Sufi shrines — the soul of Pakistani Islam
Pakistan is home to some of the Islamic world's most visited Sufi shrines — Data Darbar in Lahore and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan — representing a devotional Islam coexisting uneasily with Wahhabist-influenced official culture.
Pakistan's Independence and Partition
The partition of British India on August 14–15, 1947 created Pakistan and India amid the largest mass migration in human history.
→Partition of IndiaMuhammad Ali Jinnah — Founder of Pakistan
The "Father of the Nation" Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the primary architect of Pakistan's creation.
→Muhammad Ali JinnahMuhammad Ali Jinnah — father of a nation dies
Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah died of tuberculosis on 11 September 1948, just 13 months after Pakistan's creation, leaving the new state without its most unifying figure.
Ayub Khan's Military Rule and the 'Green Revolution'
Pakistan's first military dictator modernised the economy and introduced high-yield crops that transformed agriculture.
→Ayub KhanIndus Waters Treaty — Water Diplomacy Between Nuclear Rivals
The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan is one of the world's most successful examples of international water-sharing diplomacy.
→Indus Waters Treaty1965 Indo-Pakistan War — Operation Gibraltar fails
Pakistan's covert infiltration of Kashmir triggered the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War — a three-week conflict ending in a UN ceasefire that left both sides exactly where they started.
1971 war — the birth of Bangladesh
Pakistan's military crackdown on East Pakistan and India's intervention in December 1971 produced the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops — the worst military capitulation since WWII — and the creation of Bangladesh.
Creation of Bangladesh — 1971 Liberation War
Pakistan's military crackdown in East Pakistan triggered a war that killed up to 3 million people and created Bangladesh.
→Bangladesh Liberation WarExecution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — Pakistan's founding democratic martyr
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first elected prime minister, was hanged on 4 April 1979 after a controversial murder conviction under General Zia ul-Haq, making him Pakistan's most potent political symbol.
Pakistan's nuclear tests — the Islamic bomb
On 28 May 1998, Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests at Chagai, responding to India's tests and making Pakistan the seventh nuclear-armed state — and the first in the Muslim world.
Pakistan Becomes a Nuclear Power
Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests made it the world's seventh nuclear power and the first Muslim-majority nation to develop nuclear weapons.
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