Pervez Musharraf, former military dictator and Prime Minister of Pakistan, was born on August 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India. He was a Pakistani military officer who took power in a coup in 1999. He served as the President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He passed away today 5 February 2023.
Pervez Musharraf Biography, Birth, Age, Death, Family, Career, History & facts
Name | Pervez Musharraf |
Born | 11 August 1943 |
Birthplace | New Delhi India |
Father’s Name | Syed Musharrafuddin |
Mother’s Name | Begum Zarin Musharraf |
wife’s name | Sahba |
Children | Daughter Ayla |
Identity | Army Chief and President of Pakistan |
Age | 79 years |
Died | 5 February 2023 |
Place of deat | Dubai |
cause of death | From amyloidosis |
Musharraf’s early life
Musharraf moved from New Delhi to Karachi with his family in 1947, when Pakistan was separated from India. The son of a career diplomat, he lived in Turkey during 1949–56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defense Studies in London. He held several appointments in artillery, infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College, Quetta, and the war wing of the National Defense College.
Musharraf military career
He fought in Pakistan’s 1965 and 1971 wars with India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him Chief of the Armed Forces in October 1998. Musharraf is believed to have played a key role in the invasion of the Indian-administered part of the disputed Kashmir region in the summer of 1999. Under international pressure, Sharif later ordered troops to withdraw to Pakistani-controlled territory, a move that angered the military.
Coup and President
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 Karachi airport. However, the armed forces took control of the airport and other government installations and overthrew Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to head a military government. Although he was generally considered to have moderate views and promised to eventually return to civilian rule, Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament.
Musharraf established a National Security Council made up of civilian and military appointees to run Pakistan in the interim. He assumed the presidency in early 2001 and later attempted to negotiate an agreement with India on the Kashmir region. Following the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 and the US invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the US government forged closer ties with Musharraf in an effort to root out Islamic extremists in the Afghan–Pakistan border region.
Over the next several years, Musharraf survived several assassination attempts. He reinstated the constitution in 2002, although it was heavily amended with the Legal Framework Order (LFO) – a provision that extended his term as president by five years. Parliamentary elections were held in October 2002, and in late 2003 the legislature ratified most of the provisions of the LFO.
In 2007, Musharraf sought re-election to the presidency, but faced opposition from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, mainly over the issue of continuing to serve simultaneously as both president and army chief. The court thwarted his attempt to suspend the chief justice, and in October it delayed the results of Musharraf’s re-election (by 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 judges on the Supreme Court, arrested opposition political leaders, and banned the free press and media. Later that month the reconstituted Supreme Court rejected the final legal challenges to his re-election, and he resigned from his military post to become a civilian president.
Musharraf ended the state of emergency in mid-December, however, before restoring the constitution, he made several amendments to it that protected measures implemented during the emergency regime.
New elections and Musharraf’s defeat
The poor performance of Musharraf’s party in the February 2008 parliamentary elections was widely seen as a rejection of the president and his regime. The elections revealed an opposition coalition led by Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007. Citing serious constitutional violations, the governing coalition moved in early August 2008 to initiate impeachment proceedings against Musharraf. and, facing imminent relegation, Musharraf announced his resignation on 18 August.
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 candidacy to stand for election faced a number of legal and political obstacles, including several open criminal investigations regarding his actions as president.
On 18 April a Pakistani court disqualified him from entering the race due to an ongoing investigation regarding the suspension of the constitution in 2007. He was arrested the next day to face charges stemming from the investigation. In August 2013, Musharraf was still under house arrest, facing murder charges against him in connection with Bhutto’s assassination in 2007.
Allegations were made.
Relations with India
After the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Musharraf expressed his sympathy to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and sent a planeload of relief supplies to India.
In 2004, Musharraf initiated a series of talks with India to resolve the Kashmir dispute. In 2004, a ceasefire was agreed upon along the Line of Control. Many jawans still patrol the border
Personal life
Musharraf was the second son of his parents and had two brothers – Javed and Naved. Javed retired as a high-level officer in the Civil Service of Pakistan. Naved is an anesthesiologist who has lived in Chicago since completing residency training at Loyola University Medical Center in 1979.
Musharraf married Sahba, who is from Karachi, on 28 December 1968. They had a daughter Ayla, an architect, who was married to Bilal, the son of film director Asim Raza. He also had close family ties to the prominent Kheshgi family.
Death
Musharraf died on 5 February 2023 due to amyloidosis. He was 79 years old. A year ago, he was admitted to the hospital due to illness. His body is to return to Pakistan from Dubai on February 6.
He moved from Pakistan to Dubai in 2016 for treatment and had been living in exile in the country since then.