Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 Frontline Pakistan
India retaliates by crossing the international border
at Lahore. After three weeks, both India and
Pakistan agreed to a UN-sponsored ceasefire.
January 1966 Leaders of India and Pakistan meet at Tashkent
and sign a declaration agreeing to solve their
disputes through peaceful means. They also agree
to withdraw to pre-war positions.
March 1969 Field Marshall Ayub Khan steps down and hands
over power to the military after violent antigovernment
protests paralyse the country. General
Yahya Khan becomes President and imposes
martial law.
December 1970 General Yahya’s military government holds
Pakistan’s first general elections. The Bengali
nationalist party, Awami League, led by Mujibur
Rehman, sweeps the polls in East Pakistan and
secures an absolute majority in the National
Assembly. The military regime declines to convene
the assembly.
March 1971 Pakistan launches a military operation to crush
East Pakistan’s attempt to secede, leading to a civil
war.
December 1971 India intervenes on behalf of Bengali separatists,
triggering the third India-Pakistan war. The
Pakistani military surrenders to Indian armed forces.
East Pakistan becomes the independent state of
Bangladesh. General Yahya Khan steps down after
a revolt by young army officers. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
becomes President.
January 1972 Bhutto and India’s Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi,
sign the Simla peace agreement, which creates a
new Line of Control in Kashmir.
August 1973 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes Prime Minister after the
National Assembly approves a new constitution.
July 1977 Chief of Army Staff General Zia ul-Haq seizes
power in a bloodless coup. Martial Law is imposed
and Bhutto is sent to prison.
April 1979 Bhutto is hanged after a dubious trial on a charge
of murder.
December 1979 Soviet forces enter Afghanistan.