Yearbook 2004
Pakistan. One of Pakistan’s national heroes, “the father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb,” Abdul Qadir Khan, was fired in January from his post as government adviser after admitting to passing nuclear weapons technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Following the disclosure, a worldwide network of illegal nuclear technology trade began to emerge. President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Qadir Khan, according to analysts because a trial could have given dangerous public backlash to the government and also revealed its own involvement in technology smuggling. See computerdo.com for Pakistan basic information.
Throughout the year, the security forces fought intensively against suspected members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in clan-controlled areas in the border areas against Afghanistan. A large number of suspected terrorists were killed and revealing documents were seized. In September, Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist, Amjad Farooqi, was killed for involvement in the assassination of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and an attempted murder of President Musharraf in 2003.
The total population in Pakistan is 220,892,351 people in 2020. Sectarian violence shook Pakistan on several occasions. About 40 people were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on a Shiite procession in Quetta in March. In Karachi, some 70 people were killed in Sunni extremist attacks against Shia during the early summer. Four people were sentenced to death in December for an attack on a Shia mosque in 2002.
However, Pakistan’s international position was strengthened. The United States designated Pakistan as “close ally outside NATO”, a position that provides great opportunities for military procurement and research cooperation as well as advantageous loans. At the same time, the Commonwealth granted Pakistan re-entry five years after Musharraf’s takeover of power, citing “major democratic progress”. In July, Musharraf visited Sweden in the hope of attracting investors and being able to enter into arms deals.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigned in June without further explanation, however, according to analysts, probably following a schism with the president. He was provisionally succeeded by PML-Q’s leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, pending the appointment of respected Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz in parliament. After winning a swiftly held election election, Aziz took over government power at the end of August and also retained the finance minister post. Despite promises to the contrary, President Musharraf decided to retain the post of commander-in-chief. He had the parliament enforce a special law that gave the head of state the right to maintain another public office. A newly established National Security Council, for the first time, gave the military a statutory influence over politics under formal civil rule.
Contacts with India intensified during the year with bilateral talks in a number of areas. A number of confidence building agreements were signed. President Musharraf publicly suggested in October that both sides should consider new ways to resolve the Kashmir issue, such as by allowing the UN to administer parts of a demilitarized Kashmir, that India and Pakistan could govern the mountain country jointly or that Kashmir could become independent. However, the Indian response was met.
The country was still in deep economic crisis. Despite Prime Minister Sharif’s aversion to foreign interference in the country’s economy, in July 2013 he had to accept a $ 5.3 billion IMF relief package. US $. In September, it was followed by another $ 6.7 billion package. US $ and IMF requirements for privatization of 31 state enterprises. However, the biggest challenge facing the Sharif government is the security situation in the country. In September, Sahrif accused NATO and US military actions of being the cause of terrorism in the country. He declared that he would enter into a civil-military partnership with the country’s military, to bring military and civil society to the same level. At the same time, he declared his willingness to enter into unconditional negotiations with the Taliban, which he described as a negotiating counterpart – not as terrorists. Pakistan’s Taliban responded again by demanding immediate ceasefire, releasing all prisoners of military withdrawal from the Taliban. At the same time, the movement brought a roadside bomb to blast that killed a Pakistani general. Chief of Staff Pervez Kayani warned the prime minister against pursuing a capitulation strategy against the Taliban, thereby marking the deep divide between government and military in handling the country’s political-military conflicts.
Negotiations between the government and the Taliban broke down in February 2014, after the Taliban killed 23 border soldiers. The situation worsened further after the Taliban in June attacked the international airport in Karachi. 36 were killed, including the 10 attacking Taliban and at least 18 wounded. The attackers were not really Pakistani Taliban, but were from the Uzbek Islamic Movement allied with the Taliban. Immediately after the attack, the Pakistani military again responded with aerial bombardment of Taliban positions in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan and subsequently Taliban positions in North Waziristan were bombed.
In June 2014, PTI’s Imran Khan announced that PTI would conduct a “long march” (Azadi march), starting on August 14 in protest of the scams at the 2013 parliamentary elections. On August 6, Khan demanded that the government be dissolved, the prime minister resigned, Parliament dissolved and the Supreme Election Commission set aside, unless the march was to be carried out. Of course, that didn’t happen. PTI therefore launched its march in Lahore on August 14, and it reached Islamabad on August 16. The PTI’s elect then announced that they were withdrawing from the National Parliament and the Parliaments of Punjab and Sindh. The government tried through negotiations to avert the conflict with PTI.
In the late summer, a number of Pakistani Taliban groups swore allegiance to Islamic State (Daesh), after which they had conquered Mosul in Iraq and proclaimed a Caliphate. The incidents underscored the split between al-Qaeda and IS.
Pakistani Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October along with Indian child rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi.
Despite several months of military offensive, the Taliban was not broken. On November 2, a Taliban suicide bomber burst into the air at the Wagah border crossing in Punjab, India. 60 were killed and over 100 injured.
On December 16, 7 members of the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school for children of officers in Peshawar, killing 148 – most of them children. It was the bloodiest attack to date in Pakistan and was condemned from all sides. Including from the Taliban in Afghanistan. In response to the massacre and after consultation with the other political parties, Sharif drew up a 20-point national action plan, which included: consisted in continued executions of convicted terrorists, the establishment of special military courts for a 2-year term and the regulation of the Koran schools (Madrasas). Already 3 days after the Peshawar massacre, authorities executed two death sentences in Punjab. Another 2 were executed 2 days later. 500 were sitting on Pakistani deaths, convicted of terror-related crimes.
In May 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping was on a state visit to Pakistan. The two countries signed agreements worth $ 31 billion. US $ on the development of Pakistan’s infrastructure and trade between the two countries. Among other things. China must import gas and oil from Iran through pipelines to pass through Pakistan.
Throughout 2015, Saudi Arabia put great pressure on Pakistan to bring political and military to its deputy wars against Iran – including The sheep war against Yemen. Pakistan ended by saying no to Saudi Arabia’s call for military participation in the Iran settlement. In December, Saudi Arabia announced that it had formed a “Muslim counter-terrorism association” consisting of 47 Muslim countries – including Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Minister subsequently commented on the Saudis’ remarks, noting that the first time he heard about the Saudi association was when he read the “news” in the newspaper.