Born in India, he fought twice - the story of Pervez Musharraf between the palace, the Red Mosque, and execution

Mr. Ahmed Al-Khidr

On October 12, 1999, news agencies were broadcasting urgent news that a four-star general had led a military coup and crowned himself head of a nuclear state, but that his power had let him down after twenty years, he was charged with high treason and sentenced to death.

Before India seceded from Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf was born in New Delhi on August 11, 1943, to his mother, Begum Zarin, and his diplomatic father, Syed Musharrafuddin.

Later, the family migrated to Pakistan, settled in Karachi, where Pervez received his first education, then joined the armed forces in his 18th year, to start a march of battles and challenges that qualified him for the high military ranks.

Musharraf fought in two wars against India in which he was born: the first was in 1965 in Punjab, the second in 1971, and his role in the battles was appreciated in the Pakistani army, and he was crowned with valor.

In 1998, the man's military performance had reached its climax, and he was appointed commander of the Pakistani army, which was involved in politics and full of meanings of challenge and greatness by virtue of his ability to confront India, the closest neighbor and sworn enemy.

Sheriff and supervisor
In the same year, alongside then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf supervised a successful Pakistani nuclear test, in a quick response to a similar move from India.

And that was enough to increase the general’s shares in a people that overwhelms the army with love and praises the glories of the officers, and expects them to respond with what is stronger when the neighbors ’guns are spoken.

From his fortified office in the Chief of Staff of the Rawalpindi, Pervez Musharraf overlooked the political scene in Islamabad, and perhaps thought of following his predecessors from the generals whom the tanks brought to power, so he reigned in the palace, such as: Agha Yahya Khan, Muhammad Ayoub Khan, and Muhammad Zia Right.

On October 12, 1999, the Prime Minister sacked the army chief for unknown reasons, and is said to have given instructions to prevent his plane from landing at Karachi airports upon its return from Sri Lanka.

But the armed forces officers allowed their commander to land, and the army immediately took control of the radio and television stations and the prime minister's residence.

The dismissed army chief brought down the elected government headed by Nawaz Sharif, and wrote to the people on television pledging to save Pakistan from collapse and ensure its security and strength.

Musharraf, who accused the prime minister of seeking to shoot down his plane, declared a state of emergency, and later named himself president of the country, while retaining the leadership of the army at the same time.

Celebrations and challenges
It was a remarkable day, as many celebrated the army's takeover, and the next day the image of the four-star general occupied the front pages of the newspapers.

Parliament legitimized the coup, and in 2001 the opposition challenged the legitimacy of the general and said he had no right to hold a summit meeting with India.

Musharraf responded by holding a popular referendum in June of the same year, which gave him the legitimacy he aspires as an effective head of state in Pakistan.

However, this year he was hiding a lot for the senior officer. The star of Al-Saad escaped. Challenges came to the test, and when he chose the method he deems appropriate, he hated the Pakistanis.

On September 11, 2001, suicide bombers - most of them from Saudi Arabia - hijacked American aircraft and attacked the Defense Ministry in Washington and the Twin Towers in New York, killing nearly 3,000 people.

When the Americans decided to respond to Al Qaeda, Musharraf allowed them to use Pakistani territory to attack the Taliban, then invade Afghanistan.

On many occasions, the Pakistanis demonstrated against Musharraf’s engagement - alongside Washington - in the so-called war on terror, and the general has turned from a hero to an agent of the Americans in the eyes of many of his citizens.

In 2002, the man organized parliamentary elections, which were described as lacking in integrity, through which his party controlled parliament, and tightened its grip on state institutions.

Once again, Musharraf begged the Pakistanis to shake hands with then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the sidelines of the UN World Summit in September 2005.

The end of a strong man
The Red Mosque in Pakistan was the center of voices rejecting the embrace of Islamabad in the bosom of the West, and the authorities decided to demolish it on the pretext that it was built decades ago on state-owned land.

Security forces surrounded the mosque for a long time, then stormed it in 2007, and many were killed and wounded, and Pakistan entered a major political crisis, at a time when Musharraf's popularity reached rock bottom.

Also in the same year, General Al-Mutawa narrowed the judge, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who invalidated several presidential decisions for violating the constitution, and insisted that Musharraf had no right to combine the presidency of the state with the leadership of the army.

In November 2007, Musharraf dismissed Chaudhry as chief justice, but the Supreme Court overturned the president's decision, and Sodnat al-Adl entered into a lengthy confrontation with the general.

By the 24th of the same month, the Pakistan Electoral Commission confirmed Musharraf's election as president for a second constitutional term of five years.

However, he did not recover from the Chaudhry and Red Mosque crises, and soon his relationship with the political community deteriorated, and the voices calling for his removal increased, so he had to resign on television on August 18, 2008.

This resignation was only a prelude to a lawsuit against a general who threw his gunshot in the policy quagmire. He ended up fleeing justice, moving cautiously between Dubai and London.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a special court in Islamabad sentenced Pervez Musharraf to death, after being convicted of high treason for having suspended the constitution and imposing a state of emergency in 2007.