It came to power just a few months before the 9/11 attacks and became Bush’s arm in the so-called “war on terror.”
On the day in 2016 he boarded a flight to the United Arab Emirates for “health reasons”, Pervez Musharraf vowed to return to Pakistan, his “beloved homeland”. The former general and former president of Pakistan between 2001 and 2008 will not be able to keep his word because he died of amyloidosis in a hospital in Dubai at the age of 79. “Dictator” to his opponents, “savior” to his loyalists, the 9/11 attacks came just months after he staged a coup and seized power in Islamabad.
From the start he sided with the United States and George Bush’s ‘war on terror’. Pakistan became a key ally, allowing US air bases to be opened in the country and troops to be sent to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban along the border.
Musharraf took over Pakistan after leading an uprising against then-President Nawaz Sharif and a year later won a referendum that helped keep him in power, which he only relinquished in 2008. His political decline began with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and was always accompanied by a suspicion of not having provided the necessary security to the former Prime Minister, who was also her great political rival.
The growing internal jihadist threat in 2007 led him to order the constitution and declare a state of emergency citing “national security” reasons and stating that “it would be suicide if the country did not do this”. This move allowed him to completely reform the Supreme Court and appoint a new Chief Justice in place of his opponent, Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The effect of the state of emergency lasted barely a year as he was forced to resign under pressure from the street, courts and political opposition forces. After a five-year self-exile between London and Dubai, he returned in 2013 with the aim of contesting the presidential elections at the head of a party he renamed the All-Pakistan Muslim League, but the pending cases at the Justice Department forced him back his plans and locked himself in his mansion in the capital until he made his way to Dubai.
According to the Geo channel, his body will return to the “beloved homeland” where he will say goodbye. The military expressed its “sincere condolences” through a statement, as did the Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. Reactions to the death included that of the Pakistani Taliban, the same who killed more than 100 police officers at a mosque in Peshawar last week, celebrating the death of whom they called “the killer of thousands of Muslims and former leader.” of the Pakistani mercenary army.
Musharraf aspired to be remembered as a hero for his complicity with Bush, but analysts such as Mosharraf Zaidi, founder of the Islamabad-based strategic think tank Tadablab, believe that “this country still suffers from terrorism stemming from the way it was conducted.” “. ” the ‘War on Terror’ in this country. Musharraf became the favorite of the United States and we continue to pay for it,” he said in a wide-ranging intervention on the Al Jazeera channel.
“It’s forgotten for both of them that the moment he left the uniform it wasn’t relevant anymore,” says Ana Ballesteros, an associate researcher at Cidob, who recalls Musharraf going from “leading a war lost in advance” ( Kargil 1999), siding with the US in the war on terror immediately after the nuclear tests and eventually becoming the target themselves; to restore democracy (in spite of itself) and get away in vain from the assassination of the winning candidate… It is better to forget his legacy». However, Fawad Chaudhry, a former close associate of Musharraf and leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, thinks otherwise. “He has been called a military dictator, but there has never been a stronger democratic system than under his rule,” he assured in a video message noting that “he gave Pakistan free media and emphasized diversity of opinion. History will always remember him.” to remind.”
Source: La Verdad
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