Pervez Musharraf

Title & tenure

10th President of Pakistan (2001–2008)

In office: 2001 – 2008

Predecessor:

Rafiq Tarar

Successor:

Asif Ali Zardari

Biography

General Pervez Musharraf, appointed Army Chief by Nawaz Sharif in 1998, overthrew Sharif's government in a bloodless coup in October 1999 and ruled first as Chief Executive and then as President for nearly a decade, navigating Pakistan through the aftermath of 9/11 as a key US ally in the war on terror.

Achievements

• Positioned Pakistan as a frontline ally of the United States after the September 2001 attacks, receiving substantial US military and economic assistance
• Oversaw several years of relatively strong GDP growth in the early-to-mid 2000s
• Held a 2002 referendum and later elections to legitimize his presidency within a nominally civilian constitutional framework

Key events

• 12 October 1999 coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
• Kargil conflict (1999) with India shortly before the coup, during his tenure as Army Chief
• 2007 suspension/dismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, triggering a major lawyers' movement and national protests
• Imposed a state of emergency and suspended the Constitution in November 2007
• Assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 during the election campaign that followed his loosening of political restrictions

Legacy

Musharraf's rule combined a period of economic growth and close US alignment with growing authoritarianism in his final years, particularly his confrontation with the judiciary, which badly eroded his domestic political standing and hastened his downfall.

How it ended

Resigned under threat of impeachment in August 2008, after his party's defeat in the 2008 general election; later charged with treason over the 2007 emergency, and died in exile in Dubai in 2023.