Instability in Pakistan

March 9
The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, suspends the head of the supreme court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, for alleged misconduct. Musharraf's popularity starts to nosedive.

April 5Hardline religious leaders establish a Qazi court - a parallel judicial system - in the Red mosque (Lal Masjid) in Islamabad, again challenging the writ of the government.

May 12At least 34 die and more than 130 are injured during violent clashes between supporters of Musharraf and backers of Chaudhry on the streets of Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi.

May 14Shops and markets in all major cities close after opposition parties and lawyers' bodies call for a strike in protest at the violence in Karachi.

May 18Pro-Taliban militants at the Red mosque take four police officers hostage, accusing them of spying for the government. Maulana Abdul Aziz, who is in charge of the mosque, threatens suicide attacks across Pakistan if any operation is conducted against the mosque.

June 22Red mosque students raid a Chinese massage centre, alleging that it is a brothel, and take five Chinese nationals - three women and two men - hostage.

July 3Abdul Aziz is caught trying to escape from the mosque wearing a burka.

July 4At least 1,200 students surrender as security forces surround the mosque complex, offering an amnesty to those who give up their weapons.

July 10Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy chief cleric of the Red mosque and Abdul Aziz's brother, is among dozens who die as commandos storm the mosque complex after a week-long standoff. More than 50 militants and nine soldiers are killed in the 15-hour operation, according to the Pakistan military. Independent sources say the death toll runs into hundreds.

July 15Tribal militants in north Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan, unilaterally scrap their 10-month-old peace accord with the government and threaten to launch attacks against the security forces.

July 17A suicide bomber kills 16 people and injures at least 63 at a lawyers' rally in Islamabad.

July 20Pakistan's top court reinstates Chaudhry as the country's chief justice, declaring Musharraf's decision to suspend him illegal.

August 7Musharraf says recent suggestions by the US that it might launch unilateral strikes against al-Qaida in Pakistan are "counterproductive" to the fight against terrorism.

August 22US and British authorities express disappointment at Pakistan's decision to release Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 28-year-old suspected al-Qaida expert accused of training suicide bombers and plotting to attack Heathrow airport.

September 10The former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been in exile since being ousted in the 1999 coup, is arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia, four and a half hours after arriving in Islamabad from London.

September 14The former prime minister Benazir Bhutto declares she will return to Pakistan on October 18.

September 17A member of the ruling party says Musharraf will step down as the head of the military. The supreme court begins to hear petitions seeking to block Musharraf's plans for a second presidential term.

September 20The election commission announces that a vote for the presidency will be held on October 6, when Musharraf will seek re-election. In Pakistan, the president is elected by members of the parliament - the national assembly and the senate - as well as those from the four provincial assemblies.

September 20Osama bin Laden calls on Pakistanis to rise against their "infidel" leader in retaliation for the storming of the Red mosque.

September 24Riot police arrest dozens of opposition activists protesting against Musharraf as the supreme court dismisses two challenges to his bid for re-election.

September 27Musharraf files nomination papers for a second five-year term. Chaudhry orders the release of hundreds of opposition activists rounded up by police.

September 28The supreme court throws out a major legal challenge to Musharraf standing for election, to shouts of "shame" from lawyers in the courtroom.

October 2More than 80 Pakistani opposition politicians resign in protest at Musharraf's attempt to be re-elected. It is also announced that General Ashfaq Kiani will take over as the head of the army after the election.

October 6Musharraf sweeps to victory in the presidential elections, winning 252 of the 257 votes cast in parliament and prevailing in all four provinces, thanks to a boycott by opposition parties. But he still faces legal challenges in the supreme court.

October 9Three days of fighting between Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban supporters in the lawless north Waziristan region on the Afghan border leave about 250 dead.

October 12The supreme court rules days before Bhutto's scheduled return to Pakistan that she could still face prosecution on long-standing corruption charges.

October 18Bhutto touches down at Karachi airport to a tumultuous welcome. She narrowly escapes a suicide bombing during a homecoming procession in Karachi.

October 19Bhutto alleges a military and intelligence services link to the attempt on her life, as the death toll from the attack rises to 138. But she makes clear that she is "not accusing the government".

October 22Bhutto accuses the government of a cover-up after it refuses to agree to her request to call in British and US experts to help investigate the assassination attempt. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the chief of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, responds by alleging that Bhutto's husband arranged the blasts to stir up public sympathy.

October 23The Pakistani army sends 2,500 troops into a remote valley in the north-west of the country to combat followers of a militant cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, calling for Taliban-style rule.

October 30A suicide bomber kills six people in the city of Rawalpindi, in what was thought to be an assassination attempt against Musharraf.

November 2The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, says the Bush administration is opposed to emergency rule, as rumors sweep the country that Musharraf is about to suspend the constitution.

November 3Musharraf imposes emergency rule, triggering condemnation from leaders around the world. He says the reaction is a response to Islamist militancy and to the 'paralysis of government by judicial interference'. Judges and lawyers are arrested and television and radio stations taken off the air. Chaudhry is sacked.

November 5More than 350 lawyers arrested in latest protests. Musharraf forced to deny he is under house arrest as rumors circle of a coup.

November 8Musharraf says elections will be held by February 15, one month later than they were due. He also says he will step down as head of the army and be sworn in as a civilian president once new judges appointed to the supreme court strike down challenges against his re-election.

November 9Bhutto, effectively under house arrest, is blocked from leaving her house in Islamabad to attend a rally in nearby Rawalpindi. A suspected suicide blast at the home of the minister of political affairs, Amir Muqam, in the north-western city of Peshawar, kills three people. The minister was unhurt.

November 12Commonwealth foreign ministers threaten to expel Pakistan from their group if Musharraf fails to repeal the state of emergency and step down as army chief in the next nine days.

November 13Bhutto calls for Musharraf to resign as she is put under house arrest for the second time in five days. The government deploys police to stop a planned march from Lahore to Islamabad by her supporters.

November 14Police arrest Imran Khan, the former cricketer turned politician, and charge him under draconian anti-terror laws. Bhutto and Sharif start discussions on a united front against Musharraf, who launches a media blitz to insist he is the best man to lead Pakistan to democracy.

November 15Two boys die in an exchange of fire between gunmen and police in Karachi during protests against emergency rule.

November 22Supreme court dismisses last legal challenge to Musharraf's re-election. Commonwealth suspends Pakistan for second time in eight years.

November 25Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years of exile. Bhutto files nomination papers for January election.

November 26Sharif rules out a power-sharing deal with Musharraf, but also registers for the election.

November 28Musharraf resigns as the head of the army at a ceremony in Rawalpindi.

November 29Musharraf is sworn in as president for a second five-year term and promises to lift emergency rule by December 16. Lawyers opposed to him riot in Lahore.

December 3Pakistan's electoral commission bans Sharif from taking part in the January elections because of his criminal record.

December 6Bhutto announces that she will not boycott the elections because she does not want to leave the field open to Musharraf's allies.

December 9Musharraf announces that he will lift emergency rule on December 15, a day earlier than expected. Sharif says his party will participate in the elections after failing to secure unanimous support for a boycott.

December 15Musharraf ends emergency rule.

December 21More than 50 people are killed as a suicide bomber detonates a bomb at a mosque 20 miles from Peshawar, near the home of Pakistan's former interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao.

December 27Bhutto and at least 20 of her supporters are killed after an attacker fires shots at the former prime minister and then blows himself up at a Pakistan People's party campaign rally in Rawalpindi. The assassination sparks violence across the country.

December 28Huge crowds of mourners gather for Bhutto's family. She is buried beside her father in her hometown, Nau Dero. Violence continues across Pakistan. In a possible reprisal attack, a bomb at an election meeting in the Swat valley, in the country's troubled north-west, kills six people.