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
It was very disappointing for me to see that many distinguished newspapers including yours put on very shameful head line the resignation of the president. No matter how much someone might disagree with the policies and decisions that were taken by him, NO one should have the right to refer to the office of the president in ways that our ‘independent’ media has. He was after all the President of Pakistan and with head lines like “Mush quits with his tail between his legs” who are you trying to call out? the president of your own country!!! Instead of praising him for taking a decision that saved millions of Pakistani’s from further confusion and turmoil at the hands of this so called coalition govt which is a bunch of corrupt politicians put together after their ‘rebirth’ due to the NRO.
I hope and pray like a lot of young people like myself who will form the future of Pakistan that we are able to recover from the loss of a visionary leader like Mr. Musharraf who despite some wrong decisions did more good for the country in his 8 years than what these politicians have done in the 30 years they got. Thank you Mr. President and as you said in your speech “May God protect Pakistan”.
The killing and suicide bombings you see today is Musharraf’s biggest legacy for Pakistan.
let us at least stand united against these murderers.
Why can’t people accept that there is good and bad in everyone. Musharraf made lots of mistakes but he also did some good things. Same for Zardari and Sharif. If we wait only for “perfect” people with no flaws then we will just fool ourselves and never achieve anything. Democracy needs people who can live with whoever the majority decides and then if they want to change that then they find and support someone else. That is what the process should be.
To the defenders of Lal Mosque; do you know what happened in 1979 when a person claimed to be Mahdi and occupied the Grand Mosque of Mecca with 100s of armed persons (including women and children), declared Jehad and asked the Muslims to accept him as Mahdi? A grand operation was conducted by the Saudi government with the help of the army sent by your Ameer-ul-Momineen (Zia-ul-Haq) and the French army and the Mosque was cleared with a lot of bloodshed!
Dear! This kind of militant activity cannot be tolerated even not by the Saudi government at the holiest place. Would you condemn a similar operation if that was a Mandir and the militants were Hindus? Can India tolerate that in Delhi? If some Chritian militants occupy a church in Washington DC and openly challenge the writ of the government what will happen??
i totally agree with shahid .. ppl delusiond to believ musharraf held on to power for his personal benefits will c the true picture really soon .. who-is-who will b out in the light in no time ..
musharraf resigned not bcoz he is cowrd but bcoz he knew current gov is just wasting time, delaying the day when they will hav to answer the public, by satisfying them with the impeachment proccess ..
but now as he has resigned, they are fretting over wat, how, when n y to do some thing about the judges !!! .. musharraf was the only hurdle according to zardari few days ago .. now wat ?? .. .
he is just buyin tym to loot!!!
when musharraf resigned zardari lost his fav punch bag, ready-made excuse to evry problem dat existed in pakistan ..
till the tym pakistani ppl wake up , he will b out of the country again !! …
ppl againt musharraf hav only 1 statement to giv “this is the victry of democracy !!!”
no 1 in the histry of pakistan held the question answer sessions like musharraf did !!! … no one!! infact he faced impeachment every day !!!
he was the most democratic leader !! ..
n now this new gov dzn giv a damn to wat v think … zardari simply gives the statement of his joice with a header “yeh 16 crore kee awaz hey ” ..
a prticular news channel ,blatantly against musharraf, is spreading the false picture of wat ppl of paksitan think .. according to a poll by a reputed news channel 72% ppl voted in favor of “musharraf shud not b impeached” ..
but discussion wnt open eyez .. tym will … as it has always been .. but this time plz b careful(take note if u hav amnesia,n u surely do) .. n learn a lesson,for a change !!!