Parvez Musharaf Resigns as Pak President
Sunday, 24th August, 2008
Rise to Power During his television address to the nation, Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf announced his resignation on Monday. He ruled the country for more nine years. He had over thrown the elected government of Nawaz Sharif in 1999 in a bloodless coup and has imposed martial law. In 2001 he declared himself president of Pakistan. He held both the posts of President and Army Chief for many years. He quit the Army chief post in 2007 but till then he had legitimated his presidency by winning controversial national referendum on his rule . During his rule Pakistan became the main ally of America in its war against terror after the attack of World Trade Center.
Decline But the real trouble for him started when he sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry which was followed by military attack on Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007. In the same year he was once again elected as President for another term of five years but referendum was once again controversial as opposition had boycotted the voting. But during the last 18 months, his power has declined a lot and the situation for him aggravated more when he imposed state of emergency and again sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and then pro-Musharaf parties were trounced in 2008’s general elections. But in the month of August every one had come to know that Musharaf’s days in power are numbered as the coalition government had decided to start impeachment process against him on August 7 and had finalized impeachment charges against him by August 17.
Foreign Policy During his rule Pakistani foreign policy took a u-turn as it supported US attack on Taliban regime. Peace process with India was started which normalized relations between both of the countries and opened many business opportunities. But security situation inside Pakistan went on deteriorating because of excessive use of military force in some parts of the nation that resulted in increasing influence of Islamic fundamentalists. Under his rule Pakistan was slowly and steadily heading towards collapse as fundamentalists were gaining ground that could become a major threat to the world because of their relations with terrorist organizations especially Al-Qaeda. For India, there will be no difference as for as the relations between both of the countries are concerned. It is evident form the fact that he had mentioned Kashmir in his address to nation on the independence day that is not difference to the approach of earlier Pakistani rulers.
