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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 Civilization (2500 BCE
1500 BCE) at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
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 throughout
the centuries, influencing the locals and being absorbed among them. Great
ancient empires of the east such as Nandas, Mauryas, and Guptas ruled these
territories at different times. However, in the medieval period, while the
eastern provinces of Punjab and Sindh became aligned with Indo-Islamic
civilization, the western areas became culturally allied with the Iranic
civilization of Afghanistan and Iran. The region served as crossroads of
historic trade routes, including the Silk Road, and as a maritime Centerport,
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 Civilization
collapsed in the middle of the second millennium BCE and was followed by the
Vedic Civilization, which also extended over much of the Indo-Genetic plains.
Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Achaemenid
Persian empire around 543 BCE, Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great in
326 BCE and the Mauryan empire thereafter. 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.489632) of
Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories in
712 CE, the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim 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. 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
gained ascendancy over South Asia.
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.
The War of Independence 1857,
also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, was the region's last major armed struggle
against the foreign British Raj and it laid the foundations for the generally
unarmed freedom struggle, led by the Hindu dominated 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." 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), which
ultimately led to the formation of an independent Pakistan.
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The Indian independence
movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi, demanded freedom from British rule. In early
1947, Britain, coming under strong pressure from other Western nations to end
its violent suppression of the freedom movement, decided to end its rule of
India.
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, B. R. Ambedkar representing
the Untouchable community, 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 set the stage for 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 Kashmir
and Jammu, whose ruler had acceded to India following an invasion by Pashtun
warriors, leading to the First Kashmir War in 1948.
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 ditat by General Ayub Khan, who
was president during 195869, a period of internal instability and a second
war with India in 1965. His successor, Yahya Khan (196971) 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, which invited covert and
later overt Indian intervention that escalated into the Indo-Pakistani War of
1971, and ultimately to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent
state of Bangladesh. 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. Pakistan's secular policies were replaced by Zia's
introduction of the Islamic Shariah 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 alternated 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 US led coalition, specifically
for the defence of Saudi Arabia. Military tensions in the Kargil conflict with
India were followed by a Pakistani military coup d'itat in 1999 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 and was followed, for a temporary
period in office, by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. On 15 November 2007 the
National Assembly completed its tenure and so, pending elections, a caretaker
government was appointed with the former Chairman of the Senate, Muhammad
Mian Soomro as caretaker Prime Minister. However, the December 2007
assassination of Benazir Bhutto during election campaign led to postponement
of elections and also underscored the then prevailing instability of
Pakistan's political system. After the parliamentary elections held in march,
Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.
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"The Priest King"
Wearing Sindhi Ajruk, ca. 2500 BC. National Museum, Karachi
"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.
Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule
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