Extremism has dominated Pervez Musharraf’s political career as the previous military leader of Pakistan.
Musharraf, who became president in a coup in 1999, survived many assassination attempts and rose to the top of the conflict between extreme Islamists and the West.
It is significant that he forged a partnership with the US, claiming to have aided in the modernization and economic growth of Pakistan.
But Musharraf was ousted from power in 2008 after losing the national elections. He was imprisoned after being found guilty of treason and murder in absentia in 2019. His political career eventually ended in shame.
The punishment was not carried out because he was permitted to travel out of Pakistan in 2016 to receive medical care overseas. However, it was a humiliation for the military, which had long-term control over Pakistan.
Musharraf’s family revealed in June 2022 that there was little possibility of his recovering from a rare multi-body ailment in retirement, following unfounded claims that he had passed away in Dubai. This is referred to as amyloidosis.
On August 11, 1943, Pervez Musharraf was born in Delhi, but once British authority ended in 1947 and India was divided, his family moved to Pakistan like millions of other Muslims.
Before enrolling in the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961, he attended schools in Karachi and Lahore.
He participated as a group leader in both the first India-Pakistan conflict in 1965 and the second war between these nations five years later.
In 1998, when Gen. Jehangir Karamat, the head of Pakistan’s armed forces, resigned after advocating for the military’s involvement in national decision-making, Musharraf took over as the country’s most powerful official.
Many political analysts have seen the resignation as evidence that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s political influence has grown sufficiently to guarantee a long-term civilian government.
eliminating extremism
Musharraf, as Pakistan’s president, had to deal with the issues brought on by the terrorist attacks on American targets on September 11, 2001.
“You are either with us or against us,” was the overt message of George W. Bush’s government at the time. Musharraf then adopted Pakistan’s divisive strategy: backing the US-led military operation to topple the Taliban government in nearby Afghanistan, which has been harboring the Muslim extremists responsible for the attacks.
He strongly denounced extremism in a statement from January 2002, and vowed to combat Islamic terrorism in Pakistan. Additionally, he restricted the amount of foreign students traveling to Pakistan to study Islam and outlawed all foreign sponsorship for mosques and Islamic educational institutions.
The sad suicide bombing death of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 did more than anything to disprove Musharraf’s assertion that he held control over the country’s future.
Following elections in early 2008, Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf had removed as president in 1999, led a coalition that brought Bhutto’s party to power in Pakistan. dismissal.
In a lengthy address on August 18, 2008, Musharraf announced his retirement while justifying his choices.
Since then, Musharraf has been the target of many investigations, including one for treason in connection with the national emergency he declared in 2007.
The accusations sparked a protracted legal battle in the nation’s top courts that lasted years.
Musharraf departed the nation once more in 2016, following the lifting of the travel restriction due to health considerations.
The judges in the treason case took more than three years to deliver their bombshell decision: Musharraf was found guilty and given the death penalty.
However, the likelihood of such a sentence being carried out was slim because Musharraf was living in self-imposed exile in Dubai.
He claimed to be very unwell and unable to fly to Pakistan in a video message sent from his hospital bed.
Another alternative was for the Lahore High Court to declare the entire system unlawful a month after the ruling.
Although the court questioned the penalty’s constitutionality, it did not rule out the possibility that it would automatically reverse his death sentence.
There were requests for Musharraf to be let to return to Pakistan so that he may pass away quietly when his family revealed in June 2022 that several of his organs had deteriorated. The Pakistani Army has declared that, if Musharraf’s family requests it, it will assist them.
However, many more demanded Pervez Musharraf’s arrest upon his return and requested that he be held responsible for his misdeeds.