2007 in Pakistan


Events from the year 2007 in Pakistan.

Incumbents

Federal government

Governors

Events

January

  • 26 January
  • * United States legislation seeks ban on assistance to Pakistan after it reviewed inconsistencies in the Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes.
  • * Suicide bombing at a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad leaves two dead including the bomber. The bombing happened hours before a Republic Day celebrations were to be hosted at the hotel by the Indian High Commission.
  • 27 January – Police chief and 12 others are killed in suicide attack in Peshawar.

March

May

June

  • 23 June – Torrential rainstorms hit the southern province of Sindh and brings floods and destruction to the provincial capital of Karachi; over 200 dead were recovered and several people injured by downed trees and power lines.

July

  • 3 July – Siege of Lal Masjid begins with gunfights erupting between Lal Masjid supporters and Pakistani security forces after 18 months of constant conflict amongst the two parties. Around 125 seminary scholars attack and set fire to government offices near the mosque and take over government positions.
  • 14 July – A suicide attack in Miranshah results in the deaths of 24 security personnel with at least 29 people injured.
  • 23 July – Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmed resigns from his seat in the National Assembly quoting that "the parliament being neglected and the whims of an individual being imposed over the country".

August

September

  • 1 September – A suicide attacks results in the deaths of five people, including three security personnel with nine others injured in a Mamund tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
  • 4 September – Twin blasts in Rawalpindi, one in a bus another in a market area, kill many and injuring several.
  • 6 September – Pakistan's liquid foreign reserves cross 16 billion-dollar mark, despite the outflow of some 133 million dollars in portfolio investment.
  • 8 September – Government decides to arrest former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif upon the arrival of their flight in Islamabad.
  • 9 September – Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto announces she would launch Pakistan Peoples Party's new campaign "Food, Clothes, Shelter for the People" upon her return to Pakistan.
  • 11 September
  • * Suicide bomber kills 18 people in Dera Ismail Khan of Pakistan.
  • * Nawaz Sharif is forcibly sent back to Saudi Arabia in a special plane after his six-hour stay at the Islamabad airport when he arrived from London on a PIA flight.
  • 13 September – Cabinet of Pakistan unanimously decides to re-elect president Musharraf in uniform from the present assemblies.
  • 14 September – Pakistan Peoples Party unanimously decides that Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan on 18 October 2007.
  • 16 September – Election Commission of Pakistan amends the Presidential Election Rules 1988 ahead of the elections so that Article 63 of the Pakistani constitution no longer applies to the president.
  • 18 September – President Musharraf's counsel at the Supreme Court, Sharifuddin Pirzada, says that the general vows to doff uniform after his re-election.
  • 20 September
  • * Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden calls Musharraf a tyrant and declares war on the government of Pakistan.
  • * The Election Commission announces to hold presidential elections on 6 October 2007. Musharraf vows to give up his post as army chief if he is re-elected.
  • 24 September – India won the ICC t20 world cup by beating their rivals Pakistan in the final.
  • Benazir Bhutto arrives in Washington for a last visit to the US before ending her self-exile.
  • 29 September – Pakistani election officials approve Musharraf's nomination for re-election as president, despite efforts to have him disqualified.

October

  • 1 October – The Supreme Court suspends DIG and the deputy commissioner of Islamabad after a suo motu hearing of recent police violence that injured over 50 lawyers and journalists.
  • 2 October – More than 80 opposition MPs resign from the parliament in protest of the upcoming presidential election. They challenge Musharraf's eligibility to contest.
  • 6 October – Musharraf is re-elected as Pakistan's president, even though his candidacy was heavily criticised.
  • 9 October – Pakistani warplanes bombarded suspected pro-Taleban militant positions on Tuesday, as fierce fighting raged near the Afghan border for a fourth day. The army says 45 troops and 150 rebels have died in battles around the town of Mir Ali. Tuesday's air strikes left 50 rebels dead, unconfirmed reports say.
  • 11 October – The Pakistan Cricket Board bans controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar from playing 13 international matches and fines him ₨ 3.4 million for hitting his teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat.
  • 17 October – Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after eight years of self-exile thronged by a crowd of a million in Karachi to welcome her back.
  • 19 October – At least 124 people are killed and 320 injured in the Karachi bombings near the convoy carrying Bhutto.
  • 20 October – Karachi police releases a photograph of the suicide bomber who killed at least 130 people in the Karachi bombings.
  • 25 October – The Election Commission asks political parties to desist from criticising the army or the judiciary ahead of general elections in 2008.
  • 28 October – The Radio Pakistan building on the M. A. Jinnah Road in Karachi is badly damaged in a blaze and the transmissions were suspended for several hours.

November

December

  • 1 December – Benazir Bhutto begins her election campaign for the 2008 general election.
  • 3 December – The Election Commission rejects Nawaz Sharif's nomination papers for the upcoming general elections.
  • 7 December – Dr Reginald Zahiruddin, secretary of the Church of Pakistan and medical director at a hospital in Bannu, is kidnapped by Taliban militants along with his driver.
  • 8 December – Gunmen attack Bhutto's PPP party office in Naseerabad, Karachi, killing three supporters.
  • 27 December – Benazir Bhutto is assassinated during an election rally.

Deaths