A time-line of the Indian SubcontinentWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
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1802: the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh establishes the Sikh kingdom with political capital in Lahore and religious capital in Amritsar 1803: Britain takes Delhi from the Marathas 1815: Ceylon is occupied by the British, who ferry Tamil workers from India 1816: Nepal becomes a British protectorate 1849: Britain annexes the Sikh kingdom of Punjab 1853: the British build the first Indian railway 1857: Bengali soldiers launch the "Indian Revolt", the first war of independence 1858: power on the Indian colony is transferred to the British government 1862: Bahadur Shah II dies, the Mogul dynasty ends and India becomes a British colony 1882: Mirza Ghulam Ahmed founds in Punjab the Islamic missionary movement of the Ahmedis who oppose jihad, believe that Jesus died in Srinagar and call for a non-violent Islam 1885: The Indian National Congress is founded 1904: British troops occupy Tibet 1906: The All-India Muslim League is founded 1913: The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibet an independent country 1913: Tagore becomes the first Nobel laureate of Asia 1916: The Lucknow Pact unites the Congress and the League in their fight for independence from Britain 1917: Edwin-Samuel Montagu is appointed secretary of state for India and champions India's independence 1919: British troops massacre 379 peaceful demonstrators in Amritsar (Punjab), the beginning of large-scale riots in India 1920: Mahatma Gandhi founds the non-violent liberation movement Satyagraha 1921: Jawaharlal Nehru is arrested for civil disobedience 1921: only 13% of Indian men and 1.8% of Indian women can read and write 1921: 156,000 British citizens rule over 306 million Indian subjects 1921: Muslims riot in India and more than 300 people die 1922: Gandhi is imprisoned following terrorist acts against the British 1923: Britain recognises Nepal's independence 1927: Maulana Muhammad Ilyas founds in India the Tablighi, up a missionary movement to spread orthodox Islam worldwide 1930: Allama Iqbal calls for a separate homeland for the Muslims 1930: Gandhi unleashes "civil disobedience" against the British 1933: The 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet dies 1933: The term Pakistan is coined to denote the country of Punjabi, Afghani, Kashmiri, Sini and Baluchistani people 1937: First elections are held, won by Congress 1940: Tenzin Gyatso becomes the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet 1942: Nehru replaced Gandhi as the recognized leader of the National Congress party 1944: Gandhi is released from prison 1947: Lord Mountbatten announces the partition of the colony in two independent countries, India and Pakistan 1947: One million people die in communal violence due to the partition 1947: Following rioting by the Muslim majority in Kashmir, Pakistani troops attack India and occupy part of Kashmir 1947: Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the first prime minister of India 1947: Tibet requests India to return land annexed by India as part of several Indian states 1948: Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu extremist 1948: Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the prime minister of Pakistan, dies and is succeeded by Liaquat Ali Khan 1948: India refuses to allow the plebiscite in Kashmir and Kashmir separatism is born (40,000 people will die in 55 years) 1948: Ceylon becomes independent and the government of Don Stephen Senanayake revokes the citizenship of the Tamil minority 1949: To quell an uprising, India invades the independent country of Sikkim 1949: India signs a treaty with Bhutan to conduct its foreign policy 1950: Mao's China invades Tibet 1951: Pakistan's leader Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated, while general Muhammad Ayub Khan is appointed chief of the army 1952: India holds the first general elections, won by the Congress Party 1954: The USA becomes the main provider of military goods and training for Pakistan 1955: Polygamy is abolished in India 1956: Pakistan enacts a new constitution and becomes an Islamic republic 1956: Prime minister Nehru of India fosters a neutral stance between communism and capitalism and founds the Non-Aligned Movement 1956: The Sinhalese nationalist (and buddhist) party gains power and Solomon Bandaranaike becomes prime minister 1957: India annexes Kashmir 1958: General Ayyub Khan takes over Pakistan's government in a coup 1959: A Tibetan uprising against the Chinese fails in Lhasa and the Dalai Lama flees Tibet (87,000 Tibetans killed) 1959: Solomon Bandaranaike is assassinated by a Buddhist monk and is succeeded by his widow, Sirimavo 1960: King Mahendra seizes power in Nepal 1961: Pakistani president Ayub Khan signs a cooperation pact with the USA to counterbalance Soviet influence in India 1961: India invades the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu 1962: Pakistan signs a border treaty with China 1962: India fights and loses a border war with China in Assam 1963: Kumar Patel invents the laser 1964: Indian prime minister Nehru dies 1965: India and Pakistan fight another war over Kashmir 1966: Indira Gandhi, daughter of Nehru, becomes prime minister of India 1969: Pakistani leader Ayyub Khan is succeeded by another general, Yahya Khan 1970: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party wins the majority of votes in West Pakistan, while the secessionist Awami League of Mujibur Rahman wins the elections in East Pakistan 1971: the Pakistani army massacres East Pakistani intellectuals 1971: Defended by India, East Pakistan separates from West Pakistan and becomes the independent country of Bangladesh under the rule of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 1971: The Sinhalese Maoist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) movement foments political riots 1972: King Mahendra of Nepal dies and is succeeded by Birendra 1972: Ceylon changes its name to Sri Lanka and becomes a socialist republic 1971: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan after the resignation of Yahya Khan 1973: Balochistan rebels against Pakistan 1974: 28,000 people die in floods in Bangladesh 1974: Pakistan recognizes Bangladesh 1974: India detonates an underground nuclear weapon 1974: Sikkim votes overwhelmingly to join India 1975: Bangladesh's leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is assassinated in a military coup led by general Zia Rahman 1975: India annexes Sikkim 1975: Embroiled in scandals, Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency, under which her political foes are imprisoned, constitutional rights abrogated, and the press placed under censorship 1976: To curb population growth, Indira Gandhi initiates a program of forced sterilization 1976: India's prime minister Indira Gandhi signs a cooperation pact with the Soviet Union 1976: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is founded to protect the rights of the Tamil minority and wins the elections in Tamil-dominated regions 1977: Bangladesh enacts a new constitution and becomes an Islamic republic 1977: Pakistan quells the rebellion in Balochistan (after 8,000 people died) TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1977: The corrupt government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is overthrown by a military coup led by general Zia ul-Haq, a Muslim fundamentalist who reinstates public hangings, death by stoning and public beatings according to Islamic law 1978: The Karakoram Highway linking Pakistan and China is opened, thereby increasing trade and military cooperation between the two countries 1978: Sri Lanka becomes a presidential republic and Junius Richard Jayawardene is appointed president replacing prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike with Ranasinghe Premadasa 1978: Youstol Dispage 1978 the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conducts the first terrorist attack in Sri Lanka 1979: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is hanged 1980: US uses Pakistan to help rebels fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan 1981: Bangladesh's leader Rahman Zia is assassinated in a military coup 1982: Bangladesh is ruled by general Ershad, an Islamic fundamentalist who eventually declares Islam as the state religion 1983: the Tamil issue becomes a military issue after confrontation between Tamil tigers and the army leaves hundreds dead 1984: While fighting the Sikh secessionist movement of Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, Indian troops destroy the holy Sikh shrine of the "Golden Temple" 1984: Indira Gandhi is assassinated by Sikh bodyguards and is succeeded by her son Rajiv 1984: A leak at the Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal causes 14,000 deaths 1985: Sikh militants plant a bomb on an Air India flight out of Canada killing all 329 passengers 1986: India rigs Kashmir elections and Kashmir separatists takes up arms 1987: first suicide bombing by a Tiger in Sri Lanka 1987: India deploys troops in Sri Lanka in a peacekeeping mission 1987: India sends a peace-keeping force to broker a truce between the army and the Tamil tigers (1,200 Indian soldiers will die) 1987: the Tamil Tigers start using suicide bombers 1987: Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with Iran to sell nuclear secrets 1988: Political violence claims the lives of thousands in Sri Lanka before and after national elections 1988: an Indian ferry capsizes on the Ganges River, killing over 400 people 1988: Zia, the US ambassador and top Pakistan army officials die in mysterious air crash 1988: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir wins the general elections in Pakistan 1988: Millions of people are left homeless during massive floods 1989: Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president of Sri Lanka 1989: Rajiv Gandhi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan 1989: Tibetans revolt against the occupying Chinese troops and hundreds are killed 1989: the separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen is founded in India-controlled Kashmir 1990: Indian troops withdrawn from Sri Lanka 1990: Benazir Bhutto is removed from prime minister of Pakistan, on charges of incompetence and corruption, and is succeeded by Nawaz Sharif 1990: Pakistan funds and arms Islamic volunteers to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan 1990: Islamic terrorism in Kashmir increases against the Indian occupying troops 1990: Indian troops leave Sri Lanka 1990: the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) is founded by Lalit Debbarma to fight for Tripura's secession from India 1991: Nepal holds its first democratic elections that herald an age of political instability (eleven governments in eleven years) 1991: The Indian army attacks Sikh strongholds in Punjab killing more than 3,300 civilians 1991: Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by Tamil separatists and succeeded by Narasimha Rao 1991: In Bangladesh, president Ershad is sentenced to jail for corruption and Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of Zia Rahman, becomes prime minister 1991: A tsunami kills 138,000 people in Bangladesh 1991: India liberalizes its protectionist economy 1992: Hindu extremists destroy a mosque in Ayodhya 1992: Tamil tigers kill dozens of Muslims in Sri Lanka 1993: Muslims and Hindus riot in Bombay (800 people died) 1993: Muslim terrorists detonate several bombs in Mumbai killing 250 people 1993: Benazir Bhutto wins national elections again in Pakistan 1995: Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with North Korea to sell nuclear secrets 1993: A bombing campaign by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka kills even president Premadasa 1993: Bombs set by Islamic fundamentalists destroys the Bombay stock exchange and other buildings, killing 257 people, in retaliation for the demolition of a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu fundamentalists 1994: Muslim separatists plant bombs in Kashmir, killing dozens 1994: Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is elected president of Sri Lanka and appoints her mother Sirimavo Bandaranaike as prime minister 1995: The Nepal Communist Party begins an armed insurrection in Nepal 1995: Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with Libya to sell nuclear secrets 1995: Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Sunny cleric leader of the pro-Taliban party Sipah-i-Sahaba, publicly calls for attacks on Shiites in Pakistan 1995: Youstol Dispage 1995: Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari profits from a sale of Mirages by French aerospace company Dassault to Pakistan, the most visible of the bribes he received while his wife was in power 1996: Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is removed again on charges of corruption 1996: Pakistan helps the Taliban overthrow the Afghan government 1996: Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, wins the elections in Bangladesh 1996: Tamil rebels bomb the capital of Sri Lanka 1996: the Nationalist Party wins the election and Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes prime minister 1997: The Muslim League wins general elections in Pakistan and Nawaz Sharif is elected prime minister of Pakistan 1998: Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan provides North Korea with nuclear technology in exchange for missile technology 1998: India and Pakistan conduct nuclear tests 1998: Massive floods in Bangladesh 1998: 211 die in a train collision in the Punjab 1998: a Muslim fundamentalist, Tablighi Muslim Rafiq Tarar, is elected president of Pakistan 1999: Benazir Bhutto is sentenced to jail in absentia 1999: Escalation of violence in Kashmir between Indian troops and freedom fighters backed by Pakistan 1999: Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif is overthrown in a military coup led by general Pervez Musharraf 1999: A cyclone devastates the Indian state of Orissa killing 10,000 people 1999: 285 die in a train collision near Calcutta 1999: the world's largest Tibetan tangka is completed (a 1,500 square meter, 1,000 kg scroll) 2000: The population of India is one billion 2000: The Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran offers peace talks to the Sri Lankan government 2001: King Birendra of Nepal and his entire family are killed by a crown prince, and Gyanendra becomes the new king 2001: King Gyanendra declares a state of emergency after dozens are killed by Maoists 2001: An earthquakes kills 30,000 people in the Indian state of Gujarat 2001: Skirmishes between the Indian and Bangladeshi armies leave 20 soldiers dead 2001: the Islamic government of Afghanistan destroy the century-old Buddha statues of Bamiyan 2001: Pakistan helps the US fight the Taliban in Afghanistan 2001: Muslim separatists attack the Parliament in New Delhi 2001: Several bombs kill more than 30 people in Bangladesh 2001: Khaleda Zia wins the election in Bangladesh 2001: Ranil Wickremesinghe wins Sri Lanka's elections and becomes prime minister after campaigning on a peace platform 2001: the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage at Allahabad draws at least 20 million pilgrims 2001: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels attack the Colombo airport, killing 18 people and destroying half of the national airline fleet 2002: Raids by Maoist rebels leave 127 people dead in Nepal 2002: Following the burning of a train by Muslim cleric Maulana Hussain Umarij, ethnic rioting erupts in Gujarat that kills 1,000 people, mainly Muslims 2002: Peace talks begin between Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Tamil rebels (the civil war has killed over 64,000 people) 2002: Islamic militants increase attacks on Kashmir and other Indian states 2002: the first democratic elections are held in Pakistan since 1999 and Zafarullah Khan Jamali becomes prime minister 2003: Islamic terrorists attack a Shiite mosque and kill nine people 2003: Islamic terrorists execute up 24 Hindu civilians in Kashmir 2003: India vaccinates 165 million children to eradicate polio 2003: Tripura separatist rebels kill 22 Bengali villagers 2003: Members of the Sunni terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi kill eleven police officers of the Shia community in Baluchistan, Pakistan 2003: A ferry capzised in Bangladesh killing over 400 people 2003: 34 people are killed by separatists in northeastern India 2003: 46 people are killed in two bomb attacks in Bombay by the Islamic group "Students Islamic Movement of India" (SIMI) 2003: Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Sunny cleric leader of the pro-Taliban party Sipah-i-Sahaba, is killed 2003: Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf survives two assassination attempts 2004: Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confesses on tv that he helped Iran, Libya and North Korea acquire nuclear technology 2004: the war between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese army leaves hundreds of people dead 2004: the party of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga wins elections in Sri Lanka against the party of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapakse is appointed prime minister 2004: Pakistan carries out a 12-day military offensive in South Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan to dislodge Al Waeda and Taliban fighters 2004: despite an economic boom, a third of Indians live on less than a dollar a day TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 2004: the Congress Party wins national elections but its leader, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, lets Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, become India's new prime minister 2004: Bangalore has 150,000 software engineers, more than the Silicon Valley in California 2004: 29 Indians are killed in Kashmir by a bomb planted by Islamic separatists 2004: a ferry sinks in Bangladesh killing about 160 people 2004: 43 Shiite Muslims are killed during a religious festival in Pakistan by Sunni extremists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (march) and a bomb blast kills 15 people at a Shia mosque in Karachi (may) in retaliation for the killing of a top Sunni Muslim cleric, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai 2004: Bomb blasts at a Sunni gathering kill 39 people in Pakistan and bomb blasts at a Shia mosque kill 19 2004: Maoist rebels control 68 of Nepal's 75 districts 2004: ten people are killed in a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan 2004: tsunamis caused by one of the strongest earthquakes in history (9.0 magnitude) kill thousands in Southeast Asia TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 2005: more than 30 people are killed in a bomb blast at the Fatehpu shrine in Pakistan 2005: China and India sign a treaty in which China gives up any claim on the state of Sikkim 2005: A bomb blast at a Muslim shrine in Pakistan's capital Islamabad kills at least 20 people 2005: rebels throw rockets at president Musharraf in Balochistan 2005: an bomb by Hizbul Mujahideen kills nine Indian soldiers in Kashmir 2005: Pakistan expels foreign Islamic students, who frequently support terrorism 2005: Pakistan launches its first long-range nuclear-capable missile and its first cruise missile 2005: Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is assassinated by members of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) 2005: 350 bombs planted by Islamic fundamentalists of Jamayetul Mujahedin detonate in Bangladesh 2005: Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka agree to hold direct talks with the government 2005: Asif Chotto, head of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that killed hundreds of Pakistani shiites, is arrested 2005: bombs set by Kashmiri militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba kill 59 people in New Delhi 2005: Maoists (Naxalites) kill 24 police officers in India 2005: Muslims in Sangla Hill (Punjab) destroy two Catholic churches and two schools because they think that someone has burned a copy of the Quran 2005: Sri Lanka's prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse wins presidential elections 2005: Seven people are killed by Islamic terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen in Bangladesh, the first suicide bombing in the country's history 2005: 900 people are killed in 2005 in violence related to the Maoist insurgency of the Naxalites 2006: 23 shiites are killed by a suicide bomber in Pakistan 2006: Maoists (Naxalites) kill 25 people in India 2006: Bangladesh arrests Abdur Rahman, leader of terrorist organization Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen 2006: the USA and India sign a nuclear agreement 2006: bombs kill more than 20 people in Varanasi 2006: 25 Muslims are killed in Pakistan during fights between rival factions 2006: 47 people are killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a Sunni religious gathering in Karachi, Pakistan 2006: massive pro-democracy protests in Nepal 2006: Islamists kill 35 hindus in Kashmir 2006: Tamil Tiger rebels sink a Sri Lanka navy gunboat in a sea battle that leaves at least 45 people dead 2006: 58 people die when a bus hits a landmine in Sri Lanka 2006: Pakistan kills 25 Baloch rebels of Nawab Akbar Bugti's militia 2006: Multiple terrorist bombs in Mumbai kill 186 people, and India accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI of planning the attacks and the Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba of carrying them out 2006: Government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels fight on three fronts in Sri Lanka despite the 2002 ceasefire agreement 2006: Government troops kill 17 aid workers in Sri Lanka 2006: Bombs kill 37 people in a Muslim town of western India, Malegaon 2006: at least 99 soldiers are killed by a suicide attack in northern Sri Lanka 2006: Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed is sworn in as head of an interim government after the political parties cannot resolve a national crisis 2006: A Pakistani air raid kills 80 taleban in a madrasa 2006: Bangladeshi interim government bans both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed from the country, blaming them for the country's political chaos 2006: more than 4,000 people are killed in Afghanistan, both insurgents, soldiers and civilians 2007: A suicide bomber kills 15 people at a Shiite mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan 2007: Indian paramilitary troops are killed by separatist rebels in India's state of Manipur 2007: bombs kill at least 64 people on a Pakistan-bound train in northern India 2007: a bomb by Balochistan rebels kills at least 15 people in Qetta 2007: Maoist rebels ("Naxalites") kill 50 police officers in India's state Chhattisgarh, bringing the total victims of the Naxalites to 6,000 since their insurgency started in the late 1960s 2007: 16 civilians are killed in a bus explosion in Sri Lanka 2007: Pakistani cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz calls for suicide bombings against the government of general Musharraf 2007: suicide bombers strike repeatedly in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, some targeting Chinese workers in Pakistan 2007: Bangladeshi interim government bans both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed from the country, blaming them for the country's political chaos 2007: 73 students and clerics are killed in clashes between security forces and militants (led by cleric Abdul Aziz) holed in the Lal Masjid/ Red Mosque of Islamabad, Pakistan (after they take eight Chinese women hostage), and hundreds of people are killed in subsequent bombings by Islamists 2007: more than 1,000 people are killed in Afghanistan in june alone, including at least 700 insurgents and 200 civilians 2007: train service between India and Bangladesh is resumed after 42 years 2007: Pratibha Patil becomes India's first female president 2007: 42 people are killed in Hyderabad (India) by two twin bombings credited to Islamic fundamentalists 2007: 25 people are killed near Islamabad (Pakistan) by two suicide bombers 2007: Pakistan is rocked by demonstrations led by the lawyers' movement and by supporters of former leaders Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, all demanding a return to democratic rule 2007: Suicide bombers kill more than 140 people at Benazir Bhutto's welcome event in Karachi and weeks later kill her (Pakistan) 2007: A bomb kills 16 people in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo 2007: Suicide bombers kill more than 140 people at Benazir Bhutto's welcome event in Karachi and weeks later kill her (Pakistan), a killing probably ordered by Baitullah Mehsud 2008: A suicide bomber in the Pakistani city of Lahore kills 24 people 2008: Tamil Tigers blow up a bus in Sri Lanka killing 23 people after the government ends the truce with the rebels 2008: the PPP of the late Benazir Bhutto and the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif win parliamentary elections in Pakistan and nominate Yousaf Raza Gilani to be the new prime minister 2008: 11 Maoist rebels die in a battle with Indian troops in the state of Chhattisgarh Feb 2008: three suicide bombings in three days rock Pakistan Mar 2008: Bhutan holds its first democratic elections and Jigmi Kinley is elected prime minister Mar 2008: Indian car manufacturer Tata buys Jaguar Apr 2008: Nepal holds its first free elections with representation from the Maoists Apr 2008: Maoist rebels led by Prachanda (Pushpa Kamal Dahal) win parliamentary elections in Nepal Apr 2008: A bomb on a bus in Sri Lanka kills 26 people |
Main prime ministers of India1947: Jawaharlal Nehru 1964: Lal Bahadur Shastri 1966: Indira Gandhi 1984: Rajiv Gandhi 1991: Narasimha Rao 1996: Atal Behari Vajpayee 2004: Manmohan Singh |
| (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |