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
Seems like those saying they support him don’t actually like him they just dislike Zardari
Obviously no one can forget what Musharraf did to Dr. A.Q Khan atleast not anyone sincere to Pakistan including me, or what he did to the Chief Justice or his inability to rescue Dr. Afiya Siddiqui. But still I support him because when I ask myself that ‘will Pakistan’s condition get any better by his resignation?’ the answer is obviously ‘no’. I really don’t see things getting any better; no judges will be revived, inflation rate would definetely not come down, corruption as we all know, will be at its peak, the country will go bankrupt (God forbid but can’t expect anything good from the new government), terrorism won’t stop etc etc. The fact that the judges are still not revived and inflation is constantly increasing, has a clue that what could be expected from the new government because all those promises vanished into thin air. I agree it takes time but atleast one should try and i don’t see any positive step being taken to improve country’s condition. Musharraf was atleast much better than all of these and he would have never taken such steps if people hadnt crossed their limits and media hadnt forgotten its etiquettes.
Prof Najam, heard your excellent comments on this on NPR … Could you pls post a link here
I Absolutely agree with your views Kiran, on banning Geo TV. These channels have yet not learnt they lesson, lets see how much coverage they will give to the present government.
They should be grateful to President Musharraf who allowed expression of speech through media.
I will always support Musharraf not because he was perfect but because he was better than many others. I agree that he did make mistakes but not as big as others who just filled in their accounts and made the country bankrupt. I would also like to say here that he didn’t do anything wrong by banning Geo because media’s responsibility is to just convey the news to people and not give their own opinions. Who are you to judge whether Musharraf is good or not? Is it among your responsibilities to raise your opnions and go against the President of the country? I mean they are no one to say Musharraf should not have done this, he should not have done that. Their responsibility is to just tell people the true news not their own views. I ask you, would you tolerate that someone insults you and discusses you on National TV? And, instead of getting some lesson, GEO hasn’t stoped this nature of it to give less news and more views. So, Musharraf bravo! you did just the right thing to these people who cross their limits.