2017 in REVIEW (NATIONAL)

Jan 04: A distinguished classical singer belonging to the Patiala Gharana of classical music, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, died.

Jan 05: Younis Khan became the first batsman to score Test hundreds against 11 countries.

Jan 09: Pakistan attained the credible ‘second strike capability’ as it successfully test-fired nuclear capable submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) Babur-III.

Jan 11: Governor Sindh Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui died at 78.

Jan 17: Pakistan’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy became the first-ever artiste to co-chair the WEF.

Jan 19: Babar Azam became the first Pakistani to join the list of joint-fastest player in history to score 1,000 career runs in ODI cricket.

Jan 24: Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear capable, medium range, surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ababeel, having a maximum range of 2,200 kilometres.

Jan 26: The KSE-100 index crossed the psychological barrier of 50,000 points for the very first time.

Jan 27: Peshawar routed Karachi Whites to clinch the National One-day Cup for Regions.

Jan 28: Pakistan’s first mobile TV app ‘Tapmad TV’ was launched.

Feb 02: Mohammad Zubair was sworn in as the 32nd Governor of Sindh.

Feb 04: Famous novelist, playwright and short story writer Bano Qudsia passed away.

Feb 10: The multinational ‘Aman-17’ naval exercise was held in Karachi.

Feb 14: Senior diplomat Tehmina Janjua became Pakistan’s first woman foreign secretary.

Feb 15: Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry was appointed as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States.

Feb 20: World’s third largest smart-phone maker, Xiaomi, was launched in Pakistan.

Feb 22: The status of Gwadar as the winter capital of Balochistan was restored.

Feb 23: Veteran TV actor Farooq Zameer died.

Feb 28: Google featured a doodle commemorating the life of Abdul Sattar Edhi on his 89th birthday.

Mar 01: The 13th Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Summit was held in Islamabad.

Mar 10: A monument in remembrance of ‘unsung heroes of democracy’ was established in the lawns of the Parliament House.

Mar 10: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar launched first-ever registered premium prize bond of Rs. 40,000.

Mar 19: President Mamnoon Hussain gave his assent to the Hindu Marriage Bill 2017.

Mar 20: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the release of former federal minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi in the Haj corruption case.

Mar 23: The PAF Academy Risalpur was named after Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan.

Mar 25: CM Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, inaugurated Pakistan’s first women crisis centre, officially Violence against Women Centres (VAWCs), in Multan.

Mar 25: Pakistan began fencing of its borders with Afghanistan.

Apr 10: Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai was appointed a UN Messenger of Peace to promote girls’ education.

Apr 24: The Asian Development Bank appointed Ms Xiaohong Yang as the first woman country director for Pakistan.

Apr 24: Celebrated writer M.A. Rahat passed away at 76.

May 06: Ustad Raees Khan, one of the most outstanding players of sitar, passed away.

May 13: The SBP issued a banking licence to the Bank of China.

May 18: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) restrained Pakistan from executing convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

June 02: Renowned veteran lawyer of Pakistan Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada died at 94.

June 09: Pakistan formally became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

June 15: Astola Island was declared the country’s first marine protected area.

June 18: Pakistan won their maiden Champions Trophy crown, defeating India in the final.

June 25: At least 138 people were burnt alive and 117 injured, when an oil tanker which skidded off the National Highway caught fire near Ahmadpur East.

July 05: Pakistan successfully conducted the ‘training launch’ of an improved version of short-range nuclear-capable Nasr missile.

July 06: Tariq Bajwa was appointed the new governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the next three years.

July 25: A sister-city agreement was signed between Sialkot and US city of Bolingbrook.

July 28: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that thrice-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was “not honest,” and disqualified him as a member of parliament.

Aug 01: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Aug 10: Dr Ruth Pfau, a symbol of selflessness and devotion to leprosy patients, died.

Aug 21: The army announced an end to Operation Khyber IV in Rajgal Valley.

Aug 30: Qatar introduced the visa-on-arrival facility for Pakistani citizens.

Aug 31: AIG Saud Aziz and SSP Khurram Shehzad were sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined Rs1 million each for negligence that led to the assassination of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

Sep 14: The 363-kilometre-long Kachhi Canal project was inaugurated in the Sui area of Dera Bugti.

Sep 18: British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed became the first male actor of Asian descent to win an Emmy for acting.

Sep 18: The Bank of China was allowed to commence banking business in Pakistan.

Sep 21: A bust of Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam was unveiled at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

Sep 28: Fatima Sughra, the young girl who hoisted up the Pakistani flag for the very first time, passed away at 84.

Sep 28: Two activists from India-held Kashmir, Parveena Ahangar and Imroz Parvez, won Norway’s Rafto Prize for human rights.

Oct 05: Pakistan’s Gulalai Ismail and India’s outspoken newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh jointly won the annual ‘Reach All Women in WAR (RAW in WAR) Anna Politkovskaya Award’.

Oct 06: Award-winning film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Emmy Award for ‘Best Documentary’ for “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”.

Oct 07: The federal government appointed former Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as an ad-hoc judge for the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the ICJ.

Oct 07: Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi was sworn in as Chief of the Naval Staff.

Oct 10: The Punjab government launched motorcycle ambulance service.

Oct 14: Teenage wrestler Muhammad Inayatullah became first-ever Pakistani wrestler to win a title at any world wrestling championship.

Oct 16: Pakistan won a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council for the Asia-Pacific group.

Nov 02: Dina Wadia, the estranged daughter of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, passed away at her home in New York. She was 98.

Nov 03: Dr Qibla Ayaz was appointed Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).

Nov 13: The Sindh Assembly passed a resolution to revive student unions in the province.

Nov 14: Prime Minister Abbasi announced a 10-year development package for Balochistan.

Nov 16: The National Assembly passed the 24th Constitution Amendment Bill 2017, paving the way for the ECP to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies on the basis of provisional census data.

Nov 23: The ECP decided to observe December 7 as the National Voters Day.

Nov 24: Kamran Akmal made a world-record opening partnership of 209 runs with Salman Butt.

Nov 25: Pak-Saudi Special Forces joint counter-terrorism exercise ‘Al-Shehab-2’ started in Riyadh.

Nov 27: Protesters at the Faizabad interchange called off their countrywide protest after over 20 days.

Nov 28: A bust of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was unveiled at the British Museum.

Nov 30: Lahore Blues became champions of the National T20 Cup.

Dec 03: CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated Beijing Underpass, the longest in Pakistan, in Lahore.

Dec 08: The Supreme Court gave the multibillion Orange Line Metro Train project the green light.

Dec 15: The Supreme Court absolved Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan of all allegations of corruption.