section_path: History/Modern era
section_name: Modern era
paragraph_text: Modern era
  
  In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest. The partition of India saw the departure of many Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who held key positions in the economy of Peshawar. The University of Peshawar was established in the city in 1950, and augmented by the amalgamation of nearby British-era institutions into the university. Until the mid-1950s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. In the 1960s, Peshawar was a base for a CIA operation to spy on the Soviet Union, with the 1960 U-2 incident resulting in an aircraft shot down by the Soviets that flew from Peshawar. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, Peshawar was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail.
  
  During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Peshawar served as a political centre for the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence -trained mujahideen groups based in the camps of Afghan refugees. It also served as the primary destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure, and drastically altered the city's demography.
  
  Like much of northwest Pakistan, Peshawar has been severely affected by violence from the attacks by the terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban. Local poets' shrines have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban, a suicide bomb attack targeted the historic All Saints Church in 2013, and most notably the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in which Taliban militants killed 132 school children. Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010, which had declined to 18 in 2014, before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan. A large attack on a Shiite mosque in the city killed dozens and injured 200 people on 4 March 2022. In January 2023, another terrorist attack occurred at Peshawar in which 100 people were killed.