January 2: Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan government officially withdraws from a ceasefire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the country. Despite the Norwegian-brokered truce, fighting has been escalating since 2006. Some 5,000 people have been killed in the past two years of the “ceasefire,” bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the war in 1983 to 70,000.
February 17: Afghanistan
A suicide bomb in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar kills more than 100 people and injures scores more. Among those killed is Abdul Hakim Jan, a police chief and leader of an anti-Taliban militia. The incident is Afghanistan’s bloodiest attack in recent years, and follows a string of bomb attacks that made 2007 the deadliest year since the Taliban fell in 2001.
February 18: Pakistan
General elections in Pakistan result in defeat for President Pervez Musharraf’s ruling party, Muslim League (PML-Q), which secures less than 16 percent of the seats in the National Assembly. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto wins a third of the Assembly seats, and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, wins almost a quarter of the seats. Despite the defeat of his party, President Musharraf says he will not resign.
March 24: Bhutan
Bhutan holds its first-ever general elections, as part of the transition to a constitutional monarchy as ordained by its king. The Bhutan Prosperity Party (Druk Phuensum Tshogpa) wins 44 out of 47 seats in parliament, though the only two parties running had similar platforms, both pledging commitment to the king’s policy of Gross National Happiness.
March 25: Pakistan
Yousuf Raza Gillani of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is sworn in as prime minister, leading a coalition government with Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N). In his first act as prime minister, Gillani orders the release of judges detained under President Pervez Musharraf and promises to restore them to their positions.
April 10: Nepal
Nepal’s former Maoist rebels win most seats in the country’s constituent assembly, during Nepal’s first national elections in nine years. The victory allows the Maoists to form a minority government, which will be headed by Maoist leader, Prachanda. The elections are part of a peace deal signed in 2006 to end the former Maoist rebels’ decade-long insurgency. The new assembly is expected to carry out an agreement made last December to abolish the monarchy, which has ruled Nepal for over 200 years.
April 17: India
India mobilizes heavy security to protect the Olympic torch as it passes through Delhi. As a preventative measure, the authorities detain at least 100 pro-Tibet demonstrators, while Tibetan exiles organize an alternative peaceful torch relay event. India is home to the world’s largest community of Tibetan expatriates and Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. In previous weeks, the Olympic torch relay was disrupted in London, Paris and San Francisco by protesters objecting to China’s human rights record and its rule in Tibet.
April 23: Afghanistan
Denmark and the Netherlands evacuate their embassies in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in response to threats from extremists over the reprinting of a Danish cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad and the release of an anti-Koran film by a Dutch politician.The two governments have also moved staff out of their respective embassies in Algeria and Pakistan for the same reasons. Both the cartoon and the film have sparked strong protests and condemnation from Muslim countries.
May 13: Pakistan
Pakistan’s six-week-old coalition government consisting of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Asif Zardari, widower of a former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), falls apart when nine ministers from PML-N resign. The coalition disagreed on how to reinstate 60 judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf during the martial law last year. The PML-N says it will not, however, vote with the opposition.
May 28: Nepal
Nepal’s newly elected government ends 240 years of monarchy by officially declaring the country a republic. It instructs King Gyanendra to step down and vacate the royal palace in Kathmandu.
June 2: Pakistan/Afghanistan
A car bomb explodes outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, killing six people and injuring 30. Al Qaeda, based in Afghanistan, claims responsibility for the attack. The group says the attack is in revenge for the February reprinting of a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers. They deem the cartoon offensive to Islam, which prohibits the depiction of Muhammad.
June 15: Afghanistan/Pakistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatens to send troops into Pakistan in pursuit of Taliban militants. The threat comes two days after Taliban fighters broke into a jail in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar, freeing about 870 prisoners, many of them Taliban militants. Karzai has long accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop the Taliban’s cross-border attacks.
July 7: Afghanistan/India/Pakistan
A suicide car bomb explodes at the Indian embassy in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, wounding more than 100 people and killing at least 41, including two Indian diplomats. Afghan officials blame the attack on Taliban insurgents, but also suspect that they were assisted by Pakistani intelligence operatives.
July 15: Afghanistan
U.S. forces pull out of a recently established outpost in northeastern Afghanistan, days after Taliban insurgents attacked it, killing nine American soldiers. It was the most deadly single attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan since 2005.
July 26: India
A series of 17 bombs explode in the city of Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat, killing at least 45 people and injuring over 100. A little-known Islamic group called the Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility, saying it was a revenge for communal violence in Gujarat in 2002, which took the lives of 2,000 Indian Muslims.
August 7: Maldives
The president of the Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, ratifies a new constitution, paving the way for the country’s first multi-party presidential elections. The constitution includes the separation of powers and a bill of rights. President Gayoom, who has been in power since 1978, initiated the changes because of growing pressure from human rights groups and widespread anti-government protests. He says he will run in the elections scheduled for October, hoping to win a seventh term.
August 18: Pakistan
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigns and Senate Speaker Muhammad Sumroo becomes acting president. Musharraf’s resignation comes just before the impeachment proceedings against him were about to start in the parliament. He has been accused of subverting the constitution and gross misconduct. Musharraf strongly denies any wrongdoing.
August 18: India/Nepal
Millions of people are stranded in India’s eastern state of Bihar when the Kosi River, which originates in Nepal, bursts its banks and unexpectedly changes course, wiping out villages and farms, and damaging crops. Known as the ‘Sorrow of Bihar’ for its notorious flooding, the Kosi River had been contained since 1964 with embankments built in accordance with a treaty between Nepal and India. Government negligence in upkeep is blamed for the breach.
August 24: India/Pakistan
Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir impose an indefinite curfew after weeks of massive clashes between police and protesters in both the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu. The unrest began in May with a dispute over land around the Hindu Amarnath shrine Kashmir Valley and quickly escalated, reigniting demands for independence from India. These demonstrations have been the biggest since the 1989 armed resistance to Indian rule.
September 2: Afghanistan
Thousands of NATO, U.S., and Afghan troops successfully deliver a massive hydroelectric power turbine to the Kajaki dam in southern Afghanistan. A 100-vehicle convoy stretching for 2.5 miles passed through the most dangerous Taliban-controlled part of the country. The allied troops killed more than 200 insurgents who attacked the convoy. The power station will supply 1.9 million people with electricity.
September 9: Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari is sworn in as Pakistan’s new president. He was elected by the country’s parliament a few weeks after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. Zardari is a controversial politician who spent eleven years in jail on corruption charges even though he was never convicted. He took over leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) after its leader and his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in December. Zardari faces a violent Islamic insurgency and an economy in crisis.
September 16: Sri Lanka
The United Nations aid agencies pull out of northern Sri Lanka after the country’s government says it cannot guarantee their safety. The government is preparing a major offensive against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north, having already pushed it out of key bases in the east. The Tigers have been fighting for a separate state for the Tamil minority since 1976.
September 20: Pakistan
A suicide truck bomb explodes outside the Islamabad Marriott Hotel in Pakistan, killing at least 53 people and injuring more than 226. A previously little-known militant group, Fidayeen-e-Islam, takes responsibility for the assault. The group says that the goal of the attack is to stop the United States from interfering in Pakistan. However, most victims are Pakistani.
October 1: India
The U.S. Congress approves a nuclear deal with India, ending the ban on nuclear trade with this country. The agreement gives India access to U.S. civilian nuclear technology and the international nuclear market as long as India uses the fuel for non-military purposes. In return, India agrees to allow inspections of its civilian facilities. Military facilities, however, will remain outside inspectors’ scrutiny. India plans for 25 percent of its electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050.
October 8: Maldives
The Maldives holds its first democratic presidential elections. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has been in power for 30 years, fails to secure enough votes for an outright victory, and a run-off election is scheduled. Gayoom is considered one of the world’s most repressive rulers, but growing dissent and international pressure have forced him to implement some democratic reforms. (October 28): Opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed defeats President Maumoon Gayoom in the second round of voting, winning 54 percent of the votes. Nasheed is a former political prisoner and a leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). (October 29): President Gayoom concedes defeat. The new president faces many challenges, such as corruption, a widespread drug problem, and threats posed by rising sea levels.
November 10: Maldives
The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, announces a plan to create a national wealth fund, using revenues from tourism, to buy a new homeland for his nation in the future. The Maldives is the lowest country in the world, with the highest point not exceeding eight feet. The environmental changes and rising sea levels could be devastating for this island country.
November 26: India
Ten gunmen launch a series of coordinated attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai on luxury hotels and other major locations, such as Chhatrapati Shivaji, the city’s busiest railway station. The terrorists take many hostages. India’s security troops respond to the attack. (November 29): After three days of intense fighting, the security troops kill 9 gunmen and arrest the 10th one. As a result of the attacks, almost 180 people are dead. India blames Pakistan-based militants Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks.
December 31: Bangladesh
The Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina wins a landslide victory over her long-time political rival, Khaleda Zia, who heads Nationalist Party (BNP), in Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections. The vote ends the two-year emergency state and the rule by an army-backed government. International observers declare the elections free and fair.