Pervez Musharraf

General Pervez Musharraf, the second of three brothers, was born in Delhi on August 11, 1943. President Musharraf parents chose to settle in Karachi after the creation of Pakistan. He comes from a middle class family, his father having worked for the foreign ministry. He spent his early years in Turkey, from 1949 to 1956, owing to his father, the late Syed Musharrafu-ud-din’s deputation in Ankara. Pervez Musharraf claims to speak Turkish Fluently. He accepts Mustafa Kamal Ataturk as his hero.

Pervez Musharraf lived in Turkey during 1949–56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He held a number of appointments in the artillery, the infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and in the War Wing of the National Defence College. He fought in Pakistan’s 1965 and 1971 wars with India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him head of the armed forces in October 1998. Pervez Musharraf is believed to have played a key role in the invasion of the Indian-administered portion of the disputed Kashmir region in the summer of 1999. Under international pressure, Sharif later ordered the troops to pull back to Pakistani-controlled territory, a move that angered the military.

In 1999 in a bloodless coup the Pakistan army took over and replaced the Sharif government. The Prime Minister replaced Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff with Ziauddin Butt on 12^th October 1999, while he was still on his way back to Pakistan from Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister ordered the plane carrying Pervez Musharraf into Pakistan not to land in Karachi, which caused quite a stir in the army. The army seized the control tower in Karachi Airport, allowing the plane to land and stating the coup. Two days later on 14^th October 1999, Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan issuing a Provisional Constitution Order. Later President Musharraf was forced to resign in 2008 as the power was transferred to Asif Ali Zardari.