- Born:
- August 11, 1943, New Delhi, India
- Died:
- February 5, 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (aged 79)
- Title / Office:
- president (2001-2008), Pakistan
Pervez Musharraf
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Who was Pervez Musharraf?
Pervez Musharraf (1943â2023) was a Pakistani military officer who seized power in a 1999 coup and served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Key points about his life and career:
- Early Life and Military Career Born in New Delhi, India, he moved to Karachi, Pakistan, in 1947. He joined the army in 1964 and fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars against India.
- Seizure of Power As chief executive, Musharraf took virtual total power, citing turmoil and a near-collapsed economy. He held the constitution in abeyance.
- Presidency Musharraf assumed the presidency in 2001. Following the September 11 attacks, he cultivated close ties with the U.S. to address Islamic extremists. In 2002, he reinstated the constitution, though it was heavily amended.
- Later Years He was permitted to leave Pakistan for medical treatment in Dubai in 2016, where he remained. Musharraf died in Dubai in 2023.
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How did Pervez Musharraf become the president of Pakistan?
Pervez Musharraf, a Pakistani military officer, seized power in a 1999 coup. As chief executive, he claimed extensive authority, citing turmoil, a failing economy, and the necessity for drastic measures.
In 2001, Musharraf assumed the presidency. In April 2002, he legitimized his position through a referendum, granting himself five more years as president. The referendum also reinstated the constitution, albeit with modifications outlined in the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which expanded presidential powers and increased the legislature's size. Despite promising a return to civilian authority, Musharraf continued to hold power, refusing to step down as head of the armed forces. He served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
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What major events happened in Pakistan during Musharrafâs presidency?
During Pervez Musharraf's presidency (2001-2008), several significant events occurred in Pakistan:
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Assuming the Presidency In early 2001, Musharraf took over the presidency.
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War on Terror Following the September 11 attacks, the U.S. cultivated close ties with Musharraf to address Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
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Referendum and Constitution In April 2002, Musharraf won a referendum that granted him five more years as president and reinstated the constitution, although it was modified with provisions spelled out in a document called the Legal Framework Order (LFO).
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Attempts on life Musharraf survived assassination attempts during his rule.
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State of Emergency In November 2007, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspending the constitution, dismissing the chief justice, and arresting opposition leaders.
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How did Musharrafâs government change Pakistanâs political system?
Pervez Musharraf significantly altered Pakistan's political system during his rule. After seizing power as chief executive, he centralized authority within a newly formed secretariat staffed by military officers. In 2002, Musharraf held a referendum that granted him five more years as president and reinstated the constitution, but with amendments via the Legal Framework Order (LFO). The LFO expanded presidential powers and increased the number of members in the legislature. Later, he survived assassination attempts and faced opposition for holding both the presidency and military leadership simultaneously. In 2007, he declared a state of emergency, suspending the constitution and dismissing Supreme Court justices before eventually restoring the constitution with amendments protecting his actions during emergency rule.
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What were Musharraf's relationships with other countries like, especially the United States?
During his time as president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf's relationships with other countries, particularly the United States, were complex. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the U.S. government sought closer ties with Musharraf in an effort to eliminate Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
Musharraf chose to side with the U.S.-led coalition against the Taliban, a decision that was met with outrage by Islamist conservatives in Pakistan. Despite this alliance, the United States continued to accuse Musharraf and Islamabad of not doing enough to contain the terrorist threat.
Prior to this, relations with the U.S. were strained due to Pakistan's political instability, failure to construct civil society, the Kashmir question, and its nuclear arms race with India. In July 2001, Musharraf met with the Indian Prime Minister to discuss regional security and the status of Kashmir, but no real progress was made.
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Why did Pervez Musharraf eventually leave office, and what happened to him afterward?
Facing impeachment for grave constitutional violations, Pervez Musharraf resigned from office on August 18, 2008. Earlier, in 2007, Musharraf sought reelection as president, but faced opposition due to simultaneously serving as head of the military.
After a period of self-imposed exile, Musharraf returned to Pakistan in March 2013 to participate in the national elections. However, a Pakistani court disqualified him due to an ongoing investigation regarding his suspension of the constitution in 2007, and he was arrested.
In 2016, Musharraf was permitted to leave Pakistan for medical treatment in Dubai, where he remained until his death in 2023.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Pervez Musharraf (born August 11, 1943, New Delhi, Indiaâdied February 5, 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) was a Pakistani military officer who took power in a coup in 1999. He served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Early life and military career
Musharraf moved with his family from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947, when Pakistan was separated from India. The son of a career diplomat, he lived in Turkey during 1949â56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.
Musharraf held a number of appointments in the artillery, the infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and in the War Wing of the National Defence College. He fought in Pakistanâs 1965 and 1971 wars with India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him head of the armed forces in October 1998. Musharraf is believed to have played a key role in the opening stages of the Kargil War, when Pakistani forces entered the Indian-administered portion of the disputed Kashmir region. Fighting between Pakistani and Indian forces began in May 1999 and continued for several weeks until Sharif, under international pressure, ordered Pakistani troops to pull back to Pakistani-administered territory, a move that angered the military.
Seizure of power
On October 12, 1999, while Musharraf was out of the country, Sharif dismissed him and tried to prevent the plane carrying Musharraf home from landing at the Karachi airport. The armed forces, however, took control of the airport and other government installations and deposed Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to become head of a military government. Although he was generally considered to hold moderate views and promised an eventual return to civilian rule, Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He formed the National Security Council, made up of civilian and military appointees, to run Pakistan in the interim.
Presidency
In early 2001 Musharraf assumed the presidency and later attempted to negotiate an agreement with India over the Kashmir region. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the U.S. government cultivated close ties with Musharraf in an attempt to root out Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
Over the next several years, Musharraf survived a number of assassination attempts. He reinstated the constitution in 2002, though it was heavily amended with the Legal Framework Order (LFO)âa provision of which extended his term as president for another five years. Parliamentary elections were held in October 2002, and in late 2003 the legislature ratified most provisions of the LFO.
In 2007 Musharraf sought reelection to the presidency, but he faced opposition from Pakistanâs Supreme Court, primarily over the issue of his continuing to serve simultaneously as both president and head of the military. The court thwarted his attempt to suspend the chief justice, and in October it delayed the results of Musharrafâs reelection (by the parliament). In November Musharraf responded by declaring a state of emergency. Citing growing terrorist threats, he suspended the constitution for a second time, dismissed the chief justice and replaced other justices on the Supreme Court, arrested opposition political leaders, and imposed restrictions on the independent press and media. Later that month the reconstituted Supreme Court dismissed the last legal challenges to his reelection, and he resigned his military post to become a civilian president. Musharraf ended the state of emergency in mid-December, though, before restoring the constitution, he instituted several amendments to it that protected the measures enacted during emergency rule.
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Resignation as president
The poor performance of Musharrafâs party in the February 2008 parliamentary elections was widely seen as a rejection of the president and his rule. The elections yielded an opposition coalition headed by Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who had been assassinated in December 2007. Citing grave constitutional violations, the governing coalition moved in early August 2008 to begin impeachment proceedings against Musharraf, and, faced with the impending charges, Musharraf announced his resignation on August 18.
Return to Pakistan and arrest
In October 2010, after a period of self-imposed exile, Musharraf announced the formation of a new political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and vowed to return to Pakistan in time for the 2013 national elections. He did so in March 2013, but his bid to stand in elections faced a variety of legal and political obstacles, including several open criminal investigations regarding his actions as president. On April 18 a Pakistani court disqualified him from entering the race because of an ongoing investigation regarding his suspension of the constitution in 2007. He was arrested the following day to face charges stemming from the investigation. In August 2013, with Musharraf still under house arrest, murder charges were filed against him in connection with Bhuttoâs assassination in 2007.
Final years
Musharraf was permitted to leave Pakistan to seek medical treatment in Dubai in 2016, where he remained thereafter. In late 2018 it was revealed that his health was rapidly deteriorating due to amyloidosis. He was convicted a year later in absentia on charges of high treason and sentenced to death, though his state of health made any return to Pakistan unlikely. In January 2020, the special court that issued the sentence was ruled unconstitutional, and his conviction was overturned. Musharraf died in Dubai in 2023.