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Muslim League
1906 - The Muslim League was founded as a forum for Indian Muslim Separatism. -
Partition of India
August 14 1947 - Pakistan gains independence from India upon the end of the British Colonial Rule. This partition displaced over 14 million people along religious lines, creating overwhelming refugee crises. The partition involved the division of three provinces (Assam, Bengal, and Punjab) based on Hindu or Muslim majorities; Pakistan was predominantly Muslim. -
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Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948 is also known as the First Kashmir War. It was fought between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, this was the first of four Indo-Pakistan Wars fought between the two newly independent nations. -
Muhammad Ali Jinnah dies
September 1948 - Pakistan's founder and first governor-general, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, dies. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's Independence on August 14th 1947; he was a lawyer, politician and the founder of Pakistan. He is also famously known by the name "Quaid-e-Azam" which means "the great leader" in the Urdu language. -
Pakistani Kashmir/Indian Kashmir
January 1 1949 - UN Cease-fire Line established between Pakistani Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir. -
Liaquat Ali Khan Assassination
October 16 1951 - Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated in Rawalpindi. He was shot twice in the chest by professional assassin Said Akbar, the exact motive behind the assassination was never fully revealed. -
East Bengal and West Bengal
August 21 1952 - Pakistan and India agree on the boundary pact between East Bengal and West Bengal. -
K2
July 31 1954 - K2, the world's second highest mountain is conquered by an Italian expedition led by Professor Desio. -
Urdu and Bengali
September 21 1954 - Constituent Assembly unanimously passes the resolution in favor of Urdu and Bengali as National languages of Pakistan. -
PIA
January 1 1955 - Pakistan International Airlines comes into being. -
Islamic Republic
February 21 1956 - Constituent Assembly decides the country shall be a Federal Republic known as Islamic Republic of Pakistan. -
Martial Law, Ayub Khan
October 1958 - Governal-General Iskander Mirza enforces martial law with General Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Ayud Khan later assumes the presidency and sacks Mirza. -
Trade with China
January 5 1963 - First trade agreement is signed between Pakistan and China. -
Second war with India over Kashmir
1965 - The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. India retaliated by launching a full-scale military attack on West Pakistan. This 17 day war caused thousands of casualties on both sides and witnessed the largest engagement of armored vehicles and the largest tank battle since WWII. -
East Pakistan turns into Bangladesh
Dec 1971 - India and Pakistan fight war over East Pakistan which results in the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops and leads to the creation of Bangladesh. -
Bhutto is hanged
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became Prime Minister in 1973. In April of 1979 he was hanged on disputed conviction for conspiring to commit a political murder. Many still claim he was murdered on false accusations. -
Benazir Bhutto returns
April 10 1986 - Benazir Bhutto returns to homeland after years of being in exile. -
Zia dies, Bhutto comes back in power
June 15 1988 - President General Zia-ul-Haq is killed in a plane crash near Bahawulpur.
December 2 1988 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan -
Nuclear Power
May 28 1998 - Pakistan conducts nuclear tests in Chagai hills in Balochistan. These nuclear tests are in response to similar tests by India. -
Kargil War
July 26 1999 - The end of the Kargil War between Pakistan and India. This leads to Nawaz Sharif being ousted from power and General Pervez Musharraf takes over as President. -
Terror after 9/11
September 2001 - Pakistan withdraws support for Afghanistan's Taliban regime in favor of U.S.- led war on terror after 9/11 -
Benazir assassination
October 18 2007 - Benazir Bhutto once again returns to Pakistan, again, after being in exile for approximately 8 years.
December 27 2007 - She is assassinated in a blast/bullet attack in Rawalpindi. -
Osama Bin Laden
May 2 2011 - The U.S. Navy Seals kill Osama Bin Laden in the city of Abbotabad. This leads to high tensions with the U.S. Government, eventually resulting in the dismissal of U.S. foreign aid completely. This image is the hideout of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. -
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I am Malala
After the killing of Osama Bin Laden in April, the Pakistani government faced a lot of pressure. In 2012, the U.S. Senate panel cut $33 million in aid over the jailing of Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi who helped the CIA find Bin Laden. From that point forward, the Taliban- a Sunni extremist group increased suicide bombings against Shia Muslims, deadly assaults in schools such as the Peshawar School attack and shooting a young female activist Malala Yousafzai in the head. -
Nobel Peace Prize
October 10 2014 - Activist Malala Yousafzai becomes the second Pakistani to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to voice girls' right to education. -
Panama Papers
July 28 2017 - A unanimous verdict by the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office over the controversy of him and some of his family members being in the Panama Papers leak, thus leading to his disqualification for lifetime. -
The Rise of Imran Khan
Imran Khan assumes as Prime Minister in August 2018 on the pledge to end corruption. He is a former, extremely famous cricket player and this was the first time in several years that a democratically held election took place in which all demographics participated. -
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Clashes with India
February 14 2019 - Present
India and Pakistan are currently engaged in an ongoing military confrontation across the de facto border in Kashmir. The heightened tensions stemmed from a suicide car bombing carried out on Feb 14 2019 in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed. India blamed Pakistan for the bombing and promised a robust response. Pakistan denied any involvement in the bombing, this led to India and Pakistan conducting airstrikes against targets in each other's territory.
