Adil Najam
In a nationally televised speech, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, has just announced his resignation, pre-empting a move to impeach him by the parliament.
This post has been updated to add news photos from this momentous day in Pakistan’s political history. The pictures speak eloquently of the moods and thoughts of the day. (Scroll down to see the video of Gen. Musharraf’s resignation speech).
Participate in a poll on what might be Pakistan’s future post-Musharraf, here.
Here is a Pervez Musharraf time-line, published in The News:
August 1943: Born in Delhi, India
1964: Joins Pakistani army.
1998: Becomes army chief of staff.
October 1999: Seizes power in a bloodless military coup, overthrowing the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. In response, the Commonwealth suspends Pakistan’s membership.
June 20 2001: Makes himself president, replacing Rafiq Tarar, while remaining head of the army. Tarar is forced out of office when the parliament that elected him is dissolved.
July 2001: Holds first meeting with the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at Agra in India. No progress is made because of differences over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
September 2001: George Bush courts Musharraf, asking him to join him in his “war on terror” and help defeat the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. The US president promises Pakistan $1bn in aid.
April 2002: Wins a referendum giving him another five years in office. Observers criticise the referendum as blighted by irregularities.
May 2002: Pakistan test fires three medium-range surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Musharraf insists his country would not be the one to initiate war.
August 2002: Consolidates his power still further, giving himself the right to dismiss an elected parliament.
October 2002: Pakistan’s first general election since Musharraf seized power in 1999 results in a hung parliament.
November 2002: Mir Zafarullah Jamali becomes the first civilian prime minister since 1999. He is a member of a Musharraf-supporting party.
November 2003: Pakistan’s National Assembly meets for the first time since 1999.
December 2003: Musharraf promises to step down as head of the army by January 2005.
May 2004: Pakistan is readmitted to the Commonwealth.
December 2004: Musharraf announces he will stay on as head of the army.
August 2005: Pakistan tests its first nuclear-capable cruise missile.
March 2007: Musharraf suspends the chief justice, Iftakar Mohammed Chaudhry, triggering a wave of anger across the country and the first joint protests held by the parties of exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
October 2007: Signs a corruption amnesty, opening the way for Bhutto’s return and a possible power-sharing agreement. Within hours of Bhutto’s arrival back in the country, bombers attack a Bhutto rally in Karachi, killing more than 100 people.
November 2007: Declares a state of emergency, rounding up opposition leaders at gunpoint. In the same month, Musharraf quits as head of the army, becoming a civilian president.
December 15 2007: Lifts state of emergency and announces plans to go ahead with parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8.
December 27 2007: Benazir Bhutto is assassinated at an election rally in Rawalpindi.
January 2008: Elections postponed until February 18.
February 2008: The two main opposition parties gain a clear majority in the elections.
August 2008: The two main parties strike a deal to impeach Musharraf if parliament backs the move.
August 18 2008: Musharraf announces his resignation
I think Musharraf had took a good step and it is his first work for the betternce of Pakistan.
All peoples knows that what he had done. Lal Masjid, Dr. Abdul Qadeer khan, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, Stell Mills, PTCL, KESC and many many others.
If some one want to express himself please visit http://pakspecial.blogspot.com and leave your comment there.
This is perhaps not a good time for him, but for the Pakistani nation this may be a beginning of good or it may be the reverse. I think he would have been fired with the cases charged against him in regards of his controversy decisions which lead to the assassination of many innocents from all over the country including a real sad event of the assassination of “Lal Masjid” and the Holy Quran.
He has put the country in very bad position and his colleagues too. They people should not be given a safe way to run out rather they should be held in the Jails where they have put thousands of Pakistani lovers. They have really damaged the identity of Pakistan and the identity of Pakistan.
I’ll quote a saying here that “as you so, so shall you reap”.
But it is not over yet. He and his companions will get rewards for what they had done in this or the other world.
A stream of tears wants to flow out when I think of his past 9 years which was a real bad chapter of our history.
I can’t express the feelings for these shameless people right now but I wish they all should be hanged to death for their cruelties and that will be the real JUSTICE.
> Then bring charges against him and settle it in a court.
That’s exactly what was going to happen before the coward resigned! It’s so obvious why ignore it?
> This is an ad hominem attack that does not deserve any elaborate reply.
It must be true else you wouldn’t sound so upset. I guess that’s what people get for following the Shaitain himself. I would pray to Allah for forgiveness if I were you!
> Musharraf is a criminal and he should be brought to justice.
Then bring charges against him and settle it in a court.
>You must be related to Musharraf normal people don
I have no wish to get into an argument of words with people who are so far from any realism. I support him and always will and there’s nothing you can do about it except call me names. There. I hope it makes you happy to put your computer to use. Adios.