History of
Pakistan
The first known inhabitants of the
modern-day
Pakistan region are believed to have been the
Soanian -
Homo erectus, who settled in the
Soan
Valley and
Riwat almost 2 million years ago. Over the next
several thousand years, the region would develop into various
civilizations like
Mehrgarh and the
Indus Valley Civilization.
Throughout its history, the region has been a part of various
Greek,
Mauryan,
Persian,
Turkic,
Islamic and Indian-
British empires. The region's ancient history also includes
some of the oldest empires from the
subcontinent[1]
and some of its major civilizations.
[2][3][4][5]
The political history of the nation began with the birth of the
All India Muslim League in 1906 to protect
Muslim interests, amid fears of neglect and under-representation of
Muslims, in case the
British Raj decided to grant local self-rule.
On the 29 December 1930,
Muhammad Iqbal called for an autonomous state in
"northwestern India for Indian Muslims".
[6]
The Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the
Two Nation Theory and led the Muslim League to adopt
the
Lahore Resolution[7]
of 1940, demanding the formation of independent states for Muslims in
the East and the West of
British
India. Eventually, a united Pakistan with two wings -
West
Pakistan and
East Pakistan - gained independence from the
British, on
August 14, 1947. Modern-day
Pakistan came in existence in 1971, after a civil war in the distant
East Pakistan and emergence of an independent
Bangladesh.
Independence
from the Brish Raj witnessed unprecedented and prologued communal
riots across India eventually resulting in millions of Muslims
migrating to Pakistan. The
princely state of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, was
invaded by a Pakistani Pashtun tribal militia in October 1947, after its
Hindu Maharaja's continued hesitancy to accede to Pakistan, and these
tribals had already reached the capital,
Srinagar
by October 25. On October 26 the Indian invasion of Kashmir took
place, after the Maharaja's controversial accession to India, therefore
starting the
1947 war that culminated in a
United Nations' brokered armistice and an unresolved
Kashmir dispute. The
1965 War
and the
Kargil War were also focused on Kashmir. India also began the
Siachen conflict in
1984 by
successfully invading and taking control of the
Siachen Glacier from Pakistan.
Pakistan declared
itself an
Islamic republic on adoption of a constitution in 1956,
but the civilian rule was stalled by the 1956 military
coup d'etat by
Ayub
Khan, who ruled during a period of internal instability and a
second war with India in 1965.
Economic grievances and political dissent in
East
Pakistan led to violent political tensions and army repression,
escalating into
civil war[8]
followed by the
third war with India. Pakistan's
defeat in the war ultimately led to the secession of East Pakistan and
the brith of
Bangladesh.
[9]
Civilian
rule resumed from 1972 to 1977 under
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, until he was deposed by General
Zia-ul-Haq, who became the country's third
military president. Pakistan's
secular
policies were replaced by the Islamic
Shariah
legal code, which increased religious influences on the civil service
and the military. With the death of Zia-ul-Haq in 1988,
Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected
as the first female
Prime Minister of Pakistan. Over
the next decade, she alternated power with
Nawaz
Sharif, as the country's political and economic situation
worsened. Military tensions in the
Kargil
conflict[10]
with India were followed by a
1999 coup d'état in which General
Pervez Musharraf assumed executive powers. This occurred
due to the defeat of Pakistan by India in Kargil and the economic
hardship that followed after the Kargil conflict.
[11]
In
2001, Musharraf named himself
President after the resignation of
Rafiq Tarar. In the 2002 Parliamentary
Elections, Musharraf transferred executive powers to newly elected Prime
Minister
Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was
succeeded in the 2004 by
Shaukat
Aziz. On November 15, 2007 the
National Assembly completed
its term and a caretaker government was appointed with the former
Chairman of The Senate,
Muhammad Mian Soomro as Prime Minister. Following the
assassination of Benazir Bhutto,
that resulted in a series of important political developments, her
husband
Asif Ali Zardari was eventually elected as
the new President in 2008
Download
Independence Songs
Posts
