Historical Dictionary of Pakistan

CHRONOLOGY • xlviideclaration that Pakistan would pull out its troops from Kargil withoutimposing any conditions. 7-10 September: Prime Minister NawazSharif sent his brother Shabaz Sharif to Washington to warn the U.S. administrationof the possibility of a military coup in Pakistan. The StateDepartment issued a statement following discussions with the youngerSharif saying that the United States was in favor of democratic rule inPakistan. 12 October: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dismissed Chief ofArmy Staff General Pervez Musharraf while he was flying back fromColombo, Sri Lanka. He promoted Lieutenant Khwaja Ziauddin as thenew chief of army staff. The senior generals of the army refused to acceptthe appointment, ousted the prime minister, and anointed GeneralMusharraf as the country’s chief executive. 14 October: Chief ExecutiveMusharraf addressed the nation and read out a seven point agendafor the economic and political reform of the country.2000 17 January: General Musharraf arrived for a two day visit inBeijing, China and met Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Li Peng, Chairmanof China’s National People’s Congress. 18 January: GeneralMusharraf met with President Jiang Zemin of China. Both leadersvowed to strengthen their strategic partnership. 19 January: RehmatHussain Jaffrey, the presiding judge of the anti-terrorism court framedcharges against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his codefendantsin the “October 12 plane conspiracy case.” 18 June: FinanceMinister Shaukat Aziz presented the military government’s first budgetin a televised address. GDP growth for the year ending June 30 was estimatedat 4.5 percent, compared with only 3.1 percent in the previousyear. 13 July: Maulana Abbas Ansari, a Shia leader and head of the IttahadulMuslimeen, was elected to lead Kashmir’s APHC in a meetingof the organization’s executive council. JI abstained from the meeting.Ansari was in favor of initiating talks with India without bringing Pakistanto the table at this preliminary stage. This position was not acceptableto the APHC members who had strong links with Pakistan. 1 August:General Musharraf announced the arrangements for localelections. 6–8 September: Heads of state and government representingthe members of the United Nations adopted the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) which included halving the number of people livingin absolute poverty in the world by the year 2015. General PresidentPervez Musharraf represented Pakistan at the meeting. 15 September:The APHC General Council elected Syed Ali Shah Geelani its new