The revolving door of Pakistani politics

--1977 Army chief General Zia-ul-Haq topples Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (below), Benazir Bhutto's father, and seizes power. Two years later, Mr Bhutto is hanged for conspiring to commit political murder.

--1988 General Zia dies in a plane crash in August and three months later Benazir Bhutto wins elections.

--1990 President Ghulam Ishaq Khan sacks Ms Bhutto's government over accusations of corruption, and Nawaz Sharif is elected Prime Minister.

--1993 Dej vu as President Khan sacks a government, accusing it of corruption, and elects a new premier. But this time it's Mr Sharif on the way out and Ms Bhutto gets recast as Prime Minister.

--1996 A new president, Farooq Leghari, sacks Ms Bhutto and calls elections. Mr Sharif returns to the hotseat, going on to oversee the country's first nuclear tests.

--1999 Mr Sharif's second crack at the premiership lasts about as long as the first. In October 1999, he is pushed out by the army chief he hand-picked himself - General Pervez Musharraf.

--The 1999 coup

General Musharraf is in Sri Lanka when he hears Mr Sharif is trying to remove him as army chief. He races to Colombo airport, boarding a commercial flight to Karachi, as top brass loyal to him begin mobilising. When Mr Sharif promotes General Khwaja Ziauddin to army chief, every senior officer refuses to accept his command. Attempts are made to stop General Musharraf landing by refusing permission to his plane, with 200 people on board. General Musharraf orders the pilot to circle over Karachi though fuel is low. As soldiers surround the control tower, after taking over strategic buildings, traffic controllers relent and General Musharraf lands. The Sharif era is over.

--This year's tussle

24 January General Musharraf starts holding secret talks with Ms Bhutto over a pact to share power

9 March He suspends Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry for misconduct, but it is a gross miscalculation which triggers widespread protests against his continued rule.

10 July More than 100 are killed when General Musharraf sends in troops to the Red Mosque in Islamabad where Islamists are camping out.

20 July General Musharraf's authority is seriously weakened when he is forced to reinstate Mr Chaudry.

23 August Pakistan's top court rules Mr Sharif is free to return. He names 10 September as his homecoming.

29 August Ms Bhutto says General Musharraf has agreed to step down as army chief.

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