A time-line of the Indian Subcontinent

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(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi)


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 India


1947: Jawaharlal Nehru
1964: Lal Bahadur Shastri
1966: Indira Gandhi
1984: Rajiv Gandhi
1991: Narasimha Rao
1996: Atal Behari Vajpayee
2004: Manmohan Singh

World News | Politics | History | Editor
(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi)