Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf (; born
August 11,
1943 in
Delhi,
British India) is currently the
President of
Pakistan and the
Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistani military. He took power on October 12, 1999 after a
coup d'état and assumed the title of
President of Pakistan on June 20, 2001.
General Musharraf's parents came from an educated middle class
Syed family and both were college-educated. His mother, Begum Zehra Musharraf, studied
English Literature. She worked for the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) and retired in 1986. Syed Musharraf-ud-Din, Musharraf's father, was a graduate of
Aligarh University in
India. He joined Pakistan's Foreign Service in a clerical position and progressed in his career, retiring as a Section Officer in the Foreign Ministry. He spent several years in the capacity of support staff in the Pakistan Embassy in
Ankara,
Turkey where Musharraf spent part of his childhood and learned to speak fluent
Turkish.
General Pervez Musharraf was born in
Daryaganj in
Delhi,
India and after the
independence of Pakistan, in
1947, his family settled in
Karachi,
Sindh,
Pakistan.
General Musharraf is married to
Begum Sehba Musharraf and has one son and a daughter. His brother is a medical doctor in
Chicago.
Musharraf attended
Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi graduating in 1958 before going on to attend
Forman Christian College in Lahore.
Military training
In 1961, he entered the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul and was later commissioned into the Pakistan Artillery. A graduate of the Staff College, Quetta, and the National Defense College, Rawalpindi, General Musharraf also a graduate of the
Royal College of Defence Studies,
United Kingdom.
Military career
Musharraf participated in the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as a
Company Commander in the
SSG Commando
Battalion. Later he commanded Regiments of Artillery, there after an Infantry Brigade and then went on to command an Infantry Division.
In September 1987, heading a newly formed SSG at Khapalu base (Kashmir), he launched an unsuccessful assault to capture the Indian held posts of Bilafond La in
Siachen Glacier.
[Jamestown Foundation]On promotion to the rank of Major General on
January 15,
1991, he was assigned the command of an Infantry Division. Later, on promotion to Lieutenant General on
October 21,
1995he took over command of the elite Strike Corps of the Pakistan Army. In 1998, following the resignation of General Jehangir Karamat, he was promoted to General and took over as the Chief of Army Staff In 1999, he led the Pakistan Army during the
Kargil Conflict.Gen Musharaf also attended SSG and was also the trainer of Pakistani commandos.
Role in Kargil Conflict
From April to June, 1999, Pakistan and India were involved in the
Kargil Conflict in which Musharraf was Pakistan's Army chief. This conflict resulted in eventual mistrust between civil and military leaderships and this division ultimately saw the demise of democratic system in Pakistan. Many believed that he masterminded the
Kargil War.
Musharraf became
de facto Head of Government (using the title
Chief Executive and assuming extensive powers) of
Pakistan following a bloodless
coup d'état on
12 October,
1999. That day, Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif attempted to dismiss Musharraf and install
ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Senior Army generals refused to accept Musharraf's dismissal. Sharif ordered the Karachi airport to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. In the
coup, the generals ousted Sharif's administration and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf assumed control of the government. Sharif was put under house arrest and later exiled. He and other democratic leaders have subsequently been prevented from entering Pakistan. The existing
President of Pakistan,
Rafiq Tarar, remained in office until June 2001. Musharraf formally made himself President on
June 20,
2001, just days before his scheduled visit to
Agra for talks with India.
Shortly after Musharraf's takeover, several people filed court petitions challenging his assumption of power. On
May 12,
2000, the
Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Musharraf to hold general elections by
October 12,
2002. In an attempt to legitimize his presidency and assure its continuance after the approaching restoration of democracy, he held a
referendum on
April 30,
2002 to extend his presidential term to five years after the October elections. However, the referendum was
boycotted by the majority of Pakistani political groupings, which later complained that the elections were heavily
rigged, and
voter turnout was 3% or below by most estimates. A few weeks later, Musharraf went on TV and apologized to the nation for "irregularities" in the referendum.
Musharraf also forcibly removed many of the Supreme Court Justices who had voted against his usurpation of power. These included Justice
Taqi Usmani, a world authority on International financial law and Constitutional law. Newspaper editors who were critical of Musharraf, such as the editor of the
Balochistan Post, have also been exiled.
General elections were held in October, 2002 and a
plurality of the seats in the
Parliament were won by the
PML-Q, a pro-Musharraf party consisting of feudal landlords whose power and hold on politics Musharraf had promised to destroy. However, parties opposed to Musharraf effectively paralysed the
National Assembly for over a year. The deadlock ended in December
2003, when Musharraf made a deal with the
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party, an alliance of Islamic parties sympathetic to
Talibans agreeing to leave the army by
December 31,
2004. He subsequently refused to keep his promise. With that party's support, pro-Musharraf legislators were able to muster the two-thirds
supermajority required to pass the
Seventeenth Amendment, which retroactively legalized Musharraf's
1999 coup and many of his decrees.
In a
vote of confidence on
January 1 2004, Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the
Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the
Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
Support for the War on Terrorism
Following the
September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Musharraf sided with the United States against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, after an ultimatum by the United States. Musharraf agreed to give the United States the use of three airbases for
Operation Enduring Freedom. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials met with Musharraf. Musharraf's reversal of policy and help to the U.S. military was necessary in the U.S. bombing that rapidly overcame the Taliban regime.
Tensions with India
On
December 13,
2001, a group of militants attacked India's Parliament with bombs and guns. India, blaming Pakistan for the attack, mobilized for a potential war. Musharraf denied any Pakistani involvement with the attacks.
|
President Musharraf addressing the Pakistani nation. |
Intense pressure from Washington followed. The
Washington Post (Jim Hoagland,
January 17) said that "the United States extracted promises from Gen. Musharraf that Pakistan's intelligence service and army will cease giving food, weapons and other logistical help to infiltrators who carry out raids into India and
Indian-controlled Kashmir. The army will no longer provide mortar fire to cover the militants, who have been cut adrift by Musharraf".
Denouncing extremism
On
January 12,
2002, Musharraf gave a landmark speech against Islamic extremism. Musharraf unequivocally condemned all acts of terrorism, including those carried out in the name of freeing Kashmir's Muslim majority from Indian rule. He also pledged to combat Islamic extremism and lawlessness within Pakistan itself. However, the speech was not followed by concrete action. While certain Islamic parties were banned, they quickly changed their name and continued their activities. The Pakistani Government has ignored them for the most part, leading to considerable cynicism regarding Musharraf's statements in both Afghanistan and India.
A pro-Musharraf party, the
PML-Q, won a
plurality in the elections of October 2002, and formed a majority coalition with independents and allies such as the
MQM. Nevertheless, the opposition parties effectively deadlocked the National Assembly, refusing to accept the legitimacy of Musharraf's authority. In December 2003, as part of a compromise with the main Islamist opposition group, the
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of Islamist radicals including the Jammat Islami whose leaders have known links to
bin Laden, General Musharraf said he would step down as Army Chief by
January 1 2005. He again did not honour his promise and kept the post of the President with weak excuses.In return, the MMA agreed to support a constitutional amendment that would retroactively legalize Musharraf's coup, and restore some formal
checks and balances to Pakistan's system of government.
In late 2004, however, pro-Musharraf legislators passed a bill allowing Musharraf to keep both offices, and Musharraf announced that he intended to hold on to both.
Image of a moderate leader
 |
General Pervez Musharraf, President and Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, addressing the UN General Assembly on November 10, 2001 |
Musharraf is considered a moderate leader by
Western governments. Many believe that Musharraf is sincere in his desire to bridge the
Islamic and Western worlds and has previously spoken strongly against the idea of the inevitability of a 'clash of civilisations' between them. Furthermore, he has coined the phrase of "Enlightened Moderation" and is believed to be an ardent promulgator of the same. Musharraf's emotional ties to the
United States may be conjectured to be significant since at least two close members of his family live there: his brother, a doctor, lives near
Chicago,
Illinois and his son, who lives in
Boston,
Massachusetts. Musharraf's son, Bilal runs a venture funded high-tech startup in Boston. Musharraf's only other child, a daughter, is a graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore and is an
architect. Musharraf's elder brother, Javed Musharraf, a
Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, was a CSP officer in the Government of Pakistan prior to retiring from the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy.
Musharraf's views considered relatively liberal
Musharraf was raised in a family that is considered liberal by Pakistani standards. The women of the family are unsequestered and seen and photographed in public without veils. His mother worked for the
ILO and was friends with well-known Pakistani liberals. His daughter is an architect.
Shortly after coming to power, and on numerous occasions afterwards, Musharraf expressed admiration for the secularist reformer of
Turkey,
Kemal Atatürk, outraging religious radicals in the country. However in Parliament he was in alliance with the
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal an Islamic alliance, some of whose leaders still publicly support the Taliban regime. Additionally, Musharraf has expressed admiration for the long-time
1980s Martial Law dictator of
Balochistan, General
Rahimuddin Khan, whose reign witnessed controversy over his conservative, authoritarian style of government, as well as unprecedented stability and economic expansion.
At the same time, the conduct and procedure of national elections in Pakistan has been criticised by Human Rights groups within Pakistan, including the world renowned human rights activist,
Asma Jehangir.
Furthermore, Musharraf was initially promoted in the Pakistani Army based on his hardline religious affiliation to the
Deoband school. This and his ties to hardline Islamic groups are often held out as a counterpoint to claims of liberalism.
Since his involvement as a senior officer of Pakistan's special forces during the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Musharraf has had excellent personal relations with several sections of the US security establishment.
It is widely believed that Musharraf was coerced by the United States into turning his back on his former allies, the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Certainly his speeches on national television expressed his belief that he 'had no choice' but to act in unison with the United States.
Musharraf's support for the
USA was indispensable in defeating the
Taliban in
Afghanistan with the ease that it was routed. This was done after his swift and strategically sound decision to cease Pakistan's long-running support of the Taliban. Pakistan cut the
Taliban's oil and supply lines, provided intelligence and acted as a logistics support area for
Operation Enduring Freedom. It has also allowed US forces to operate inside Pakistan, and Pakistani forces especially the military controlled Inter Services Agency have been implicated in the use of torture on suspected militants. Musharraf has also launched a major military offensive in the tribal region of
Wana, displacing many resident families in the hunt for militants, and has caused a national insurgency movement made up of disaffected militants and former residents of Wana whose homes were demolished by the army in its heavy bombing campaign.
Musharraf speaks fluent English and has given many interviews and speeches on various US and European TV channels and other media. He is also known for giving contrasting views in his interviews. He has spoken at
think tanks such as the
RAND Corporation in
Santa Monica, California, in
June 2003. His support for the US-led War on Terror has been a cause for increasing public support for right-wing Islamic parties in Pakistan. The US's image in Pakistan has suffered ostensibly after the
war in
Iraq without an authorising
UN resolution. Musharraf has bluntly refused to send any Pakistani troops to Iraq without a UN resolution and also due to public pressure in Pakistan.
On
December 14,
2003, General Musharraf survived an
assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded
convoy crossed a bridge in
Rawalpindi. It was the third such attempt during his four-year rule. 11 days later, on
December 25, 2003, two
suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their
car bombs failed to kill the president; 16 others nearby died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windscreen on his car. It has been reported that
Amjad Hussain Farooqi is suspected of being the mastermind behind these attempts, and there was an extensive manhunt for him, ending with Farooqi's death.
On
12 May 2000, the
Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Musharraf to hold national elections by
12 October 2002, Elections for local governments took place in 2001. Elections for the national and provincial legislatures were held in October 2002, with no party winning a majority. In
November 2002, Musharraf handed over certain powers to the newly elected
Parliament. The
National Assembly elected
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as
Prime Minister of Pakistan, who in turn appointed his own cabinet.
On
January 1,
2004 Musharraf won a
confidence vote in the
Electoral College of Pakistan, consisting of both houses of
Parliament and the four provincial assemblies which are dominated by the landed elite of the country, most of whom have been given governmental posts under Musharraf. Musharraf received 658 out of 1170 votes, a 56% majority, but many opposition and
Islamic members of parliament walked out to protest the vote. As a result of this vote, according to Article 41(8) of the
Constitution of Pakistan, Musharraf was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President. His term now extends to 2007.
Prime Minister Jamali resigned on
26 June 2004. His resignation is widely believed to be on the command of General Pervez Musharraf. Jamali, in the first place was appointed by Musharraf, who controls the PML(Q). He formed PML(Q) by horsetrading with different parties (largely the PML(N) and the PPPP). Most of the ministers of the cabinet were senior members of other parties, who joined PML(Q) after the elections just because Musharraf promised them important offices in the government. Musharraf replaced Jamali due to his poor performance and in his place Musharraf appointed
Shaukat Aziz, a former Vice President of
Citibank and head of
Citibank Private Banking as the new prime minister. Musharraf choose Shaukat Aziz due to his successful measures in revitalizing Pakistan's economy as the Finance Minister. The new government is mostly supportive of Musharraf, who remains the President and Head of State in the new government. Musharraf continues to be the active executive of Pakistan, especially in foreign affairs. Although whether he stays the president after he gives up the post of Chief of Army staff is still to be seen.
Recently, Musharraf has come under fire in the West after the disclosure of
nuclear proliferation by Dr.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the
metallurgist known as the father of Pakistan's bomb. Musharraf has denied knowledge of or participation by Pakistan's government or army in this proliferation despite deep domestic criticism for singularly vilifying Khan, a national hero. Musharraf continues to enjoy strong support of the
White House and
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. AQ Khan has been pardoned in exchange for cooperation in the investigation of his nuclear-proliferation network. The fate of those who were found to have conspired with Khan is yet to be decided.
Musharraf was Chief of Army Staff at the time of Pakistani incursions into the Indian-held disputed territory of
Kashmir (
Kargil sector), in the summer of 1999. After suffering many reverses, the Pakistani Army was ordered to retreat. Some reports suggest that Musharraf retreated after huge pressure on the then Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif from the American President, who feared the conflict could turn into a nuclear catastrophe. However in a recent book co authored by ex-
CENTCOM Commander in Chief,
Anthony Zinni and
Tom Clancy, the former alleges that Musharraf was the one who pushed Sharif to withdraw the Pakistani troops after being caught in a losing scenario.
According to an ex-official of the Musharraf government,
Hassan Abbas, it was Musharraf who planned the whole operative and sold the idea to Nawaz Sharif.
The view that Musharraf wanted to attempt the Kargil infiltrations much earlier was also revealed by Former Pakistani PM
Benazir Bhutto in an interview to a leading
daily, where he had supposedly boasted that "he would hoist the
flag of Pakistan atop the
Srinagar Assembly" if his plan was executed
[Musharraf advised against Kargil, says Benazir] As the Kargil incident came just after the
Lahore Peace Summit earlier that year, Musharraf was viewed with mistrust in India.
In the middle of 2004, Musharraf began a series of talks with India to solve the
Kashmir dispute. Both India and Pakistan have the tactical capability to launch nuclear strikes on every city within each others' borders. The two countries are continuing to aggressively increase their nuclear capabilities by actively producing even more nuclear weapons and perfecting their missile technologies by routinely conducting tests of ever more sophisticated missiles.
Current issues up for discussion are;
*Wullar Barrage and Kishangaga power project.
*
Baglihar dam on the
Chenab River being built by India in
Indian Occupied Kashmir.
*Disputed
Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the
Rann of Kutch*
Siachin Glacier*
List of Dictators*
List of national leaders*
Pakistan*
Politics of Pakistan*
President of Pakistan*
Line of Succession to President of PakistanOfficial websites*
Official presidential website*
Official Repository of Presidential Speeches;Biographies and Profiles
*
Biography on storyofpakistan.com*
Time Magazine Cover Story on Musharraf*
Profile in 2001 by the
BBC*
President Musharraf Biography,
25 December 2003 on the BBC
*
Profile in September 2004 by the BBC
*
pervez.musharraf.net Unofficial biography of Pervez Musharraf.
;Articles
*
A Plea for Enlightened Moderation, by Pervez Musharraf - Washington Post opinion piece;Interviews
*
Address by Pervez Musharraf to
U.S. Institute of Peace (Speech, Audio & Video available) June 2003
*
The Telegraph, United Kingdom,
20 June 2004*
Time magazine, United States. 25 September 2005*
Musharraf tells Washington Post, "There is no milk and honey flowing after you get these two people.", referring to Osama and Zawahiri and that military might alone cannot defeat terrorism,
29 January 2006;1999 coup Statement
*
President Clinton's statement regarding the 1999 coup;Referendum
*
referendum report*
BBC report on referendum*
Speech on national TV, in which Musharraf apologizes for "improper" voting in the referendum ".. at lower level due to unnecessary enthusiasm and carelessness, inefficiency and ignorance there might have been some improper case of voting in some areas. If this is true I regret it from the core of my heart. I feel sad and sorry for it," said Musharraf.
;Electoral college vote
*
Pakistan Gives Musharraf Confidence Vote as President; New York Times; January 1 2004;Surveys
*
Gallup survey*
Report by Washington-based Pew Research Center
