1993 in Pakistan

Incumbents

Federal government

• President
• * Ghulam Ishaq Khan: until 18 July 1993
• * Wasim Sajjad: 18 July – 13 November 1993
• * Farooq Laghari: since 13 November 1993
• Prime Minister
• * Nawaz Sharif: until 18 April 1993
• * Balakh Sher Mazari: 18 April – 26 May 1993
• * Nawaz Sharif: 26 May – 18 July 1993
• * Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi: 18 August – 19 October 1993
• * Benazir Bhutto: since 19 October 1993
• Chief Justice: Muhammad Afzal Zullah, Nasim Hasan Shah

  Events

January

• 8 January – The United States decides against branding Pakistan a terrorist nation.
• 9 January – The US president-elect Bill Clinton gives Pakistan six months to refute Indian charges that it is sponsoring international terrorism.

  February

• 5 February – Kashmir Solidarity Day is observed for the very first time in Pakistan.

  March

• 7 March – Political groups from Afghanistan sign the Islamabad Accord in Pakistan, forming a coalition until elections can be held.
• 17 March – Mian Zahid Sarfaraz demands an early dissolution of the National Assembly.
• 27 March – Hamid Nasir Chattha and three other ministers resign from the federal cabinet.

  April

• 2 April – The Pakistan government vows to crack down on Arab militants.
• 4 April
• * India presents evidence implicating Pakistan in the 1993 Bombay bombings.
• * The federal cabinet nominates Ghulam Ishaq Khan as the president for a second term.
• * 3 MNAs resign from the National Assembly.
• 8 April
• * After a crack down on illegal immigrants, hundreds of Arab nationals are arrested on suspected links to Islamic militants.
• * 92 MNAs tender their resignation from the house.
• 13 April – Crack down continues against illegal Arab immigrants to prevent any extremists among them from using Pakistan to foment violence in other countries.
• 18 April
• * President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolves the National Assembly, dismissing the Sharif cabinet.
• * Balakh Sher Mazari is appointed the caretaker prime minister.
• 19 April – Federal ministers in the Mazari caretaker ministry are sworn into office and handed ministerial portfolios.

  May

• 23 May – In record busts against drug smugglers in southeastern Balochistan, navy officers seize 132,000 pounds of hashish and 440 pounds of heroin.
• 26 May – The Supreme Court restores the National Assembly and prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

  June

• 5–24 June Pakistani soldiers are massacred in Somalia while serving with a UN peacekeeping mission.
• 16 June – Bosnian Muslim refugees leave Croatia for Pakistan.

  July

• 18 July
• * After weeks of negotiations with army chief Gen Abdul Waheed Kakar, both president Khan and prime minister Sharif resign from their posts.
• * Wasim Sajjad becomes the caretaker president.
• 20 July – The US threatens to impose sanctions on China if it continues to ship missiles to Pakistan in defiance of an international agreement.

  August

• 18 August – Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi becomes the caretaker prime minister.

  October

• 6 October – General elections are held. PPP wins 86; PML-N secures 72 seats.
• 19 October – Benazir Bhutto becomes the prime minister by 121 votes for a second time.

  November

• 4 November – Police arrest Murtaza Bhutto, the brother of PM Bhutto, moments after his plane landed in Pakistan ending his 16 years in exile.
• 9 November – Fire rages through the National Assembly building, destroying the main chamber. According to PTV, the cause is believed to be an electric short circuit.
• 13 November – Farooq Laghari is sworn in as the eighth elected president of Pakistan.
• 24 November – India and Pakistan agree to resume talks on the Kashmir issue.

  December

• 16 December – Pakistan accuses India of stepping up attacks on civilians in Kashmir.
• 28 December – Pakistan begins a campaign to eradicate polio.

  Deaths

• 8 January – Gen Asif Nawaz dies of a heart attack in Rawalpindi.
• 18 March – Former prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo dies in a hospital in the United States undergoing treatment for leukaemia.