persons
Pakistan’s ex-dictator Pervez Musharraf is dead
Lived 79: Pervez Musharraf. photo
© Zia Mazhar/AP/dpa
He ruled Pakistan as a military ruler for almost a decade. In exile, the controversial head of state was even temporarily sentenced to death. Now Pervez Musharraf has died.
Former Pakistani President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf is dead. He died in Dubai after a long illness, his family confirmed to the German Press Agency. Musharraf was 79 years old. In 2018, Musharraf was diagnosed with the chronic metabolic disease amyloidosis. According to his family, he has been ventilated since last year.
Musharraf was born in New Delhi in 1943. After the partition of India, the Muslim family moved to Pakistan. His father was a diplomat. Musharraf spent seven years in Turkey as a child. His military career began at the Pakistani Military Academy. In 1964 he became an officer in an artillery regiment and fought against India in 1965 and 1971.
In 1998 he was promoted to Army Chief. “I became known as a good leader,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I am proud to say that I have always been loved by everyone under my command.” He wore a uniform for almost 50 years.
It was in this uniform that he seized power in October 1999 as chief of staff. He thus forestalled his removal from office by Nawaz Sharif. He defended himself by saying that Sharif wanted to weaken the army. This made him unpopular abroad, and Pakistan was provisionally excluded from the Commonwealth organization.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Musharraf joined the anti-terrorist fight led by US President George W. Bush. From the point of view of the influential Islamists in the country, Musharraf became a traitor – several assassinations and death threats by the Taliban followed.
Even though he officially sided with the United States, Musharraf left religious extremists largely unmolested for a long time. He was also derided as “Busharraf” because of his aid to the US. Then as now, Pakistan was suspected of playing a double game.
The key moment in his personal history
Musharraf published an autobiography in 2006 while he was still in office. It’s called “In the Line of Fire”. Musharraf portrays himself as a born leader. But even then, many Pakistanis thought he was the wrong president.
In 2007, in a concession to his growing critics, Musharraf left the military and resigned as military chief. Observers saw this as a pivotal moment in his personal history. He lost his most important power base. The army was a second home for the family man, he called the uniform his “second skin”.
Then he announced a free and fair parliamentary election. The election turned out to be a fiasco for the president and his backing ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League. Musharraf did not stand for election himself, but the vote was treated as a referendum on his policies. The opposition triumphed overwhelmingly, driving Musharraf’s ouster.
After resigning in 2008, he went into self-imposed exile. In 2013 he returned to Pakistan to stand as a candidate in the parliamentary elections, but a court prohibited him from doing so.
Sentenced to death in 2019
The years after his return were marked by charges and trials. Musharraf was placed under house arrest and several court cases were opened against him, including for alleged involvement in the assassination of opposition politician and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
He was later charged with treason in 2014. He was accused of overriding the constitution by declaring a state of emergency in 2007. Musharraf dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. In 2016 he was allowed to leave the country to receive medical treatment in Dubai. He had previously promised to face all allegations upon his return.
In December 2019, a special court in the capital Islamabad surprisingly sentenced Musharraf to death. However, the verdict was overturned less than a month later. He never returned to his homeland.