Pervez Musharraf

The former president, who seized power in a coup in 1999, survived numerous assassination attempts.

He was charged with high treason and was sentenced to death in absentia only for the decision to be overturned less than a month later. "He is called a military dictator, but there has never been a stronger democratic system than that under him... Though that sentencing was later reversed, he never returned to Pakistan. Musharraf died in hospital on Sunday morning. Musharraf's rule was characterised by extremes. And his career ultimately ended in disgrace and arrest, when he was sentenced to death in absentia for treason in 2019.

The former army chief, who seized power in a coup, died at the age of 79 in Dubai after a prolonged illness.

then all the promises of liberalism, moderation, media freedoms went out the window”. He was accused of willfully failing to ensure her security. In 2010, he announced the formation of his own party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and returned in 2013 to lead his group in the general elections that year. However, he said the freedoms granted to the media became a “double-edged sword” and played a strong role in Musharraf’s downfall, citing the negative coverage that followed after his removal of Chief Justice Chaudhry and “non-stop coverage of the lawyers’ movement”. [enforced disappearances](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/12/musharraf-must-face-accountability-for-all-crimes-2/) in Pakistan, a longstanding issue in the country, most notably in the western province of Balochistan and the former tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. [the growth in violent attacks](https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2019/pakistans-tribal-areas-fata/index.html), and noted that Musharraf was under “tremendous pressure” from the US to take action. “I did so much for Pakistan … “His cooperation with the West also precipitated what was effectively a civil war in the country,” he added, referring to [9/11 attacks](/news/2021/9/8/20-years-after-9-11-did-the-us-win-its-war-on), Pakistan under Musharraf chose to ally with the US and supported the overthrowing of al-Qaeda allies, the Afghan Taliban. He joined the army in 1961 as a student and steadily rose up the ranks, culminating in his selection as army chief in 1998 by former three-time Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif. Born in Delhi in 1943, Musharraf moved to Karachi, Pakistan in 1947 with his family after the partition of India and Pakistan. [death after a prolonged illness](/news/2023/2/5/pakistan-former-president-pervez-musharraf-dies) was announced on Sunday, leaves behind a grim legacy – defined in large part by human rights abuses and the [US-led so-called “war on terror”](/news/2021/9/8/20-years-after-9-11-did-the-us-win-its-war-on).

The late four-star general, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, led Pakistan for nine tumultuous years before resigning and leaving the country as a ...

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his condolences following the death.

He was charged with high treason and was sentenced to death in absentia only for the decision to be overturned less than a month later. He left Pakistan for Dubai in 2016 to seek medical treatment and had been living in exile in the country ever since. When he returned in 2013 to try to contest the election, he was arrested and barred from standing.

Former president of Pakistan who supported the US in its war on terror and was hailed as George Bush's 'best buddy'

Three years later, again showing the power of the military, Musharraf was allowed to [slip out of Pakistan,](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/18/pervez-musharraf-leaves-pakistan-for-treatment-after-travel-ban-lifted) on the pretext of needing back surgery. [return to Pakistan in 2013](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/24/pakistan-musharraf-taliban-threats) to resume his political career and stand for election. [The sentence was annulled](https://guardian.ng/news/pakistan-court-annuls-musharaffs-death-sentence-prosecutor/) by the Lahore high court the following month. [assassination of Bhutto that December](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/28/pakistan.obituaries) hastened Musharraf’s political demise. While his lavish lifestyle irked many at home, few were in doubt about the less than minimal chances of a former army chief ever being forced to stand trial in Pakistan. [Pakistan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/pakistan) since its creation in 1947. It was precisely the growing momentum of these developments that forced Musharraf finally to agree to But later he won praise for his bold attempt in 2006 to reach [a settlement with India over Kashmir](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/05/pakistan.india) that would have allowed free movement and made the border separating areas under Indian and Pakistani control in the state redundant. The man responsible for his appointment was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom he was to depose the following year in dramatic circumstances. This was demonstrated by their repeated attempts to assassinate him and in successfully mounting violent resistance to his government in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Sharif’s claim that he had done so in order to thwart a planned coup by Musharraf lacks evidence, though there is no doubt that differences between the two men had widened since the failed Kargil adventure, for which Sharif held Musharraf responsible. As Urdu-speakers, Musharraf’s family was conscious of its outsider status (less than 10% of the Pakistani population claim Urdu as their mother tongue).

Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani martial ruler and president during the 9/11 wars, died at age 79 while in self-imposed exile in Dubai.

Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time. Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. On the ground, the army took control and after he landed Musharraf took charge. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting. “After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. It wasn’t until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be “with us or against us.” Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan ”back into the Stone Age” if it chose the latter. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.′s attention and dominate Musharraf’s life a little under two years after he seized power. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. “I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat.”

Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former president, died at age 79 in Dubai on Sunday after a long illness, according to a statement by the Pakistani ...

Bitterness and disappointment from Kargil in both Washington (for the dangerous escalation the intervention represented) and Pakistan (for the United States having refused to support Pakistan) led to a strategic falling-out between the United States and Pakistan. Just like his contrition, and his promises of uniting and reforming the nation. Rather, it was the Kargil War of 1999—a military entanglement that his supporters laud for its tactical robustness, yet whose strategic cost Pakistan continues to bear to this day. In the nearly decade and a half between his resignation in 2008 and his death, Musharraf showed little capacity for reflection or remorse. [Bush understandably praised Musharraf](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-with-president-pervez-musharraf-pakistan-0) for helping to fight his war, calling Musharraf “a leader with great courage and vision.” But for Pakistan, the fruits of that relationship were ruinous. The tipping point probably came in 2006 when Nawab Akbar Bugti, a onetime government minister in Islamabad and former chief minister of the province, was killed in a standoff with the military. Musharraf came to be seen as a star officer and became a member of the elite Special Services Group of commandos in the Pakistan Army. In 1998, Musharraf was appointed head of the armed forces, only to be fired in October 1999 when he was traveling abroad. For the first few years after it was enacted, the ordinance and the new systems it created seemed to be improving those services across the country. In 2006, he became the first foreign head of state to appear on At age 18, Musharraf joined the Pakistan Military Academy, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1964. When Musharraf took charge after a military coup in October 1999, Pakistan was not dissimilar from its neighbors China and India—countries with large populations but little economic vitality at the time.

Here are some facts about the life and career of Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, who died on Sunday:

In 2019, a Pakistani court sentenced him to death and deemed him a 'traitor' for subverting the country's constitution. A few months later, facing impeachment by lawmakers and the newly elected government, Musharraf announced he would resign as president and fled the country, living in London and Dubai. *In 2002, Musharraf was appointed president, a title he held in addition to army chief, after winning more than 90% of the vote in a controversial national referendum. *In 2001, he announced Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led campaign on al Qaeda militants following the Sept. Washington's so-called "war on terror" triggered the invasion of Afghanistan by international forces, who withdrew from the country in 2021. He seized power and toppled Sharif's government a year later, citing the deteriorating political and economic conditions in Pakistan

Updated February 5, 2023 at 5:00 AM ET. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pervez Musharraf, who was Pakistan's military ruler for nearly a decade, has died in Dubai ...

Pervez Musharraf was born in New Delhi, India, in 1943, the son of a diplomat. Despite the upheaval surrounding Musharraf's years in power, he has his defenders. While in exile, his former political party announced he was diagnosed with a rare disease, amyloidosis. He was later charged with treason for imposing emergency rule, and fled Pakistan in 2016, spending his final years in exile. Pakistan was also hoping that friendly relations with the Taliban would provide it with a buffer against its neighbor and rival, India. And the trigger for his downfall was when he sacked chief justice Pakistan's Supreme Court. Militants then seized control of a radical mosque in the heart of the capital – just a short distance from Pakistan's notoriously powerful military intelligence wing, known as the ISI. Musharraf was the one who began that policy." At the time, "there was a very good relationship that actually worked very well between the two intelligence agencies. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be "with us or against us" while Musharraf alleged that another American official, whom he did not name, threatened to bomb Pakistan "back into the Stone Age" if it chose the latter, according to the Associated Press. Musharraf's time in power was shaped by the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pervez Musharraf, who was Pakistan's military ruler for nearly a decade, has died in Dubai after a long illness.

[1/7] Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf poses for a picture after an interview with Reuters in London January 16, 2011.

The state of emergency in 2007 aimed to quell protests triggered by a clampdown on the judiciary and the media. That same year, his government was criticised for not providing enough security ahead of the assasination by the Pakistani Taliban of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a political rival killed while on campaign for national elections. In a 2006 memoir, Musharraf said he "saved" Pakistan by joining the campaign against al Qaeda. Bush to pour money into the nuclear-armed nation's military, which remains one of the most powerful in South Asia. "I offer my condolences to the family of General Pervez Musharraf," tweeted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. ally in the campaign against al Qaeda following the militant group's Sept.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf addresses an audience during a change-of-command ceremony in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2007. Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty ...

Musharraf became a key ally of the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks, and he tried to become an indispensable figure in combating Islamic extremism. He continued to lead Pakistan as president until 2008. The former leader had been living in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2016.

After seizing power in a coup, Musharraf quickly became a vital ally to the United States as it hunted down al Qaeda's leaders after the 9/11 attacks.

Joint U.S.-Pakistani operations on Pakistani soil after 9/11 led to the arrests of dozens of leading al Qaeda figures, including ringleader Incensed by rumors, many of which proved later to be factual, Sharif tried to assert civilian control by firing Musharraf while he was flying back to Pakistan after his visit to Sri Lanka. efforts to destroy al Qaeda and remove the group's Taliban hosts from power in Afghanistan. military figures while he was head of his own country's armed forces, including Gens. The two countries have long been adversaries, and Musharraf and other Pakistani military commanders viewed Sharif's overtures to India's Hindu nationalist government with extreme suspicion, even hostility. While his cause of death wasn't immediately clear, he was hospitalized last year in Dubai with an incurable condition related to bone marrow cancer. Although Musharraf only really became known on the international stage after backing the U.S. (Shehbaz Sharif, the current prime minister, is Nawaz Sharif's brother.) Pervez Musharraf, whose role as Pakistan's military ruler at the time of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. A spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai confirmed his death to The Associated Press. made him a household name, has died at the age of 79. He launched the takeover against the country's democratically elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, while aboard a flight returning from Sri Lanka.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan ...

Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence. Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services may have been involved. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004. Sharif had ordered Musharraf’s dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. He held flawed elections in late 2002 — only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. “After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in riots and fighting during the Partition. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan’s unwavering support to fight with the United States against “terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists.” Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. “I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat.”

Former Pakistan President and Army Chief General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, who proposed the “Musharraf formula” for peace over Jammu Kashmir between India ...

General Musharraf had resigned and left the country in August 2008, months before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, but it was during his tenure that the conspiracy behind the attacks would have been made in Pakistan, where the LeT operated training camps. In 2002, Musharraf narrowly escaped an assassination plot by the JeM founder Masood Azhar, who had been released during the IC-814 hijacking, and ordered a crackdown on the group and its suspected backers within the Pakistan Army’s “special wing”. He was educated in Karachi, and then in Turkey, where his father was a diplomat posted to Ankara. But he is also remembered for the “Musharraf Formula” for peace in Jammu-Kashmir, where Indian and Pakistani interlocutors worked towards a non-territorial resolution to the dispute, which would allow greater movement across the LoC. to use Pakistani bases to bomb thousands in Pushtun areas during the “War against Terrorism”, and for conspiracy to destroy evidence in the Benazir Bhutto assassination trial, where he was declared a fugitive by the court. [passed away in Dubai](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pervez-musharraf-ex-president-of-pakistan-passes-away-report/article66473594.ece) on February 5, five years after he was diagnosed with a rare condition called amyloidosis, former spokesperson and close aide Raza Bokhari told The Hindu.