General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq ousted Prime Minister Zulfkar Ali Bhutto in a coup d’état (1977). Dictatorship that lasted until After his mysterious plane crash, Benazir Bhutto became the first female elected leader of a Muslim country.

After two terms, she went into exile due to charges of corruption. Returned to Pakistan (2007), she was killed in a suicide bombing. Husband, Asif Ali Zardari, succeeded her to the office of prime minister.

Numerous refugees and immigrants from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have emigrated to London. Called British Asians in Great Britain, these immigrants found employment in the medical field.

British Parliament passed restrictive immigration laws. Called managed migration. The system allows the entrance of highly skilled workers, semiskilled workers to fill temporary labor shortages, and students. Approximately 4% of the British population is British Asian.

It has been Central and East Asian countries who have been the most successful in stimulating economic growth and industrialization in the late twentieth century.

Cambodia gained independence from France (1953). Cambodia was eventually drawn into the Vietnam War.

Communist guerrilla organization overthrew the Royal family of Cambodia. Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Pol Pot imposed a ruthless form of cultural revolution. 2 million died, buried in mass graves called “the killing fields” of Cambodia.

The Vietnamese took control of the government and help the country to regain some stability (1977). Vietnamese forces completed their withdrawal from Cambodia (1989). Peace agreement allowing free elections, monitored by the United Nations (1991). Prince Sihanouk became a constitutional monarch.

That concludes Asian Decolonization.