Former President of Pakistan and former army chief, who came to power after a military coup against Nawaz Sharif.

His rule lasted nine years, during which he allied himself with the United States in its war on so-called terrorism. In 2008, the ruling coalition forced him to submit his resignation.

He passed away on February 5, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Birth and upbringing

Pervez Musharraf was born on August 11, 1943 in New Delhi, before the independence of India and Pakistan from British colonialism, and their separation into two separate countries, meaning that he was born in what was historically known as "British India", then his family immigrated to Pakistan and grew up there.

He married Sahba (Sahba) in 1968, and he has a daughter named Ayla and a son named Bilal.


military experience

He received his primary education in Karachi, then joined the Military College when he was 18 years old, and in 1961 he joined the ranks of the army and graduated in various positions, so he started as an artillery officer, then commander of the Special Forces unit and director of military operations, then commander of the army, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. .

During his military career, he participated in two wars against India, the first of which was in 1965 in the state of Punjab and received the Order of Valor. He also fought the second war in 1971.

He also led the attempt to confront an Indian attack aimed at controlling the Siachen Heights in 1984, in which the Pakistani military sites suffered a heavy loss.

He also led the Battle of Kargil in 1999 that almost triggered an all-out war between India and Pakistan.

In 2004, he led the first military operation of the Pakistani army in the tribal provinces against armed movements, and the operation was known as the "Khyber Rebellion", and it aimed to pursue al-Qaeda fighters and the Afghan Taliban who managed to avoid the American attack on Afghanistan and took refuge in the Pakistani tribal provinces adjacent to the border.


political experience

Musharraf entered the world of politics when he led a bloodless coup in October 1999 that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on the grounds that the latter accused him of trying to shoot down the plane that was carrying him from Sri Lanka.

And he assumed the presidency of the Republic of Pakistan in 2000 after a popular referendum, after the political opposition accused him of losing legitimacy to represent Pakistan in the summit meeting with India, and he stepped down from the position in 2008 after increasing pressure on him.

He was known to be very close to the United States of America after allowing it to use Pakistani territory to strike the "Afghanistan Taliban" movement, which refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, whom the United States accused of being behind the September 11, 2001 bombings. Musharraf was considered an ally after joining Washington's war against what it called terrorism. .

However, she again accused him of manipulation and secretly supporting the Taliban, while continuing to support the United States in public.

Musharraf - who was subjected to two failed assassination attempts attributed to al-Qaeda - shook hands with the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the sidelines of the United Nations World Summit in September 2005, and he is the first Pakistani president to shake hands with an Israeli official.

The Pakistani opposition criticized him greatly, accusing him of involving the army in several internal battles, including the storming of the Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, in July 2007, and the army's attack on Islamic movement fighters in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan in the east of the country.

On November 24, 2007, the Pakistani Electoral Commission confirmed Musharraf's election as president for a second constitutional term of 5 years, but his relationship worsened with the ruling coalition, which calls for his removal and accountability, so he announced in a televised speech his resignation from the presidency of Pakistan on August 18, 2008.


Pervez Musharraf left Pakistan as soon as he gave up his military and political positions, and lived between London, Washington and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

In February 2011, a Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant against him as part of the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, wife of former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who was assassinated in the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad on December 27, 2007 during Musharraf's rule. However, Musharraf refused from his residence in London to comply with the judicial note.

Musharraf spent 5 years abroad before returning to Pakistan in 2013 to form a political party known as the Islamic "All-Pakistan League", but the party's failure in the 2013 general parliamentary elections and his sense of extreme abandonment prompted him to leave the country again.

In April 2014, a special court convicted Pervez Musharraf of high treason for declaring a state of emergency and suspending the country's constitution in 2007, but the Karachi court ruled that he be allowed to leave the country after his name was removed from the travel ban list on June 12, 2014.

On January 14, 2015, the Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, convicted Musharraf, his interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, and others, of killing the Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.


Positions and responsibilities

General Pervez Musharraf combined several positions at the same time, so he was:


Commander of the army, and he is the seventh commander in the history of Pakistan.


Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, and was its tenth commander in the history of the country.


Head of the executive branch.


President of the Republic, and was the tenth president in its history.


Minister of Defense No. 23 in the history of Pakistan.

his illness and death

Pervez Musharraf suffered from a rare disease known as amyloidosis, a condition in which proteins are deposited in the tissues of the body, and his family announced on June 10, 2022 that his health condition was untreatable.

His death was announced on February 5, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at the age of 80.