Pervez Musharraf
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A biography
From: Omer Farooq Khan, February 6, 2023: The Times of India
See graphic:
Pervez Musharraf- A timeline
Childhood in India
Kushagra Dixit, February 6, 2023: The Times of India
From: Kushagra Dixit, February 6, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi : In the narrow lanes behind Golcha Cinema in old Delhi’s Daryaganj, there was a stark indifference to the news of the demise of Pakistan ex-president Pervez Musharraf. The former Pakistani General — remembered as the architect of the Kargil War — was born at Neharwali Haveli here on August 11, 1943, before his family took him to Pakistan when he was just four.
In 2001, the area was abuzz with activity when Musharraf had come calling during his India tour as a part of the Agra summit on the invitation of the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
However, years later, neither the nehar (canal), nor the haveli remain. There are just a few people who actually know the region as Neharwali Haveli. When you ask for “Musharraf wali haveli (Musharraf’s mansion)”, locals point to a narrow lane with a board that reads “Pratap Street”, where the only thing that’s in abundance are stray cats and tea stalls.
Residents say the haveli was bought by Musharraf’s grandfather after retirement. The family sold the building to a cloth merchant after Partition. A few residents, whose houses still have remnants of the older structure, remember Musharraf only as an enemy who went to war against India.
Some of them do recall Musharraf revisiting the area in 2001 and even sipping tea at one of the fractions of the old structure, which is behind Golcha Cinema. They, however, said that the area now had its own set of problems and they couldn’t care less about its former resident.
One such part of the mansion is at the dead end of the street where the Jain family resides. A painted patch of Lakhori bricks, surrounded by portions of broken plaster, provides a hint of the grandmansion that may have stood there once, with its arched balconies and old-world architecture. A large Gular tree around it seems to quietly keep watch on the proceedings. Over the period of time, the mansion was divided, sold, bought, razed and rebuilt. Some of the buildings are now six-storey tall, dwarfing all structures in the vicinity. The Jain family has, however, only gone for minor alterations, which include an “Om” symbol on the gate above the owner’s nameplate.
“We came to know that Musharraf had died, but we no longer see this place as a symbol of his memory. This is our home and we have been living here for decades after legally acquiring it under the Evacuee Property Act. What’s there to remember about him, anyway? He waged a war on our country. There are so many people who migrated to Pakistan after Partition,” said DK Jain, one of the residents. In 2005, Musharraf’s mother, Zarin, had also visited the place, along with her elder son, Javed, and Musharraf ’s son, Bilal.
“The entire haveli was spread over 600 square yards. We bought a part of its in 1960 when the owners sold it in form of different plots. Most of the people brought the mansion down and built multi-storeyed apartments and shops. That’s the only legacy left. We are told that there once was a nullah here. Daryaganj, as the name suggests, had bogs and big ponds. Today, who could imagine that this place had waterbodies? When natural things disappear, what’s there to say about human beings,” said Afsar Ahmed, a resident.
Javed Khan, another local, concurred: “He (Musharraf) came here in 2001 because of a friendly gesture by Vajpayee sahib. Most of it seemed pretty staged even then. For us, he belonged to an enemy country, whose army was planning a war on India while he sipped tea here. ”
Briefly
Omer Farooq Khan, Dec 18, 2019 Times of India
Pakistan’s former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, who was convicted and sentenced to death by a special court in a high treason case on Tuesday, had ruled the country for nine years after removing the elected government of former PM Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999. Musharraf, 76, was bor n in Neharwali Haveli in Old Delhi in 1943. After Partition, his parents moved to Karachi where millions of refugees migrating from India had settled.
Musharraf was commissioned in Pakistan’s army in 1964 and saw action in the country’s 1965 and 1971 wars against India. Despite being third in seniority, he was appointed to lead the army by then PM Nawaz Sharif in 1998. Both Musharraf and Sharif had presided over Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May 1998, conducted in response to similar tests by India days earlier.
The army’s involvement in the Kargil War in May 1999 caused a major rift between him and Sharif. After months of contentious relations, Sharif had unsuccessfully attempted to remove Musharraf as an army chief while he was on a flight back from an official visit to Sri Lanka. In retaliation, Musharraf ordered the military to take control of state institutions and announced a state of emergency. He declared himself “chief executive” of the country as he landed in Pakistan.
He remained “chief executive” until 2002 when he organised a controversial general election and brought a party of his own loyalists, PML-Q, to power. The same year he got himself elected from parliament as president, a post that he continued to hold until he was removed in 2008. He is known for his role in the US “war on terror”, which he supported after 9/11 despite domestic opposition. In 2007, he ordered military action against a mosque.
Protests against his rule started in March 2007 after he attempted to remove the then SC Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Continuing to face pressure for holding the dual roles of army chief and president, Musharraf resigned from the former role. In 2008, he relinquished his post of a civilian president to avoid impeachment and left the country. In 2013, he returned to Pakistan to contest general elections but was barred by the courts. He moved to Dubai for treatment in 2016.
Further details
February 5, 2023: The Times of India
Former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, convicted and sentenced to death by a special court in a high treason case on July 31, 2009, had ruled Pakistan for nine years after removing the elected government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999. Musharraf, 76, was born in Neharwali Haveli in Old Delhi in 1943. After Partition, his parents moved to Karachi where millions of refugees migrating from India had settled.
Musharraf was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1964 and saw action in the country’s 1965 and 1971 wars against India.
Despite being third in seniority, he was appointed to lead the army by Sharif on October 7, 1998. Both Musharraf and Sharif had presided over Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May 1998, conducted in response to similar tests by India days earlier.
Musharraf, the longest serving army chief in the country after General Zia-ul-Haq, would never have reached the post but for Sharif, who superseded him over several other officers.
Kargil war
Things, however, went wrong between Sharif and Musharraf after the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, as both of them engaged in a blame game over the military misadventure. While Sharif claimed that Musharraf was solely responsible for the Kargil attack, the army chief alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML(N) leader had succumbed to US pressure.
After months of contentious relations, Sharif had unsuccessfully attempted to remove Musharraf as the army chief while he was on a flight back from an official visit to Sri Lanka. In retaliation, Musharraf ordered the military to take control of state institutions and announced a state of emergency. He declared himself ‘chief executive’ of the country as he landed in Pakistan.
1999 coup
Musharraf overthrew Sharif after the PML(N) leader sacked him as the army chief. His first action after the Supreme Court validated his bloodless coup was to exile Sharif from Pakistan, banning him from returning to the country for 10 years.
With Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Benazir Bhutto — the other leading political player in Pakistan — already in exile, Musharraf declared himself the country’s ‘chief executive’ and formally appointed himself president on June 20, 2001, days before travelling to Agra for the much-hyped summit with then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which failed to yield any breakthrough.
Agra summit
Vajpayee and Musharraf met in Agra in July 2001. The Agra summit remains till date the most ambitious attempt at peace between the two countries. The two leaders, however, could not reach an agreement.
In all its history, the Pakistan Army has produced only one such maverick, Musharraf, who after becoming the country’s president through a coup actually spearheaded what remains to date the most serious — and creative — solution to resolving the vexing dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir. Interestingly, Musharraf did not initially meet all the criteria of an idiosyncratic military leader who could make peace with India.
He remained the ‘chief executive’ until April 30, 2002 when he organised a controversial general election and brought a party of his own loyalists, Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam), to power.
On January 1, 2004, Musharraf won a confidence vote from the electoral college comprising the five legislatures. This body then re-elected him in uniform on October 6, 2007 for a second term as president, a post that he continued to hold until he was removed in 2008.
He is known for his role in the US ‘war on terror’, which he supported after 9/11 despite domestic opposition.
The dismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9, 2007 on charges of abuse of office sparked nationwide protests by lawyers and Opposition parties, marking the beginning of decline of Musharraf’s regime.
His decision to send troops to storm the radical Lal Masjid in Islamabad on July 10, 2007 — an operation that killed more than 100 people — further intensified terror strikes, including suicide bombings in the country.
However, his move to impose an emergency on November 3, 2007 suspending the constitution, detaining hundreds of political opponents and sacking the Supreme Court judges who were to decide whether he was eligible to stand for presidential election in uniform, hastened his downfall.
Continuing to face pressure for holding the dual roles of army chief and president, Musharraf resigned from the former role. In 2008, he relinquished his post of civilian president to avoid impeachment and left the country. In 2013, he returned to Pakistan to contest the general election but was barred by the courts. He moved to Dubai for treatment in 2016.
Downfall
Lal Masjid/ 2007
Alind Chauhan, February 6, 2023: The Indian Express
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf resigned from his position in 2008 after the ruling coalition threatened to impeach him.
Musharraf’s ouster from power was the culmination of not one particular reason. Towards the end of his tenure, the leader was in the soup because of several conflicts brewing within Pakistan.
He faced massive protests from lawyers after firing former Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. His decision to declare a state of emergency met with a huge backlash. Musharraf was also accused of playing a role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. And his political party, PML-Q, performed poorly in the 2008 general elections.
However, many analysts believe that the biggest reason for his downfall was the 2007 operation at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, which changed the course of not only Musharraf’s rule but also Pakistan’s relationship with Islamist militancy. It led to the rise of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out numerous deadly attacks across the country over the years.
Even now, the TTP, which called off its June 2022 ceasefire with the government in November last year, presents the biggest internal security threat to Pakistan. On January 30, a TTP suicide bomber killed more than 100 people at a mosque in Peshawar.
History of Lal Masjid
Since its inception in 1965, Lal Masjid had served as a platform for propagating Islamic extremism. Its founder, Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi, was “famous for his speeches on jihad” and shared a close relationship with Pakistan’s former dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, according to a BBC report.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the mosque supplied a steady stream of mujahideen, who played a pivotal role in fighting the Red Army. Once the war ended, it continued to impart “radical Islamic learning, housing several thousand male and female students in adjacent seminaries”, the report said.
After Ghazi was assassinated in 1998, his sons, Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid took over the complex, which had by now expanded and also consisted of a madrassa for women, called Jamia Hafsa.
As per the BBC report, Ghazi’s sons accepted they had “good contacts” with several al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden himself, several years before the 9/11 attack. However, after America began its “war on terror”, they denied having any links to the terrorist organisation.
The tussle with the Pakistan government
Once President Musharraf declared his support for America’s “war on terror”, the leaders and students of Lal Masjid openly condemned his move and called for his assassination. Kidnappings, violent demonstrations, arson, and armed clashes with the authorities followed.
According to a report in Dawn, the mosque also “announced a charter for proposed Islamic rule of the country, which envisaged a new social, political and judicial system based on the Sharia. The clerics called for the formation of revolutionary committees for the implementation of the charter”.
The situation worsened in June 2007, when both male and female students of the complex raided a massage parlour in Islamabad, which they alleged was a brothel and kidnapped nine people working there, including seven Chinese nationals. They were released the next day but the Chinese authorities pressured the national government to take action against the culprits.
The siege of Lal Masjid
The report by Dawn pointed out that the Pakistan military for months “hesitated” to take action against the leaders and students of Lal Masjid because it shared close ties with them. Finally, on July 3, 2007, the forces, backed by tanks and artillery guns, surrounded the area under the orders of President Musharraf.
In retaliation, students and militants not only fired upon the Pakistani troops but also set fire to a Ministry of Environment building near the complex. The conflict escalated after July 7, when snipers “positioned inside a minaret shot Lieutenant-Colonel Haroon Islam, the commander of the Special Forces leading the operation.” He succumbed to his injuries the next day.
This was the last straw for the Pakistan forces and, three days later, they entered the premises of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa to begin “Operation Silence”.
Notably, during the siege, the military discovered that elements from jihadi groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harkat-ul Jihad-al-Islami were present inside the seminary, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, LMGs, hand grenades, petrol bombs, and rocket-launchers, according to an analysis published in The Indian Express.
At the end of the stand-off, more than 100 people, including commandos, were dead. The mosque was also severely damaged.
The aftermath of the operation
After the Lal Masjid operation, Islamic hardliners turned strongly against Musharraf. Ayman al-Zawahiri, then number 2 in al-Qaeda, vowed revenge. Abdul Rashid, who was killed while fighting against the army, was described as a “hero of Islam” by Bin Laden in an audio he released soon after the incident.
“Al Qaeda and other militant groups have since used the storming of the Lal Masjid as a rallying cry to fight the Pakistani government and its military”, Dawn reported. It further mentioned that in the first year after the incident alone, more than 88 bombings killed 1,188 people and wounded 3,209.
The fallout of the Lal Masjid operation added to the problems of President Musharraf, and ultimately resulted in his resignation in 2008. Years later, he sought to disown his responsibility and denied ordering the operation while he faced a trial regarding the incident.
Musharraf regime’s economic failure
A case of Musharraf regime’s economic failure
By Izzud-Din Pal
GENERAL Musharraf is preparing himself for a second term as president of Pakistan for the next five years. Since the military coup, he will have completed eight years as military ruler of the country, first by authority of martial law and then on the basis of the referendum which endorsed him as the head of the state and the 17th amendment which legitimised his position as General-President.
What have the people gained under his rule? According to his claim, he has successfully coped with extremism in the country, has worked for establishing democracy, and that his government has achieved a record economic growth during his rule. On the question of extremism, I have recently dealt with the question in my “No institutions built to promote ‘enlightened moderation’ (Encounter, August 25, 2007). The central point of my argument is that by running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, General Musharraf has not succeeded in his objectives. About the second point, how has democracy faired during his rule demands a separate discussion at a future date.
In this essay, I plan to deal with the issue of economic growth. In order to make a meaningful assessment of this question, it would be useful to briefly study the issue in the context of the claims made, and not by invoking comparisons with previous governments, which belongs to the realm of historical analysis. We could use a recent assertion made by a government spokesman suggesting that the country has experienced an unprecedented growth during the last six years as a focal point. According to him the important factor which promoted this growth was the beneficence of General Musharraf’s authoritarian rule over the country. Would the general agree, to be identified as an authoritarian ruler? The spokesman nevertheless emphasised that this was in fact a necessary condition to establish suitable environment for growth. This matter needs to be examined.
It is well known that economic growth refers to a change in the national product from one period to the next. It reflects the total expenditure on goods and services incurred (consumption+investment+net trade balance) and it is calculated on a quarterly and annual basis. The foundation of the economy then is its capacity to produce and it expands as its capacity to produce increases. The crucial factor is related to the issue of capacity which is ascribed directly to increase in fixed investment (net addition in machinery and equipment) in a given period of time. This is how the process of economic growth is sustained.
In all official reports, it is stated that under the leadership of General Musharraf and that of the prime minister, the economy has moved through a steady growth, reaching 7.0-7.5 per cent per annum in 2006-2007. Is the economy then on its path to emerge as another tiger, as the prime minister has said in several of his statements? A quick response, and an appropriate one, would suggest that the country has experienced some growth and a lot of Great Bubble on top of it. Great Bubbles have many common characteristics in economic history, including high consumption, inflation, stock exchange boom and real estate bonanza. Often they remain insipid over a long period of time but get out of control if not corrected through appropriate measures in monetary and fiscal policy.
Of course, a Great Bubble can turn into a real achievement, if a good part of the windfall incomes received is channelled into saving. Propensity to save, however, is not a habit among rich Pakistanis, according to available data. In fact, Pakistan’s saving rate is quite low, even by Asian standards.
The official reports admit that for the last five years, consumption has been the leading force in the economy. There has also been timely rainfall, bringing increase in agricultural output, not in productivity. What are the sources of finance which have encouraged the spurt in consumption? It seems that the flow of family remittances has not really much changed in its usual trend. Also, foreign assistance may have caused some statistical boost in the consumer value-added. Not all of this spurt can be then explained by these two factors. The issue, therefore, remains a mystery. It has, however, put a lot of pressure on price level. What is the real purchasing power, for example, of the suggested $925 per capita income is not difficult to calculate.
And the fundamental condition to turn the Great Bubble into economic growth is that there should be a significant net increase in real fixed investment in the country, as mentioned above. The high level of consumption can only deter the realisation of this objective. With the exception of foreign investment (made available in gross figures only) in highly capital-intensive sectors in utilities and natural resource exploration, there has not been a change in the situation in this regard.
Another consequence of this phenomenon has been that the gap between the upper and lower classes has been increasing. By itself this income inequality is unacceptable for a country where the standard of living is quite low. The available data also seems to indicate that the threshold of income at the middle and lower levels is quite frozen, unlike many other countries. And how much has poverty been reduced in the country is a controversial issue with not many national and international observers agreeing with the official position.
What is missing then in the story of Pakistan’s achievement in regard to economic growth is the lack of focus on the pre-requisites for achieving a sustained increase in income and output. The productive capacity, for example, was substantially increased in the Ayub Khan period, but the history has never repeated itself since. It was not because he offered stability to the economy by virtue of his authoritarian rule. The new international emphasis on development in the sixties had provided a challenge to which there was a suitable response, against the background of the new country’s potential for utilisation of its raw materials and manpower.
A policy of economic growth without emphasis on distribution was followed and openly admitted by economic advisors to General Ayub Khan. And under the authoritarian rule, the atmosphere was emendable for pursuing this objective, and it was facilitated by transfer of saving from agricultural sectors, in both East and West Pakistan, to the industry mainly situated in West Pakistan. With authoritarian rule and with no representative government in Karachi, a strong sense of alienation gradually developed in East Pakistan. The results are now well known.
During the Ayub Khan period, a policy to promote economic growth in its narrow sense (net addition in productive capacity) was pursued, as mentioned above. The state of under-development in the country, however, would have called for a comprehensive policy for economic development (the paradigm of development connoting a broader spectrum than growth) in the country. There is rich scholarly material on the subject available in the literature, known as the prerequisites of growth. Their list is long but I would focus briefly on one of them for reasons of space, the role of education in the economy.
Education at all three levels –– primary, secondary, and tertiary –– is intimately related to each other. In fact, the specialists agree that the skill for reading and writing acquired at the primary level is of fundamental importance. Education has several backward and forward linkages with productive capacity. In a production process many jobs, for example, call for basic skill which can be provided mainly by primary-secondary level education; and at the tertiary level, there is a role for innovation, to acquire, to create, or to do both.
This economic reality is well known and it was the secret of success for the 19th century development of Japanese economy. It has also been the secret of success for Taiwan and South Korea in the post-Second World War period. In the early fifties, according to a fad prevalent among social scientists, especially in the US, prospects for economic development in the Pacific region would be hampered seriously by Confucian teachings. This fad was soon etiolated by the changing reality. Shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic, the Chinese government took education as matter of priority and today 91 per cent of the country is under compulsory primary education.
In contrast, the officially claimed rate of 54 per cent in Pakistan is considered grossly inflated by many observers in the country. Besides, “literacy” is usually defined in a highly loose manner. Universal primary education in Pakistan is a myth. More than half of the children from age five to nine are not enrolled in schools, and either many of these schools do not exist or are counted in the figures but are in fact phantom institutions.
I would end my observations with the following excerpts from an address to the nation delivered by General Musharraf on March 5, 2002: “….I come to education…you know human resource development is one of our top priorities. We cannot progress unless we improve the quality of education….We want to improve our literacy level. We want to bring about a qualitative improvement in our education…..”
Relations with India
Ajay Bisaria, February 6, 2023: The Times of India
When Pakistan’s former dictator Pervez Musharraf breathed his last in Dubai, he was perhaps unaware of the ‘polycrisis’ that grips his country 15 years after he left power. The dictator’s own contribution to Pakistan’s current misery is monumental; the four (military-overseen) civilian governments since have been unable to reverse the damage inflicted by Musharraf and his uniformed predecessors.
A tricky customer
For India, Musharraf ’s legacy is more ambiguous.
● Musharraf had the mind of a guerrilla – deception and surprise were his weapons. He had fought against India in 1965 and 1971, never reconciled to the loss of East Pakistan and was pained by the upper hand that India had gained on the Siachen glacier.
● He sabotaged the most innovative peace initiative in the history of India-Pakistan relations, the Lahore process, when Indian PM Vajpayee took a bus across the border in 1999 to push for sustainable peace.
● As army chief, he tried a reckless gambit in Kargil, enlisting a cabal of four generals to try to de-freeze and internationalise the Kashmir issue. India’s strong reaction surprised him, just as it had surprised Pakistan’s first dictator Ayub Khan in 1965.
● Nawaz Sharif’s capitulation to Clinton in Washington in July 1999 and the agreement to withdraw Pakistani forces had humiliated Musharraf. This and the PM’s attempt to remove him, was the army chief’s excuse to seize power in a coup.
● Within a month of the coup, an Indian aircraft was hijacked from Kathmandu on Musharraf’s watch, with fingerprints of the Pakistani ISI on the operation. The episode ended with the release of four dreaded terrorists who would multiply the mayhem against India.
Despite the general’s background, India decided to give him a second shot. The triumvirate of Vajpayee, Advani and Jaswant Singh decided over lunch in May 2001 to ‘read the dictator’s mind’ by inviting him to India. Musharraf promoted himself as president and showed up in Agra in July for a summit where he exploited India’s media and overplayed his hand on Kashmir, leading to the failure of yet another initiative. The endgame of the summit was when Musharraf met Vajpayee for a last attempt to salvage a joint statement. But Vajpayee had read Musharraf well, Agra was not retrievable.
General’s new avatar
After 9/11, Musharraf was compelled to jettison any allusions to ‘root causes’ of terrorism and join the US war on terror. Pakistan, Musharraf felt, had ‘no choice’ after President Bush told him that the country was “either with us or with the terrorists”. Musharraf, however, played the dual game with dexterity as he covertly engaged Taliban while supporting the US global war on terror.
Three months after 9/11, it was India’s turn to be angry when Pakistani terrorists attacked India’s Parliament in December. India reacted with Operation Parakram and a bout of coercive diplomacy that had Musharraf swear in January 2002 that Pakistan’s territory would not be used for terrorism against India.
When Vajpayee extended the hand of friendship from Srinagar in April 2003, Musharraf was quick to clasp it. A ceasefire on the border soon followed, cross-border infiltration fell and diplomatic contacts intensified. The decade of Musharraf that had begun with aggression now led to shifts in entrenched positions. The VajpayeeMusharraf tango that began in Agra in 2001,derailed by terrorism, was revived. It was some quiet diplomacy away from the public glare that finally led to the breakthroughs for an era of relative peace from 2003.
When Vajpayee visited Islamabad in January 2004, Musharraf vowed that territories under Pakistan’s control would not be used for terrorism against India. He did not insist on the primacy of Kashmir. The diplomacy had also got smarter: Unlike in Lahore or Agra, a backchannel of trusted aides – Brajesh Mishra and Tariq Aziz – had prepared the grounds for the breakthrough.
● After 2004, Musharraf continued ‘essays in mutual comprehension’ with Vajpayee’s successor Manmohan Singh, across multiple meetings.
● Musharraf was even willing to substantively abandon the Kashmir cause with his four-point plan of freezing the status quo and making borders irrelevant.
● The period 2003-07 was the most diplomatically active, with a robust back channel and a revived comprehensive dialogue that involved breakthroughs in trade and connectivity.
But Musharraf’s karma caught up. He faced assassination attempts, apart from a pushback from the judiciary and civilian politicians.
He also lost the plot with India from 2006, after train bombings in Mumbai fouled the atmosphere. Musharraf’s dream to reinvent himself as a politician remained unfulfilled. As also his hope to be the peace-making general. His early sins could not be washed away.
The writer, aide to PM Vajpayee in the Musharraf years, is former High Commissioner to Pakistan
2008: Political crisis
From the archives of "The Times of India": 2008
Musharraf vows to fight it out
A combative Pervez Musharraf vowed to slug it out in Pakistan parliament which began its crucial session as the ruling coalition got ready to impeach him for alleged misconduct, violation of the constitution and financial irregularities.
Ignoring mounting pressure from both friends and foes to quit before the National Assembly initiates the impeachment process, Musharraf said he would prove “false before the nation” all the allegations levelled against him by the ruling coalition.
The session of the 342-member assembly commenced this evening as the PPP-led coalition said it has drawn up an “unimpeachable” chargesheet listing allegations of misconduct, violation of constitution and financial irregularities against Musharraf.
“It will be an unimpeachable document supported by documentary evidence of all the acts of omission and commission committed by Musharraf that make him liable to impeachment several times,” PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.
The panel drafting the chargesheet has made “significant progress” in listing the charges against Musharraf, he said. Officials said the charges against the president are likely to be filed later in the week amid a rising clamour in the ruling coalition that he step down.
Presidential spokesman Gen Rashid Qureshi said Musharraf will not resign “in any situation” and battle it out. Musharraf will have the right to defend himself after the impeachment motion is moved. Ahead of the National Assembly session, Musharraf held talks with his supporters in the opposition PML-Q during which he vowed to prove “false before the nation” all charges against him, the local Geo TV reported. After the four provincial assemblies pass separate resolutions asking Musharraf to seek a vote of confidence, the PPP-led coalition will submit an impeachment motion and chargesheet against Musharraf in the National Assembly.
Babar said the coalition had uncovered evidence of “horrendous” crimes allegedly committed during the beleaguered president’s rule. He did not elaborate.
“We are in the government now and have access to many previously confidential documents. After going through these documents, we are surprised over the horrendous nature of the crimes committed by President Musharraf during his almost nine-year rule,” he said without commenting on reports that the charges included those of corruption and murder. While there have been questions as to whether the coalition had the numbers in the two houses — the National Assembly and the Senate, Zardari said he was “110% sure” of the success of impeachment motion.
Both houses of parliament have a combined strength of 442, and the motion will have to be passed by a twothirds majority or 295 members. Anti-Musharraf parties have a total of 274 members 235 in the assembly and 39 in the Senate which is short of the magic number.
Meanwhile the spokesman for Musharraf Gen Qureshi denied that the embattled leader had “misappropriated” millions of dollars of military aid provided to Pakistan by the United States since the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks. AGENCIES
Embattled Pervez seeked Saudi Arabia’s help
Disappointed by his American friends, President Pervez Musharraf, who faces impeachment by the ruling coalition, has sent an “SOS message” to the Saudi authorities, a source said on Monday. “The message was sent through a senior Saudi diplomat based in Islamabad,” the source said, adding the president has received a response that is “not very positive”. The source said the Saudi authorities, however, are sending a senior government official to gain a first hand view of the situation arising out of the impeachment move. The source said that Saudi ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awadh Asseri would also be soon returning home after cutting short his private visit to his homeland. Musharraf, when he seized power in October 1999 after overthrowing prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had sent him into exile in Saudi Arabia.
US position
US fights for giving Mush safe passage
Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN
FROM THE ARCHIVES OF ‘‘THE TIMES OF INDIA’’: 2008
Washington: The Bush administration, for long a patron of Pakistan’s military strongman Pervez Musharraf, has decided to let go of its ward amid growing momentum for the civilian democratic government’s move to impeach the fading “president” who derived much of his strength from the army and Washington.
Washington has discreetly made it known, through key officials, that the impeachment proceedings are the “internal affairs” of Pakistan and the US will respect due process, but has also conveyed that Musharraf should be given immunity and/or safe exit from the political lynch mob should he decide to step down before lawmakers formally move against him.
There is growing expectation that Musharraf will step down after a farewell address to nation on August 14, Pakistan’s independence day, although his aides are contesting reports to that effect. But Washington has already signalled a hands-off approach.
“Our expectation is that any action will be consistent with the rule of law and the Pakistani constitution,” was all a state department official would say last week after the White House decided not to back Musharraf in his scrap with the new civilian rulers, having ascertained that the Pakistani army is also not willing to interfere in the process.
However, both players —America and army — have conveyed that they would like the civilian dispensation to abjure the politics of vendetta and allow the retired general to defend himself. US interlocutors, including Washington’s envoy to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, are said to be in consultations with Musharraf, his successor army chief, Gen Ashfaq Kayani, and the new civilian leadership, to arrange for a climb down and a possible safe passage for Musharraf should he decide not to go down the path of confrontation.
With more and more Pakistani lawmakers, including prominent politicians who thrived under his dispensation, ditching Musharraf in the last few days, his days seem numbered. Some of the political players, including Musharraf’s current nemesis Nawaz Sharif and the scions of the Bugti clan, whose paterfamilias Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed on Musharraf’s orders, are playing hardball and insisting that Musharraf will be tried. There are fears that such sentiments might generate a lynch mob.
While the US is ready to sideline Musharraf, it does not want humiliation for the man who served its cause initially and earned warm praise from its president before he fell foul of the White House. Speculation is rife in Pakistan about how Bush has avoided phone calls from Musharraf even as Washington is busy arranging exile for the fallen military ruler.
The US position on Musharraf changed followed a growing body of evidence that he may have played a double game in not only the war on terror, but also in the carefully crafted US plans to bring about a rapproachment between him and Benazir Bhutto and push Pakistan towards a quasi-civilian form of government with a strong military influence. A stunning disclosure based on communication intercepts by US intelligence in American journalist Ron Suskind’s new book ‘The Way of the World’ shows Musharraf literally toyed with Benazir Bhutto’s life before she was snuffed out by an assassin.
“You should understand something,” Musharraf tells Bhutto in one conversation. “Your security is based on the state of our relationship.” The conversation takes place during Bhutto’s meeting with US lawmakers at Capitol Hill, including John Kerry, and state department officials, Suskind says, at a time when she was insisting on the repeal of the provision prohibiting a third term for prime ministers.
Musharraf derived his backing from Washington mainly on account of the Pentagon’s and CIA’s long institutional relationship with their counterparts in Pakistan and political support from the vicepresident Dick Cheney’s office. But increasingly, both the US military and intelligence began to provide evidence of Pakistani malfeasance in the war on terror, including Islamabad’s covert support for Taliban, forcing the political players in Washington to fall in line.
Bush administration
From the archives of "The Times of India"
‘Bush admin has asked Pervez to step down’
Washington: Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has reportedly been told by the Bush administration to step down voluntarily rather than prolong an ongoing political crisis and face impeachment.
CBS News quoted highranking Pakistani government officials and western diplomats as saying that American officials have told Musharraf that it is in the best interests of Pakistan to step down from office.
Speaking to CBS News on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information, the Pakistani official said the US was keen to see an orderly transition of power, presenting Washington with the opportunity to build close ties with Musharraf'’s successor.
The Bush administration’s interest in maintaining close relations with Pakistan is built around the desire to carry forward cooperation in the war against Islamic extremism. Pakistan, under Musharraf ’s leadership, has deployed as many as 150,000 military and paramilitary soldiers along its border with Afghanistan in support of the US and Nato led military operations in that country.
Washington is also fighting to secure “safe passage” for the embattled president. Musharraf is learnt to have refused to take the “safe passage” to mean an immediate exile out of the country following his resignation.
He is said to be insisting on guarantees from the federal government that he be allowed to stay in his newly-built house on the outerskirts of Islamabad and given foolproof security.
According to the Daily Times, Musharraf’s two conditions are: First, that he will be entitled to stay in his house in Chak Shahzad on the outskirts of Islamabad and be provided full security and privileges as allowed under law to all presidents; and, Second, that cast-iron guarantees of indemnity from any action against him following his resignation will be provided, preferably through an act of parliament.
It is also learnt that the army high command is standing by him in these two demands, added the paper. The last thing the Pakistan army wants is to see either the impeachment of a former army chief or action against him by the civilians on any count. ANI
Aafia was set up by US military
New York: A lawyer for a Pakistani woman charged with trying to kill US military officers in a gunfight in Afghanistan accused the government on Wednesday of setting up her client by planting evidence on her.
The lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, also accused the government of trying to poison the court process by leaking information about her client, Aafia Siddiqui, who was brought to the United States a week ago to face federal charges.
Siddiqui was arrested on July 17 after she was found outside a governor’s compound in central Afghanistan’s Ghazni province carrying documents describing US landmarks and containing recipes for chemical weapons, along with bottles and jars of chemicals, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in New York.
Siddiqui was shot on July 18 after she snatched a soldier’s rifle, pointed it at an army captain and fired two shots, which missed, the affidavit said. Her family has denied the accusations.
ABC News reported that Siddiqui had been carrying maps of New York and a list of potential terrorism targets, including the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the subway system, when she was taken into custody. AP
2016: Gen Raheel helps him leave Pakistan
Omer Farooq Khan, Dec 21 2016: The Times of India
Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf has said that ex-Army chief General Raheel Sharif had exercised his “influence“ to help him leave the country in March.
“I was General Raheel's boss and also the army chief before him. He helped me out because all the cases against me were politicised,“ Mus harraf said on Monday .
Musharraf, 71, who is facing treason charges in Pakistan for imposing Emergency in November 2007, was not allowed to travel abroad after being put on the exit control list (ECL) by the Supreme Court. “Behind the scenes, our courts work under pressure. Raheel played a role in releasing the pressure exerted on courts,“ Musharraf said, adding that he managed to travel to Dubai after the SC lifted the travel ban on medical grounds. The SC's decision to let him travel abroad was criticised by political parties, who questioned the government's willingness in pursuing the treason case. Experts said that the go vernment was under pressure from the country's powerful military , which did not want its former chief to be tried and humiliated by the civilian government in civilian courts. Musharraf is being tried in murder cases of former PM Benazir Bhutto and other politicians.
