History of Pakistan

The first known inhabitants of the modern-day Pakistan are believed to have been the Soanian - Homo erectus which setteled in the Soan Valley and Riwat almost 2 million years ago. Over the next several thousand years, the region would develop into various civilizations like Mehrgarh and the Indus Valley Civilization. Throughout its history, the region has also been apart of various Greek, Persian, Islamic and British empires. The region's ancient history also includes some of the oldest empires from the Indian Subcontinent[1] and some of its major civilizations.[2][3]. Modern-day Pakistan began with independence from British India on August 14, 1947.[4][5] The political history of eventual birth of the country began in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which culminated in 90 years of direct rule by the British Crown and subsequently, spawned a successful freedom struggle led by the Indian National Congress and later by the All India Muslim League. The latter was founded in 1906 to protect Muslim interests and rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fears of neglect and under-representation of Muslims in politics. On the 29 December 1930, Muhammad Iqbal called for an autonomous state in "northwestern India for Indian Muslims".[6] Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the Two Nation Theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution[7] of 1940, demanding the formation of an independent Pakistan. Pakistan became independent from British India as a Muslim-majority state with two wings - West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Independence witnessed unprecedented and prologed communal riots across India and Pakistan, eventually resulting in millions of Indian Muslims migrating to Pakistan and millions of Pakistan's Hindus and Sikhs migrating to India. Disputes arose over several princely states including Kashmir and Jammu whose ruler had illegally acceded to India following an invasion by Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan. This led to the First Kashmir War in 1948 which ended in Pakistan administrating one-third of the state