Pakistan_ A Hard Country - Anatol Lieven [295]
1969 Ayub Khan resigns in the face of growing public protests against his rule, and is succeeded by the army chief of staff, General Muhammad Yahya Khan.
1969 – 71 Growth of agitation for de facto independence of East Pakistan.
1970 National elections lead to the victory of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman’s pro-independence Awami League in East Pakistan (with a majority in Pakistan overall) and of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party in West Pakistan.
March 1971 Pakistan army begins a savage campaign against the separatist movement in East Pakistan. Civil war begins. Millions of refugees flee to India.
December 1971 ‘Bangladesh War’. India invades East Pakistan, and defeats and captures the Pakistani forces there. East Pakistan becomes independent as Bangladesh. Resignation of Yahya Khan.
1971 – 7 Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan People’s Party. The government carries out limited land reform and a more radical nationalization of banks and industries. The dismissal of the provincial government of Balochistan leads to a Baloch revolt which is suppressed by the army. Bhutto distances Pakistan from the United States and moves closer to China.
1977 Allegations of the rigging of elections by the government lead to a mass movement against Bhutto’s rule.
July 1977 The army chief of staff, General Zia-ul-Haq, carries out military coup.
1977 – 88 Administration of Zia-ul-Haq. His government greatly extends Bhutto’s moves to make Pakistan an Islamic state. The role of the Shariah in the legal system is strengthened. Partial reversal of Bhutto’s populist economic measures.
April 1979 Bhutto hanged after being convicted of responsibility for the murder of a political opponent (charges which are fiercely contested by Bhutto’s supporters). His daughter Benazir succeeds to leadership of PPP.
December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States extends massive aid to Pakistan as a bulwark against supposed Soviet expansionism. Together with Saudi Arabia and other states, the US and Pakistan build up the Afghan Mujahidin forces to fight against the Soviet troops and Afghan Communist government. First beginnings of the Taleban in southern Afghanistan. Some 3 million Afghan refugees flee to Pakistan.
1981 Violent protests in Sindh against Zia’s rule are suppressed by the military, leaving around 1,500 dead.
1984 Foundation of the Muhajir Qaumi Movement to represent Urdu-speaking migrants from India in Karachi and other cities of Sindh.
1985 Ethnic riots in Karachi begin years of ethnic violence in that city.
1988 Protests against rigged elections in Indian Kashmir are bloodily suppressed by Indian troops, leading to a long-running insurgency in which tens of thousands are killed. Pakistan supports the insurgents with arms and volunteers from Islamist militant groups.
August 1988 General Zia and leading staff killed in an air crash, generally presumed to be sabotage. The military and civil service manage a ‘transition to democracy’.
November 1988 The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) under Benazir Bhutto wins national elections and forms a coalition government. The IJI (Islami Jamhoori Ittehad) coalition, led by the Muslim League headed by Mian Nawaz Sharif, wins the provincial elections in Punjab and forms the government there.
January 1989 Soviet forces withdraw from Afghanistan. In March, a Mujahidin attempt to defeat the Communist forces there suffers a bloody setback at Jalalabad.
April 1989 Riots against the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses leave five dead in Islamabad.
1990 The US imposes economic sanctions against Pakistan after it fails to show that it is not conducting a nuclear weapons programme. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses the PPP government on charges of corruption and incompetence. Caretaker administration. The Muslim League wins the subsequent national elections and forms a coalition government.
1991 – 3 First government of Nawaz Sharif begins liberalization of the economy. A military campaign launched in Karachi to bring ethnic conflict