Main articles: History of Pakistan and History of South Asia"The Priest King" Wearing Sindhi Ajruk, ca. 2500 BC. National Museum, Karachi, Pakistan
From the earliest period of pre-history and recorded history of the region, modern Pakistan formed the heart-land of a larger territory, extending beyond its present eastern and western borders and receiving momentous and mighty impacts from both the directions.
The
Indus region, which covers much of Pakistan, was the site of several ancient cultures including the Neolithic era
Mehrgarh and the Bronze era Indus Valley Civilisation (2500 BCE – 1500 BCE) at
Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro.
[11]Waves of conquerors and migrants from the west — including Harappan,
Indo-Aryan,
Persian,
Greek,
Saka,
Parthian,
Kushan,
Hephthalite,
Afghan,
Arab,
Turkics and
Mughal — settled in the region through out the centuries, influencing the locals and being absorbed among them. Great ancient empires of the east — such as the
Nandas,
Mauryas,
Sungas,
Guptas, and the
Palas — ruled these territories at different times from
Patliputra. Also
Emperor Harsha of
Thanesar ruled present-day Pakistan for over half a century. However, in the medieval period, while the eastern provinces of Punjab and Sindh grew aligned with
Indo-Islamic civilisation, the western areas became culturally allied with the
Iranian civilisation of
Afghanistan and
Iran.
[12] The region served as crossroads of historic trade routes, including the
Silk Road, and as a maritime entreport for the coastal trade between
Mesopotamia and beyond up to
Rome in the west and
Malabar and beyond up to China in the east.
The Indus Valley Civilisation collapsed in the middle of the second millennium BCE and was followed by the
Vedic Civilisation, which also extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plains. Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the
Achaemenid Persian empire
[13] around 543 BCE, Greek empire founded by
Alexander the Great[14] in 326 BCE and the
Mauryan empire there after. The
Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by
Demetrius of Bactria included
Gandhara and
Punjab from 184 BCE, and reached its greatest extent under
Menander, establishing the
Greco-Buddhist period with advances in trade and culture. The city of
Taxila (Takshashila) became a major centre of learning in ancient times — the remains of the city, located to the west of
Islamabad, are one of the country's major
archaeological sites. The
Rai Dynasty (c.489–632) of
Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories.
An engraving titled "Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule" gives a contemporary view of events from the British perspective.
In 712
CE, the Arab general
Muhammad bin Qasim[15] conquered
Sindh and
Multan in southern
Punjab. The Pakistan government's official chronology states that "its foundation was laid" as a result of this conquest.
[16] This
Arab and
Islamic victory would set the stage for several successive Muslim empires in South Asia, including the
Ghaznavid Empire, the
Ghorid Kingdom, the
Delhi Sultanate and the
Mughal Empire. During this period,
Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to
Islam. The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth century provided opportunities for the
Afghans,
Balochis and
Sikhs to exercise control over large areas until the
British East India Company[17] gained ascendancy over South Asia.
The
1857 War of Independence, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, was the region's last major armed struggle against
British Raj and it laid the foundations for the generally unarmed freedom struggle, led by the Hindu-majority
Indian National Congress in the twentieth century. The
All India Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fears of under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. On 29 December 1930,
Allama Iqbal's presidential address called for an autonomous "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims, within the body politic of India."
[18] Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the
Two Nation Theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the
Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as the
Pakistan Resolution. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders of
British India — including Nehru and
Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League and
Master Tara Singh representing the
Sikhs — agreed to the proposed terms of transfer of power and independence. The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27
Ramadan 1366 in the
Islamic Calendar), carved out of the two Muslim-majority wings in the eastern and northwestern regions of
British India and comprising the provinces of
Balochistan,
East Bengal, the
North-West Frontier Province,
West Punjab and
Sindh. The controversial
division of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal caused communal riots across India and Pakistan — millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan and millions of Hindus and
Sikhs moved to India. Disputes arose over several
princely states including Muslim-majority
Jammu and Kashmir, whose
Hindu ruler had acceded to India following an invasion by Pashtun tribal militias, leading to the
First Kashmir War in 1948.
Governor General Jinnah delivering the opening address on 11 August 1947 to the new state of Pakistan.
The two wings of Pakistan in 1970;
East Pakistan separated from the West wing in 1971 as an independent
Bangladesh.
From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a
Dominion in the
Commonwealth of Nations. It became a Republic in 1956, but the civilian rule was stalled by a
coup d’état by General
Ayub Khan, who was president during 1958–69, a period of internal instability and a
second war with India in 1965. His successor,
Yahya Khan (1969–71) had to deal with a devastating
cyclone — which caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan — and also face a civil war in 1971. Economic grievances and political dissent in
East Pakistan led to violent political tension and
military repression that escalated into a
civil war,
[19]. After 9 months of guerrilla warfare between
Pakistan Army and the Bengali
Mukti Bahini militia backed by India, later Indian intervention escalated into the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and ultimately to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of
Bangladesh.
[20] Estimates of the number of people killed during this episode vary greatly, from ~30,000 to over 2 million, depending on the source.
Civilian rule resumed in Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 under
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, until he was deposed and later sentenced to death (in what his followers claimed was a judicial murder) in 1979 by General
Zia-ul-Haq, who became the country's third military president. Zia introduced the Islamic
Sharia legal code, which increased religious influences on the civil service and the military. With the death of President Zia in a plane crash in 1988,
Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Over the next decade, she fought for power with
Nawaz Sharif as the country's political and economic situation worsened. Pakistan got involved in the 1991
Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a U.S.-led coalition, specifically for the defence of
Saudi Arabia.
[21] Military tensions in the
Kargil conflict[22] with India was followed by a
Pakistani military coup d'état in 1999[23] in which General
Pervez Musharraf assumed executive powers. In 2001, Musharraf became
President after the controversial resignation of
Rafiq Tarar. After the 2002 parliamentary elections, Musharraf transferred executive powers to newly-elected Prime Minister
Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was succeeded in the 2004 prime-ministerial election by
Shaukat Aziz. On 15 November 2007 the National Assembly completed its tenure and new elections were called. The exiled political leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were permitted to return to Pakistan. However, the
assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December during election campaign led to postponement of elections and nationwide riots. Bhutto's
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won most number of seats in the elections held in February, 2008 and its member
Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.
[24] On 18 August, 2008 Pervez Musharaff resigned from the presidency when faced with
impeachment.
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