GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF

General Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرويز مشرف); born August 11, 1943 (near Delhi, India) is the President of Pakistan. He assumed office becoming Head of State on June 20, 2001.
Date of birth:
August 11, 1943
Date of death:
–
President of Pakistan
Tenure order:
12th President
Took office:
October 12, 1999– June 20, 2001 (de facto)
June 20, 2001 –
Predecessor:
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar
Successor:
Incumbent
Chief of the Army Staff
Tenure order:
13th Chief of the Army Staff
Took office:
October 7, 1998 – Incumbent
Predecessor:
Gen. Jehangir Karamat
Successor:
Incumbent

Early years
Musharraf the one who sold the ideology of Pakistan, the ideology of ALLAMA IQBAL to west was born in Daryaganj in Delhi, India, but moved with his parents to Karachi, Pakistan during the partition of India (1947).
Family background
Musharraf's parents came from a lower middle class background, however both were college-educated. His mother Begum Zehra Musharraf majored in English Literature. She worked for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and retired in 1986. Syed Musharraf-ud-Din, Musharraf's father, was a graduate of Aligarh University in India. He joined Pakistan's Foreign Service in a clerical position and progressed in his career, retiring as a Section Officer in the Foreign Ministry. He spent several years in the capacity a supporting staff in the Pakistan Embassy in Turkey, where Musharraf spent part of his childhood and learned to speak fluent Turkish. General Musharraf is married to Begum Sehba Musharraf and has two children.
Education
Musharraf attended Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi graduating in 1958 before going on to attend Forman Christian College in Lahore.
Military training
In 1961, he joined the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. A graduate of Command and Staff College, Quetta, and the National Defense College, Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf also studied at the Royal College of Defence Studies, United Kingdom. His supervisor, commenting on his performance remarked in his report: "A capable, articulate and extremely personable officer, who made a most valuable impact here. His country is fortunate to have the services of a man of his undeniable quality."
Military Career
He was commissioned in artillery regiment in 1964. He fought the 1965 war with India as a young officer and was awarded Imtiazi Sanad for gallantry. In 1967/1968, he was promoted to Captain. He also achieved the Nishan-i-Imtiaz (military) and the Tamgha-i-Basalat. He has also been on the faculty of the Command and Staff College, Quetta and the war wing of the National Defence College, Pakistan. He volunteered to be a commando, and remained in the Special Service Group for seven years.
He also participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as a Company Commander in the SSG Commando Battalion. He had the responsibility of commanding artillery regiments and an armored division. In September 1987, heading a newly formed SSG Mountain warfare unit at Khapalu base (Kashmir) he launched an assault to capture the Indian held posts of Bilafond La pass in the Siachen Glacier but was eventually beaten back. On promotion to the rank of Major General on January 15, 1991, he was given the command of an Infantry Division and later of a prestigious Strike Corps as Lieutenant General on October 21, 1995. Many believe he masterminded the Kargil incursion where Pakistani soldiers posing as militant irregulars infiltrated into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, which serves as the de facto border between the two nations.The Indian Army, supported by the air force, attacked the Pakistani positions and eventually forced a Pakistani withdrawal across the Line of Control.
Musharraf has served on various important staff and instructional appointments during his career. He has also been the Director General Military Operations at the GHQ from 1993 to 1995. He rose to the rank of General and was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, Pakistan on October 7, 1998 when Pakistan's army chief, General Jehangir Karamat was forced to resign after calling for military representation in a National Security Council of Pakistan. He was given the additional office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) on April 9, 1999. He led the Pakistani armed forces through the Kargil War between India and Pakistan in May to July 1999.
On September 15, 2004, Musharraf backed down from his commitment to step down as Army Chief, citing circumstances of national necessity that he felt required him to keep both offices.
Coup d'état and election as President of Pakistan
Coup d'état
Musarraf became de facto Head of Government (using the title Chief Executive and assuming extensive powers) of Pakistan on October 12, 1999 following a bloodless coup d'état.
On 12 October 1999, Sharif attempted to dismiss Musharraf and install ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Senior Army generals refused to accept Musharraf's dismissal. Sharif ordered the Karachi airport to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. In a coup, the generals ousted Sharif's administration and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf assumed control of the government. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was put under house arrest and later exiled. The existing President of Pakistan, Rafiq Tarar, remained in office until June 2001. Musharraf formally made himself President on June 20, 2001, just days before his scheduled visit to Agra for talks with India.
Supreme Court orders elections. Referendum held
On May 12, 2000 under the directions of Musharraf, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Musharraf to hold general elections by October 12, 2002. In an attempt to legitimize his presidency and assure its continuance after the approaching restoration of democracy, he held a referendum on April 30, 2002, which extended his presidential term to a period ending five years after the October elections. However, the referendum was boycotted by the majority of Pakistani political groupings,which later complained that the elections were heavily rigged, and voter turnout was 30% or below by most estimates.
General elections were held in October, 2002 and the newly created PML-Q, a pro-Musharraf party, won a plurality of the seats in the Parliament. However, parties opposed to Musharraf effectively paralyzed the National Assembly for over a year. The deadlock ended in December 2003, when Musharraf made a deal with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party, agreeing to leave the army on December 31, 2004. With that party's support, pro-Musharraf legislators were able to muster the two-thirds supermajority required to pass the Seventeenth Amendment, which retroactively legalized Musharraf's 1999 coup and many of his subsequent decrees.
Electoral College victory
In a vote of confidence on January 1, 2004, Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
After September 11, 2001
Support for Bush administration's 'War on terror'
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials met with Musharraf. Musharraf sided with the United States against the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Musharraf's reversal of policy and help to the U.S. military was critical. U.S. bombing rapidly overthrew the Taliban regime.
Tensions with India
On December 13, 2001, a group of pakistani sponsored terrorists attacked India's Parliament with bombs and guns. India, blaming Pakistan for the attack, mobilized for a retaliatory strike. Musharraf rejected as preposterous the claim that Pakistan had anything to do with the attacks.
Intense pressure from Washington followed. The Washington Post (Jim Hoagland, January 17) said that "the United States extracted promises from Gen. Musharraf that Pakistan's intelligence service and army will cease giving food, weapons and other logistical help to infiltrators who carry out terrorist raids into India and Indian Kashmir. The army will no longer provide mortar fire to cover the terrorists, who have been cut adrift by Musharraf
Assassination attempts
On December 14, 2003, General Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. It was the third such attempt during his four-year rule. 11 days later, on December 25, 2003, two suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their car bombs failed to kill the president; 16 others nearby died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windshield on his car. It has been reported that Amjad Hussain Farooqi is suspected of being the mastermind behind these attempts, and there was an extensive manhunt for him, ending with Farooqi's death
Elections during Musharraf's administration
On 12 May 2000, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered Musharraf to hold national elections by 12 October 2002, Elections for local governments took place in 2001. Elections for the national and provincial legislatures were held in October 2002, with no party winning a majority. In November 2002, Musharraf handed over certain powers to the newly elected Parliament. The National Assembly elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as Prime Minister of Pakistan, who in turn appointed his own cabinet.
On January 1, 2004 Musharraf won a confidence vote in the Electoral College of Pakistan, consisting of both houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies. Musharraf received 658 out of 1170 votes, a 56% majority, but many opposition and Islamic members of parliament walked out to protest the vote. As a result of this vote, according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, Musharraf was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President. His term now extends to 2007. While Musharraf's 2002 referendum on his rule had been heavily criticized and dismissed by critics, his electoral-college victory has received much greater acceptance within and outside Pakistan.
Prime Minister Jamali resigned on 26 June 2004, and in his place the National Assembly elected Shaukat Aziz, a former Vice President of Citibank and head of Citibank Private Banking. The new government was mostly supportive of Musharraf, who remained President and Head of State in the new government. Musharraf continues to be the active executive of Pakistan, especially in foreign affairs.
Nuclear proliferation
Recently, Musharraf has come under fire in the west, after the disclosure of nuclear proliferation by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the metallurgist known as the father of Pakistan's bomb. Musharraf has denied knowledge of or participation by Pakistan's government or army in this proliferation despite deep domestic criticism for singularly vilifying Khan, a national hero. Musharraf continues to enjoy strong support of the White House and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. AQ Khan has been pardoned in exchange for cooperation in the investigation of his nuclear-proliferation network. The fate of those who were found to have conspired with Khan is yet to be decided
Peace overtures with India
Musharraf was Chief of Army Staff at the time of Pakistani incursions into the Indian-held disputed territory of Kashmir (Kargil sector), in the summer of 1999. After suffering many reverses, the Pakistani Army was ordered to retreat resulting in a diplomatic fiasco. Some reports suggest that Musharraf retreated after huge pressure on the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the American President, who feared the conflict could turn into a nuclear catastrophe. However in a recent book co authored by ex-CENTCOM Commander in Chief, Anthony Zinni and Tom Clancy, the former alleges that Musharraf was the one who pushed Sharif to withdraw the Pakistani troops after being caught in a losing scenario.[3] Infact according to an ex-official of the Musharraf government, Hassan Abbas, it was Musharraf who planned the whole operative and sold the idea to Sharif. [4] As this came just after the Lahore Peace Summit earlier that year, Musharraf was viewed with mistrust in India.
In the middle of 2004, Musharraf began a series of talks with India to solve the Kashmir dispute. Both India and Pakistan have the tactical capability to launch nuclear strikes on every single city within each others' borders. The two countries are continuing to aggressively increase their nuclear capabilities by actively producing even more nuclear weapons and perfecting their missile technologies by routinely conducting tests of ever more sophisticated missiles.
Pakistan has publicly stated that it reserves the right to 'exercise its nuclear option' in a large scale war with India. On the other hand India has a 'no first nuclear strike' policy enshrined in its nuclear doctrine. In response Musharraf has instead offered a "no war pact" to India, which India has refused.
General Pervez Musharraf, the second of three brothers, was born in Delhi on August 11, 1943. His parents chose to settle in Karachi after the creation of Pakistan. He comes from a middle class family, his father having worked for the foreign ministry. He spent his early years in Turkey, from 1949 to 1956, owing to his father, the late Syed Musharrafu-ud-din’s deputation in Ankara. Fluently he can converse in Turkish language and claims that Kamal Ataturk is his hero.
On return to Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf received his education from Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi, and then from F. C. College, Lahore. In 1961, he joined the Pakistan Military Academy and was commissioned in Artillery Regiment in 1964. He fought in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 as a young officer, and was awarded Imtiazi Sanad for gallantry. He also achieved the Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military) and the Tamgha-i-Basalat. He has been also on the faculty of the Command and Staff College, Quetta and the war wing of (the) National Defence College. He volunteered to be a commando, and remained in the Special Services Group for seven years. He also participated in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 as a Company Commander in the Commando Battalion.