Profile of Pervez Musharraf on Famous Like Me

General Pervez Musharraf

Date of birth:	August 11, 1943
Date of death:	–
President of Pakistan
Tenure order:	12th President
Took office:	October 12, 1999 – June 20, 2001 (de facto) June 20, 2001 –
Predecessor:	Muhammad Rafiq Tarar
Successor:	Incumbent
Chief of the Army Staff
Tenure order:	13th Chief of the Army Staff
Took office:	October 7, 1998 – Incumbent
Predecessor:	Gen. Jehangir Karamat
Successor:	Incumbent

General Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرويز مشرف; born August 11, 1943, Near Delhi, India) became de facto Head of Government (using the title Chief Executive and assuming extensive powers) of Pakistan on October 12, 1999 following a bloodless coup d'état. He assumed the office of President of Pakistan (becoming Head of State) on June 20, 2001.

Early years

Musharraf was born in Daryaganj in Delhi, India, but moved with his parents to Karachi, Pakistan during the partition of India (1947).

Family background

Musharraf's parents came from a middle class background and both were college-educated. His mother Zehra majored in 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 served in Pakistan's foreign service and led a distinguished career, retiring as a Joint Secretary in the Foreign Ministry. He spent several years as a diplomat in Turkey, where Musharraf spent part of his childhood and learned to speak fluent Turkish.

Education

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 joined the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. A graduate of Command and Staff College, Quetta, and the National Defense College, Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf also distinguished himself at the Royal College of Defence Studies, United Kingdom. His supervisor, commenting on his performance remarked in his report: "A capable, articulate and extremely personable officer, who made a most valuable impact here. His country is fortunate to have the services of a man of his undeniable quality."

Military Career

He was commissioned in artillery regiment in 1964. He fought the 1965 war with India as a young officer and was awarded Imtiazi Sanad for gallantry. In 1967/1968, he was promoted to Captain. He also achieved the Nishan-i-Imtiaz (military) and the Tamgha-i-Basalat. He has also been on the faculty of the Command and Staff College, Quetta and the war wing of the National Defence College, Pakistan. He volunteered to be a commando, and remained in the Special Service Group for seven years.

He also participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as a Company Commander in the SSG Commando Battalion. He had the responsibility of commanding artillery regiments and an armored division. In September 1987, heading a newly formed SSG Mountain warfare unit at Khapalu base (Kashmir) he launched an assault to capture the Indian held posts of Bilafond La pass in the Siachen Glacier but was eventually beaten back. On promotion to the rank of Major General on January 15, 1991, he was given the command of an Infantry Division and later of a prestigious Strike Corps as Lieutenant General on October 21, 1995.

Musharraf has served on various important staff and instructional appointments during his career. He has also been the Director General Military Operations at the GHQ from 1993 to 1995. He rose to the rank of General and was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, Pakistan on October 7, 1998 when Pakistan's army chief, General Jehangir Karamat was forced to resign after calling for military representation in a National Security Council of Pakistan. He was given the additional office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) on April 9, 1999. He led the Pakistani armed forces through the Kargil War between Indian and Pakistan in May to July 1999.

On September 15, 2004, Musharraf backed down from his commitment to step down as Army Chief, citing circumstances of national necessity that he felt required him to keep both offices.

Coup d'état and election as President of Pakistan

The Nawaz Sharif administration

In 1997, Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister after his party, the Pakistan Muslim League won the national elections with a large majority. Sharif's party obtained enough seats in parliament to change the constitution, which he amended to eliminate the formal checks and balances that restrained the Prime Minister's power. The Prime Minister defeated challenges to his growing power, led by the civilian President Farooq Leghari and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, both of whom were forced to resign - the Chief Justice did so after the Supreme Court was stormed by Sharif partisans. After army chief Jehangir Karamat proposed the creation of a National Security Council to serve as a forum for interaction between top civilian leaders and the chiefs of the armed services, he too was dismissed by Nawaz Sharif, and Musharraf was appointed in his place.

Coup d'état

On 12 October 1999, 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 a 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. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was put under house arrest and later exiled. 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 for Agra Talks with India.

Supreme Court orders elections. Referendum held

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, which extended his presidential term to a period ending five years after the October elections. However, the referendum was boycotted by the majority of Pakistani political groupings, and voter turnout was 30% or below by most estimates.

General elections were held in October, 2002 and the newly created PML-Q, a pro-Musharraf party, won a plurality of the seats in the Parliament. However, parties opposed to Musharraf effectively paralyzed 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, agreeing to leave the army on December 31, 2004. 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 subsequent decrees.

Electoral College victory

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.

After September 11, 2001

Support for Bush administration's 'War on terror'

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials met with Musharraf. Musharraf sided with the United States against the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Musharraf's reversal of policy and help to the U.S. military was critical. U.S. bombing rapidly overthrew the Taliban regime.

Tensions with India

On December 13, 2001, a group of terrorists attacked India's Parliament with bombs and guns. India, blaming Pakistan for the attack and the United States for being taken in by Musharraf, mobilized for a retaliatory strike. Musharraf rejected as preposterous the claim that Pakistan had anything to do with the attacks.

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 terrorist raids into India and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The army will no longer provide mortar fire to cover the infiltrators, who have been cut adrift by Musharraf."

Renouncing 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.

Controversy over being both President and military head

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, General Musharraf said he would step down as Army Chief by January 1, 2005. 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.

Views and perceptions of Musharraf

Image of a moderate leader

Musharraf is considered a moderate leader by Western governments. Many believe that Musharraf is sincere in his desire to bridge the Islamic and the 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 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 in Chicago, Illinois and his son, who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. His son received his Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and works for a benefits consulting company 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, who was 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.

Musharraf has been open to making economic reforms and to modernize Pakistan. He is considered to be a modern, English-style officer - like the old Pakistan army before Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's rule, which was heavily influenced by the United States and whose officers were often trained there.

Partner in the War on Terror

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 establishement. Following his coup in 1999, US President Bill Clinton called Musharraf to express his concern about the coup and his desire for stability in South Asia. Instead of returning President Clinton's call Musharraf called General Anthony C. Zinni of the marines who was serving as the then head of CENTCOM (Middle East). Addressing him as "Tony", Musharraf continued on to explain his reasons and intended actions. General Zinni remained as one of Musharraf's strongest supporters prior to US foreign policy shifts post 9/11.

Following the September 11, 2001 Attacks Musharraf has worked closely with President of the United States George W. Bush in the "War on Terror" (causing widespread discontent among some Pakistani people for various reasons).

Shortly after the events of 9/11, Musharraf gave a watershed speech on Pakistan Television in which he pledged his and Pakistan's support to the United States in its war on terrorism. Though the Taliban was largely an independent phenomenon, there exists an impression that the Taliban regime is a product of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan working on the principle of 'Strategic depth' to ensure a Pakistan-friendly regime in Afghanistan and to reduce the number of refugees pouring into Pakistan and to prevent further burden on an already ailing economy. The new policy seemed to be a sudden 180-degree turn from the old one and was judged an indicator of Musharraf's sincerity by analysts at think tanks like the Brookings Institute.

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.

Musharraf speaks fluent English and has given many interviews and speeches on various US and European TV channels and other media. 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 dislike by some right-wing Islamic fundamentalist parties in Pakistan. The US's image in Pakistan has suffered ostensibly after the war in Iraq without a UN resolution. Musharraf has bluntly refused to send any Pakistani troops to Iraq without a UN resolution.

Popularity in Pakistan

A widely-quoted Pew Center poll released March 16, 2004 said of Musharraf:

Pakistanis expressed highly favorable opinions of their president; 86% rate him favorably, and 60% view him very favorably, by far the highest rating of any leader in the survey.

Several other independent polls, including polls by well-known organizations such as Gallup and the BBC, have also indicated that Musharraf has the support of a majority of the Pakistanis surveyed.

Assassination attempts

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 windshield 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.

Elections during Musharraf's administration

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. 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. While Musharraf's 2002 referendum on his rule had been heavily criticized and dismissed by critics, his electoral-college victory has received much greater acceptance within and outside Pakistan.

Prime Minister Jamali resigned on 26 June 2004, and in his place the National Assembly elected Shaukat Aziz, a former Vice President of Citibank and head of Citibank Private Banking. The new government was mostly supportive of Musharraf, who remained President and Head of State in the new government. Musharraf continues to be the active executive of Pakistan, especially in foreign affairs.

Nuclear proliferation

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.

Peace overtures with India

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 resulting in a diplomatic fiasco. 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. Infact according to an ex-official of the Musharraf government, Hassan Abbas, it was Musharraf who planned the whole operative and sold the idea to Sharif. As this 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 single 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.

Pakistan has publicly stated that it reserves the right to 'exercise its nuclear option' in a large scale war with India. On the other hand India has a 'no first nuclear strike' policy enshrined in its nuclear doctrine. In response Musharraf has instead offered a "no war pact" to India.

Recent developments

Musharraf visited the Philippines in April 2005 to boost trade, commerce and economic ties. In May 2005, he declared that exiled political leaders, including Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, would not be allowed to come back or participate in the general elections scheduled for 2007.

He said he would prefer some kind of "international guarantees" for implementation of any pact reached with India on the Kashmir issue, which he wants to be settled in a year's time. In July of 2005, he started another wave of crackdown of people perceived to be extremists within the country. He is battling the Hasba Bill (a controversial Islamist law to establish religious courts and police in NWFP a Province of Pakistan).He is also facing huge opposition to register Madrasas(Religious Schools) by his Government. He is trying to establish better ties with Israel, despite harsh criticism from the Pakistani political spectrum.

Recently The Washington Post has reported that General Musharraf remarked in an interview with one of their correspondents that rape in Pakistan has become a "moneymaking concern". He then went on to exclaim that "a lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped." The comments, though denied by Musharraf, brought world wide condemnation and sparked protests in Pakistan. The Washington Post, in response to Musharraf's denials, made the audio of the interview available on their website.

Notes

^  Tom Clancy, Gen. Tony Zinni (Retd) and Tony Koltz (2004) Battle Ready, Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0399151761

^  Hassan Abbas (2004) Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror, M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0765614979

^  Stephen Cohen (2004) The Idea of Pakistan, The Brookings Institution. ISBN 0815715021

Kristof, Nicholas: “Our Friends the Terrorists”, The New York Times, 21 December 2001.

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