History of Pakistan
The
nation-state of Pakistan was established in
1947 as one of the two
successor states of
British India, yet the land and its people possess an extensive and continuous history that can be traced back to very ancient times. The history of Pakistan for times preceding 1947 sometimes partially overlaps with that of
India,
Afghanistan, and
Iran.
The oldest evidence of human life (8,000 to 6,000 years ago) in Pakistan was found in the Soan River valley of
Pothohar region of Punjab. This human activity, called
Soan Culture, discovered in the form of pebble tools scattered long the river. In Peshawar Valley of ancient
Gandhara, there is evidence of existence of Stone Age men found at Sanghao near Mardan. Stone tools and burnt bones dated 7,000 years were found near caves. Cave dwellers of middle Stone Age used quartz flakes tools.
The five thousand year history of Pakistan reveals that the
Indus Valley Civilization of Pakistan and the Gangetic Valley Civilization of India have remained always separate entities. In fact, governments based in ancient Pakistan ruled over northern India more often and for much longer periods than governments based in India ruled over Pakistan territories. What is more important, ancient Pakistan as an independent country always looked westward and had more connections—ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, commercial, as well as political—with the
Sumerian,
Babylonian,
Persian,
Greek and Central Asian civilizations than with the Gangetic Valley. It was only from the
Muslim period onward that it became subservient to northern Indian governments. Even this period is not devoid of revolts and successful assertion of independence by people of Pakistan. In the pre-Muslim period, India's great expansion covering large portions of the South Asia took place only during the reigns of the Mauryas (third century BCE), the Guptas (4th century CE), Raja Harsha (7th century CE), the Gurjara empire of Raja Bhoj (8th century CE) and the Pratiharas (9th century CE). It is important to note that except for the Maurya period lasting barely a hundred years, under none of the other dynasties did the Indian based governments ever rule over Pakistan. They always remained east of river
Sutlej. Persian
Achaemenian Empire conquered ancient Pakistan and it remained part of Persian empire for more than two hundred years.
Alexander the Great also conquered Indus satrapy, modern Pakistan, and did briefly cross into India but returned after his army refused to advance further into India. Ancient Pakistan remained part of the
Hellenic world for next hundred fifty years. During the
Arab rule, the territories of Pakistan were known as 'Sindh' and Indian territories were known as 'Hind'. The Arab dynasties ruled Pakistan from
Baghdad,
Iraq and from
Damascus,
Syria for more than two hundred years.
Pakistan, the Indus land, is the child of the Indus in the same way as
Egypt is the gift of
Nile. The Indus has provided unity, fertility, communication, direction and the entire landscape to the country. Its location marks it as a great divide as well as a link between
Central Asia and
South Asia. However, the historical movements of the people from Central Asia and South Asia have given to it a character of its own and have established closer relation between the people of Pakistan and those of
Iran,
Afghanistan and
Turkistan.
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley civilization (c. 3300-1700 BCE) was one of the most ancient civilizations, on the banks of
Indus River. The natives of the region were the first inhabitants of the Indus valley, although some scholars believe that they invaded from the
Iranian plateau and settled in the Indus valley around 4000 BCE. The Indus culture blossomed over the centuries and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan, but suddenly went into decline. Indus Civilization settlements spread as far south as the
Arabian Sea coast of India, as far west as the
Iranian border, and as far north as the
Himalayas. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of
Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro, as well as Dholavira, Ganweriwala,
Lothal, and Rakhigarhi. The
Mohenjo-daro ruins were once the center of this ancient society. At its peak, some archeologists opine that the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million me.
The founders of this civilisation are believed to be a
Dravidian people, but this remains difficult to verify as the Indus Valley script has not yet been deciphered. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region to the east of the Indus River in Pakistan and India.
The Kulli culture was a
prehistoric culture in Southern
Baluchistan, Pakistan (
Gedrosia), ca. 2500 - 2000 B.C.E. The culture was named after an archaeological site discovered by Sir
Aurel Stein. Several settlement sites are known to have existed there however very few were excavated. Some of them have the size of small towns and are similar to those of the
Indus Valley Civilization. The house are built of local stone. Agriculture was the economical base of this people. At several places dams were found, providing evidence for a highly developed water management. The pottery and other artifacts are similar to those of the
Indus Valley Civilization and it not sure whether the Kulli culture is a local variation of the
Indus Valley Civilization or an own culture complex.
Vedic Civilization
 |
Map of early Iron Age Vedic Civilization after Witzel (1989). Realms or tribes are labelled black, Foreign tribes mentioned in early Vedic texts purple, Vedic schools green. Rivers are labelled blue. The Thar desert is marked orange. |
The Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan, but suddenly went into decline just prior to the migration the 1400's BCE. Scholars have looked to the
Mahabharat for clues. There may have been an earthquake or famine at that point of time.
The origin of the Vedic civilization and its relation to the Indus Valley Civilization remains highly controversial and politically charged. There exist much controversy surrounding the
Aryan Invasion Theory. Mainstream scholarship places the Vedic civilization into the second and first millennias BCE, with some claims dating it as early as the fifth millennium BCE based on alleged astronomical information in the texts. Historical records set in only after the end of the Vedic period, and remain scarce throughout the Middle Ages. The end of Vedic period is marked by linguistic, cultural and political changes. The grammar of
Panini (born in Shalatula, in present-day Pakistan, ca. 520â€"460 BC) marks a final apex in the codification of sacred texts, and at the same time the beginning of Classical
Sanskrit.
"While settled in the
Punjab the Aryans had not yet become Hindu.... The distinctive
Brahmanical System appears to have been evolved after the
Sutlej had been passed. To the east of Sutlej the Indo-Aryans were usually safe from foreign invasions and free to work out their own rule of life undisturbed." (Oxford history of India, By V.A. Smith, 3rd edition).
Achaemenid's Empire
 |
Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent |
The part of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan was ruled by the Persian
Achaemenid Empire (c.520 BCE) during the reign of
Darius the Great until
Alexander the Great's conquest. It became part of the empire as a
satrapy that included the lands of present-day Pakistani
Punjab, the Indus River, from the borders of
Gandhara down to the
Arabian Sea, and other parts of the Indus plain. According to
Herodotus of
Halicarnassus, it was the most populous and richest satrapy of the twenty satrapies of the empire. It was during the Persian rule that name
India was coined. When the Indus River valley became the eastern most satrapy of Persians, they named it because of the Indus River. Vedic Aryans called the area
Saptha Sindhu with the main river was called
Sindhu. Persians had difficulty in pronouncing
s, called it
Hindu. As per the inscriptions of Darius, they called the satrapy
Hindush. Greeks took this name from Persians and called the river
Indus and the region
India. Herodotus (490-425? BCE), in his book "The Histories", described this satrapy of Darius as
India. Achaemenid rule lasted about 186 years. The Achaemenids used
Aramaic script for the Persian language. After the end of Achaemenid rule, the use of Aramaic script in the Indus plain was diminished, although we know from
Asokan inscriptions that it was still in use two centuries later. Other scripts, such as
Kharosthi (a script derived from Aramaic) and
Greek became more common after the arrival of the
Macedonians and Greeks.
Alexander's Empire
|
Map of Alexander's empire. |
The interaction between
Hellenistic Greece and
Buddhism started when
Alexander the Great conquered
Asia Minor, the
Achaemenid Empire and ancient Pakistan in 334 BCE, defeating
Porus at the
Battle of the Hydaspes (near modern-day
Jhelum) and conquering much of the
Punjab region. Alexander's troops refused to go beyond the
Beas River — which today runs along part of the Indo-Pakistan border — and he took most of his army southwest, adding nearly all of ancient Pakistan to his empire. Alexander created garrisons for his troops in his new territories, and founded several cities in the areas of the
Oxus,
Arachosia, and
Bactria, and Macedonian/Greek settlements in
Gandhara, such as
Taxila, and
Punjab. The regions included the
Khyber Pass — a geographical passageway south of the
Himalayas and the
Hindu Kush mountains — and the
Bolan Pass, on a trade route connecting
Drangiana, Arachosia and other Persian and
Central Asia areas to the lower Indus plain. It is through these regions that most of the interaction between South Asia and Central Asia took place, generating intense cultural exchange and trade.
Greco-Buddhist Period
Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled
Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural
syncretism between the
culture of
Classical Greece and
Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in the area corresponding to modern-day
Afghanistan and
Pakistan, between the fourth century BCE and the fifth century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular
Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the
1st century AD, ultimately spreading to
China,
Korea and
Japan.
Amongst the sixteen Mahajanapadas, the kingdom of
Magadha rose greatly under a number of dynasties that reached a peak under the power of
Asoka Maurya. The kingdom of Magadha had emerged as a major power following the subjugation of two neighbouring kingdoms, and possessed an unparalleled military.
The Mauryan dynasty
The Mauryan dynasty lasted about 180 years, nearly as long as Achaemenid rule, and began with
Chandragupta Maurya, not to be confused with
Chandragupta I of the much-later
Gupta Dynasty. Chandragupta Maurya lived in
Taxila and met Alexander and had many opportunities to observe the Macedonian army there. According to
Plutarch, Alexander encouraged him to invade the Gangetic Kingdom (of
Magadha) by capitalizing on the extreme unpopularity of the reigning monarch. Chandragupta recruited warriors from among the northwestern hill tribes and trained them in Macedonian fighting techniques, With this army, and with Macedonian mercenaries, Chandragupta went east to the Gangetic plain to overthrow the
Nanda dynasty in
Magadha, thereby founding the
Maurya dynasty. Following Alexander's death on
June 10,
323 BCE, his
Diadochi (generals) founded their own kingdoms in
Asia Minor and
Central Asia. General
Seleucus set up the
Seleucid Kingdom, which included ancient Pakistan. Chandragupta Maurya, taking advantage of the fragmentation of power that followed Alexander's death, invaded and captured the Punjab and Gandhara. Later, the Eastern part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (third century–second century BCE).
Chandragupta's grandson
Asoka (273-232 BCE), is said to have been the greatest of the Mauryan emperors.
Ashoka the Great was the ruler of the Mauryan empire from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. A convert to
Buddhism, Ashoka reigned over most of
South Asia and parts of
Central Asia, from present-day
Afghanistan to Bengal and as far south as Mysore. He converted to the Buddhist faith following remorse for his bloody conquest of the kingdom of
Kalinga in
Orissa. He became a great proselytiser of Buddhism and sent Buddhist emissaries to many lands. He set in stone the
Edicts of Asoka. In ancient Pakistan, nearly all of the Asokan edicts are written either in the
Aramaic script (Aramiac had been the
lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire) or in
Kharosthi, a script derived from Aramaic.
Brhadrata, the last ruler of the
Mauryan dynasty, ruled territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor
Ashoka, but he was still upholding the
Buddhist faith. He was assassinated in 185 BCE by his
Brahmin general
Pusyamitra Sunga, who made himself the ruler and established the
Sunga dynasty. The assassination of Brhadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of decline of
Buddhists in eastern South Asia, but not in what is today Pakistan and Afghanistan.
From 2nd century BC to 5th century AD Pakistan and West India came under continuous invasions of different Turko-Iranian, Bacterians, Sakas, Parthians, Kushans, and Huns.
During those centuries ethnic composition of the area now comprised Pakistan remained in flex until the 7th century it was stabilized.
Rajputs,
Jats, and
Gujjars became integral part of the population. With the introduction of the Iranian people a physical feature became predominated which resemble to Iranian or other Caucasoid races to the west. This made people of Pakistan and West India distinct from the rest of the South Asia. These Caucasoid physical features beccome more prominent with the movement of Pakhtunes and Balochis.
It is surmised that Iranian tribes existed in what is today western Pakistan during a very early age and that
Pakhtun tribes were inhabitants around the area of Peshawar prior to the period of Alexander the Great as
Herodotus refers to the local peoples as the "Paktui" and as a fearsome pagan tribe similar to the Bactrians. Iranian
Balochi tribes did not arrive at least until the first millennium CE and would not expand as far as
Sindh until the 2nd millennium.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
|
The founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom Demetrius I (205-171 BCE), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of South Asia. |
The Sunga persecution also triggered the 180 BCE invasion of northern India by the king
Demetrius (the son of the
Greco-Bactrian king
Euthydemus) going as far as
Pataliputra and established an
Indo-Greek kingdom that lasted nearly two centuries, until around 10 BCE. To the south, the Greeks captured
Sindh and nearby
Arabian Sea 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 overcame the Euthydemid dynasty, killing
Demetrius in battle.
Menander I was one of the Greek kings of the
Indo-Greek Kingdom in ancient Pakistan from 155 to 130 BCE. He had been a general under King Demetrius, who was killed in battle. As a general, Menader drove the
Greco-Bactrians out of
Gandhara and beyond the
Hindu Kush, becoming king shortly after his victory. Menander's territories covered the eastern dominions of the divided Greek empire of
Bactria (from the areas of
Panjshir and
Kapisa) and extended to the modern
Pakistani province of
Punjab, with diffuse tributaries to the south and east, possibly even as far as
Mathura.
Sagala (modern
Sialkot) became his capital and 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[11.11.1] says Menander was one of the two Bactrian kings who extended their power farthest into South Asia.
Sagala (modern
Sialkot) became his capital and propered greatly under Menander's rule. His reign was long and successful (c.155 BCE - c.80 BCE). Generous findings of coins testify to the prosperity and extension of his empire.
[[Image:Menander (Alexandria-Kapisa).jpg|thumb|150px|Tetradrachm of
Menander I in {{Greco-Bactrian}} style ({{Alexandria of the Caucasus|Alexandria-Kapisa}} mint).
Obv: King Menander throwing a spear.
Rev: {{Athena}} with thunderbolt. Greek legend: BASILEOS SOTIROS MENANDROY "King Menander, the Saviour".]]
The
Milinda Pañha, a classical
Buddhist text, praises Menander, saying that "as in wisdom so in strength of body, swiftness, and valour there was found none equal to Milinda in all South Asia".
[Translation by T.W. Rhys Davids, 1890]Menander's empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king,
Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. The Indo-Greeks suffered a new attack from the descendants of Eucratides around 125 BCE, as the Greco-Bactrian king
Heliocles, son of
Eucratides, was fleeing from the invasion of the
Yuezhi in Bactria and trying to relocate in
Gandhara. The Indo-Greeks retreated to their territories east of the
Jhelum River as far as
Mathura, and the two houses coexisted in the northern South Asia. Various kings ruled into the beginning of the first century CE, as petty rulers (such as
Theodamas) and as administrators, after the conquests of the
Scythians (see also
Indo-Scythians),
Parthians (see also
Indo-Parthians) and
Yuezhi, a Central Asian people possibly of
Tocharian origins who founded the Kushan dynasty.
Indo-Greek kingdom
The
Indo-Greek Kingdom (or sometimes
Greco-Indian Kingdom) covered almost all regions of
Pakistan from 180 BCE to around
10 CE, and was ruled by a succession of more than thirty Greek kings. The kingdom was founded when the
Greco-Bactrian king
Demetrius who invaded Pakistan and India in 180 BCE, creating an entity which seceded from the powerful
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centred in
Bactria (today's northern
Afghanistan).
The last known mention of an Indo-Greek ruler is suggested by an inscription on a signet ring of the
1st century CE in the name of a king
Theodamas, from the
Bajaur area of
Gandhara, in modern
Pakistan. No coins of him are known, but the signet bears in
kharoshthi script the inscription
"Su Theodamasa",
"Su" being explained as the Greek transliteration of the ubiquitous
Kushan royal title
"Shau" ("
Shah", "King").
Indo-Scythians
The
Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Indo-European
Sakas (
Scythians), who migrated from southern
Siberia into
Bactria,
Sogdiana,
Kashmir and finally into
Arachosia and
Pakistan then
India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled in northern India from
Gandhara in Pakistan to
Mathura.
Indo-Parthians
|
View from the Jaulian World Heritage Site (Taxila). |
The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was established during the
1st century CE, by a
Parthian leader named
Gondophares, in today's
Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Northern
India. The Kingdom's capital was
Taxila, (
Pakistan)[
1].
Kushan Empire
The 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 rule of
Kanishka I, the fourth Kushan emperor, who flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127, was administered from a winter capital in Purushapura (now
Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan) and a summer capital in
Bagram (then known as Kapisa).
The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the
Silk Road through the long-civilized
Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely oversaw a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day
Uzbekistan,
Afghanistan, and
Pakistan into northern India. The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to
Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers. Kanishka is renowed in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having marked the official beginning of the pantheistic
Mahayana Buddhism and its scission with
Nikaya Buddhism. Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or
Prakrit, Mahayana Buddhist texts translated into the high literary language of
Sanskrit. Along with the Indian king
Ashoka, the
Indo-Greek king
Menander I (Milinda), and
Harsha Vardhana, Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.
The art and culture of
Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. The interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures continued over several centuries until it ended in the fifth century CE with the invasions of the
White Huns (see also
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 what is today Pakistan with the
Sassanid Persian empire which dominated much of western and southern Pakistan.
The Gupta Empire
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.
Indo-Sassanians
The
Sassanian empire of
Persia, who were close contemporaries of the
Guptas, began to expand into the north-western part of ancient
India (now
Pakistan), where they established their rule. The mingling of
Indian and
Persian cultures in this region gave birth to the
Indo-Sassanian culture, which flourished in the western part of the
Punjab and the areas now known in
Pakistan as the
North West Frontier Province and
Balochistan. The last Hindu kingdom in this region, the
Shahis, also may have arisen from this culture.
During the eighth to fifteenth century CE saw the arrival of Islam to the Indian subcontinent region from Arabia more specifically Syria. Muhammad bin Qasim was the first muslim general to bring the religion to the region.
Arab Rule
Prior to the
8th century Pakistan was dominated by native rulers in the east and the
Sassanid Persians in the west. During this period, another event occurred which would drastically transform the region, the coming of
Islam. A
Syrian Muslim chieftain named
Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Pakistan early in the 8th century (712) and extended
Umayyad muslim rule to the Indus Valley. Like
Alexander the Great, Qasim travelled and subdued the whole of Pakistan from
Karachi to
Kashmir. Muhammad Bin Qasim, himself a youth of only 20, managed this feat by leading a small force of only 6,000 Syrian tribesmen and reached the borders of Kashmir within three years.
Muhammad Bin Qasim's conquests up to Kashmir could not be sustained by the Muslim Arabs for very long.
Umayyad rule stretched too far and any further conquests without consolidation would prove futile. From
Lisbon,
Portugal to
Lahore in the Punjab were the apogee of this vast Muslim empire. Following Muhammad Bin Qasim's departure and demise, after being recalled to Baghdad, Muslim rule shrank to Sindh and southern Punjab where consolidation took place and conversion to
Islam was widespread, especially amongst the Buddhist majority. In many regions several non-Muslim groups (largely Buddhists and Hindus as well as pagans further north) would remain numerous north of
Multan. However, from this period (8th century) onward Pakistan was divided into two parts: the northern region comprising the Panjab remained under the control of Hindu Rajas while the southern area came under Muslim control and comprised
Multan, Sindh and Balochistan until
Mahmud Ghaznavi appeared on the scene and conquered all of what is today Pakistan. During this 300-year period (
712-
1000) both the northern and southern parts had their own independent governments --- the latter owing nominal allegiance to the
Umayyad and
Abbasid Caliphs. During the
Arab rule, the territories of Pakistan were known as '
Sindh' and India was known as 'Hind'.
The Ghaznavid Dynasty
 |
Mahmud and Ayaz
The Sultan is to the right, shaking the hand of the sheykh, with Ayaz standing behind him. The figure to his right is Shah Abbas I who reigned about 600 years later.
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran |
In 1001 Sultan
Mahmud Ghaznavi defeated Jeebal the king of Kabulistan and marched further into Peshawer and in 1005 made it the center for his forces. From this strategic location Mahmud was able to capture Panjab in 1007, Tanseer fell in 1014,
Kashmir was captured in 1015 and Qanoch fell in 1017. By 1027 Sultan Mahmud had captured Pakistan and parts of northern India.
On 1010 Mahmud captured what is today the
Ghowr Province (Ghor) and by 1011 annexed Balochistan. Sultan Mahmud had already had relationships with the leadership in
Balkh through marriage and its local emir Abu Nasr Mohammad offered his services to Sultan Mahmud and offered his daughter to Muhammad son of Sultan Mahmud. After Nasr's death Mahmud brought Balkh under his leadership. This alliance greatly helped Mahmud during his expeditions into Pakistan and northern India.
In 1030 Sultan Mahmud fell gravely ill and died at the age of 59. Sultan Mahmud was an accomplished military commander and speaker as well as a patron of poetry, astronomy, and math. Mahmud had no tolerance for other religions however and only praised Islam. Universities were formed to study various subjects such as math, religion, the humanities and medicine were taught, but only within the laws of the
Sharia. Islam was the main religion of his kingdom and the Perso-Afghan dialect of
Dari language was made the official language.
Ghaznavid rule in Pakistan lasted for over one hundred and seventy five years from 1010 to 1187. It was during this period that Lahore assumed considerable importance as the eastern-most bastion of Muslim power and as an outpost for further advance towards the riches of the east. Apart from being the second capital and later the only capital of the Ghaznavid kingdom, Lahore had great military and strategic significance. Whoever controlled this city could look forward to and be in a position to sweep the whole of East Punjab to
Panipat and
Delhi.
By the end of his reign, Mahmud's empire extended from
Kurdistan in the west to
Samarkand in the northeast, and from the
Caspian Sea to the
Yamuna. All of what is today Pakistan and Kashmir came under the Ghaznavid empire. The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (e.g.
Abolfazl Beyhaghi ,
Ferdowsi) give detailed descriptions of the building activity and importance of Lahore, as well as of the conqueror's support of literature.
Often reviled as a persecutor of Hindus (and in many cases Hindu temples were looted and destroyed) much of Mahmud's army consisted of Hindus and some of the commanders of his army were also of Hindu origin. Sonday Rai was the Commander of Mahmud's crack regiment and took part in several important campaigns with him. The coins struck during Mahmud's reign bore his own image on one side and the figure of a Hindu deity on the other.
Mahmud, as a patron of learning, filled his court with scholars including
Ferdowsi the poet,
Abolfazl Beyhaghi the historian (whose work on the Ghanavid Empire is perhaps the most substantive primary source of the period) and
Al-Biruni the versatile scholar who wrote the informative
Ta'rikh al-Hind ("Chronicles of India"). It was said that he spent over four hundred thousand golden
dinars rewarding scholars. He invited the scholars from all over the world and was thus known as an abductor of scholars. During his rule, Lahore also became a great center of learning and culture. Lahore was called 'Small Ghazni' as Ghazni received far more attention during Mahmud's reign. Saad Salman, a poet of those times, also wrote about the academic and cultural life of Muslim Lahore and its growing importance.
Muhammad of Ghor
Muhammad Ghori was a Perso-Afghan conqueror from the region of Ghor in Afghanistan. Before 1160, the
Ghaznavid Empire covered an area running from central Afghanistan east to the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazni, a city on the banks of Ghazni river in present-day Afghanistan, and at Lahore in present-day Pakistan. In 1160, the Ghorids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznevids, and in 1173 Muhammad was made governor of Ghazni. He raided eastwards into the remaining Ghaznevid territory, and invaded Gujarat in the 1180's, but was rebuffed by
Gujarat's
Solanki rulers. In 1186-7 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznevid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control.
In 1191, he invaded the territory of
Prithviraj III, the Chauhan Rajput Emperor of Ajmer and Delhi, who ruled much of present-day
Rajasthan,
Haryana, and
Punjab, but was defeated at Tarain, near Bhatinda, by Govinda-raja of Delhi, Prithviraj's vassal. Being brought before Prithviraj he was pardoned and allowed to return to Ghor on promising no further trouble. The following year Muhammad Ghori assembled 120,000 horsemen and once again invaded the Kingdom of Ajmer. Muhammad's army met Prithviraj's army again at Tarain, and this time Muhammad was victorious; Govinda-raja was slain, Prithviraj captured and subsequently executed, and Muhammad advanced on Delhi, capturing it soon after. Within a year Muhammad controlled northern Rajasthan and the northern part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab. Muhammad returned east to Ghazni to deal with the threat to his eastern frontiers from the Turks and Mongols, but his armies, mostly under Turkish generals, continued to advance through northern India, raiding as far east as
Bengal.
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. Upon his death, his most capable general,
Qutb-ud-din Aybak took control of Muhammad Ghori's Indian conquests and declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi.
Delhi Sultanate
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 (however, the Delhi Sultanate is traditionally held to have been founded in 1206) seized the reins of empire. The territory under control of the Muslim rulers in Delhi expanded rapidly. By mid-century, Bengal and much of central India was under the Delhi Sultanate. 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). As Muslims extended their rule into southern India, only the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar remained immune, until it too fell in 1565. Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi in the
Deccan and in Gujarat,
Malwa (central India), and Bengal, almost all of the area in present-day Pakistan 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 based their laws on the Quran and the sharia and permitted non-Muslim subjects to practice their religion only if they paid the jizya or head tax. 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 sultanate ushered in a period of Indian cultural renaissance resulting from the stimulation of Islam by Hinduism. 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 Dehli Sultanate period as a result of the mingling of
Sanskritic
prakrits and the
Persian,
Turkish,
Arabic favored by the Muslim invaders of India. The sultanate suffered from the sacking of Delhi in 1398 by Timur (
Tamerlane) but revived briefly under the
Lodhis before it was conquered by the Mughals in 1526.
During the start of the 16th to the 19th century CE saw the arrivals of the moghal empire, which played a huge role in the development of the region not only economically but also culturally.
The Mughal Empire
|
The founder of the Mughal Empire, Emperor Babur |
The arrival of people from the Central Asian nations such as the
Turks and
Mongols was a significant turning point in the history of present-day Pakistan. The Qalandars (wandering
Sufi saints) from Central Asia, Persia and Middle East preached a mystical form of Islam that appealed to the Buddhist and Hindu populations of Pakistan. The concepts of equality, justice, spiritualness, and secularism of the Sufi strain of Islam greatly attracted the masses towards it. The
Sufi orders or
triqas were established gradually, over a period of centuries. Present-day Pakistan was a place of great cultural and religious diversity. The Muslim technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and sufis flocked from the rest of the Muslim world to Islamic
Sultanate in
South Asia. The
Muslim Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting the millions of native people to
Islam.
The
Mughals were the descendants of Persianized Central Asian Turks (with significant Mongol admixture) and would establish a formidable empire over the breadth of South Asia and beyond. The
Mughal Empire included modern Pakistan and reached as far north as eastern Afghanistan and as far south as southern India. It was one of the three major Islamic empires of its day and sometimes contested its northwestern holdings such as
Qandahar against invasions from the
Uzbeks and the
Safavid Persians. Although the first Mughal emperor
Babur favored the cool hills of
Kabul, his conquests would lay the foundations for a dynasty that would hold sway over South Asia for over two centuries. Most of his successors were capable rulers and during the Mughal period the
Shalimar Gardens were built in Lahore (during the reign of
Shah Jehan and the
Badshahi Mosque was erected during the reign of
Aurangzeb. One notable 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.
Pakistan still bears marvellous architectural monuments built by the
Mughal emperors. During the
Mughal period, the cities of
Delhi (present-day India) and
Lahore (present-day Pakistan) were made the capitals of the empire. The
Taj Mahal and other architectural marvels were the results of the growth of Islamic culture and rule over the South Asia. The
Mughals also implemented federal regulations including taxation, social welfare reforms, justice, development of the transport and agricultural system and water canals. The
mansabdar system gained prominence during the Mughal Empire and was used to implement a form of ranking military official and landowners throughout the empire and in many ways inspired similar systems in other major Islamic empires of the day such as the Ottoman Empire's
tanzimat reforms.
Durrani Empire
 |
Ahmad Shah Durrani (died 1772) |
In 1739
Nadir Shah attacked India and after defeating the Mughal Emperor
Mohammed Shah (Rangeela) claimed Punjab (from Lahore westward), the
North-West Frontier Province,
Balochistan and
Sind as provinces of his Empire. Upon the death of Nadir Shah one of his generals, a Pashtun named Ahmed Shah Abdali (who late changed his name to
Ahmad Shah Durrani) estabished the kingdom of Afghanistan in 1747 and made Pakistan part of his newly created state. He claimed Kashmir, Peshawar, Daman, Multan, Sindh and Punjab up to the Sutlej.
When the Abdali kingdom weakened early in the 19th century due to internecine warfare, the Abdali kingdom began to decline and an independent kingdom arose in Punjab headed by the Sikh leader
Ranjit Singh. The British who had established their control over Delhi in 1803 warned Ranjit Singh not to try to impose his authority on the Sikh Sardars of East Punjab i.e., beyond Sutlej. As for Sind, from as early as the last days of Aurangzeb, it had begun to assert its independence and a succession of semi-independent dynasties under the Daudpotas, Kalhoras and Talpurs continued to rule over this province till British conquest in 1843 A.D. Meanwhile, Balochistan came under the sway of the Khan of
Kalat with a few coastal cities such as
Gwadar coming under the control of the Sultan of
Oman.
The Punjab
In the early 19th century, the Mughal empire and the Afghan Durrani empire weakened in power. Taking advantage of the situation,
Sikhs conquered most of the Punjab, and parts of Kashmir and Eastern Afghanistan. Sikh warrior
Ranjit Singh defeated the Afghans and took the title of Maharaja (High King) of the Punjab and eventually sovereign of the
Sikh empire, stretching from within the shadows of Delhi to beyond Peshawar, with his capital at
Lahore. It was also the last territory of South Asia to fall to the British Empire mainly due to the betrayal by its top Dogra Generals, during the two bloody Anglo-Sikh wars in 1845-6 and 1848-49. The outcome was a very narrow victory for the British resulting in the annexition of the Punjab and the fall of Sikh rule.
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 in
1857 after a failed insurrection, popularly known as the
First War of Indian Independence, against the
British East India Company by
Bahadur Shah Zafar. Present-day Pakistan remained part of British South Asia until
August 14,
1947.
The Anglo-Afghan wars and the Great Game
|
Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Amir Sher Ali with his "friends" Britain & Russia (1878) |
The two
Anglo-Afghan wars that involved Pakistan directly took place in 1839 and again in 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. Decades later, what is today western Pakistan would come to be annexed by the British.
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.
The British Raj
The first proponents of an independent Muslim nation began to appear in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century under the
British Raj. Following the first War for Indepdence, the
Indian National Congress was founded in 1885. Some Muslims felt the need to address the issue of the Muslim identity within India, leading to Sir Syed Amir Ali forming the Central National Muhammadan Association in 1877 to work towards the political advancement of the Muslims. The organisation declined towards the end of the nineteenth century but was replaced in 1906 by the
All-India Muslim League. Although the League originally demanded constitutional guarantees for Muslims, several factors including sectarian violence prompted a reconsideration of the League's aims. The All India Muslim League was founded on the sidelines of the 1905 conference of the Muslim Anglo-Oriental Conference. This party was not, right until 1940, separatist. The idea of a separate nation was mooted in humor, satire and on the fringes of the political milieu.
Pakistan movement
By 1930,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who ultimately led the movement for a separate state, had despaired of Indian politics and particularly of getting mainstream parties like the Congress (of which he was a member much longer than the League) to be sensitive to minority priorities. Among the first to make the demand for a separate state was the writer/philosopher
Allama Iqbal, who, in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt that a separate nation for Muslims was essential in an otherwise
Hindu-dominated South Asia. The Sindh Assembly passed a resolution making it a demand in 1935.
Iqbal, Jauhar and others then worked hard to draft Mohammad Ali Jinnah to lead the movement for this new nation. Jinnah later went on to become known as the
Father of the Nation, with Pakistan officially giving him the title
Quaid-e-Azam or "Great Leader".
Pakistan Resolution
In
1940, Jinnah called a general session of the All India 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 taking the opinion of the 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. Jinnah, in his speech, criticised the Congress and the nationalist Muslims, and espoused the
Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for separate Muslim homelands.
Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of the Punjab, drafted the original
Lahore Resolution, which was placed before the Subject Committee of the All India Muslim League for discussion and amendments. The resolution, radically amended by the subject committee, was moved in the general session by
Shere-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq, the Chief Minister of
Bengal, on
23 March and was supported by
Choudhury Khaliquzzaman and other Muslim leaders. The Lahore Resolution ran as follows:
That the areas where the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the Northwestern and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute 'independent states' in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign. The Resolution was adopted on
23 March,
1940 with great enthusiasm.
Origin of Name
The name was coined by
Cambridge student and Muslim
nationalist Choudhary Rahmat Ali. He devised the word and first published it on
January 28,
1933 in the pamphlet
Now or Never [
2]. He saw it as an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in
South Asia. (
P for
Punjab,
A for the
Afghan areas of the region,
K for
Kashmir,
S for
Sindh and
tan for
Baluchistan, thus forming 'Pakstan.' An
i was later added to the English rendition of the name to ease pronunciation, producing Pakistan.) The word also captured in the
Persian language the concepts of "pak", meaning "pure", and "stan", meaning "land" or "home", thus giving it the meaning "Land of the Pure". All
Arabic-speaking countries refer to Pakistan as Bakstaan (باکستان), as the Arabic language lacks the phoneme [p].
Partition of the British Indian Empire
As the British granted independence to their dominions in India in mid-August 1947, the two nations joined the
British Commonwealth as self-governing dominions. The 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.
Pakistan's independence was won through a democratic and constitutional struggle. Although the country's record with parliamentary democracy has been mixed, Pakistan, after lapses, has returned to this form of government. Pakistani political history is divided into alternating periods of authoritarian military government and democratic civilian/parliamentary rule. Since independence, Pakistan has also been in constant dispute with India over the territory of
Kashmir. The Kashmir dispute has complicated relations between Pakistan and India. In addition, Pakistan has been at odds with Afghanistan over the
Pashtunistan issue for much of its history as well.
Military coup and wars (1956-1968)
Just two years following the formation of a
Constitution and a declaration as an
Islamic Republic, the military took control of the nation in 1958. Field Marshall
Ayub Khan also started
Basic Democracy in which the people elected electors who in turn voted to select the President. He nearly lost the national elections to
Fatima Jinnah. During Ayub's rule, relations with the
United States and the West grew stronger. A formal alliance including Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey was formed during the Ayub Khan period and was called the
Baghdad Pact (later known as
CENTO), which was to defend the Middle East and Persian Gulf from Soviet designs. Pakistan engaged in the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 with
India over
Kashmir and the
Rann of Kutch.
The War of 1971 and Separation of Bangladesh
After a nationwide uprising in 1969,
Ayub Khan stepped down and handed over power to General
Yahya Khan who promised general elections to be held at the end of 1970. On the eve of the 1970 elections, approximately 500,000 people died when a
cyclone hit
East Pakistan on
12 November,
1970. Despite the tragedy, elections went on, and the results showed a clear division between the Eastern and the Western provinces of the country. The
Awami League led by
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won a majority in the National Assembly, with 167 of the 169 East Pakistani seats, but with no seats from West Pakistan, where the
Pakistan Peoples Party led by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won 85 seats in the National Assembly.
Khan and Bhutto refused to hand over power to
Sheikh Mujib. Meanwhile, Mujib initiated a
civil disobedience movement, strongly supported by the general population of East Pakistan and most of its government workers. A round-table conference between Yahya, Bhutto and Mujib was convened in
Dhaka, and after it ended without a solution, the Pakistani Army started
Operation Searchlight, an organized and brutal crackdown on the East Pakistani army, police, politicians, innocent civilians and students in
Dhaka. Mujib and many other
Awami League leaders were arrested, while others fled to
India. On
March 27,
1971, Major
Ziaur Rahman, a decorated Bengali war-veteran of the
East Bengal Regiment of
Pakistan Army, declared the independence of
Bangladesh on behalf of Mujib. The crackdown broadened and later escalated into a
guerrilla warfare between the Pakistani Army and the
Mukti Bahini-Bengali "freedom fighters". Although the killing of Bengalis was mostly unsupported by the people of
West Pakistan, it continued for 9 months.
India supplied the Bengali rebels with arms and training, and also hosted more than 10 million Bengali refugees who fled the turmoil. The
Indian Army officially joined the war (
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971), and launched a massive assault into East Pakistan, where, by that time, the Pakistani Army led by General
A. A. K. Niazi, had been weakened and exhausted. Being outflanked by the Indian Army and overwhelmed, it surrendered to the Indian Army-
Mukti Bahini joint command on
December 16,
1971, in one of the largest surrenders since
WW2 - as nearly 90,000 soldiers become
PoWs. The official figure of
Bengali civilian death toll from the war is reported to be 3 million, although some other sources put the number between 1.25 to 1.5 million. The result was the emergence of the new nation of
Bangladesh. Discredited by the defeat, President Gen.
Yahya Khan resigned.
Since independance until
1971, the nation consisted of two parts,
West Pakistan and
East Pakistan, geographically separated with
India inbetween. East Pakistani (modern day Bangladesh), mostly consisted of
Bengalis, constituting 56% of the population. There were allegations of inequal economic development favoring West Pakistan (modern day Pakistan). Due to these allegations and a rise in
Bengali Nationalism resulted in an independence movement in East Pakistan. The
Awami League was formed that was led by
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Civilian rule and the 1973 Constitution
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 in
Physics -to develop nuclear devices. In 1973, Parliament approved the
1973 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 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 conflit into
Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. (The escalating conflict would later end after an
amnesty and subsequent stabilization by provincial military ruler
Rahimuddin Khan.) Elections were held in 1977, with Bhutto winning. Bhutto's victory was challenged by the opposition, which accused him of rigging the vote. General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq took power in a
bloodless coup, Bhutto was later executed, after being convicted of authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a controversial 4-3 split decision by Pakistan's
Supreme Court.
Military Rule and Front-line state in the anti-Soviet struggle
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
KHAD, under Afghan leader
Mohammad Najibullah, carried out (according to the
Mitrokhin archives and other sources) a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of weaponry 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 - believed to be the largest refugee population in the world
[Amnesty International file on Afghanistan URL Accessed March 22, 2006] - had a heavy impact on Pakistan and its effects continue to this day.
Also under the new military ruler President
Zia-ul-Haq's
Martial Law dictatorship the following initiatives were taken:
*Strict
Islamic law was introduced into the the country's legal system by
1978, contributing to current-day
sectarianism and
religious fundamentalism, as well as instilling a sense of religious purpose within the youth.
*Pakistan fought a war by proxy against the
Communists in
Afghanistan in the
Soviet-Afghan War, greatly contributing to the eventual withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
*Secessionist uprisings in
Balochistan were put down by the province's
authoritarian Martial Law ruler, General
Rahimuddin Khan, who, due to Martial Law, ruled for an unprecedented seven years.
*The
socialist economic policies of the previous civilian government, which also included aggressive
nationalisation, were gradually reversed; and Pakistan's
Gross National Product greatly rose to among the highest in the world.General Zia lifted Martial Law in
1985, holding partyless elections and handpicking
Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the
Prime Minister of Pakistan, who rubber-stamped Zia's being Chief of Army Staff till 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his politically adminstrative independence grew. Junejo also 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.
President Zia, infuriated, dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in
May 1988. He then called for the holding of fresh elections in November. General Zia-ul-Haq never saw the elections materialize however, as he died in a
plane crash on
August 17 1988, which was later proven to be highly sophisticated
sabotage, the perpetrators of which remain unproven.
Civilian Democracy
From
1988 to
1998, 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. 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. 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.
1999 coup
On
12 October,
1999, Sharif attempted to dismiss army chief
Pervez Musharraf and install
ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Senior Army generals refused to accept Musharraf's dismissal.
Nawaz Sharif ordered the
Jinnah International Airport (Quaid-e-Azam 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. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and General Pervez Musharraf assumed control of the government. General Musharraf arrested Nawaz 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 Nawaz Sharif in Saudi Arabia and guaranteeing he would not be involved in politics for five years. General Musharraf later expelled Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia. Nawaz Sharif lived in Saudi Arabia for more than six years before moving to London in 2005.
The 21st century
On
May 12,
2000 the
Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Pervez Musharraf to hold general elections by
October 12,
2002. In an attempt to legitimize his presidency and assure its continuance after the impending elections, he held a national
referendum on
April 30,
2002, which extended his presidential term to a period ending five years after the October elections. General Musharraf continues to hold post of the army chief.
General elections were held in October 2002 and the centrist, pro-Mushararraf
PML-Q won a
plurality of the seats in the
Parliament. However, parties opposed to Musharraf's 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
supermajority 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
January 1, 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.
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. 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. (see
Waziristan War).
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*
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*
History of Pakistan*
Story of Pakistan*
Pakistan on Encarta*
Historical regions of Pakistan
