partition there would be civil war.^[40] The "Independence of India Act 1947" provided for the two dominions of Pakistan and India to become independent on the 14th and 15th of August 1947.

Independence

Main article: Partition of India

On the 14th and 15th of August, 1947, British India was partitioned into the new independent Dominions of Pakistan and India respectively, with both dominions joining the British Commonwealth. Partition left Punjab and Bengal, two of the biggest provinces, divided between India and Pakistan. In the early days of independence, more than two million people migrated across the new border and more than one hundred thousand died in a spate of communal violence. The partition also resulted in tensions over Kashmir leading to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The post-independence political history of Pakistan has been characterised by several periods of authoritarian military rule and continuing territorial disputes with India over the status of Kashmir, and with Afghanistan over the Pashtunistan issue.

In 1948, Jinnah declared in Dhaka that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. This sparked protests in East Bengal (later East Pakistan), where Bengali was spoken by most of the population. The Bengali Language Movement reached its peak on 21 February 1952, when police and soldiers opened fired near the Dhaka Medical College on students protesting for Bengali to receive equal status with Urdu. Several protesters were killed, and the movement gained further support throughout East Pakistan. Later, the Government agreed to provide equal status to Bengali as a state language of Pakistan, a right later codified in the 1956 constitution.

In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted, killing scores of Ahmadi Muslims and destroying their properties.^[56] The riots were investigated by a two-member court of inquiry in 1954,^[57] which was criticised by the Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the parties accused of inciting the riots.^[58] This event led to the first instance of martial law in the country and began the inroad of military intervention in the affairs of the country, something that remains to this day.^[59]

First military era (1958-1971)

Main articles: Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, and Bangladesh Liberation War

The Dominion was dissolved on 23 March, 1956 and replaced by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with the last Governor-General, Iskandar Mirza, as the first president.^[60] Just two years later the military took control of the nation.^[61] Field Marshal Ayub Khan became president and began a new system of government called Basic Democracy with a new constitution,^[62] by which an electoral college of 80,000 would select the President. Ayub Khan almost lost the controversial 1965 presidential elections to Fatima Jinnah.^[63] During Ayub's rule, relations with the United States and the West grew stronger. Pakistan joined two formal military alliances — the Baghdad Pact (later known as CENTO) which included Iran, Iraq, and Turkey to defend the Middle East and Persian Gulf against the Soviet Union;^[64] and SEATO which covered South-East Asia.^[65] However, the United States adopted a policy of denying military aid to both India and Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir and the Rann of Kutch.^[66]

Between 1947 and 1971, Pakistan consisted of two geographically separate regions, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. During the 1960s, there was a rise in Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan, and of allegations that economic development and hiring for government jobs favoured West Pakistan. An independence movement in East Pakistan began to gather ground. After a nationwide uprising in 1969, General Ayub Khan stepped down from office, handing power to General Yahya Khan, who promised to hold general elections at the end of 1970. On the eve of the elections, a cyclone struck East Pakistan killing approximately 500,000 people. Despite the tragedy and the additional difficulty experienced by affected citizens in reaching the voting sites, the elections were held and the results showed a clear division between East and West Pakistan. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a majority with 167 of the 169 East Pakistani seats, but with no seats in West Pakistan, where the Pakistan Peoples Party led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won 85 seats. However, Yahya Khan and Bhutto refused to hand over power to Mujibur.

Meanwhile, Mujibur initiated a civil disobedience movement, which was strongly supported by the general population of East Pakistan, including most government workers. A round-table conference between Yahya, Bhutto, and Mujibur was convened in Dhaka, which, however, ended without a solution. Soon thereafter, the West Pakistani Army commenced Operation Searchlight, an organized crackdown on the East Pakistani army, police, politicians, civilians, and students in Dhaka. Mujibur and many other Awami League leaders were arrested, while others fled to neighbouring India. On 27th March 27 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman, a Bengali war-veteran of the East Bengal Regiment of the Pakistan Army, declared the independence of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh on behalf of Mujibur. The crackdown widened and escalated into a guerrilla warfare between the Pakistani Army and the Mukti Bahini (Bengali "freedom fighters").^[67] Although the killing of Bengalis was unsupported by the people of West Pakistan, it continued for 9 months. India supplied the Bengali rebels with arms and training, and, in addition, hosted more than 10 million Bengali refugees who had fled the turmoil.

In March, 1971, India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi expressed sympathy for the East Pakistani independence movement, opening India's borders to refugees and providing other assistance. Following a period of covert and overt intervention by Indian forces, open hostilities broke out between the two countries on December 3, 1971. In East Pakistan, the Pakistani Army led by General A. A. K. Niazi, had already been weakened and exhausted by the Mukti Bahini's guerrilla warfare. Outflanked and overwhelmed, the Pakistani army in the eastern theatre surrendered on December 16, 1971, with nearly 90,000 soldiers taken as prisoners of war. The official figure of the Bengali civilian death toll from the war was reported to be 3 million, although other sources put the number between 1.25 to 1.5 million. The result was the emergence of the new nation of Bangladesh.^[68] Discredited by the defeat, General Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on 20 December, 1971.

Second democratic era (1971-1977)

Civilian rule returned after the war, when General Yahya Khan handed over power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In 1972, Pakistani intelligence learned that India was close to developing a nuclear bomb, and in response, Bhutto formed a group of engineers and scientists, headed by nuclear scientist Abdus Salam — who later won the Nobel Prize for physics — to develop nuclear devices. In 1973, Parliament approved a new constitution. Pakistan was alarmed by the Indian nuclear test of 1974, and Bhutto promised that Pakistan would also have a nuclear device "even if we have to eat grass and leaves." During Bhutto's rule, a serious rebellion also took place in Balochistan province and led to harsh suppression of Baloch rebels with purported assistance from the Shah of Iran lending air support in order to avoid a spilling over the conflict into Iranian Balochistan. The conflict ended after an amnesty and subsequent stabilization by the provincial military ruler Rahimuddin Khan. In 1974, Bhutto succumbed to increasing pressure from religious parties and helped Parliament to declare the Ahmadiyya adherents as non-Muslims. Elections were held in 1977, with the People's Party won but this was challenged by the opposition, which accused Bhutto of rigging the vote. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq took power in a bloodless coup and Bhutto was later executed, after being convicted of authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a controversial 4-3 split decision by the Supreme Court.

Second military era (1977-1988)

Main articles: Baghdad Pact, Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization, and Baloch Insurgency and Rahimuddin's Stabilization

Pakistan had been a US ally for much of the Cold War, from the 1950s and as a member of CENTO and SEATO. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan renewed and deepened the US-Pakistan alliance. The Reagan administration in the United States helped supply and finance an anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, using Pakistan as a conduit. In retaliation, the Afghan secret police, KHAD, carried out a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of illegal weapons and drugs from Afghanistan. In the 1980s, as the front-line state in the anti-Soviet struggle, Pakistan received substantial aid from the United States and took in millions of Afghan (mostly Pashtun) refugees fleeing the Soviet occupation. The influx of so many refugees - the largest refugee population in the world^[69] - had a heavy impact on Pakistan and its effects continue to this day. General Zia's martial-law administration gradually reversed the socialist policies of the previous government, and also introduced strict Islamic law in 1978, often cited as the contributing factor in the present climate of sectarianism and religious fundamentalism in Pakistan. Ordinance XX was introduced to limit the freedom of the Ahmadi's in Pakistan. Secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down violently by the provincial governor, General Rahimuddin Khan.

General Zia lifted Martial Law in 1985, holding non-partisan elections and handpicking Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the new Prime Minister, who rubber-stamped Zia's term as Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his administrative independence grew; for example, Junejo signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly frowned upon. After a large-scale blast at a munitions dump in Ojhri, Junejo vowed to bring those responsible for the significant damage caused to justice, implicating several senior generals. Zia dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988 and called for elections in November 1988. However, General Zia died in a plane crash on August 17 1988, which was later proven to be highly sophisticated sabotage, but nobody was ever brought to trial.

Third democratic era (1988-1999)

Main articles: Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif

From 1988 to 1999, Pakistan was ruled by civilian governments, alternately headed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who were each elected twice and removed from office on charges of corruption. Economic growth declined towards the end of this period, hurt by the Asian financial crisis, and economic sanctions imposed on Pakistan after its first tests of nuclear devices in 1998. The Pakistani testing came shortly after India tested nuclear devices and increased fears of a nuclear arms race in South Asia. The next year, the Kargil Conflict in Kashmir threatened to escalate to a full-scale war.^[70] During the late 1990s, Pakistan was one of three countries which recognized the Taliban government and Mullah Mohammed Omar as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan.^[71] Allegations have been made of Pakistan and other countries providing economic and military aid to the group from 1994 as a part of supporting the anti-Soviet alliance. It is alleged that some post-invasion Taliban fighters were recruits drawn from Pakistan's madrassahs.

In the election that returned Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister in 1997, his party received a heavy majority of the vote, obtaining enough seats in parliament to change the constitution, which Sharif amended to eliminate the formal checks and balances that restrained the Prime Minister's power. Institutional challenges to his authority, led by the civilian President Farooq Leghari, military chief Jehangir Karamat and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah were put down and all three were forced to resign, Shah doing so after the Supreme Court was stormed by Sharif partisans.^[72]

Third military era (1999-onwards)

Main articles: 1999 Pakistani coup d'état and Pervez Musharraf

On 12 October, 1999, Sharif attempted to dismiss army chief Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place, but senior generals refused to accept the decision. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Sharif ordered the Jinnah International Airport to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. In a coup, the generals ousted Sharif's administration and took over the airport.^[73] The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and General Musharraf assumed control of the government. He arrested Sharif and those members of his cabinet who took part in this conspiracy. President Clinton felt that his pressure to force Nawaz Sharif to withdraw Pakistani forces from Kargil in Indian-controlled Kashmir was one of the main reason for Nawaz Sharif's disagreements with the Pakistani army. President Clinton and King Fahd pressured General Musharraf to exile Sharif to Saudi Arabia and guaranteeing he would not be involved in politics for five years. Sharif lived in Saudi Arabia for more than six years before moving to London in 2005.

On May 12, 2000 the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Musharraf to hold general elections by October 12, 2002. In an attempt to legitimize his presidency^[74] and assure its continuance after the impending elections, he held a controversial national referendum on April 30, 2002,^[75] which extended his presidential term to a period ending five years after the October elections.^[76] Musharraf strengthened his position by issuing a Legal Framework Order in August 2001 which established the constitutional basis for his continuance in office.^[77] The general elections were held in October 2002 and the centrist, pro-Musharraf PML-Q won a majority of the seats in Parliament. However, parties opposed to the Legal Framework Order effectively paralyzed the National Assembly for over a year. The deadlock ended in December 2003, when Musharraf and some of his parliamentary opponents agreed upon a compromise, and pro-Musharraf legislators were able to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass the Seventeenth Amendment, which retroactively legitimized Musharraf's 1999 coup and many of his subsequent decrees. In a vote of confidence on 1st January 2004, Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was elected to the office of President.^[78]

While economic reforms undertaken during his regime have yielded some results, social reform programmes appear to have met with resistance. Musharraf's power is threatened by extremists who have grown in strength since the September 11, 2001 attacks and who are particularly angered by Musharraf's close political and military alliance with the United States, including his support of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, and his liberal views on reforming Islam. Musharraf has survived assassination attempts by terrorist groups believed to be part of Al-Qaeda, including at least two instances where the terrorists had inside information from a member of his military security detail. Pakistan continues to be involved in a dispute over Kashmir, with allegations of support of terrorist groups being leveled against Pakistan by India, while Pakistan charges that the Indian government abuses human rights in its use of military force in the region. That both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons makes this dispute a source of special concern for the world community. This led to a nuclear standoff in 2002 when militants (supposedly backed by the ISI) attacked the Indian parliament. In reaction to this and following diplomatic tensions, India and Pakistan deployed 500,000 and 120,000 troops to the border respectively.^[79] While the Indo-Pakistani peace process has since made progress, it is sometimes stalled by infrequent insurgent activity in India (including the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings). Pakistan also has been accused of contributing to nuclear proliferation; indeed, its leading nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted to selling nuclear secrets, though he denies any governmental knowledge of his activities.

The Pakistani government sent thousands of troops into the region of Waziristan in 2002 to hunt for bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives. In March 2004, heavy fighting broke out at Azam Warsak, near the South Waziristan town of Wana, between Pakistani troops and an estimated 400 militants holed up in several fortified settlements. It was speculated that bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was among those trapped by the Pakistani Army. On September 5, 2006 a truce was signed with the militants (who call themselves the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan) in which the rebels were to cease supporting cross-border jihadist attacks on Afghanistan in return for a general ceasefire and a hand-over of border patrol and check-point responsibilities formerly handled by the Pakistan Army.

On September 10, 2007, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to return from exile but was arrested on corruption charges after landing at Islamabad International Airport. Sharif was then put on to a plane bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but outside the airport there were violent confrontations between Sharif's supporters and the police.^[80] This did not deter another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, from returning on October 18, 2007 after an eight year exile in Dubai and London, to prepare for the parliamentary elections to be held in 2008.^[81][82] However, on the same day, two suicide bombers attempted to kill Bhutto as she travelled towards a rally in Karachi. Bhutto escaped unharmed but there were 136 casualties and at least 450 people were injured.^[83]

On November 3, 2007, General Musharraf proclaimed a state of emergency and sacked the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry along with other 14 judges of the Supreme Court.^[84][85] Lawyers launched a protest against this action but they were arrested. All private media channels were banned including foreign channels. Musharraf has declared that the state of emergency would end on December 16, 2007.^[86] On November 28, 2007, General Musharraf retired from the Army and the following day was sworn in for a second presidential term.^[87]

On November 25, 2007, Nawaz Sharif made a second attempt to return from exile, this time accompanied by his brother, the former Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif. Hundreds of their supporters, including a few leaders of the party were detained before the pair arrived at Lahore International Airport.^[88][89] The following day, 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.^[90]

References