Pakistan has a history of political coups and unrest. Here are some details.

December 27, 2007 - Two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a gun and bomb attack after holding an election rally in Rawalpindi. A few months before her death, she survives a suicide bomb assassination attempt in Karachi, where at least 139 people are killed in one of the country’s deadliest attacks.

October 12, 1999 - Former army chief Pervez Musharraf seizes power in a bloodless coup. He is sworn in as president and head of state in June 2001. He resigns in 2008 and Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s husband, takes over as president.

August 17, 1988 - Military ruler President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq is killed when the Hercules C-130 aircraft carrying him crashes in mysterious circumstances. Conspiracy theorists have suggested a case of mangoes put aboard the plane shortly before takeoff contained a timer device that released gas that knocked out the cockpit crew.

April 4, 1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the father of Benazir who was elected as prime minister in 1970, is hanged by Zia ul-Haq following a disputed conviction for conspiring to commit a political murder .

July 5, 1977 - Zia ul-Haq seizes power after a coup against the Bhutto government. He puts Bhutto under house arrest, imposes martial law, suspends the constitution and bans political parties

August 14, 1973 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto elected as prime minister, taking over from General Yahya Khan.

October 7, 1958 - In Pakistan’s first military coup, Governor-General Iskander Mirza enforces martial law with General Ayub Khan as chief martial law administrator. Ayub Khan later assumes the presidency and sacks Mirza, who is exiled.

October 16, 1951 - Pakistan’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, after the 1947 partition of India, is shot dead at a political rally in Rawalpindi.