Pervez Musharraf

Born on: 11^th August 1943

Born in: Daryaganj, Delhi (India)

Nationality: Pakistani

Career: Former Chief of Army Staff and present President of Pakistan

 

Pervez Musharraf is a name that hardly anybody in this world is not acquainted with. The current President of Pakistan, he has also served as the country’s Chief of Army Staff, in the past. Musharraf took over the power in Pakistan, in the year 1999, after ousting the then ‘elected’ Prime Minster, Nawaz Sharif. With this, he became the fourth Army Chief of Pakistan to have assumed executive control of the country.

 

Initially, he assumed the title of Chief Executive and became de facto Head of the Government and is presently serving as the President of the country. Pervez Musharraf married Sehba, a resident of Okara. They have a son, Bilal, a Stanford University graduate who is presently working in the Silicon Valley. The couple also has a daughter, named Ayla Raza. She is an architect and right now, is working in the Karachi city.

 

Pervez Musharraf was born on 11^th August 1943, in India. His birthplace was Nahr wali Haveli, situated in Kacha Saad Ullah Mohallah of Daryaganj, which comes under Delhi. He belongs to a family of civil servants, with his grandfather, Qazi Mohtashimuddin, retired as the Commissioner of the undivided Punjab. His father, Syed Musharraf Uddin, was a member of the Pakistan Foreign Service and later, retired as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

 

His mother, a post graduate degree holder from Lucknow, retired from the UNO agency in ISB, sometime back only. Musharraf’s family migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India and it was in Karachi that he received his schooling, from Saint Patrick's School. He graduated from Forman Christian College of Lahore and is also believed to have participated in a certificate course in Media Management, from Delhi University.

 

Pervez Musharraf joined the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul, in the year 1961 and graduated at 11^th position in his class. In 1964, he got commissioned in the Artillery Regiment and later, was posted to Field Artillery Regiments, after joining the Special Services Group. During this time, he attended Command and Staff College (Quetta), National Defence College (Rawalpindi) and Royal College of Defence Studies (United Kingdom). Musharraf took part in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, as the 2nd Lieutenant, in the 16 (SP) Field Artillery Regiment.

 

Pervez Musharraf also participated in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, in which he served as a Company Commander in the Special Service Group (SSG) Commando Battalion. Later, he commanded Regiments of Artillery, an Artillery Brigade and then, an Infantry Division. He was also involved in the assault, and successfully capturing of two Bilafond La in Siachen Glacier, in the year 1987. Musharraf got promoted to the Major General in 1991 and was assigned the command of an Infantry Division.

 

His success did not stop here and he went on to become a Lieutenant General and took over the command of 1 Corps, the elite strike Corps. After the resignation of General Jehangir Karamat, in the year 1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally promoted Pervez Musharraf as the ‘Army Chief of Staff’ and ‘Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’. As the Army Chief of Staff, he played a major role in the Kargil Conflict. To regularize his position as the President of Pakistan, he resigned from the Army in November 2007.

 

Pervez Musharraf became de facto Head of Government of Pakistan, assuming the title of the Chief Executive, after a bloodless coup d'état, in October, 1999. Nawaz Sharif tried to dismiss Musharraf and install Khwaja Ziauddin, the Director of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in his place, taking advantage of his being out of the country. Musharraf flew back to Pakistan in a commercial airliner, landing only after the Generals ousted Sharif's administration and took over the airport. Then, he took control of the government and put Sharif under house arrest. Later, Sharif was exiled from Pakistan and came back only in November 2007.

 

Pervez Musharraf formally appointed himself as the President of Pakistan, in June 2001. In April 2002, he held a referendum that extended his term to five years, after the October elections. However, following the protests against alleged "irregularities" in the referendum, Musharraf apologized to the Pakistani public for the same. General elections were held in Pakistan in October 2002. Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q), a pro-Musharraf party, won the elections and formed a majority coalition, with independents and allies.

 

The National Assembly elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as Prime Minister and he appointed his cabinet. Musharraf made a deal with Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, in December 2003, for leaving the army by 31^st December 2004. Instead of adhering to it, he got legislators, in his favor, to pass a bill in the Parliament that allowed him to keep both the offices. Musharraf won a vote of confidence in the Electoral College of Pakistan, on 1^st January 2004. With this, he got elected to the office of the President, with the term extending up to 2007.

 

Musharraf suspended the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in March 2007. After protests by lawyers across Pakistan, he reinstated the Chief Justice in July. An indirect presidential election was held in Pakistan on 6 October 2007, in which Musharraf was re-elected as the President. This was followed by protests all over the country and on 3^rd November 2007, he suspended the constitution, as Chief of Army Staff. Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan that was removed on 15^th December 2007, after Pakistan Election Commission confirmed his re-election as President on 24^th November.