I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

Important Events in Pakistan and Swat

14 August 1947 – Pakistan created as the world’s first homeland for Muslims; princely state of Swat joins Pakistan but keeps its special status

1947 – First Indo-Pakistan War

1948 – Death of founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah

1951 – Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan assassinated

1958 – General Ayub Khan seizes power in Pakistan’s first military coup

1965 – Second Indo-Pakistan War

1969 – Swat becomes part of North-West Frontier Province

1970 – Pakistan’s first national elections held

1971 – Third Indo-Pakistan War; East Pakistan becomes independent Bangladesh

1971 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes first elected prime minister

1977 – General Zia ul-Haq takes power in military coup

1979 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto hanged; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

1988 – General Zia and senior army officers killed in plane crash; elections held; Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister in Islamic world

1989 – Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan complete

1990 – Benazir Bhutto government dismissed

1991 – Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister

1993 – Nawaz Sharif forced to resign by army; second Benazir Bhutto government

1996 – Taliban take power in Kabul

1996 – Second Benazir Bhutto government dismissed

1997 – Nawaz Sharif forms second government

1998 – India conducts nuclear tests; Pakistan does same

1999 – Benazir Bhutto and husband Asif Ali Zardari convicted of corruption; Benazir goes into exile; Zardari jailed; General Pervez Musharraf takes power in coup

2001 – Al Qaeda 9/11 attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon; US bombing of Afghanistan starts; Taliban government overthrown; Osama bin Laden escapes to Pakistan

2004 – Pakistan army starts operation against militants in FATA; first attack on Pakistan by US drone; Zardari goes into exile

2005 – Maulana Fazlullah starts radio in Swat; massive earthquake in Pakistan kills more than 70,000 people

2007 – Army storms Red Mosque in Islamabad; Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan; Fazlullah sets up Islamic courts; Musharraf sends troops into Swat; launch of Pakistan Taliban; Benazir Bhutto assassinated

2007–9 – Taliban extend influence across Swat

2008 – Zardari becomes president; Musharraf goes into exile

2009 – Fazlullah announces all girls’ schools to close in Swat; Pakistan government agrees peace accord with Taliban; Agreement breaks down as Taliban take over Swat; Pakistan army starts military operation against Taliban in Swat

July 2009 – Pakistan government declares Taliban cleared from Swat

December 2009 – President Obama announces extra 33,000 troops for Afghanistan, putting total NATO troops at 140,000

2010 – Floods across Pakistan kill 2,000 people

2011 – Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer assassinated; bin Laden killed in Abbottabad; Malala wins Pakistan National Peace Prize

9 October 2012 – Malala shot

May 2013 – Musharraf returns and is arrested; elections go ahead despite Taliban violence; Nawaz Sharif wins to become prime minister for third time

12 July 2013 – Malala addresses UN in New York on her sixteenth birthday and calls for free education for all children