Pakistan

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Country in southern Asia, stretching from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, bounded to the west by Iran, northwest by Afghanistan, and northeast and east by India.

Government
The 1973 constitution, suspended in 1977, was restored in part and amended in 1985 to make the president the dominant political figure. Primary power resides with the central government, headed by an executive president who is elected for five-year terms by a joint sitting of the federal legislature. The president must be a Muslim. Day-to-day administration is performed by a prime minister (drawn from the national assembly) and cabinet appointed by the president. From 1988, power shifted from the president to the prime minister in what became a dual administration. A military coup in 1999 dissolved the national assembly and the senate and gave the president complete authority.

Pakistan is a federal republic comprising four provinces: Sind, Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Baluchistan, administered by appointed governors and local governments drawn from elected provincial assemblies; Tribal Areas, which are administered by the central government; and the Federal Capital Territory of Islamabad. The federal legislature, the Majlis i-Shura, comprises two chambers: a lower house (national assembly) composed of 207 members directly elected for five-year terms by universal suffrage, with 10 further seats being reserved for minorities; and an upper house (senate) composed of 87 members elected, a third at a time, for six-year terms by provincial assemblies and Tribal Areas following a quota system. The national assembly has sole jurisdiction over financial affairs.

History
For history before 1947, see Indus Valley civilization, and India: history 1526–1858.

The name ‘Pakistan’ for a Muslim division of British India was put forward in 1930 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (1897–1951) from names of the Muslim parts of the subcontinent: Punjab, the Afghan Northwest Frontier, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan. Pak means ‘pure’ in Urdu, and stan means ‘land’.

Fear of domination by the Hindu majority in India led in 1940 to a serious demand by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, for a separate Muslim state. This contributed to the delay in Britain granting independence for some years, but in 1947 British India was divided into two dominions, India and Pakistan.

The formation of Pakistan
The Islamic state of Pakistan was created, on Indian independence in 1947, out of the Northwest Frontier Region, the northwestern region of Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sind (making up West Pakistan), and the eastern region of East Bengal (making up East Pakistan). Jinnah became the first governor general and Liaquat Ali Khan, deputy leader of the Muslim League (1940–47), became the first prime minister.

Sectarian violence had been simmering for years, and at partition hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Hindus were massacred as they fled to the appropriate states. Punjab was the scene of the most violent fighting since there a third community, the Sikhs, was in the majority.

Early conflicts with India
Although Mahatma Gandhi, the hero of Indian independence, forced the Indian National Congress (see Congress Party) to divide the assets of the former government of India, there was no confidence between the two countries.

In the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir the Hindu maharaja opted to join India at partition, and called for Indian intervention when Muslims marched from the north on Srinagar. Fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops was brought to an end by a UN ceasefire on 30 October 1948, but Kashmir continued to be a source of tension and conflict between India and Pakistan.

Another source of tension between the two countries was the question of the use of the rivers of the Punjab. Problems also arose from the fact that the new frontiers divided the cotton and jute mills of Indian Bengal from their sources of supply in East Bengal (East Pakistan), and the consumers of Pakistan from the factories of India.

Political developments to 1958
When Jinnah died in September 1948 the new leaders, mostly lawyers, were not always dedicated to Islam, and others wanted a theocratic state. The prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan laid emphasis on the Islamic nature of the state in order to gain popularity, provoking protest from the Hindus in the national assembly. However, he pursued a policy of making peace with India, and was assassinated in 1951 by objectors to this policy. The period was one of political intrigue and incessant polemic over the Islamic, or even theocratic, nature of Pakistan.

In 1954, in East Bengal, a United Front party led by H S Suhrawardy, leader of the Awami League, massively defeated the Muslim League, and in 1956 President Iskander Mirza was forced to accept Suhrawardy as prime minister, and the East Pakistan legislature voted for total autonomy, except in foreign affairs.

The new constitution introduced in 1956 declared Pakistan an Islamic republic (previously the British monarch had been head of state). The national parliament was to contain 300 members equally represented on both sides, and the prime minister and the cabinet were to govern according to the will of parliament.

Ayub Khan in power
In 1958 Gen Muhammad Ayub Khan led a military coup, suspended the constitution and all political parties, and declared martial law, with himself as the martial-law administrator. Ayub then assumed the presidency, and martial law lasted 44 months. To further his aim of ‘blending democracy with discipline’ he devised the system of ‘basic democracies’, elected by the people, as the local units of development. In the 1960 election the basic democrats gave him a massive mandate, although he received little support from the middle classes.

In 1962 a new constitution was introduced, which vested executive authority with the president, and the title of prime minister was abolished. The national assembly was divided into two provincial assemblies chosen by the basic democrats. Faced with orthodox Muslim opposition, Ayub retreated from early attempts at reform, such as the introduction of laws to restrict polygamy.

Although the economy grew rapidly – 6% per year between 1960 and 1965 – the imbalance between East and West Pakistan increased. The East contributed jute and tea, but most foreign aid, such as the Indus Basin scheme for hydroelectric development sponsored by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, went to the West. Pakistan received US military aid, which was used in 1965 in the war with India over Kashmir (see India). Pakistan was also supported by China, whose own border disputes with India had led to war, and Pakistan has continued to have close relations with China.

Ayub's popularity waned. In 1968 his autocracy was challenged and there was an attempt on his life. The following year, after his attempts at conciliation had failed and under pressure from serious strikes and riots, he resigned and gave way to the army commander in chief Gen Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, who became president.

The creation of Bangladesh
Regional tension had been mounting throughout the 1960s between demographically dominant East Pakistan and West Pakistan, where political and military power was concentrated. In the 1970 general election the separatist Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Sheikh Mujib), won the majority of the East Pakistan seats in the national assembly, while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won a clear majority in the West.

Sheikh Mujib's demand for total autonomy for the East, and not merely in the field of foreign affairs, led Yahya to suspend the constitution in 1971. Mujib's call for a boycott of West Pakistan and a general strike received total support in the East. When the negotiations failed West Pakistan forces invaded the East, brutally suppressed the separatist movement, and arrested Mujib. Million of refugees fled to India from the fighting, and India decided to intervene militarily. The subsequent defeat of Pakistan by Indian forces led in the following year to East Pakistan becoming the independent state of Bangladesh (1972). Despite being cut off from the jute and tea of the East, the Pakistan economy survived the loss. When Bangladesh was accepted into the in 1972, Pakistan left, but rejoined in 1989.

The premiership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Yahya Khan resigned in 1971, passing power in West Pakistan to the People's Party leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who became prime minister, with Chaudhri Fazal Elahi as president. Bhutto introduced a new federal parliamentary constitution in 1973 and a socialist economic programme of land reform and nationalization. The new constitution of 1973 formulated a federation with autonomous units, and a Council of Islamic Ideology was set up in order to bring existing laws into conformity with Islam. Prisoners of war were repatriated, and Bangladesh waived its intention of trying Pakistani ‘war criminals’ in exchange for an agreement in 1974 on the Pakistan external debt.

Separatist movements
The precedent set by Bangladesh led to a new danger of breakaway movements from other states. In 1973 a guerrilla war began in Baluchistan, and the Baluchi governor resigned. In the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) there was also unrest, with the Pathans campaigning for an independent Pakhtoonistan. The Pakhtoonkhwa National Awami Party leader was assassinated, and there was an assassination attempt on the NWFP Awami Party leader, Abdul Wali Khan.

By 1975 guerrilla activities had spread to Sind and the Punjab, and relations with Afghanistan, whose new government laid claim to the NWFP and Baluchistan, became strained when Afghanistan was seen to be supporting the Pakhtoonistan Liberation Front. In February 1975 the home minister Sherpao was assassinated. The NWFP National Awami Party was banned and Wali Khan was arrested, as well as other leaders who were agitating for state autonomy.

Zia seizes power
Despite deteriorating economic conditions, the general election of March 1977 resulted in overwhelming victory for Prime Minister Bhutto, but the opposition parties alleged widespread ballot rigging. Demonstrations and riots followed, leading to the imposition of martial law. Opposition leaders were arrested, and a general strike was called. Eventually the two sides met for talks and agreed to another general election.

However, in July 1977 the army seized power in a bloodless coup, with army chief of staff Gen Zia ul-Haq in control. Martial law was again imposed and political and trade-union activity banned. Bhutto was imprisoned for alleged murder and hanged in 1979.

Islamization and opposition
Gen Zia became president in 1978 and introduced a broad Islamization programme aimed at deepening his support base and appeasing Islamic fundamentalists. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan became a base for US-backed Afghani Islamic Mujahedin fighting Soviet forces, and Pakistan's support led to closer relations with the USA. Pakistan also joined the non-aligned movement in 1979, and has drawn closer to the Islamic states of the Middle East and Africa.

Zia's Islamization programme was opposed by middle-class professionals and by the Shiite minority. In 1981, nine banned opposition parties, including the PPP, formed the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy alliance to campaign for a return to parliamentary government.

The military government responded by arresting several hundred opposition politicians. A renewed democracy campaign in 1983 resulted in considerable anti-government violence in Sind province. From 1982, however, Gen Zia slowly began enlarging the civilian element in his government and in 1984 he held a successful referendum on the Islamization process, which was taken to legitimize his continuing as president for a further five-year term.

Civilian government
In 1985 direct elections were held to the national and provincial assemblies, but on a nonparty basis. A new civilian cabinet was formed and an amended constitution adopted. Martial law and the ban on political parties were lifted, military courts were abolished, and military administrators stepped down in favour of civilians. A government was formed by the Pagaro faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by Muhammad Khan Junejo, which was subservient to Gen Zia. Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and leader of the PPP, returned in 1986 from self-exile in London to launch a popular campaign for immediate open elections. Riots erupted in Lahore, Karachi, and rural Sind, where troops were sent in, and PPP leaders were arrested.

Islamic law introduced
In 1988, concerned with the deteriorating state of the economy and anxious to accelerate the Islamization process, President Zia dismissed the Junejo government and dissolved the national assembly and provincial legislatures, promising fresh elections within 90 days. Ruling by ordinance, Zia decreed that the Shari'a, the Islamic legal code, would immediately become the country's supreme law. A month later he was killed, along with senior army officers, in a military air crash near Bahawalpur. Sabotage was suspected.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the Senate's elderly chair, succeeded as president. In subsequent multiparty elections the PPP, which had moved towards the centre in its policy stance, emerged as the largest single party.

Benazir Bhutto's first premiership
After forging a coalition with the Mohajir National Movement (MQM), Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister in November 1988, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected president. The new Bhutto administration pledged itself to a free-market economic programme, and to leave the military budget untouched. It also pledged its support of the Islamic Mujahedin fighting the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan. In October 1989 the MQM withdrew from the ruling coalition and allied itself with the opposition Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA). The Bhutto government narrowly survived a vote of no confidence a month later.

Nawaz Sharif's first premiership
Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed from office by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in August 1990 on accusations of incompetence, corruption, and abuse of power. In October 1990 the opposition swept to victory and Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto's former chief minister of Punjab province, became prime minister. Sharif had headed the IDA, which incorporated the PML (led by former premier Muhammad Khan Junejo). The IDA captured 105 of the 207 parliamentary seats contested to the 45 of Bhutto's PPP. It also secured control of three of the four provincial assemblies, Bhutto's Sind stronghold being the exception. Sharif promised to pursue a free-market economic programme and was supported by the military, state bureaucracy, and mullahs.

During the Gulf crisis and war against Iraq of 1990–91, Pakistan sent 11,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to guard Islamic shrines, but there was considerable anti-Americanism within the country and popular support for the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Islamic law enforced
In May 1991 a sharia bill enforcing Islamic law and designed to create an ‘Islamic welfare state’ was enacted. The opposition PPP, though welcoming parts of the social-reform programme, unsuccessfully voted against the bill. Nawaz Sharif also launched a privatization and deregulation programme, but these reforms were soon upset by labour unrest and terrorist incidents, and by the uncovering of a financial scandal involving Nawaz Sharif's family and members of the government.

In September 1992 floods devastated the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in 2,000 deaths and the destruction of a fifth of the area's cotton crop. The Pakistani government came under attack for its handling of the disaster, which also caused 500 deaths in northern India.

Political stalemate
From early 1993 President Khan and Prime Minister Sharif were locked in a power struggle, contesting each other's authority at every level. Five months of political stalemate ended in July 1993 when the national assembly was dissolved and both Khan and Sharif resigned.

Benazir Bhutto's second premiership
In the October 1993 general election Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister for a second time after the PPP and its allies secured a narrow victory over the PML, led by Sharif. The PPP was also able to form governments in Bhutto's home province of Sind and, in coalition, in the crucial state of Punjab. In November 1993 Farooq Leghari, drawn from Bhutto's PPP, was indirectly elected state president, promising to reduce the powers of the presidency and strengthen the prime-ministerial system.

From 1992 regional factional violence increased. In March 1995 two US diplomats were killed in an ambush in Karachi, an area that had seen escalating conflict between militant political, ethnic, and religious groups since 1994. There was also civil strife in North-West Frontier Province, where Islamic fundamentalism was on the increase.

In April 1996 the former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan formed the new Movement for Justice (Tehreek-e-Insaaf) to fight against corruption and injustice. Violent demonstrations, headed by fundamentalist Islamic parties, resulted when new tax increases, amounting to $1.2 billion, penalized poor people while the landed elite remained largely untaxed.

Benazir Bhutto dismissed again
Amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement against Benazir Bhutto and her government, President Leghari tried to persuade her to resign. She denied the charges against her, refused to resign, and was dismissed in November 1996. The president also dissolved the national and provincial assemblies.

In January 1997, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of President Leghari's dismissal of the Bhutto government, accepting the president's case that it had been characterized by nepotism, corruption, and misrule, and had been responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in Karachi. In the same month Bhutto's father-in-law Hakim Ali Zardari was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

In January 1997 the interim government of Malik Meraj Khalid established a Council for Defence and National Security (CDNS) to advise the government on a range of security issues. By including chiefs of staff of the army, navy, and airforce, along with the president, prime minister, and defence, interior, and foreign ministers, it gave the military a formal role in the political power structure for the first time since the death of Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1988.

The 1997 elections
Nawaz Sharif, prime minister 1990–93 and leader of the right-of-centre Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML–N), secured a landslide victory in the February 1997 general election, winning 134 of the lower house's 204 directly elected seats: a further 13 seats were reserved for women and minorities. (Sharif enjoyed the support of 181 deputies in total). The centrist Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won only 18 seats – down from 86 at the previous election. The Movement for Justice (Tehreek-e-Insaaf) party, led by Imran Khan, won little support and no seats; however, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, a Sind-based ethnic-rights party, polled strongly, winning 12 seats. Turnout slumped to 25%, reflecting disenchantment with the political process. Provincial elections were held simultaneously. Asif Zardari, the husband of Benazir Bhutto, was elected to the senate despite being still in detention in jail.

Nawaz Sharif's second premiership
The new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged not to seek to ‘victimize’ his defeated opponents and promised market-centred economic reforms and improved relations with India. However, his room for manoeuvre was constrained by financial restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund, as the country was heavily in debt.

In April 1997 legislation was passed by parliament that curbed the power of the president – granted during an earlier period of military rule – to dismiss a government summarily and appoint provincial governors and top military officers. Tax rates and tariffs were also reduced; 13 state-owned companies were earmarked for privatization; and, as part of an ‘accountability’ drive against corruption, in April 1997 the head of the navy was dismissed and a number of bureaucrats suspended.

In 1998 Benazir Bhutto, at the time in self-imposed exile, was charged with corruption, which marked the beginning of lengthy judicial proceedings agains her and her husband. In April 1999, she and her husband were found guilty of corruption and given five-year prison sentences. In November 1999 she was named as corrupt by the military government in Pakistan, as it fulfilled its threat to crack down on corruption among politicians and businesses.

Nuclear capability
The USA suspended military aid in 1990 after learning that Pakistan was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto admitted in 1991 that Pakistan had the facilities for rapid construction of a nuclear weapon, and in 1994 Nawaz Sharif declared that the country had a nuclear bomb. In May 1998, in response to nuclear tests in India, Pakistan conducted five nuclear explosions on its territory. This further fuelled the tension between the two countries and angered public opinion worldwide.

In August 1998, two months after nuclear tests in Baluchistan, the government faced street protests against the growing economic crisis. This was brought about largely by the suspension of Western economic aid, credits from the IMF and investment, as a result of the tests. The value of the Pakistani rupee plunged and there was a sharp rise in the inflation rate and in government debt. In November 1998 US economic sanctions, which had been imposed as punishment for Pakistan's May 1997 nuclear tests, were partially lifted. This was a reward for Pakistan's announcement of a voluntary moratorium on further tests, a commitment to adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the resumption of dialogue with India over disputed Kashmir. It paved the way for the government, on 25 November 1998, to agree a US$5.5 billion economic bailout package with the IMF and World Bank.

Throughout 1998 the increasing public disillusionment with the political class helped to strengthen the position of Islamic fundamentalists who, although still a clear minority, had growing influence, following the 1980s Islamization reforms, within the army and bureaucracy. In response, Prime Minister Sharif proposed, in September 1998, revising the constitution to introduce full Islamic law, but faced strong opposition within parliament. In October 1998 federal rule was imposed on Sindh and the provincial government was dismissed, as a result of escalating violence, with around 800 people having been killed in Karachi during 1998. The deaths were the result of violent clashes between rival factions of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a party orientated towards Urdu-speaking Muslims who had migrated from India on partition in 1947. The MQM had ended its national and provincial level coalition with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) in October 1998. In June 1999 India agreed to enter peace talks on Kashmir.

Religious conflict and social unrest continued in Pakistan into 1999. Many people feared an upsurge in the wave of sectarian killings that had claimed more than 3,500 lives since the early 1990s. Thousands of opposition supporters held demonstrations in September 1999, calling on the Prime Minister Sharif to step down. It was one of the biggest protests since he was re-elected in 1997. Traders were also protesting against a new tax, which formed part of an agreement with the IMF.

Takeover by Musharraf
Pakistan's army in October 1999 overthrew Pakistan's government after Nawaz Sharif tried to sack General Pervez Musharraf from the top military job. Troops seized Sharif, government buildings in Islamabad, airports, and a TV studio as the general promised to maintain stability. Governments all over the world condemned the coup, while Pakistan's opposition leaders welcomed it. Gen Musharraf, who also appointed himself the country's chief executive, declared a state of emergency. The army general also dissolved Pakistan's legislature and suspended the constitution.

The Commonwealth said in October 1999 it would suspend Pakistan after the military coup led by Gen Musharraf. The success of his bloodless takeover was due largely to the fact that the army was solidly behind him. Furthermore, Musharraf demonstrated that despite the ousted prime minister Sharif sweeping back to power 32 months earlier with a big mandate, he had become so unpopular that the army could takeover without soliciting any serious protest. He said the new regime would be largely civilian in character, but declared a state of emergency, suspended the country's constitution, and was holding Sharif, as well as an unknown number of ministers and other politicians, under house arrest.

Five days after taking power, General Musharraf announced a seven-point programme, which included reviving the economy and restoring the confidence of investors, insuring law and order, and ‘rebuilding national confidence and morale’. A team from the Commonwealth visited Pakistan to ask when it would return to civilian and democratic rule. According to reports, Musharraf expected no change for a year.

Musharraf unveiled in October a 10-member civilian cabinet. The cabinet, to be known as the National Security Council, included Shaukat Aziz, a senior executive with Citibank in New York, as his finance minister, and the central bank governor, Mohammed Yaqub, who had worked at the IMF for 20 years. Although Musharraf, who had declared himself Pakistan's new Chief Executive, selected non-political figures to man the council, many had traditionally maintained close links with the army. He allowed President Rafiq Tarar to remain in post and did not restrict press freedom or impose military courts, although he did insist that civilian judges take an oath of allegiance to the military government (some of whom refused to do so). The coup, which marked the first time in history that a military regime has taken over a nuclear power, was broadly supported within Pakistan. This was largely due to the unpopularity of Sharif's government, which was tainted by corruption and economic mismanagement.

Pakistan's junta in November laid treason charges against the deposed prime minister. Nawaz Sharif and seven others were accused of treason and kidnapping, which carried the death penalty. News of the charges came as diplomats attending the biennial Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in Durban, South Africa, were debating the fate of Pakistan, which had been suspended and faced further sanctions. The Pakistani military authorities had refused to give in to Commonwealth demands that they give a timetable for the restoration of democracy, and Pakistan was effectively suspended from the Commonwealth.

A month after the takeover, the military had been only reassured by what it had heard from US and IMF officials. In November 1999, Nawaz Sharif made a formal appearance in a court in Karachi. Although he denied the charges against him, the military government indicated in early December 1999 that he continued to face the charges. In January 2000 a Pakistani judge refused to let his trial proceed on the grounds that a fair trial would be impossible in the presence of the intelligence officials. Despite this and the refusal of six Supreme Court judges in Pakistan to swear an oath of allegiance to the new military government, the trial finally began in January 2000. The crisis for the country as a whole was marked by the simultaneous explosion of two bombs in Karachi, where the trial was taking place. One of the bombs was in the compound of the city court. During the trial, Sharif said that General Musharraf plotted his overthrow after they clashed over Pakistani policy in 1999 with regard to the dispute in Kashmir. Days before the closing arguments in the trial, one of Sharif's lawyers was shot dead by masked gunmen and the others demanded a safer venue. The government banned outdoor gatherings. Meanwhile, a police investigation was launched into the life of of Kulsoom Sharif, the wife of the deposed prime minister. She was accused of treason after criticizing the military government. Sharif was found guilty of terrorism and hijacking an aircraft, but acquitted of charges of conspiracy to murder and kidnapping. He was given two life sentences to run concurrently. He was later also sentenced on charges of corruption to 14 years' imprisonment, fined 20 million rupees/US$35,400, and banned from holding political office. In December 2000, he went into exile in Saudi Arabia, having his jail sentence pardoned by President Musharraf after appealing for permission to go abroad for medical help.

Renewed Indian–Pakistani conflict
India continued to attack Pakistan-sponsored infiltrators with air strikes in Kashmir in June 1999, claiming it was winning the war which had began in May. The warlike conflict between Pakistan and India appeared to have been averted in July 1999. However, in January 2000 relations with India worsened when India accused Pakistan of involvement in a week-long hijacking of an Indian airliner by Kashmiri militants who demanded the release of terrorists imprisoned by India. Pakistan denied any involvement. The Indian government agreed to release three prisoners, including the Islamic religious leader Maulana Masood Azhar, who subsequently appeared in public on Pakistani soil. Shelling and clashes in Kashmir heightened tension between India and Pakistan just before the scheduled visit to the area of US president Clinton. Both sides denied responsibility for attacks. The possibility of a ceasefire and peace talks over Kashmir were denied when India refused any involvement from Pakistan in negotiations in August 2000, and hostile relations between India and Pakistan continued.

A return to democracy?
In August, Musharraf announced non-party elections would be held between December 2000 and August 2001 to local councils which would in turn elect district councils. He reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 and reserved a third of the seats for women. He also decreed that those convicted of criminal offences or moral corruption would be disqualified from holding office. This banned over 100 political leaders, including ex-premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. In November, supporters of Bhutto and Sharif, formerly opponents, joined with 15 smaller parties to form the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, designed to achieve an early end to military rule.

In January 2001, the government announced that, from July, all bank transactions must be in strict accordance with sharia (Islamic law), which forbids the charging of interest.

In March the government arrested several opposition leaders who were members of the alliance, which had been planning a rally in April. The rally did not go ahead, and more than 1,600 activists were arrested the week it was planned to take place.

In April, the Supreme Court set aside the 1999 corruption conviction of the exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and ordered her retrial.

Offer of talks with India accepted
India unexpectedly ended its six-month-old ceasefire in Kashmir on 24 May 2001, and invited Musharraf, to Delhi, India, to discuss the future of the disputed territory. The offer of talks was seen as a major diplomatic initiative, and the invitation by Indian prime minister Vajpayee was formally accepted.

Musharraf becomes president
Gen Musharraf had himself sworn in as president on 20 June 2001. Earlier, the general had dissolved the already suspended National Assembly and Senate, and dismissed President Rafiq Tarar, a primarily ceremonial figure who had little say in the running of the country. It was widely assumed that Musharraf wished to consolidate his authority ahead of his meeting with the Indian prime minister on 14 July. In August, Musharraf promised to hold provincial and federal elections in early October 2002, but gave no indication of intending to give up his position as leader. He was expected to introduce changes to the constitution to strengthen the position of president, and create a new political system – run by civilians but supervised by the army.

Support for anti-terrorist coalition
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the USA on 11 September, President Musharraf said he would support US military action against Afghanistan. However he faced widespread opposition on the streets, as anti-US riots took place across the country during the first week of US and UK military strikes 7–14 October, resulting in the death of four protestors in the Punjab town of Dera Ghazi Khan. Pakistan also faced a humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Afghan cities and head for the Pakistani border. To forestall a general strike, called to protest against the US bombing of Afghanistan, the government ordered the Islamic leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed to be detained in a government rest house for a month. However, the strike went ahead on 9 November, with extremist religious parties trying to consolidate opposition to President Musharraf's pro-Western policies.

Increased tension with India
After five armed assailants broke into India's parliament building in December 2001, resulting in 14 deaths, India demanded that Pakistan take action against Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani-based Islamic militant group accused of carrying out the attack. India also accused Pakistan's intelligence services of actively supporting the attack. As political tension escalated, the two countries mounted large-scale military build-ups on their borders.

US reporter kidnapped and murdered
Police searching for Daniel Pearl, a US reporter kidnapped in Pakistan in late January 2002, raided houses in Karachi, where he had been last seen. Six suspects were detained. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born extremist who became a kidnapping specialist for the militant group Islamic Jihad, was arrested on 12 February as chief suspect in Pearl's kidnapping. At first, Sheikh raised hopes that Pearl was still alive, but then told a court in Karachi on 14 February that he had kidnapped the US journalist and that he was dead. This was confirmed on 21 February when a videotape showing Pearl's murder was delivered to US officials in Karachi.

In March 2002, five people, including the wife and daughter of a US diplomat, were killed in a terrorist attack on a church in Islamabad. The attack on the church in the heart of the diplomatic enclave injured 45 people. It was the second attack on Christians in Pakistan since the US-led War on Terrorism began; in October 2001 armed assailants had killed 15 Christians and a Muslim in an attack on a church in the city of Bahawalpur.

In April, Musharraf won 98% backing in a referendum proposing the extension of his rule for five years.

Threat of war
In May 2002, Musharraf was accused by India of backing Islamic militant incursions into Indian-administered Kashmir. Musharraf denied the claims, and the countries came closer to war. Pakistan's test-firing of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads was seen as deliberately antagonistic by India, and troop build-ups on the Kashmir line of control continued. In June under diplomatic pressure from the USA, India announced a series of measures to reduce tension with Pakistan, including withdrawing its navy from waters near Pakistan and ending a ban on Pakistani civil aircraft entering its airspace.

In the same month a suicide bomber drove a van loaded with explosives into the US consulate in Karachi, killing 11 people and injuring at least 45 more. Islamic militants opposed to both the US military intervention in Afghanistan and the government's attempts to stop militant infiltration into Indian-controlled Kashmir were thought to be responsible.

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