October 18

Ms Bhutto flies in to Karachi, ending eight years of self-imposed exile. Later that day, she escapes unharmed after two suicide attacks near her motorcade kill about 140 people and wound hundreds more.

November 3

General Musharraf declares a state of emergency and suspends the constitution. Ms Bhutto demands a timetable for elections. General Musharraf insists that general elections will still be held in January 2008.

November 9

Hours before a planned rally in the city of Rawalpindi, police put Ms Bhutto under house arrest at her Islamabad home.

November 12

Ms Bhutto rules out further power-sharing talks with General Musharraf and is placed under house arrest again to prevent her from leading a Pakistan's People's Party march in Islamabad against the state of emergency.

November 13

Ms Bhutto for the first time urges General Musharraf to resign and says she will never serve under him as prime minister.

November 20

Authorities announce January 8 as the date for general elections.

November 25

General Musharraf ends the exile of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif in a bid to dent the electoral chances of Ms Bhutto's PPP, the country's largest political party.

November 26

Ms Bhutto and Sharif file their nomination papers for the January election.

November 28

General Musharraf relinquishes contol of Pakistan's military.

November 29

Mr Musharraf is sworn in for a second term as president, after the Supreme Court dismisses all challenges to his re-election. He promises to lift the state of emergency on December 15.

December 15

Mr Musharraf lifts emergency rule and restores the constitution.

December 27

Ms Bhutto is killed in a suicide bomb attack at a political rally in the city of Rawalpindi.

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