Pakistan History

Pakistan (National flag)

The flag was officially introduced in 1947. It is based on the Muslim League flag from 1906 with the addition of the white stripe, which represents the country's minority of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. The green color stands for prosperity, the white for peace, the crescent symbolizes progress, and the star stands for enlightenment.

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Pakistan (Prehistory)

The oldest finds of tools are up to 400,000-500,000 years old and include pebble tools belonging to the Soan complex, named after sites on the terraces of the Soan River in northern Punjab. Traces of early, pre-ceramic farming from approximately 7000 BC has been found at Mehrgarh in eastern Baluchistan. In the Baluchistan and the Indus Valley were found in the 4th millennium BC. farming communities, where they grew wheat and barley and had domestic animals such as beef, sheep, goats and donkeys, but also hunted gazelles. These often extensive settlements formed the basis of the Indus culture from the middle of the 3rd to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. with its highly developed urban community. During this culture began the cultivation of rice and cotton; the oldest cotton fabrics known at all are found in Mohenjo-daro. The domestic animals included horse, mule and camel. The decline of the Indus culture occurred gradually and may be due to both societal and environmental factors; eventually the cities are destroyed by attack. The Indus culture in southern Pakistan was followed by the Jhukar culture, which represents a cultural decline. In northern Pakistan, another material culture emerged with painted gray pottery. After 1000 BC the iron was introduced, and at the same time relations with Iran and Afghanistan are traced.

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Pakistan (History)

The early history of Pakistan and North India are closely related, see also India (history). What is today Pakistan was, to varying degrees, under the control of various Indian empires such as the Mauryad Dynasty approximately 320-approx. 185 BC and the Gupta Dynasty approximately 320-approx. 570. In the early 700-t. forced Muslim conquerors into the area, but it was not until the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 that the Muslim rulers created lasting state formations outside Sindh in present-day Pakistan. From 1526 a new period began with major empires under the princes of the Mughal Empire, among which Aurangzeb gained control of the largest area.

British influence began in the 1750's, and in the 1840's Punjab and Sindh were conquered, while direct British rule was imposed after Britain in 1858 had made British India a crown colony. The idea of ​​establishing Pakistan as a separate national home for Muslims in British India originated in the 1930's and was enforced by the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnahs.leadership in the partition of India in 1947. The northwestern regions with Muslim majority as well as the territories that today make up Bangladesh, East Pakistan, were annexed by Pakistan, while the bulk of the other British possessions fell to the new state of India. The division led to some of the most extensive migrations of people in recent times, as Hindus and Sikhs fled Pakistan to India, and Muslims the opposite way. It is estimated that it involved more than 10 million. people, and in the wake of the division, extensive massacres followed on both sides with up to 1 million. killed. That same year, fierce fighting broke out along the border between West Pakistan and India as well as in Kashmir, which had a Muslim majority but whose Hindu prince preferred to join India. It resulted in the first of three wars between the two countries and a division of Kashmir, which none of the countries has ever recognized. Pakistan and India returned to war in 1965 and 1971; the demarcation of Kashmir, however, remained almost unchanged. The conflicts with India spurred Pakistan to forge closer ties with China and the United States.

Since 1947, Pakistan has been plagued by conflicts between different national groups, each with its own language and culture. In the period up to 1971, the Bengalis in eastern Pakistan fought for increased autonomy and a larger share of economic resources. After the 1970-71 elections, the Bengalis' largest party, the Awami League, won, majority in the new parliament, and it escalated the conflict because the largest party in West Pakistan, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), refused to hand over government power to the Bengalis. The army was deployed in eastern Pakistan in March 1971 in an attempt to suppress the uprising. This led to fierce fighting, which ended with India's military intervention in December 1971; this paved the way in the same year for the creation of independent Bangladesh. Both before and after the partition of Pakistan in 1971, there have also been conflicts between national groups in the western part of the country. Pashtuns and Baluchis have repeatedly turned against the dominance of the Punjabis, and the most extreme ones have demanded independence. In the southern province of Sindh, there have been calls for increased independence from the Punjabi-dominated government in Islamabad, but internal strife in Sindh has often overshadowed the opposition to the federal government. The national strife, together with conflicts between country and city as well as disagreements about the role of Islam in society, have made it difficult to govern the country in a democratic way. The powerful Islamic fundamentalists have often neglected democratic procedures to secure greater influence, and so have several of the major parties. The conflicts have repeatedly led the military to intervene and take over government power, first in 1958 under Mohammad Ayub Khan, who was replaced in 1969 by General Mohammad Yahya Khan. After the loss of East Pakistan, he resigned, handing over government power to the leader of the PPP,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The military regained power in 1977 under General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who in 1979 had Bhutto executed. During Zia-ul-Haq's reign, Islam became more important, as e.g. a special federal Islamic court was established. Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash in 1988, after which parliamentary rule was reintroduced. The elections of the same year gave a majority to Bhutto's daughter, Benazir Bhutto, who thus became the first woman to enter the government of a Muslim country. Neither Benazir Bhutto nor his successor, Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, who became prime minister in 1990 as leader of Pakistan's Muslim League, however, managed to create political stability. Benazir Bhutto regained government power in 1993, but had to relinquish it to Nawaz Sharif in 1997.

The post-1988 period has been marked by escalating conflicts between political parties, all of which have used non-parliamentary means to achieve their goals, and national antagonisms as well as social tensions have exacerbated instability, particularly in Karachi. The period has also been marked by major economic problems, which were exacerbated by the Gulf War in 1991, which led to rising expenses for the large oil imports and also to the loss of considerable income from the many Pakistanis who had work in the Gulf region. The country's economy came under pressure again after conducting atomic bomb tests in the spring of 1998; they were conducted in response to Indian test explosions. It increased the transition between Pakistan and the United States, which had been close allies, especially during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979-89.

Nawaz Sharif was ousted as head of government in a bloodless military coup in 1999 after he sought to dismiss army chief Pervez Musharraf. He then took power and was proclaimed president in 2001; in April 2002, Musharraf was elected president for a five-year referendum. On the basis of Musharraf's support for the United States and the fight against terrorism, the country obtained very significant assistance from, among others, USA. Together with Musharraf's liberalization programs launched in 2000, this is the background for solid growth in the Pakistani economy of approximately 7% of GDP.

In foreign policy, relations with India remain a problem, first and foremost in the Kashmir issue. It led to regular acts of war on the armistice line at Kargil in Kashmir in 1999, and in 2002 India threatened a regular invasion. The infiltration of militant Muslims from Pakistan into the Indian part of Kashmir has intensified the antagonism. India further claims that the Kashmir-based Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba has been behind several terrorist acts in India. Since 2003, however, real peace negotiations have been underway between arch-rivals - optimism is symbolized at the opening in 2005 of a direct bus route between the countries.

Pakistani Kashmir was hit in 2005 by a major earthquake that killed over 70,000 and left millions homeless.

Musharraf's active support for the United States following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, led to widespread unrest and discontent among Pakistani fundamentalist groups supporting the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Pakistan is considered one of the main hotbeds of militant Islamism; in particular, the border areas with Afghanistan are effectively out of the control of the central government (see also Waziristan). Furthermore, the security service ISI has repeatedly been accused of supporting radical Islamists with training and financial means. It has been interpreted as an attempt to weaken India's position in Kashmir. In 2007, there was a violent clash between the military and militant Muslims around the Red Mosque in Islamabad. In an attempt to create a broad political front against the religious forces, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto traveled to the country in late 2007 to run in the parliamentary elections, but she was assassinated in December 2007. Along with the continuing rise in terrorist activities, it threw Pakistan out. in a very serious crisis. The parliamentary elections in February 2008 were won by the opposition parties Pakistan Peoples Party, PPP, and the Muslim League with Nawaz Sharif. Together, the parties formed a government under Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of the PPP. The government has chosen to give the fight against terrorism the highest priority. Domestically, they lashed out at President Musharraf by releasing the Supreme Court justices Musharraf had previously placed under house arrest. Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 when it became clear that the government would accuse him of abuse of office and breach of the constitution.

The confrontation with radical Islamists in the form of Pakistani Taliban intensified during 2009. At the beginning of the year, the government tried to conclude a peace agreement with the Islamists by actually handing over to them the province of Swat, which introduced Islamic law. Soon after, Taliban groups began attacking other parts of Pakistan from Swat, after which the army launched a large-scale attack into the province. It triggered a colossal influx of refugees, as more than two million. civilians were displaced by the fierce fighting. The Taliban militia had imposed a brutal terrorist regime in the province, and the army's fight against the Islamists had strong support among the people of Pakistan, including among the displaced from Swat.

In the summer of 2010, large parts of Pakistan were hit by extensive floods associated with the monsoon rains. About 14 million people were affected by the disaster when their homes were destroyed, their fields flooded, or otherwise. The government was criticized for a completely inadequate effort, while the army and Islamist groups organized emergency aid in the affected areas. However, it was difficult to organize a joint effort, as the affected areas stretched from northwestern Pakistan to the southern part of the country. Roads and bridges were largely washed away and it was difficult, due to the heavy rain, to deploy aircraft.

Pakistan's relations with the United States have been strained. The Americans managed to track down and kill the wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan without the Pakistani government having been notified in advance. In addition, there have been extensive attacks by US drones, so-called drones, against militant Islamists in the mountains up to Afghanistan. In addition to the Taliban, a large number of civilians have also been killed in the attacks.

In the May 2013 election, the Muslim League led by the returning Nawaz Sharif won an election victory and he became head of government again. A lawsuit has since been filed against Musharraf.