• 1948: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the first governor general of Pakistan, passes away
• 1951: Prime minister Khan Liaqat Ali Khan assassinated
• 1956: The Constituent Assembly promulgates first indigenous constitution
• 1958: After a military coup dictorial Ayub Khan takes over
• 1960: Ayub Khan becomes first elected president
• January 2 1964: Fatima Jinnah lost the presidential elections, Ayub completes the second term
• 1965: Second war between Pakistan and India over Kashmir
• 1969: Ayub Khan resigns; Yahya Khan declares martial law and assumes presidency
• 1971: East Pakistan attempts to secede, leading to civil war; India intervenes in support of East Pakistanis; Pakistan fights another war withIndia; East Pakistan breaks away to become Bangladesh; Yahya Khan resigns.
• 1972: Karachi labour unrest of 1972 and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes president
• 1973: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister
• 1977: General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq overthrows prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and declares martial law
• 1978: General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq becomes Pakistan's sixth president
• 1979: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hanged
• 1979: The military ruler Zia Ul-Haq enacts the controversial Hudood Ordinances
• 1985: General elections held; Muhammad Khan Junejo becomes prime minister
• 1988: Zia dismisses Junejo's government; Zia dies in a plane crash; New elections held; Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto becomes prime minister
• 1988: Prominent Pashtun leadar Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan dies in Peshawar
• 1990: President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses Benazir Bhutto government; Mian Nawaz Sharif becomes the next prime minister
• 1991: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif begins economic liberalisation programme. Islamic Shariah law formally incorporated into legal code.
• 1993: President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif both resign under pressure from military. Benazir Bhutto becomes prime minister for the second time
• 1996: President Farooq Leghari dismisses Bhutto government
• 1997: General elections held; Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister for the second time
• May 28 1998: Pakistan conducts nuclear tests
• 1999: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif overthrown in military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf
• 2001: General Pervez Musharraf dismissed the president and named himself to the post.
• 2002: General Pervez Musharraf wins a referendum thus ensures 5 more years in office
• 2002: First general elections since the 1999 military coup held; Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali becomes the next prime minister
• 2004: Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigns from office
• 2004: Shaukat Aziz is sworn in as prime minister
• 2005: A 7.5 magnitude earthquake kills an estimated 80,000 people in northern Pakistan. (see:2005 Pakistan earthquake)
• 2006: Pakistan army kills the prominent Baloch leader Nawab Akbar khan Bugti
• 2007: Chief Justice of Pakistan removed from office and reinstated. 2007 Karachi Riots. Lal Masjid Operation
• 2007: President Pervez Musharraf declares a 2007 Pakistani state of emergency and later removes it after domestic and international pressure
• 2007: Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto assassinated
• 2008: Elections in Pakistan, results in new government to be formed in center and provinces.
• 2009: 16 March, 2009 As the result of long march Lawyers' Movement succeeded. Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was restored as Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges dismissed by Musharraf.