Timeline Pakistan 2007

January 26: A suicide bomber blows himself up at Marriott Hotel, Islamabad, killing a security guard.

January 27: Twelve people lose their life when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a Shia gathering in Peshawar

January 29: Attack near Liaquat Park, D.I Khan, kills one policeman.

February 6: Police kills suicide bomber at Islamabad International Airport.

March 9: Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry removed from office.

March 13: CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry manhandled by police as he tries to walk from his residence to the Supreme Court for the first hearing of the reference, to be heard by the Supreme Judicial Council

March 16: Geo TV offices stormed by Punjab police

March 19: Full text of reference against CJ leaked to the press

April 28: Thirty people left dead and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao are injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up in a public meeting in Charsada, NWFP.

May 12: Violence erupts in Karachi as CJ is due to land to address SHCBA. Over 140 people are injured and 42 are left dead in the ensuing violence.

May 14: Hammad Raza, SC Additional Registrar murdered at residence in Islamabad

May 15: 24 people killed in suicide bombing at Hotel Marhaba in Peshawar

June 23: 12 people including 9 Chinese citizens taken hostage by Lal Masjid students

June 27: Cyclone Yemyin hits Pakistan

July 3: Operation Silence, against the Lal Masjid establishment and occupants begins

July 4: Maulana Abdul Aziz arrested as he tries to escape from Lal Masjid in a burqa

July 6: Unknown gunmen fire at President Musharraf’s plane as he leaves for Baluchistan

July 10: Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi killed

July 11: Operation Silence ends and is termed a success

July 15: Nineteen people are killed when a suicide bomber explodes himself at Police Line, DI Khan, NWFP

Eighteen people are killed when a bomber rams his vehicle into a military convoy in Matta, Swat.

July 17: Suicide bombing leaves 17 dead at a rally where Iftikhar Chaudhry was due to address the PBC

July 20: Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry reinstated as CJ after an unanimous verdict by the 13 member bench of the Supreme Court

July 27: Suicide bomb blast in Aabpara Market in Islamabad leaves 13 police officials dead

August 16: Supreme Court takes suo moto notice of the Lal Masjid operation

August 23: Supreme Court rules Nawaz Sharif can return to the country

September 1: A section of the Shershah bridge collapses in Karachi, leaving over 10 dead

September 2: Nearly 250 army personnel are taken hostage by Baitullah Mehsud’s men in Waziristan

September 3: Suicide bombers target vehicles carrying intelligence officials in Islamabad, leaving 31 people dead

September 10: Nawaz Sharif deported from Islamabad to Saudi Arabia as he attempts to end exile

September 13: 19 army officials killed at bomb blast at SSG Tarbela Ghazi camp near Rawalpindi

September 14: Benazir Bhutto announces she will return to Pakistan on October 18

October 5: Supreme Court says Musharraf can contest elections, but results can only be announced after verdict of case on his eligibility

October 5: NRO promulgated, providing indemnity to politicians

October 6: Presidential elections held, General Pervez Musharraf emerges as winner. PPP refrain from voting in elections.

October 7 – 10: 257 people are killed, including 175 militants, 47 soldiers and 35 civilians in Mir Ali

October 12: SC stays cases under NRO

October 18: Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after 8 year exile

October 19: Double bomb blasts in BB’s rally leave over a 160 dead

November 3: State of emergency declared in country, judges deposed, lawyers and political activists arrested.

7 judges of SC refuse to take oath under PCO and pass an order rejecting it, judges are later placed under house arrest

All private TV channels taken off air

PEMRA ordinances and PCO promulgated

Abdul Hameed Dogar takes oath as new CJP

November 4: Human rights activists, lawyers and politicians are arrested.

November 5: Lawyers baton charged and arrested in clashes with police all over the country

November 9: Benazir Bhutto house arrest orders lifted in Islamabad

November 10: Amended army act promulgated

November 15: Presidential and parliaments terms expire. Imran Khan arrested from Punjab University

November 16: Caretaker government and Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro sworn in

November 16: Dubai Media City takes Geo News off air.

November 20: Over a 100 journalists baton charged and arrested in Karachi. Pakistani Government says over 3000 people released all over the country.

November 22: Benazir Bhutto announces the PPP will contest elections…under protest

November 23: Pakistan suspended from the Commonwealth. SC throws out all petitions challenging Musharraf’s re-election as president.

November 24: Suicide bombing near GHQ in Rawalpindi leaving at least 35 dead.

November 25: Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif return to Pakistan after 7 year exile

November 26: Election Commission of Pakistan receives over 13000 nomination papers as deadline expires

November 28: Musharraf steps down as Chief of Army Staff, hands COAS command to General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani

November 29: Musharraf takes oath as President, announces emergency will be lifted on December 16.

APDM announces it will boycott elections

November 30: Dubai Media City authorities allow Geo News to resume news broadcasts from DMC

December 1: Shahbaz Sharif’s nomination papers rejected by Election Commission of Pakistan

President Pervez Musharraf directs provincial governments to ban protest demonstrations, rallies and sit-ins to ensure peaceful holding of Jan 2008 General Elections.

December 2: Leading lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan’s detention orders extended for 30 more days.

December 3: Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers rejected by Election Commission citing involvement in Plane Hijacking case.

Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif meet in Lahore and agree to form committee that will draw up a Charter of Demands for upcoming general elections.

December 4: The Law Ministry issues a notification retiring 24 high court judges – and another dismissing deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday who were sacked without retirement privileges.

Students hold protests in Lahore and Islamabad against emergency. Protestors in Islamabad are baton charged. A FIR is registered against LUMS professors and students.

A female suicide bomber blows herself up when stopped at a military checkpost in Peshawar.

December 5: The Pakistani government says it will release Aitzaz Ahsan, Advocate Ali Ahmed Kurd, Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood and other detainees in the next 72 hours.

December 6: Nawaz Sharif is stopped from meeting Iftikhar Chaudhry by Islamabad’s police personnel.

Benazir Bhutto says the soon-to-be-elected parliament should deal with the sacked judges’ issue.

December 8: Three supporters of PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto killed when gunmen attacked her party’s office in Naseerabad, near Quetta.

December 9: APDM talks fail, PML-N announces it will participate in polls.

APDM kicks out PML-N and ANP from the coalition for agreeing to participate in the general elections.

Three policemen and seven civilians, including two children, die in a car bombing in Swat.

December 10: Students and professors charged under Anti Terrorism Act for holding vigil outside Justice Siddiqui’s house in Lahore.

Eight people, including five schoolchildren, are injured when a suicide bomber explodes his car near a Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) bus carrying air force employees’ children at Kamra

HRCP and PFUJ observe Universal Human Rights Day as a black day; protests are held all over Pakistan.

Lahore police decides to withdraw cases against students and professors arrested.

December 12: Aitzaz Ahsan announces he will withdraw his nomination papers and boycott upcoming polls.

December 13: Seven people are killed in Quetta after double bomb blasts near an army check post.

December 14: The IRI releases poll studies saying President Musharraf and the Pakistani army’s popularity has decreased drastically.

National Command Authority formed, giving the President control of the nuclear assets.

Four new orders passed, making six amendments to the Constitution. The provisions allow for the establishment of the Islamabad High Court and waives the two year waiting period for government employees if they desire to run for president.

December 15: 7 people confirmed dead after a suicide bomber strikes near an army base in Nowshera.

Musharraf lifts state of emergency, says security situation has improved in the past 42 days.

December 17: Students and protesters baton charged, beaten and teargassed in Islamabad during a protest.

December 19: Renowned artist Ismail Gulgee, wife and maid found murdered at their residence, police say bodies are three days old.

A train overturns near Naushero Feroz in Sindh, leaving over 50 dead and over 200 injured.

Interior Ministry says Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and former SCBA president Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood will be given a 3 day release order to celebrate Eid and offer Eid prayers anywhere in the country.

December 20: Interior Ministry says army will be deployed in 16 cities of Pakistan during elections.

Aitzaz Ahsan and Justice (retd.) Tariq Mehmood arrested a few hours after their 3-day release for Eid.

December 21: At least 50 dead and over 200 injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up during Eid prayers in a mosque in the Sherpao village in Charsadda, NWFP. The target of the blast is suspected to be former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, who was offering Eid prayers at the time in the mosque.

December 23: Thirteen people are killed when a suicide bomber blows himself up near a military convoy in Mingora, Swat.

Nawaz Sharif arrives in Karachi and meets deposed judges and prominent lawyers, says his struggle is for the independence of the judiciary and restoration of deposed judges.

Decembr 27: Clashes between PML-N and PML-Q workers leave 5 people dead.

PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto assassinated with gunfire and a suicide bomb after addressing a rally in Rawalpindi, 21 others die in blast.

Violence erupts all over the country.

PML-N announces it will boycott the elections.

December 28: Benazir Bhutto buried in ancestral graveyard, violence continues all over the country.

Interior Ministry says Benazir Bhutto’s cause of death was a faulty lever in her car. PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman says the cause of death was gunshot wounds.

December 30: Bilawal Zardari named Chairperson of the PPP, as the PPP and PML-N say they will participate in the elections.

December 31: Karachi Stock Exchange plunges by 695 points on the first day of trading after Ms. Bhutto’s death.

The Election Commission says elections will probably be delayed, but says it will announce decision on January 1st.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera, Wikipedia, Daily Times and The News