Pervez Musharraf (Major World Leaders)

Modern World Leaders

Pervez Musharraf

Modern World Leaders Tony Blair George W. Bush Hugo Chávez Jacques Chirac Hamid Karzai Hosni Mubarak Pervez Musharraf Pope Benedict XVI Pope John Paul II Vladmir Putin The Saudi Royal Family Ariel Sharon Viktor Yushchenko

Modern World Leaders

Pervez Musharraf Richard Worth

Pervez Musharraf Copyright © 2007 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001 ISBN-10: 0-7910-9264-X ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9264-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Worth, Richard. Pervez Musharraf / Richard Worth. p. cm. — (Modern world leaders) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7910-9264-X (hardcover) 1. Musharraf, Pervez. 2. Pakistan—Politics and government—1988–. I. Title. DS389.22.M87W67 2007 954.9105’2092—dc22 [B] Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Text design by Erik Lindstrom Cover design by Takeshi Takahashi Printed in the United States of America Bang FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

Table of Contents Foreword: On Leadership

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Crisis in Pakistan The Making of Modern Pakistan Time of Trials Political Stalemate The Musharraf Government Musharraf and the Impact of 9/11 The President, Politics, and Pakistan The Future of Pakistan

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Chronology

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Bibliography

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Further Reading

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Index

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Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

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Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

On Leadership

L

eadership, it may be said, is really what makes the world go round. Love no doubt smoothes the passage; but love is a private transaction between consenting adults. Leadership is a public transaction with history. The idea of leadership affirms the capacity of individuals to move, inspire, and mobilize masses of people so that they act together in pursuit of an end. Sometimes leadership serves good purposes, sometimes bad; but whether the end is benign or evil, great leaders are those men and women who leave their personal stamp on history. Now, the very concept of leadership implies the proposition that individuals can make a difference. This proposition has never been universally accepted. From classical times to the present day, eminent thinkers have regarded individuals as no more than the agents and pawns of larger forces, whether the gods and goddesses of the ancient world or, in the modern era, race, class, nation, the dialectic, the will of the people, the spirit of the times, history itself. Against such forces, the individual dwindles into insignificance. So contends the thesis of historical determinism. Tolstoy’s great novel War and Peace offers a famous statement of the case. Why, Tolstoy asked, did millions of men in the Napoleonic Wars, denying their human feelings and their common sense, move back and forth across Europe slaughtering their fellows? “The war,” Tolstoy answered, “was bound to happen simply because it was bound to happen.” All prior history determined it. As for leaders, they, Tolstoy said, “are but the labels that serve to give a name to an end and, like labels, they have the least possible



“ON LEADERSHIP” connection with the event.” The greater the leader, “the more conspicuous the inevitability and the predestination of every act he commits.” The leader, said Tolstoy, is “the slave of history.” Determinism takes many forms. Marxism is the determinism of class, Nazism the determinism of race. But the idea of men and women as the slaves of history runs athwart the deepest human instincts. Rigid determinism abolishes the idea of human freedom—the assumption of free choice that underlies every move we make, every word we speak, every thought we think. It abolishes the idea of human responsibility, since it is manifestly unfair to reward or punish people for actions that are by definition beyond their control. No one can live consistently by any deterministic creed. The Marxist states prove this themselves by their extreme susceptibility to the cult of leadership. More than that, history refutes the idea that individuals make no difference. In December 1931, a British politician crossing Fifth Avenue in New York City between 76th and 77th streets around 10:30 p.m. looked in the wrong direction and was knocked down by an automobile—a moment, he later recalled, of a man aghast, a world aglare: “I do not understand why I was not broken like an eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry.” Fourteen months later an American politician, sitting in an open car in Miami, Florida, was fired on by an assassin; the man beside him was hit. Those who believe that individuals make no difference to history might well ponder whether the next two decades would have been the same had Mario Constasino’s car killed Winston Churchill in 1931 and Giuseppe Zangara’s bullet killed Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Suppose, in addition, that Lenin had died of typhus in Siberia in 1895 and that Hitler had been killed on the western front in 1916. What would the twentieth century have looked like now? For better or for worse, individuals do make a difference. “The notion that a people can run itself and its affairs anonymously,” wrote the philosopher William James, “is now well known to be the silliest of absurdities. Mankind does nothing save through initiatives on the part of inventors, great or small,





FOREWORD and imitation by the rest of us—these are the sole factors in human progress. Individuals of genius show the way, and set the patterns, which common people then adopt and follow.” Leadership, James suggests, means leadership in thought as well as in action. In the long run, leaders in thought may well make the greater difference to the world. “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong,” wrote John Maynard Keynes, “are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. . . . The power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas.” But, as Woodrow Wilson once said, “Those only are leaders of men, in the general eye, who lead in action. . . . It is at their hands that new thought gets its translation into the crude language of deeds.” Leaders in thought often invent in solitude and obscurity, leaving to later generations the tasks of imitation. Leaders in action—the leaders portrayed in this series—have to be effective in their own time. And they cannot be effective by themselves. They must act in response to the rhythms of their age. Their genius must be adapted, in a phrase from William James, “to the receptivities of the moment.” Leaders are useless without followers. “There goes the mob,” said the French politician, hearing a clamor in the streets. “I am their leader. I must follow them.” Great leaders turn the inchoate emotions of the mob to purposes of their own. They seize on the opportunities of their time, the hopes, fears, frustrations, crises, potentialities. They succeed when events have prepared the way for them, when the community is waiting to be aroused, when they can provide the clarifying and organizing ideas. Leadership completes the circuit between the individual and the mass and thereby alters history. It may alter history for better or for worse. Leaders have been responsible for the most extravagant follies and most

“ON LEADERSHIP” monstrous crimes that have beset suffering humanity. They have also been vital in such gains as humanity has made in individual freedom, religious and racial tolerance, social justice, and respect for human rights. There is no sure way to tell in advance who is going to lead for good and who for evil. But a glance at the gallery of men and women in Modern World Leaders suggests some useful tests. One test is this: Do leaders lead by force or by persuasion? By command or by consent? Through most of history, leadership was exercised by the divine right of authority. The duty of followers was to defer and to obey. “Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die.” On occasion, as with the so-called enlightened despots of the eighteenth century in Europe, absolutist leadership was animated by humane purposes. More often, absolutism nourished the passion for domination, land, gold, and conquest and resulted in tyranny. The great revolution of modern times has been the revolution of equality. “Perhaps no form of government,” wrote the British historian James Bryce in his study of the United States, The American Commonwealth, “needs great leaders so much as democracy.” The idea that all people should be equal in their legal condition has undermined the old structure of authority, hierarchy, and deference. The revolution of equality has had two contrary effects on the nature of leadership. For equality, as Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out in his great study Democracy in America, might mean equality in servitude as well as equality in freedom. “I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the political world,” Tocqueville wrote. “Rights must be given to every citizen, or none at all to anyone . . . save one, who is the master of all.” There was no middle ground “between the sovereignty of all and the absolute power of one man.” In his astonishing prediction of twentieth-century totalitarian dictatorship, Tocqueville explained how the revolution of equality could lead to the Führerprinzip and more terrible absolutism than the world had ever known.



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FOREWORD But when rights are given to every citizen and the sovereignty of all is established, the problem of leadership takes a new form, becomes more exacting than ever before. It is easy to issue commands and enforce them by the rope and the stake, the concentration camp and the gulag. It is much harder to use argument and achievement to overcome opposition and win consent. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood the difficulty. They believed that history had given them the opportunity to decide, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in the first Federalist Paper, whether men are indeed capable of basing government on “reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend . . . on accident and force.” Government by reflection and choice called for a new style of leadership and a new quality of followership. It required leaders to be responsive to popular concerns, and it required followers to be active and informed participants in the process. Democracy does not eliminate emotion from politics; sometimes it fosters demagoguery; but it is confident that, as the greatest of democratic leaders put it, you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. It measures leadership by results and retires those who overreach or falter or fail. It is true that in the long run despots are measured by results too. But they can postpone the day of judgment, sometimes indefinitely, and in the meantime they can do infinite harm. It is also true that democracy is no guarantee of virtue and intelligence in government, for the voice of the people is not necessarily the voice of God. But democracy, by assuring the right of opposition, offers built-in resistance to the evils inherent in absolutism. As the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr summed it up, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to justice makes democracy necessary.” A second test for leadership is the end for which power is sought. When leaders have as their goal the supremacy of a master race or the promotion of totalitarian revolution or the acquisition and exploitation of colonies or the protection of

“ON LEADERSHIP” greed and privilege or the preservation of personal power, it is likely that their leadership will do little to advance the cause of humanity. When their goal is the abolition of slavery, the liberation of women, the enlargement of opportunity for the poor and powerless, the extension of equal rights to racial minorities, the defense of the freedoms of expression and opposition, it is likely that their leadership will increase the sum of human liberty and welfare. Leaders have done great harm to the world. They have also conferred great benefits. You will find both sorts in this series. Even “good” leaders must be regarded with a certain wariness. Leaders are not demigods; they put on their trousers one leg after another just like ordinary mortals. No leader is infallible, and every leader needs to be reminded of this at regular intervals. Irreverence irritates leaders but is their salvation. Unquestioning submission corrupts leaders and demeans followers. Making a cult of a leader is always a mistake. Fortunately hero worship generates its own antidote. “Every hero,” said Emerson, “becomes a bore at last.” The single benefit the great leaders confer is to embolden the rest of us to live according to our own best selves, to be active, insistent, and resolute in affirming our own sense of things. For great leaders attest to the reality of human freedom against the supposed inevitabilities of history. And they attest to the wisdom and power that may lie within the most unlikely of us, which is why Abraham Lincoln remains the supreme example of great leadership. A great leader, said Emerson, exhibits new possibilities to all humanity. “We feed on genius. . . . Great men exist that there may be greater men.” Great leaders, in short, justify themselves by emancipating and empowering their followers. So humanity struggles to master its destiny, remembering with Alexis de Tocqueville: “It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free; as it is with man, so with communities.”

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C H A P T E R

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Crisis in Pakistan At 6:00 P.M. on an October evening in 1999, a passenger jet was

approaching the airport in Karachi, Pakistan. The plane, flight PK 805, contained almost 200 passengers. Among them was the chief of the army staff, General Pervez Musharraf, and his wife, Sehba. General Musharraf was returning from a government mission to Sri Lanka—an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of India. Musharraf was traveling with a small group of top army generals who were part of his staff. At age 56, Musharraf was one of Pakistan’s most successful military officers. This was very unusual for a mohajir, a refugee. One of three brothers, Musharraf had been born in Delhi, India, in 1943. His father, Syed Musharraf-ud-Din, had attended Aligarh University in India and later went to work for the Indian government in Delhi. His mother, Zarin, had also received a university education, which was unusual for women in India. She worked for the International Labor

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crisis in pakistan

Pervez Musharraf enjoys time at home in Pakistan on October 18, 1999, with his wife, Sehba, and granddaughter, Marian. On the following day, Musharraf announced the members of Pakistan’s National Security Council.

Organization—a division of the United Nations, which monitored working conditions throughout the world. In 1947, India was partitioned, or divided, by the British, who had ruled the country for almost 200 years. The area was split between two ancient religious groups—Hindus and

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Pervez musharraf Muslims. Pervez Musharraf ’s family was Muslim and, along with thousands of others, moved from India westward to the new Muslim nation of Pakistan. Meanwhile, Hindus who lived in Pakistan moved eastward into India. Along the way, long-standing tensions between the two groups broke into violence, and many people were killed. Pervez Musharraf ’s family boarded a train to cross the border from India into Pakistan. His father carried a large sum of money in a metal box that was given to him by his employers in the Directorate General of Civil Supplies at Delhi to help run the new Pakistani government. Pervez’s mother, Zarin, remembers the terrible experience of taking the train into Pakistan when her son was only four. “We fled for our lives,” she recalled. “The train passed through entire neighborhoods that had been set to the torch. Bodies were lying along the rail tracks. There was so much blood. Blood and chaos were everywhere. The train journey took us three days, and we used to halt at night.” The long train ride brought the family to Karachi, capital of Pakistan. Karachi is located at the mouth of the giant Indus River, which flows from north to south through the length of Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. Situated on the seacoast, in the province of Sindh, Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city. Today Karachi has modern hotels and office buildings, colorful bazaars, and magnificent mosques (Muslim houses of worship). In Karachi there is also a beautiful white marble mausoleum, which is the burial site of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Once in Pakistan, Musharraf ’s father went to work for the Pakistani Foreign Service. He was soon sent to Ankara, capital of Turkey, where Pervez spent his childhood. By 1957, the family had returned to Karachi, where Musharraf attended high school. He was called gola, meaning “ball,” because he was short and stocky. A year later, Pervez graduated and journeyed north to the city of Lahore, in Punjab Province, to attend

crisis in pakistan boarding school, where he excelled in athletics. Punjab means “five rivers.” These rivers provide a fertile environment for agriculture, including wheat, rice, tobacco, and cotton grown in Punjabi farms. Lahore itself is an ancient city that contains many magnificent buildings constructed during the era when the Mughal emperors (1526–1760) ruled the area. In 1958, Pervez Musharraf attended Forman Christian College, a boarding school in Lahore. After graduation from Forman, he enrolled in the Pakistan Military Academy to pursue a career in the army. Zarin Musharraf supported this decision. “From the very beginning,” Pervez said, “when we were children, she said I would go into the army, my elder brother would become a civil servant, and my younger brother a doctor. And that’s exactly what we are.” Musharraf moved from Karachi to Gujranwala in Punjab. He had an outstanding record at the academy, graduating second in his class in 1964. As a second lieutenant, Musharraf then joined a Pakistani artillery regiment. After his military career had begun, Musharraf attended the Command and Staff College at Quetta, in Balochistan. This is a dry, hilly province in southwestern Pakistan, on its border with Afghanistan and Iran. North of Balochistan lies the Northwest Frontier Province. Peshawar, the main city of the province, lies on the road through the Khyber Pass and the Hindu Kush Mountains into Afghanistan. Ancient Peshawar was visited by Alexander the Great around 327 b.c. Alexander had defeated the great Persian Empire, which had controlled part of the territory now in present-day Pakistan. Alexander then traveled east with his army over the high Hindu Kush Mountains into what is now Pakistan. After a short stay, his army journeyed down the Indus River and sailed westward across the Arabian Sea and back to Asia Minor. Much of Musharraf ’s time in the army was spent in another part of Pakistan, called Kashmir. Located in the Himalayas, Kashmir was split up between India and Pakistan at

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A supporter of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif is arrested by police officers in Karachi, Pakistan, on October 14, 1999, during a demonstration in which 15 people were arrested. Sharif was unseated by a military coup led by Pervez Musharraf, who was army chief at the time.

independence in 1947. Since that time, both nations have gone to war with each other several times to increase their control of the province. Most recently, in 1999, General Musharraf led the Pakistani army in pushing back Indian troops and briefly taking over a larger area in Kashmir. However, Indian reinforcements eventually drove back the Pakistani forces. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif blamed the unsuccessful operation on General Musharraf and decided to fire Musharraf as head of the army and to put another man into the job. As Musharraf was returning from Sri Lanka, he did not know what had occurred inside Pakistan. Only the pilot of the passenger jet, Captain Sarwat Hussein, realized that something

crisis in pakistan was wrong on the ground. He received a message from the Karachi airport asking him how much fuel he had left and whether he could pilot the plane out of Pakistan. The prime minister did not want Musharraf to land in the country. To prevent the plane from landing, the airport had been closed. As the plane was leaving the Karachi area, Musharraf was told that the pilot wanted to discuss a problem with him in the cockpit. When he arrived, Musharraf recalled, “It was as though I was in the cinema. The pilot was shouting his head off [into his telephone], ‘You stupid idiots! We can’t go anywhere! If we don’t land immediately, we’re going to crash!’” Meanwhile, the pilot had been successful in making contact with one of Musharraf ’s commanders on the ground. “Tell the chief to come back to Karachi immediately,” Musharraf heard a voice say. “Everything is under control.” Shortly after Sharif dismissed Musharraf, the Pakistani army decided to act. Several times since 1947, the army had entered politics to take over the nation from an unpopular government. On October 12, the army entered the political arena once again. Troops marched through the streets of Islamabad. During the 1960s, this new city built in Punjab Province had replaced Karachi as the capital of Pakistan. The army took control of Islamabad and arrested Sharif. Other army units took over the airport at Karachi. As Musharraf arrived at the airport, his plane taxied down the runway to a stop. Members of the Pakistani armed forces saluted Musharraf as he left the plane. Now he was not only head of the army; Musharraf had also become the new leader of Pakistan.

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C H A P T E R

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The Making of Modern Pakistan Thousands of years ago, an early civilization built around small

farms grew up along the Indus River, where peasant farmers grew wheat, rice, cotton, and barley. By 6000 b.c., small towns with houses made of mud bricks had sprung up along the Indus in Punjab and Sindh provinces. For several thousand years, small, independent communities continued to flourish in the valley. Some of them were unified as the principality of Gandhara around the sixth century b.c. Many of the people living in Gandhara were Hindus—a religion that traces its origins to about 1500 b.c. or earlier. Central to Hinduism is karma, a belief that an individual passes through a series of lives, with each one determined by his or her actions in the previous life. Hindu religious beliefs are

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the making of modern pakistan

Chapels encircle the Chir-Tope Stupa at Taxila, in modern-day Pakistan. Taxila was the capital of Gandhara. The site was a center for Buddhist teaching.

contained in sacred scriptures, known as the Veda. Hindus also believe in a rigid caste (class) system. At the top of the system are the Brahmans, learned men and priests, followed by Hindu kings and warriors, merchants, peasants, and finally the lowest caste, or Untouchables. Persians marched through the Khyber Pass and conquered Gandhara in the sixth century b.c. The Persians were followed by Alexander the Great two centuries later. By this time, modern Pakistan had fallen under the influence of another powerful religion, Buddhism. Its founder, Siddhartha Gautama (563–483 b.c.) was known as the Buddha. Central

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Pervez Musharraf to Buddhism are the four noble truths: that life is suffering; that the cause of suffering is desire; that nirvana, or an end to suffering, can be achieved; and that its achievement occurs by right thoughts and right actions. The new religion flourished at Taxila, located just west of present-day Islamabad, and Buddhist shrines and monasteries were built there. For almost a thousand years following the visit of Alexander, various leaders established kingdoms, only to see them eventually destroyed by other, more powerful rulers. Finally, in the eighth century, an army of 6,000 Arab cavalrymen appeared along the coast of Sindh. Led by Muhammad Bin Qasim, they began to conquer the coastal region and headed northward along the Indus River valley. The Arab invaders brought another religion to the Indus valley—Islam. The founder of Islam, Muhammad, was born about 570 in Mecca, a town on the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammad’s teachings were contained in the Islamic holy book, the Koran. The Koran called on Muslims to follow the teachings of Islam, which included a belief in Allah, or God, and in Muhammad as the Prophet of God. To follow Allah, Muslims were called to prayer five times daily. They also had to make a commitment to make charitable contributions to the poor and to visit Mecca before their death. Following Muhammad’s death in 630, his followers assembled large armies that conquered the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Spain, and large territories in the East. During the thirteenth century, at Delhi, Muslim armies had established a splendid kingdom that was ruled by powerful kings known as sultans—successors of Muhammad. The Delhi Sultanate, as it was called, became a renowned center of music and poetry that combined Hindu and Muslim traditions. Like the earlier kingdoms, the Delhi Sultanate eventually fell to new conquerors. Beginning in the thirteenth century, huge armies of Mongol horsemen led by Genghis Khan had overrun much of Asia. The Mongols followed a scorched-earth

the making of modern pakistan

The founder of Islam, Muhammad, was born about 570 in Mecca, a town on the Arabian Peninsula. policy, burning surrounding farms to cut off the food supplies of their enemies and massacring the inhabitants of the cities that they conquered. These tactics were designed to send a message to anyone who tried to stop them that resistance was futile and could only end in a terrible death. As a result, very few rulers resisted the Mongol armies. After Genghis Khan’s death, his successors extended Mongol control into China and across much of the present-day Middle East. Led by Babur, the Mongols invaded India in the sixteenth century, destroyed the Delhi Sultanate, and established the Mughal Empire that stretched across India and westward to Lahore. For almost 200 years, the empire was ruled by a series of talented kings. Babur was known for the magnificent gardens he built throughout his empire. Perhaps he believed that these would improve the area because, at first, he did not admire what he found. “Hindustan,” he said, “is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks; of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there is none; of manners none.” One of Babur’s successors was Akbar, who ruled from 1556 to 1605. He increased the size of the army to secure his empire and expand it. As Akbar put it, “A monarch should ever be intent on conquest; otherwise his neighbors rise in arms against him. The army should be exercised in warfare, lest from want of training they become self-indulgent.” But after he conquered his enemies, Akbar welcomed Muslims and Hindus into his government and joined discussions among different religious groups as they debated their beliefs. The Mughal Empire was a center of art, literature, and architecture. One of Akbar’s successors, Shah Jahan (ruled

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Pervez Musharraf 1627–1658) built the magnificent Taj Mahal as a monument to his dead wife, Mumtaz Mahal. He was succeeded by his son, Aurangzeb, who built a magnificent mosque in Lahore during his long reign (1658–1707). A devout Muslim, Aurangzeb had little tolerance for Hindus who rebelled against his rule. Meanwhile, the emperor was trying to expand the empire. But this involved a series of costly wars against nearby kingdoms that exhausted the resources of his government. The British East India Company

From much farther away, the Mughals faced another threat that would eventually prove too powerful for them. Beginning in the sixteenth century, European traders had sailed around the southern tip of Africa and arrived in India. Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English merchants journeyed to the East to purchase spices, fine cotton cloth, and other items that could be sold in Europe. The Europeans arrived in heavily armed ships that eventually took control of trading routes from Arab sailors. This enabled the European merchants to establish trading stations along the coast. Along with the merchants came Catholic priests who brought another religion to the area—Christianity. Among the most successful merchant operations was the British East India Company. The company established trading stations in Bengal at Calcutta and Madras, located along the coast. As Mughal power weakened, the British East India Company grew more powerful, recruiting armies that were largely made up of Muslim and Hindu troops. The British East India Company provided protection to local rulers who needed to defend themselves from rivals who threatened their thrones. Gradually, the company took control of some of these small kingdoms, increased its power, and during the eighteenth century drove out its European rivals. By 1760, the British East India Company was the dominant power in the region.

the making of modern pakistan

The East India Company had its hub in Madras. The art gallery, occupied by British members of the Pantheon Committee, is shown above. As the company gained power, it enabled Great Britain to expand its control of the region.

During the nineteenth century, the company expanded its control. In 1843, the British annexed (incorporated) Sindh, which had been ruled by a Muslim prince. This was followed by the annexation of Punjab six years later after two wars against the local rulers, the Sikhs. Soon afterward, the British began to construct irrigation projects to tap the waters of the Indus and expand agriculture throughout Punjab. Meanwhile, the British also took over the Northwest Frontier Province as well as Kashmir.

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Pervez Musharraf By 1857, the army maintained by the company numbered almost 300,000 soldiers across India. Approximately 30,000 were English officers, while the rest of the troops were local Indians, known as sepoys, who were Hindus and Muslims. While they served the British, many of the sepoys resented the growing power of these foreigners who continued to annex lands that had been controlled by Muslim and Hindu princes. This resentment finally came to a head when the English introduced a new cartridge for the rifles used by the sepoys. This cartridge was made out of paper and contained gunpowder and a lead bullet. Sepoys were expected to bite the end of the cartridge and ram the powder and bullet down the front, or muzzle, of their rifles before firing them. The cartridge itself was greased to make it easier to load, reportedly with fat made from a cow and a pig. The cow was sacred to the Hindus, while Muslims were prevented by their religious beliefs from eating meat from a pig. When the sepoys learned about the grease on the new cartridges, they refused to use them. The British arrested some of the troops and threw them into prison. Angered by the arrests, the sepoy regiments led a revolt at Meerut, north of Delhi. This was the beginning of the Great Indian Mutiny. Sepoys overran the area where British officers and their families were living, massacring them. Then the sepoys headed toward Delhi, where they intended to take control of the government. After killing the British soldiers stationed there, they announced that the Mughal Empire had been restored. But British troops soon began marching on Delhi, where they laid siege to the city. Eventually, they broke through the walls and drove out the sepoys. Meanwhile, the mutiny continued at Cawnpore, where an army of Indian troops besieged the city that was garrisoned by the British. Eventually, the city fell to the sepoys, who permitted the British and their families to leave. During the evacuation, however, the sepoys massacred the British. “Cawnpore!

the making of modern pakistan Cawnpore!” became a battle cry for British troops as the war continued during the rest of 1857 and into the following year. Gradually, they recaptured the positions that had been overrun by the sepoy armies. To avenge the deaths of their countrymen, the British showed little or no mercy for the Muslims and Hindus whom they captured. Towns were destroyed, people were massacred, and farms were put to the torch. The people of the region called the British vengeance “the Devil’s Wind.” Following the end of the mutiny, the British East India Company gave up control of its territories. In 1858, the British Parliament approved the Government of India Act. Power was transferred from the company to a British governor-general, or viceroy, who reported to the English government and the monarch, Queen Victoria. British rule in India became known as the Raj, a Hindu word that means “reign.” From the Raj to Independence

Under the British Raj, government flowed from the viceroy at Delhi throughout the countryside. British officials ruled in combination with local Hindu and Muslim princes who continued to maintain some of their authority. Members of the British civil service, known as deputy commissioners, were responsible for collecting taxes from towns and villages. The civil service was primarily made up of Englishmen, although some Indians were eventually permitted to enter low-level positions in the service after passing stiff examinations. The British also controlled foreign affairs and defense policy. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Britain found itself in competition with Russia for control of the frontier, west of present-day Pakistan. Russia and Britain vied for influence in nearby Afghanistan. The British feared that the Russians might eventually advance through the 33-mile-long (53-km-long) Khyber Pass, threatening India. Britain sent spies into Afghanistan and invaded the area during the late 1870s. These maneuvers were part of what was called “The

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Pervez Musharraf Great Game” between England and Russia. In order to defend India, the British fortified Hunza and Chitral, located in the Northwest Frontier Province, as well as parts of Balochistan and Gilgit in the Himalayas. While Hindus and Muslims may have accepted British rule, middle-class, educated Indians were talking more and more about gaining power inside the country. Some of these young men had been educated at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, established in 1875 by Syed Ahmad Khan. Sir Syed, as he was called, believed that an education was essential for Muslims to achieve higher positions in the British government and eventually greater self-rule in the country. Meanwhile, Hindus had founded the Indian National Congress in 1885. While the Congress encouraged Muslims to join, Sir Syed was opposed to the idea. Since Hindus outnumbered Muslims in India, he feared that they would be overpowered by the Hindu majority. Instead, Sir Syed advised Muslims to remain separate and continue to serve in the British government. Supporting this same approach was the All-India Muslim League, founded in 1906 at Dhaka, in Bengal. The purpose of the league, according to their charter, was “to protect and advance the political rights of the Muslims of India and respectfully represent their needs and aspirations to the Government.” At the same time, Muslims led by Aga Khan III, the so-called Simla Delegation, asked the British viceroy, Nathaniel Curzon, to approve a program that would ensure their power in India. Since Muslims were outnumbered by Hindus, they feared that Hindus would always elect their own representative in each electoral district. Therefore, Muslims asked for separate districts that could only be represented by Muslim officials. These men would run the local government and also participate in the national government as members of the viceroy’s council. This proposal became part of the Government of India Act in 1909. While the Indian National Congress opposed it, the Muslim League heartily favored the new legislation.

the making of modern pakistan Among the members of the Muslim League was a lawyer named Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Born in Karachi in 1876, Jinnah was educated at the Mission School there. In 1893, Jinnah traveled to England, where he continued his education and eventually received a law degree. After returning to India to practice law in Bombay, Jinnah joined the Congress, where he served as private secretary to the president of the group. In 1910, he was selected to be a member of the viceroy’s advisory group, the Legislative Council. Three years later, Jinnah joined the Muslim League but continued to be a member of Congress. He hoped to bring the two groups together in support of eventual Indian independence. In fact, Jinnah was called the “ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.” In 1916, Jinnah helped engineer the Congress-Muslim League Pact, also called the Lucknow Pact. In return for Muslim support for self-government, Congress agreed to separate electoral districts. Meanwhile, the British were gradually increasing the amount of authority that they gave to local Indian political leaders. However, a split was beginning to occur between Jinnah and Congress. By 1920, leadership of Congress was in the hands of Mohandas Gandhi, who favored what Jinnah considered a radical approach to achieving eventual independence. Gandhi called for nonviolent demonstrations by the masses of Indian people against British rule. Jinnah, on the other hand, believed that only action by elected representatives could pressure the British into leaving India. The rift between them grew even greater in 1929. At a joint gathering of Hindu and Muslim leaders, Congress rejected separate electoral districts. At the same meeting, another Muslim leader, Sir Mohammad Iqbal, called for a separate Muslim state. He wanted it to include Punjab, the Northwest Frontier Province, Sindh, and Balochistan. Muslims, he said, should be considered a nation “based on unity of language, race, history, religion, and identity of economic interests.”

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The Sepoy Rebellion was part of a larger mutiny against the British. Following many bloody massacres, India fell under the rule of the British monarchy.

Jinnah was very disappointed in the decision made by Congress. As he put it, “This is the parting of the ways.” Jinnah’s hopes for unity had ended, and he had very little support in the Muslim League, many of whose members supported the idea of a separate state. Jinnah left politics and went back to England to practice law. Meanwhile, a group of Muslim students attending Great Britain’s Cambridge University had come up with a new name for the state proposed by Iqbal. In a pamphlet titled Now or Never, they called the state Pakistan, which included some of the letters for the territories mentioned by Iqbal. Pakistan, they said, “means the land of the Paks, spiritually pure and clean.” In 1934, Jinnah returned to Pakistan. He had been influenced by a biography of Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, the founder

the making of modern pakistan of modern Turkey. Jinnah hoped that he might be successful in achieving a similar result, by convincing the British to let the Muslims establish a new state in Pakistan. But his hopes for establishing Pakistan were delayed. In 1939, Great Britain went to war with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Japanese armies threatened to invade India. The Muslim League supported Great Britain during the war; indeed, many Muslim soldiers from Punjab fought during World War II. After the war, Great Britain, which was financially drained by World War II, realized that it could no longer hold on to its empire in India. The British were prepared to agree to a twostate solution—one Hindu and the other Muslim. Congress also realized that a single Indian nation of Hindus and Muslims was impossible. In 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy, developed a plan to split up the country. Jawaharlal Nehru, the political leader of Congress, agreed to Mountbatten’s strategy. Meanwhile, Jinnah worked with the British to divide the country and design a government for the new nation of Pakistan. Inhabitants of each region were asked to vote whether to join India or Pakistan. In the west, voters in Sindh, Balochistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province, all of which were heavily Muslim, voted to join Pakistan. Punjab, where there were many Hindus as well as Muslims, was partitioned between the two countries. Pakistan also included part of Bengal in the east, 1,000 miles (1,610 km) from the western part of the new country. Pakistan became independent on August 14, 1947. Meanwhile, millions of Hindus living in Pakistan and Muslims living in India emigrated from their homes to the new states where they wanted to live. Among them was the family of Pervez Musharraf. They were among the lucky ones. During the migrations, violence broke out among Muslims and Hindus. Trains carrying Muslims were attacked by Hindus and vice versa. An estimated 250,000 people were killed.

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Pervez Musharraf After the establishment of Pakistan, Jinnah became the first leader of the new state. He was known as Quaid-i-Azam, or “Great Leader.” Most of the civil servants who had served the British were Hindu and remained in India. Jinnah had very few men to run the civil service of Pakistan. Meanwhile, he had to deal with another problem: The fate of Kashmir was still undetermined. Troops from both India and Pakistan invaded Kashmir in 1947, touching off the first war between the two countries. As a result of a peace agreement engineered by the United Nations, Pakistan received 30 percent of the territory, called Azad Kashmir, while the rest went to India. The strain of running the new government weakened Jinnah, who had suffered from tuberculosis for many years. On September 11, 1948, barely a year after taking office, Jinnah died. With their leader gone, many Pakistanis now wondered what the future might hold for them.

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Time of Trials Pakistan was founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and his personal-

ity held the new nation together. There was no strong leader to take his place after his death. Before 1947, Pakistan did not exist. The people living there had no strong allegiance to a central government, no shared experience of forging a united country, not even a single territory that was all connected. These are essential elements for a nation to stay together. East Pakistan was separated from West Pakistan by 1,000 miles (1,610 km), and travelers had to fly over India to get from one part of the country to the other. Various parts of Pakistan vied for control of the new nation. Bengalis believed they should be in charge of the government because Bengal was the most populated area in Pakistan. In the west, Punjabis believed that they should be in charge because Punjab was the most fertile and productive agricultural area. The people of Sindh felt a greater allegiance to their own province than to the nation

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Pervez musharraf of Pakistan. And in Balochistan, the Balochs wanted their independence so they could unite with some of their fellow tribesmen living across the border in Afghanistan. Following the passing of Jinnah, Pakistan began to come apart. Only the army, dominated by Punjabi officers, and the civil service provided the glue to hold the new nation together. Pakistani Politics after Jinnah

In 1949, following Jinnah’s death, the Muslim League selected Liaquat Ali Khan to succeed him. Like the Musharraf family, Liaquat was a mohajir. He had also been a close colleague of Jinnah’s. Unfortunately, he lacked the charisma—or personal appeal—of Jinnah. As a result, he was unable to convince Punjabis and Bengalis to forget about their own needs and give their allegiance to the central government. Pakistani representatives from across the country tried to design a democratic constitution that would satisfy everyone, but they were unsuccessful. In 1951, Liaquat traveled to Punjab to speak to the people there about the constitution and gain their support. But as he was about to make his address, Liaquat was murdered by an assassin’s bullet. While these events were occurring inside Pakistan, the Musharraf family was living in Turkey. Syed Musharraf-ud-Din was part of the Pakistani delegation stationed in Ankara, the Turkish capital. Later, he served as representative to the Central Treaty Organization, which included Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan. This alliance had been formed at the urging of the United States to help defend the area against the expansion of communism from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. While he lived in Turkey, Pervez Musharraf attended school, learned Turkish, and probably read about Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state. As Musharraf said later, “I was strongly attracted to Kemal Ataturk’s model of leadership. He transformed Turkey … [into] a very advanced nation. When I was a child in Turkey, my father was in the Pakistan

time of trials embassy. We had two defense attaches [assistants] who used to wear these beautiful glamorous uniforms. I used to look at them and I was extremely impressed by their smartness. That was the time I also thought, I must wear such uniforms.” By 1957, the Musharrafs had returned to Karachi, capital of Pakistan. Over the next four years, Pervez Musharraf attended high school. Meanwhile, Pakistan continued to be upset by political disturbances. During the 1950s, there were riots in Bengal and in Punjab. The Pakistani government, which included a parliament, a prime minister, and a governorgeneral, seemed too weak to hold the nation together. Between 1948 and 1958, there were seven prime ministers. Several of them were dismissed by the governor-general, who had the power to make or break governments. Finally, in October 1958, while Pervez Musharraf was at St. Patrick’s High School, the Pakistani army took control of the government. The army had been called in repeatedly to put down riots during the 1950s. It was the most powerful organization in Pakistan. The new president of Pakistan was General Mohammad Ayub Khan, commander-in-chief of the army. He intended to replace the “inefficient and rascally” politicians with a better government. The Ayub Khan Era

Many Pakistanis welcomed the army takeover because it brought an end to years of instability. Ayub Khan was an experienced military leader who had been educated in England and served during World War II. In 1951, he had been appointed head of the army by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. Ayub Khan was not the most likely choice because other officers outranked him. But he had developed a close relationship with the prime minister, who was impressed with his leadership skills. On taking control of Pakistan, Ayub Khan was convinced that the nation needed a new type of government to replace the parliamentary democracy. Ayub Khan called this new political system

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President Mohammed Ayub Khan is shown with his cabinet in Karachi on November 1, 1958. From right to left: President Khan; Lt. Gen. Mohammad Azam Khan; Lt. Gen. W.A.K. Burki; Mohammad Ibrahim; Lt. Gen. K.M. Sheikh; Abul Kasim Khan; F.M. Khan; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; and Mohammad Hafizur Rahman.

Basic Democracies. He thought that most Pakistanis were too uneducated and inexperienced to vote. Therefore, he restricted the voting to 80,000 leading citizens who chose a national assembly. But the assembly was given very little power. Ayub Khan believed that only a strong leader could unify the country. Meanwhile, Ayub Khan tried to attack some of the worst political abuses in Pakistan. He set up committees charged with finding corrupt Pakistani civil servants and bringing them to trial. By July 1959, more than 4,000 local and national government bureaucrats had been tried and dismissed for corruption. Ayub Khan also tried to improve the conditions of the Pakistani peasants by breaking up large estates owned by wealthy landlords and distributing the land to poor farmers. But this effort

time of trials was more difficult because the landlords were strong supporters of Ayub Khan’s government, and he did not want to turn all of them against him. Some land was redistributed, but most of it went to military officers, not poor peasants. During the 1960s, Ayub Khan began building a new capital city at Islamabad, because Karachi seemed too small for all the government offices. This decision did not please the Bengalis, however, who wanted the capital in Bengal. Many Pakistanis were also displeased with Ayub Khan’s close relationship with the United States. They expected U.S. support in the continuing struggle with India over Kashmir. But American leaders continued to maintain alliances with both India and Pakistan and did not support the Pakistani claim to control heavily Muslim Kashmir. In 1965, war between India and Pakistan started again over Kashmir. Ayub Khan’s foreign minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, announced to a meeting of the Pakistani cabinet that a popular revolt had erupted in Kashmir and that the situation was desperate. According to historian Lawrence Ziring, he told the generals that the country could not stand by and do nothing, following stories describing atrocities committed by Indian forces against Muslims living in Kashmir. Ayub Khan decided to send Pakistani armed forces into Kashmir in Operation Gibraltar. They were defeated and pushed back by the Indian army. A more powerful counterattack by Pakistani soldiers was also unsuccessful. When the Pakistanis looked for military assistance from the United States in the form of more arms and supplies, President Lyndon Johnson refused to take any position in support of either Pakistan or India. Ayub Khan finally decided to seek a peace treaty with India. According to the Tashkent Agreement, both sides agreed to pull back. This decision angered many Pakistanis who believed that Kashmir should become part of Pakistan. The Tashkent Agreement became a focal point for many Pakistani leaders who were opposed to Ayub Khan’s government because it did not

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Pervez musharraf permit representative democracy. Popular demonstrations had already broken out in Pakistan against Ayub Khan and the army. Meanwhile, Bhutto had resigned from the government and became the leader of the new Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Hoping to regain some of his popularity inside Pakistan, Ayub Khan called for a celebration to mark 10 years of his rule. Called the Decade of Ayub Khan, the celebration quickly turned into a mass protest by opposition groups. Meanwhile, Ayub Khan had been suffering from poor health, and the worsening situation inside Pakistan convinced him that the time had come to give up control of the government. In March 1969, he turned over the presidency to General Aga Mohammad Yahya Khan, commander-in-chief of the army. New Governments

By the time Yahya Khan took power, Pervez Musharraf had joined the Pakistani army. From 1961 to 1964, Musharraf attended the Pakistan Military Academy and graduated as a second lieutenant. During the 1965 war with India, Musharraf ’s guns were in action against the Indian artillery. Musharraf was awarded a medal for bravery in battle when one of his guns began to burn, and he removed artillery shells from it so the gun would not explode and injure his men. Shortly after the war ended, Musharraf joined the Special Services Group. These were elite commando troops who were trained to climb mountains, parachute behind enemy lines, and conduct surveillance missions against Indian positions. Musharraf served for the next seven years with this unit. During that time he was promoted to captain and then major. He also started a family after his marriage in 1968. While Musharraf was advancing in his career, General Yahya Khan had been trying to bring stability to the Pakistani government. In 1970, he announced elections to form a new administration to run the country. Before the elections could be held, however, Bengal was struck by a powerful cyclone and

time of trials a tidal wave in November 1970. The natural disaster destroyed vast numbers of homes and killed more than one million people. The Bengalis were upset that President Yahya Khan’s government failed to provide rapid relief aid to adequately help the homeless. As a result, many Bengalis refused to participate in the elections for a new government. Once the elections were held, Pakistan became more divided than ever. The Awami Party, led by Mujibur Rahman, had won a major victory in Bengal and received a majority of seats in the new parliament. In West Pakistan, however, the PPP, led by Zulfikar Bhutto, had won the most seats. Rahman expected to be named the new prime minister, but Bhutto and his followers refused to accept a Bengali as head of the government. Yahya Khan did not permit Rahman to become prime minister. This decision led to riots in Bengal that were put down by the Pakistani army. The army arrested and executed many Awami members as well as students attending Dacca University in Bengal who supported the Awami Party. Bengalis were outraged and began calling for an independent country, which they called Bangladesh. Civil war broke out in Bengal, as Bengali guerrilla forces fought against the Pakistani army. Major Musharraf was involved in the fighting, possibly around Dacca. Finally, late in 1971, India invaded Bengal to provide support for the guerrillas and drive out the Pakistani armed forces. As a result of the war, Pakistan lost Bengal, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh. The army’s defeat led to the resignation of President Yahya Khan, who was replaced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His party had won the elections in West Pakistan, which comprised the entire country following the establishment of independent Bangladesh in the east. The Bhutto Regime

Bhutto immediately tried to stabilize relations with India so he could focus his efforts on building back the confidence of the Pakistani army. By 1974, he had recognized the new nation of

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Yahya Khan was president of Pakistan during an especially turbulent time. His resignation from office ushered in the Bhutto regime.

Bangladesh. With East Pakistan gone, Bhutto could now give all his attention to the problems that remained in the west. Riots broke out in Sindh, where many Sindhis resented the mohajirs. They said that the mohajirs had taken control of the economy and forced Sindhis to become second-class citizens. Meanwhile, a revolt had broken out in Balochistan, which was brutally put down by the army. As Lawrence Ziring has written, “The war in Balochistan revealed little had been learned from the civil war in East Pakistan. It also demonstrated that the new Pakistan was no more secure, no more integrated, no more stable than the older version.”

time of trials In 1973, voters approved a new constitution that brought back the parliamentary system. Despite this, Bhutto refused to provide the parliament with much power. As a charismatic politician, Bhutto succeeded in going over the heads of the members of Parliament and calling on masses of Pakistanis to support him in whatever he proposed. This included the creation of the Federal Security Force (FSF), made up of men who had served in the army as well as some Pakistani criminals. The FSF protected President Bhutto and arrested anyone who seemed to oppose him. “With the passage of time the FSF,” wrote Ziring, “became the central instrument of domestic political violence. Its growing power, its reputation as an intimidating force, and its … use of violence against defenseless citizens struck fear in the population.” The FSF used any method available, including torture and murder, to eliminate the opposition. Meanwhile, corruption flourished among many civil servants inside the government. In 1974, friction increased between Pakistan and India when the Indian government tested a nuclear weapon. This gave the Indian army an advantage over the Pakistanis and raised potential violence to a new level in South Asia. President Bhutto called on Pakistanis to develop an “Islamic bomb” to counter the Indian nuclear weapon. This became a powerful theme among many Pakistanis, who were united in their opposition to India. President Bhutto put army leaders in charge of developing the Islamic bomb. The army continued to serve as an important institution in Pakistan because of its key role in defending the nation against India. By this time, Pervez Musharraf had achieved a larger role in the army, having advanced to the rank of colonel. Musharraf also found himself serving under a new commander-in-chief, General Zia ul-Haq, who had been appointed by President Bhutto late in 1976. The following year, Bhutto had to call in the army to help defend his regime. Bhutto had called for elections in 1977, expecting to win an easy victory. But to win at

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President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first mission was to stabilize Pakistan’s relations with India, which had been weakened during Yahya Khan’s regime.

the polls, Bhutto had sent out the FSF to prevent voters from casting their ballots against the PPP. Even those few opposition candidates who had managed to win seats in the legislature were prevented by the FSF from entering the parliament building. Massive demonstrations broke out in Pakistan, and there were not enough FSF members to put them down. Although Bhutto asked the army for help, General Zia and his officers held back, deciding the time had come to replace him.

time of trials In July 1977, the army stepped into Pakistani politics once again, forcing out President Bhutto in a coup and replacing him with General Zia. General Zia’s Government

General Zia was a veteran of World War II who had received some of his military training in the United States and fought in the Pakistan-India War during 1965. President Bhutto advanced Zia over more senior generals in appointing him to lead the army. But Bhutto believed that General Zia posed no threat to his government, unlike more senior military leaders whom President Bhutto feared might seek to replace him. Bhutto had miscalculated. Soon after taking control, General Zia began to arrest senior members of the FSF, which seemed to threaten the army’s rule. Some of these men accused former President Bhutto of ordering violence against political opponents, including the murder of one of them. Bhutto was tried on these charges, found guilty, and executed on April 4, 1979. Zia had also banned elections in Pakistan, shut down newspapers, and confined Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir, to her home. She was later thrown into prison and eventually exiled from Pakistan. Meanwhile, General Zia had decided to move the government of Pakistan in a new direction. Zia wanted Pakistan to become a strict Muslim state. He hoped to unify the country under Islamic law and the teachings of the Koran. Zia believed that anyone who violated Islamic law by drinking alcohol (which was forbidden by the Koran), gambling, or committing adultery, should be severely punished by a public whipping or even harsher measures. The president also set up a Sharia Court, which examined existing Pakistani laws to make sure they conformed to the teachings of Islam. Laws that did not follow these teachings, the president believed, should be abolished. As part of his effort to transform the society of Pakistan, Zia called on Pakistanis

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A Muslim extremist, Zia ul-Haq, shown here in 1986, accepted aid from the United States in exchange for his country’s support against the Soviet Union.

time of trials to give alms to the poor, as directed by Muslim law. He also increased the number of madrasas, or religious schools, where students were trained as future Islamic religious leaders. Not only did Pakistan embark on a new course internally, the nation also began to play a new role in international affairs. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in support of a communist regime there and took control of the country. Millions of refugees left Afghanistan and moved across the border into Pakistan. General Zia feared that the Soviets might not stop at Afghanistan but might also threaten his own government. Zia aided the Afghan rebels, or mujahideen, who launched guerrilla attacks against the Soviet regime. Colonel Musharraf participated in these efforts, training mujahideen to strike Soviet targets inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani government received increased aid from the United States, which wanted to oust the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. According to one estimate, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency sent more than $7 billion in economic and military aid to Pakistan. Much of it was in the form of weapons that were given to the mujahideen to fight against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Many of the Afghan rebels were trained by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), similar to the American CIA. These fighters were often recruited from Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province. Pakistan was considered by U.S. leaders to be a key ally in the struggle against communism, and they strongly supported Zia. As a result, General Zia’s position of power increased, and he continued his efforts to turn Pakistan into an Islamic state. In 1984, he asked Pakistanis to go to the polls in a national referendum to approve or disapprove of his policies. An overwhelming majority approved of Zia’s program and elected him as president for another five years. Nevertheless, he still faced opposition from some Pakistani politicians who did not support Zia’s Islamist policies and claimed that most people in Pakistan had not voted in the 1984 election.

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Pervez musharraf The following year, Zia decided to hold national elections for the Pakistani legislatures. Pakistanis voted for members of the national legislature as well as legislatures in the provinces, which were responsible for local government. Much of the opposition to Zia crystallized around Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the former president. Generally, women were restricted to a traditional role as wives and mothers in Pakistan. As the daughter of a former leader, however, Bhutto was an exception. Due to her increasing power in Pakistani politics, Zia finally ordered her to be sent out of the country to England in 1985. The election results gave Zia’s supporters a majority in the national parliament, and they approved Zia’s choice of Muhammad Khan Junejo as prime minister. But under the Eighth Amendment to the Pakistani constitution, Zia retained the power to dismiss the prime minister and the parliament whenever he became displeased with their policies. Two years later, Zia exercised this power. He dismissed the national and provincial legislatures and fired Junejo, accusing him of corruption. Outside Pakistan’s borders, Zia had to deal with a new threat from India. Fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops broke out over Kashmir in 1987. Pervez Musharraf commanded a Special Snow Warfare Force that succeeded in overrunning two Indian military positions. Although these posts were eventually recaptured by Indian forces, Musharraf received special recognition for his efforts from General Zia. In fact Zia considered Musharraf as a candidate to become his military secretary, but the position was given to someone else. On August 17, 1988, Zia, his military secretary, and the army’s leading generals were aboard an airplane heading back to Islamabad. The plane was blown up by a bomb placed on board, killing President Zia and all the other passengers. Musharraf considered himself fortunate to have escaped death. Once again, Pakistan found itself without a leader.

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Political Stalemate The deaths of President Zia and his top military men left no promi-

nent general behind to lead Pakistan. As a result, politics began to change in Pakistan, and civilian politicians took charge of running the government. As a temporary replacement for Zia, the chairman of the Pakistani senate, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, became president. Seventy-three years old, Ishaq had held a variety of jobs in the Pakistani civil service. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ishaq had served in the defense department and was one of the officials responsible for running the nation’s economy. Under Zia, who became president in the 1980s, Ishaq was put in charge of Pakistan’s finances. He had a long career in government service and had achieved wide respect among the Pakistani people. Soon after becoming president, Ishaq called for new elections. The parliamentary elections of 1988 were contested by two major parties. One of these was the PPP, led by Benazir

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Pervez musharraf Bhutto. A tall, attractive woman in her thirties, Bhutto had been educated in the United States and England. Learning the art of politics from her father, the former president, she had been one of the last people to see him alive before his execution in 1979. “I pleaded with the jailers, I begged them to open the cell door, so that I could embrace him, and say a proper goodbye,” she recalled. “But they refused. When I left him, I couldn’t look back; I knew that I couldn’t control myself.” She never forgave Zia for executing her father. During the 1980s, when she was imprisoned by Zia, Bhutto was seen as a champion of the opposition to his regime. As historian Ian Talbot put it, “Benazir’s imprisonment … had converted her into a symbol of resistance to an oppressive regime. In addition she could draw on the mystique of her father and the PPP’s traditional populist appeal to the poor.” Once Zia died, Bhutto was the natural choice to lead the PPP—her father’s old party—in the upcoming elections. The political party that stood in her way was the Islamic Democratic Alliance, known by its Urdu name, Islami Jamhoori Itihad (IJI). The IJI was led by Nawaz Sharif, a multimillionaire industrialist and the chief minister in the province of Punjab. Nawaz Sharif hated the Bhuttos because Zulfikar Bhutto had nationalized—that is, put the government in control of—many private industries, including those run by the Sharif family. Now he had the opportunity to defeat the Bhuttos. The election campaign was very close and extremely heated. The IJI had the support of the ISI and the Pakistani army. The army had forced Zulfikar Bhutto out of office and executed him and did not want his daughter to become the next prime minister. Nevertheless, the PPP was victorious, winning more seats than the IJI. At first, President Ishaq Khan hesitated to name Bhutto prime minister until the generals gave their approval. Eventually, under pressure from the United States, Bhutto became prime minister of Pakistan. She was the first woman in a Muslim country to hold such high office.

Political stalemate The Bhutto Government

After becoming prime minister, Bhutto faced difficulties in trying to run Pakistan. The IJI began to attack her government almost immediately. In 1989, at an IJI election rally, Nawaz Sharif and other leaders referred to her as “the enemy of Pakistan.” They vowed to “dump the Bhuttos’ remains in the Arabian Sea.” Bhutto was also accused of nepotism—that is, appointing her relatives to high political offices in the government. Both her mother, Nusrat, and her father-in-law were given positions of major influence in the new administration. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was accused of receiving bribes from businessmen who wanted to be awarded lucrative government contracts. Meanwhile, the Bhutto government was trying to deal with the increasing violence in Pakistan. Many of the weapons channeled into Pakistan during the war in Afghanistan had found their way into the hands of Pakistani citizens. In Sindh, mohajirs were killed in drive-by shootings, especially in Karachi. On May 27, 1990, police entered a mohajir district in Hyderabad looking for hidden weapons. Suddenly shots rang out, and the police fired at people standing nearby, including women and children. More than 40 mohajirs were killed. Four days later, riots and more violence broke out. The violence in Sindh undermined the authority of Bhutto’s government. Meanwhile, her economic programs had failed to help the poor, and unemployment was rising. She also clashed with the army, which had been sent in to put down the riots in Sindh. Bhutto and the army leaders disagreed on how to deal with the violence. In August, army leaders had reached a point where they no longer supported the prime minister. Under the Eighth Amendment to the Pakistani constitution, the president of the republic, Ishaq Khan, had the power to dismiss the prime minister. On August 6, Ishaq, with the support of the army, removed Bhutto from office and prepared for new elections. During the election campaign, Bhutto was taken to court and charged with corruption and nepotism. According to Ian

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Nawaz Sharif (left) meets with Benazir Bhutto on October 19, 1993, during Bhutto’s reign as prime minister. Bhutto says she will return to Pakistan and run for the office again, even though Pervez Musharraf has mandated a two-term limit.

Talbot, the “former Prime Minister fainted amid scenes of pandemonium in the Lahore High Court,” and even accused her enemies of trying to make “an attempt on her life.” For Nawaz Sharif and IJI, the election was fought over the performance of Bhutto and her government while they were in office. On October 24, the Pakistani voters showed that they had become disillusioned with the PPP, giving Sharif and the IJI an overwhelming victory. Nawaz Sharif became the new Pakistani prime minister. The Nawaz Sharif Government

After his election, the new prime minister moved swiftly to improve the economy. The government increased the minimum wage, which was designed to improve the lot of poor

Political stalemate workers, and redistributed some land to impoverished peasants. In addition, Sharif announced that the government would loan money to people who wanted to set up small businesses, operating taxis, buses, and trucks. Nawaz Sharif also turned over large businesses, which had been nationalized by the government in the past, to private owners. These businessmen were frequently strong supporters of the IJI. In addition to being accused of favoring his supporters, Nawaz Sharif also found his government charged with corruption. Meanwhile, violence continued in Sindh, where bandits, called dacoits, attacked towns, stopped buses to rob the passengers, and committed bank robberies. Some of the violence was carried on by the Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM), which demanded more positions in the civil service for mohajirs. There were also violent clashes in Karachi and the Northwest Frontier Province between the two major Muslim sects—Sunnis and Shiites. Once again, the government was forced to send in the army to restore order. Like Benazir Bhutto before him, the new prime minister clashed with the army over policy issues. In early 1993, the army chief, General Asif Nawaz, died mysteriously. President Ishaq Khan appointed a new chief, General Abdul Waheed Kakar, without consulting the prime minister. This created a conflict between President Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Sharif. Reports appeared in the press that the prime minister might have been responsible for murdering General Asif. Bhutto, sensing that the PPP might be able to win support on this issue, announced that President Ishaq Khan should dismiss the prime minister. In retaliation, Sharif accused Ishaq and Bhutto of trying to oust him. Sharif also suggested that the president was implicated in the death of General Asif Nawaz. In April, President Ishaq dismissed Nawaz Sharif as prime minister. Instead of leaving quietly, Sharif appealed the decision to the Pakistani Supreme Court. The court ruled, in a 10–1 decision, that the Pakistani president had exceeded his

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Pervez musharraf power and ordered that the prime minister should be returned to office. Nevertheless, the battle between the president and the prime minister continued until the Pakistani army stepped in. The army commanders persuaded both men to resign, and a new election campaign began. Bhutto and Sharif

While the army continued to play a key role in Pakistani politics, Pervez Musharraf ’s position became more and more important within the army’s chain of command. In 1990, Musharraf had gone to England to receive a special master’s degree at the Royal College of Defense Studies. The commandant of the college said Musharraf was a “capable, articulate and extremely personable officer, who made a most valuable impact here. His country is fortunate to have the services of a man of his undeniable quality.” Musharraf returned to Pakistan in 1991, where he was promoted to the rank of major general and put in charge of an important infantry unit in Punjab. From there in 1993, Musharraf was assigned to Pakistani General Headquarters, where he became director-general of military operations. In this position, Musharraf played an important role in the war that continued in Afghanistan. This war had an important impact on Pakistan’s relationship with the United States, which had changed since the Zia era. In 1989, the Soviet Union began to withdraw from Afghanistan. As a result, Pakistan was no longer so important to the U.S. efforts to combat communism. Meanwhile, the Pakistani army had been developing nuclear weapons. Since India already possessed nuclear capability, a conflict between Indian and Pakistani forces might escalate into nuclear war. In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush retaliated against Pakistan by stopping all military aid to the government. During the 1990s, however, conditions inside Afghanistan began to collapse. Many groups battled each other to control

Political stalemate

In October 1993, Bhutto was reelected as Pakistani prime minister. the government. Musharraf and other leading generals decided to back the Taliban, which was being trained by the ISI. The Taliban included religious students (Talibs) from the madrasas, Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan, Muslims from Afghanistan, as well as volunteers from other Islamic nations in the Middle East. The Taliban also received support from the United States. According to Mary Anne Weaver, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine, the Democratic administration of President Bill Clinton “viewed the Taliban as a useful force in preventing the spread of Islamic revolution from neighboring Iran [controlled by a Fundamentalist Islamic government] as a potential ally in the international war against drugs [such as heroin, grown in Afghanistan] and, most important, as a possible lifeline to the vast oil and gas riches of the landlocked republics of Central Asia [which could be sent through Afghanistan to Pakistan, a U.S. ally, then to the United States].” Meanwhile, the Pakistani government was alternating between the PPP and the IJI. In October 1993, Bhutto was reelected as Pakistani prime minister. In the West, especially the United States, her victory was seen as a triumph for democracy as well as proof that a woman had the ability to lead a large nation. At home, however, many Pakistanis had little faith that Bhutto would do any better the second time as prime minister than she had done during her first administration. A conflict broke out between Bhutto and her mother over the direction of the government. Violence continued in Sindh, and riots broke out in the Northwest Frontier Province. Guns were easily available to Pakistanis from Afghanistan, where a civil war was underway between various political groups that wanted control of the government. In April 1994, more than

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Sharif’s support of Osama bin Laden, photographed in December 1998, led to a splintered Pakistani government and an increase in the prime minister’s power.

100 people were killed in Karachi. The following year, 500 people were murdered in the Pakistani capital between late August and the beginning of November. While the violence increased, the economy continued to decline, and Bhutto seemed unable to improve the situation. Meanwhile, she clashed with the Supreme Court over her appointment of several judges in Lahore whom the court ruled were unqualified for office. Finally, in September 1996, an incident occurred that struck at the heart of Bhutto’s family. Her brother, Murtaza, the leader of a powerful political group, was killed by police in Karachi. Murtaza and some of his supporters were resisting police who were trying to arrest them. “An emotional Benazir Bhutto,” wrote Ian Talbot, “claimed that her brother was murdered in a conspiracy aimed at eliminating the Bhutto family.” She even suggested that the Pakistani president, Farooq Leghari, who had been elected in 1993, was involved in

Political stalemate the murder. Leghari had opposed Bhutto’s appointments to the courts and was unhappy about the influence of her husband, who was being accused of corruption. All of these events finally persuaded Leghari to invoke the Eighth Amendment and dismiss Bhutto in November 1996. The army supported his decision. Early in 1997, an interim government took office, which included the president as well as several members of the armed forces. New elections occurred early in February, and this time Nawaz Sharif and the IJI won another overwhelming victory. As Sharif took office, he faced a new government in nearby Afghanistan. The Taliban had taken control of most of the country, with the help of the Pakistani ISI and the United States. The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, called his country “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” The Taliban had also received support from Saudi Arabia, another Islamic state, which had been involved in Afghanistan for more than a decade. Wealthy Saudis, including Osama bin Laden, had helped drive out the Soviets in the 1980s. According to Lawrence Ziring, bin Laden came back to Afghanistan in 1996 with his group al Qaeda and provided strong support for Mullah Omar. “The Pakistan government of Nawaz Sharif,” wrote Ziring, “became a party to these developments, and thousands of Pakistanis signed up for service with both al Qaeda and the Taliban.” From his training camps in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden began targeting U.S. strategic positions to be hit by al Qaeda agents. In 1998, according to American intelligence sources, al Qaeda struck two U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Africa. More than 200 people were killed. In retaliation, the Clinton administration launched a missile attack against al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, hoping to hit Osama bin Laden. But he was not harmed. President Clinton also pressured the Pakistani government to try to capture bin Laden, who moved back and forth between Afghanistan and

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Pervez musharraf Pakistan. But little effort to arrest bin Laden was made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or Pakistani army leaders. In fact, Sharif continued to support the new government in Afghanistan. What’s more, he tried to create a similar environment in Pakistan. His election victory enabled him to push a bill through Parliament eliminating the Eighth Amendment. As a result, the prime minister no longer had to deal with a powerful president who might dismiss him. Then Sharif began to press for Islamic laws to govern the lives of Pakistanis, much as Zia had done and similar to efforts underway in Afghanistan. Minority religious groups in Pakistan, especially Christians, became the victims of violence by Muslims who wanted to impose Islamic law on all Pakistanis. In Baloch, madrasa students began burning satellite dishes and televisions. “We will continue to burn TV sets, VCRs and other similar things,” the students said, “to spread the message that their misuse is threatening our religion, society and family life.” Meanwhile, Sharif was shutting down newspapers that did not support the government. The army opposed the prime minister’s efforts to increase his power. The army commander-in-chief, General Jehanigir Karamat, spoke out against Sharif. But the prime minister did not intend to change his policies, and General Karamat finally retired. In October 1988, the prime minister made a surprising decision in his choice to replace the retiring general. Sharif selected Pervez Musharraf over more senior officers to become the new chief of the army staff. The prime minister believed that Musharraf would be grateful for the appointment and give his unswerving loyalty to Sharif. Musharraf had now assumed the leadership of possibly the most powerful organization in Pakistan. Nearly 30 percent of the government’s budget was spent on defense. Only a few months earlier, the army had succeeded in testing a nuclear bomb. By the end of the year, army scientists had developed the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. As a result,

Political stalemate

General Pervez Musharraf was considered a threat to Prime Minister Sharif. An attempt was made to replace the army leader, but on October 15, 1999, Musharraf declared himself the leader of Pakistan.

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Pervez musharraf Pakistan now could contend with its archenemy India, which already possessed nuclear missiles. In May 1999, another clash broke out between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Pakistani forces tried to increase the area that they controlled, called Azad (Free) Kashmir by the government. The battle was fought over a strategic pass through the mountains that lay astride an important Indian supply route. According to author Mary Anne Weaver, Musharraf and two of his top associates had “over a period of three months during the spring, just as the snows began to melt, succeeded in infiltrating what eventually became some 1500 men, along with snowmobiles, mountaineering equipment, and supplies, across the precipitous peaks.” They wanted to cut off the Indian supply route to the Siachen Glacier. They hoped that this would “force it [India] to negotiate and resolve the Kashmir problem, once and for all. What Musharraf … did not anticipate was the ferocity of India’s response. In six weeks of warfare … nearly seven hundred Pakistanis died.” Eventually, Prime Minister Sharif decided to pull back the Pakistani forces, marking another victory for India. Reports began to circulate among the army high command that Nawaz Sharif was planning to fire Musharraf because of the unsuccessful Kashmir operation. At first, under pressure from the army, the prime minister agreed to keep Musharraf in his job. But Sharif then began to work with some members of the armed forces loyal to the prime minister to put a new man into Musharraf ’s position. This led to a confrontation between the prime minister and the army. The Pakistani army feared that the prime minister was trying to undermine its authority by firing its chief. As a result, when they were ordered not to let Musharraf ’s plane land on its return from Sri Lanka, the army commanders disobeyed the prime minister. Instead, Nawaz Sharif was arrested, and Pervez Musharraf became the new leader of Pakistan.

C H A P T E R

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The Musharraf Government Ten years after the death of President Zia, another general had

become the leader of Pakistan. Upon taking office, Pervez Musharraf proclaimed that “the armed forces have no intention to stay in charge any longer than is absolutely necessary to pave the way for true democracy to flourish in Pakistan.” General Musharraf called himself the executive director of Pakistan instead of the president, as if to signal that he did not plan to remain permanently in charge of the government. “I will not perpetuate myself,” he emphasized in a television interview late in 1999. Musharraf ’s statements did not please the United States. The Clinton administration did not support the coup carried out by the army. Nor did the governments of Western Europe—they criticized the army for overthrowing an elected Pakistani government. Nevertheless, Musharraf insisted that the army had to act “as a last resort to prevent any further

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Pervez musharraf destabilization.” Two decades earlier, President Zia had said almost the same thing. Zia had decided not to hold elections, and Musharraf made the same decision. Instead, he planned to focus his efforts on eliminating violence and corruption. Among the government’s first decisions was to hold a trial of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif was found guilty of treason against the government. But instead of a death sentence, which had been given to President Bhutto, Sharif was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A year later, Musharraf ordered Sharif released from prison and sent out of the country. This was a clear indication that the new government would not pursue the same path that Zia had followed. Nevertheless, Musharraf emphasized that neither Sharif nor Benazir Bhutto—who was also living in exile—would be permitted to return to Pakistan and run for election again. In other areas, Musharraf also set a course that differed from his predecessor, President Zia. Early in his administration, Musharraf announced that he did not believe in continuing the program of Islamization started by Zia and continued by Nawaz Sharif. This program, he believed, led only to violence. As he said in his first speech, Islam teaches tolerance not hatred; universal brotherhood and not enmity; peace and not violence; progress and not bigotry. I have great respect for the Ulema [Muslim religious leaders] and expect them to come forth and present Islam in its true light. I urge them to curb elements which are exploiting religion for vested interests and bring bad name to our faith.

Musharraf himself did not follow strict Muslim law. He had two small, white Pekinese dogs—animals considered unclean by Muslims. He enjoyed an occasional drink of alcohol, which was forbidden by Muslim law. He and his wife, Sehba, are Sunnis, the largest Muslim sect in Pakistan. But they permitted their daughter Ayla to marry a Shiite, a sect that makes up only about 15 percent of the Pakistani Muslim population. Many

The musharraf government

Activists from Pakistan’s right-wing religious party Jamat-I-Islami burn an effigy of Musharraf during an anti-government demonstration on December 17, 2000, in Karachi. The supporters were defying a government-imposed ban on public demonstrations and calling for Musharraf’s resignation.

strict Muslims would not have allowed their daughter to make this decision. Early in 2000, Musharraf called for a change in Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Under the law, anyone accused of violating the teachings of the Koran could be held by the police without evidence. In addition, he wanted the madrasas, which had become training schools for members of the Taliban and al Qaeda, to be strictly policed by the government. It soon became clear, however, that Musharraf could not succeed in carrying out

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Pervez musharraf these reforms. Throughout Pakistan, there was strong support for the blasphemy laws and the Taliban, and there was even a segment of the population who supported al Qaeda. In a speech delivered in May 2000, Musharraf backed down from his reforms of the law. “As it was the unanimous demand of the Ulema and the people, I have decided to do away with the procedural change … [of] … the blasphemy law.” When it came to reforming the madrasas, Musharraf also faced strong opposition that convinced him to leave the religious schools alone. Asked in an interview whether the madrasas should be brought under stricter control or even closed, Musharraf said, “Impossible! The madrasas are doing so much for the poor; you’re giving poor children free education, free lodging, free food. Why should I close them down?” Musharraf also disappointed many Western leaders over his relations with the Taliban government in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani ISI had helped bring the Taliban to power. Musharraf believed that, as a result, Pakistan maintained a strong influence over the affairs of Afghanistan. Instead of dealing with a hostile government, as had existed during the days of Soviet control, Pakistan now had a friendly government on its western border. Musharraf also made no effort to move against Osama bin Laden, although the U.S. government wanted him captured or killed. Bin Laden operated freely along the Pakistani-Afghan border, supporting the Taliban government and operating training camps for terrorists. When asked about capturing bin Laden, Musharraf said, “The United States used to think very strongly that we could deliver bin Laden. But I have been telling everyone, ‘We can assist, not assure,’ and I think we have been successful in driving that point home.” Musharraf continued, “I think a middle way can be found on this whole issue of extraditing him [sending him back to the United States to stand trial]. He could be sent to a third country—as long as that country is not Pakistan.” Musharraf also urged Western governments to

The musharraf government stop putting pressure on the Taliban government, which permitted bin Laden to run his camps on Afghan soil. Musharraf hoped to find a compromise solution in dealing with bin Laden, the Taliban, and even the radical Islamic groups inside Pakistan. Some of the young men who belonged to these groups played a key role in defending Pakistan. They were trained as fighters by the ISI, then transferred to Kashmir, where they assisted the Pakistani army in its continuing dispute against India. Pakistani forces were greatly outnumbered by the Indian army across the border. To supplement the Pakistani forces, the ISI-trained fighters were stationed in Kashmir where they helped defend the Pakistani-controlled territory. Problems of a President

During the summer of 2001, Musharraf gave up his title as executive director and declared himself president of Pakistan. There was speculation that he wanted this title to put him on an equal footing with the prime minister of India. In July 2001, Musharraf traveled to India—where he had been born 53 years earlier—to meet with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The main topic was Kashmir, a continuing source of friction. But the two leaders could not come to any agreement. After the meeting, Musharraf returned to Pakistan to deal with the pressing issues that confronted his country. Like earlier presidents, he faced the problems of growing poverty and continued violence among religious sects in various areas of Pakistan. In addition, he had to deal with the demands made by Western leaders to end the threat posed by Osama bin Laden. On the morning of September 11, 2001, bin Laden and al Qaeda reached a horrible new level of terrorist activity. Two passenger jets, hijacked by al Qaeda operatives, crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. In Washington, D.C., another plane plunged into the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Defense Department, while a fourth passenger plane crashed in Pennsylvania. About 3,000 people were killed.

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U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shake hands at a news conference in New York City on November 10, 2001. Bush announced the support of $1 billion in economic assistance to Pakistan.

The U.S. administration of President George W. Bush soon realized that the terrorist attacks had been engineered by al Qaeda. Since the headquarters of bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization, was in Afghanistan, Pakistan would now become a key player in the war against terrorism. In Washington, U.S. officials met with Pakistani ambassador, Maleeha Lodhi, as well as ISI director Lieutenant General Ahmed Mehmood, who was visiting the Pakistani embassy. According to historian Owen Bennett Jones, they delivered a blunt, simple message to

The musharraf government Ambassador Lodhi and General Mehmood. “Islamabad could align itself with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan or with Washington. ‘You are either 100 percent with us or 100 percent against us. There is no gray area.’ ” The Musharraf government now faced a stark choice. According to Bennett, “Pakistan’s military leader made a snap decision. He told Mehmood that Washington would get what it wanted.” On September 14, Musharraf met with the top generals in the Pakistani army. They were not so sure that Pakistan should give its full support to the United States. After all, the Taliban had been a close ally, which had received strong support from Pakistan. They wanted to hold off endorsing the position of the United States until President Bush explained how much foreign aid Pakistan might receive in return for opposing the Taliban. In the past, during the Zia regime, Pakistan had received substantial aid because of its support for the war against the communist government in Afghanistan. But Musharraf insisted that Pakistan could not wait. According to Jones, he told the generals that Pakistan “could either align itself with the United States or be isolated as a terrorist state.” After several hours of discussion, the army generals agreed to back Musharraf. Suddenly he had become a key player in the War on Terror.

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Musharraf and the Impact of 9/11 On September 19, 2001, President Musharraf delivered an address

to the Pakistani people. In his speech, Musharraf explained that he was providing the strong support of his government to the United States in the war against al Qaeda and the government of Afghanistan, which permitted the terrorists to operate inside its borders. This meant, Musharraf added, that Pakistan would provide the United States with any intelligence reports and military support necessary to defeat the Taliban. It was a new policy for Musharraf and the government of Pakistan. According to a Gallup poll, more than half the population of Pakistan supported Musharraf ’s decision. In return for his support, Musharraf secured $1 billion in aid from the United States. This money was designated to help Afghan refugees

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Musharraf and the impact of 9/11 fleeing the Taliban and tightening the border to prevent al Qaeda terrorists from entering Pakistan. According to Time magazine, “Musharraf ’s speeches on television … tend to be emotional appeals to the people. A good percentage of the populace has responded to the aura of a military man who seems neither haughty nor overly intellectual. … Musharraf is a natural charmer: hospitable and humorous.” Nevertheless, demonstrations were organized by radical religious groups denouncing the United States and Musharraf. “The rallies and protests we see on TV,” Musharraf said in a speech in New York in November 2001, “are made up of a few religious extremists, some religious political parties, and Afghan refugees themselves. A perception has been created that all of Pakistan is participating. This could not be further from the truth.” Musharraf, however, did not underestimate the power of the Islamic religious leaders, the mullahs. They mobilized thousands of demonstrators who cheered the events of September 11, while others crossed into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. Indeed, according to Leon Hadar, a reporter for USA Today, “Pakistan’s ISI continued to provide military and financial assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan even after September 11.” Meanwhile, the U.S. demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden. When the government refused, U.S. planes began to attack Taliban positions inside Afghanistan. These air attacks provided support for the Northern Alliance and other opposition groups to advance against Taliban strongholds. Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, fell in November and Kandahar, another major city, fell by early December, bringing an end to Taliban rule. Later that month, a new government had been established in Afghanistan. War Against the Radicals

While the conflict was raging in Afghanistan, President Musharraf had declared war against the Muslim extremists inside Pakistan. Many of them supported al Qaeda and the

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On September 19, 2001, a week after al Qaeda’s devastating attacks on the United States, Pervez Musharraf addressed the nation in a broadcast news conference. Musharraf assured Pakistan’s citizens that the United States did not intend to target Islam or the people of Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks.

Taliban. “There is no reason,” he proclaimed, “why this minority should be allowed to hold the sane majority as a hostage. I appeal to all Pakistanis to display unity and solidarity and foil the nefarious designs of such elements who intend to harm the interests of the country.” Early in 2002, Musharraf banned two of the most extreme groups, Jaish e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Jaish-eMohammed was declared a terrorist organization by the United States. In December 2001, a month before the crackdown, these two Islamic radical groups had been implicated in an attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi that killed 14 people. Several weeks earlier, a Jaish terrorist had attacked

Musharraf and the impact of 9/11 a government building in Pakistan, killing 38 people. Members of Lashkar and Jaish were also operating inside Kashmir, where they were directing their attacks on Indian positions. On January 1, 2002, Musharraf denounced the Pakistani radical religious leaders who were threatening the future of Pakistan. “They looked at the Taliban,” he said, “as if they were the renaissance of Islam and at those who were against the Taliban as, God forbid, not Muslims. But these people have no respect for human rights, and the Pakistani people were let down by these so-called religious scholars.” Following the speech, many radicals were arrested by the government, and more groups were banned. Nevertheless, Musharraf permitted the Islamic religious parties to continue operating because they had many supporters. These parties included the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The JUI draws support from the Pashtun tribes living in the Northwest Frontier Province and northern Balochistan who are closely allied to the Pashtun in Afghanistan. The religious parties had planned demonstrations to bring together opposition to Musharraf and his government. But the opposition gathered little support, and by the beginning of 2002, it had greatly declined. As Musharraf put it, “I thought ten times about putting my hand in the beehive of religious extremism. But I realized that [the demonstrations were] the maximum they could do and the vast majority of people were with me.” Realizing that he had many supporters, Musharraf made other political moves designed to strengthen his rule. Inside the army, some generals were sympathetic to the Taliban and the Islamic radicals inside Pakistan. Musharraf fired those generals, including General Mehmood, the head of the ISI. Musharraf also tightened up control over the 7,000 to 8,000 madrasas in Pakistan. According to historian Lawrence Ziring, all madrasas had to be registered with the government by March 23, 2002, and new ones needed government approval.

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Musharraf vowed to root out religious extremism in Pakistan. Religious schools like Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania (above), one of the most radically fundamentalist Islamic schools in Pakistan, were among his targets.

“Religious schools indulging in extremism, subversion, or militant activity or possessing weapons would be immediately closed. … Moreover, foreign students would not be admitted unless they were properly documented.” Musharraf was denounced by Islamic groups for turning against religion. The Pearl Case

In retaliation for the government’s new policies, Muslim radical groups committed acts of violence on the streets of Pakistan. Muslim terrorists attacked a Shiite mosque, murdering innocent people at prayer. Radical Muslims on motorcycles murdered Shiite store owners. Pakistanis were not the only victims of the terrorism: On January 23, 2002, Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter covering the War on Terror, was

Musharraf and the impact of 9/11

American troops in Afghanistan who provided support for the new Afghan regime searched for Osama bin Laden. kidnapped by terrorists in Karachi. He had been traveling to meet Sheikh Mubarik Ali Gilani, who led the Islamic Jamaat ulFuqra, a fundamentalist organization. Pearl was later murdered and a videotape of his murder was released by the kidnappers. Paul Steiger, managing editor of the Journal, called the murder “an act of barbarism.” Musharraf said the acts of terror would not deter him, his government, and the people of Pakistan from acting with all their strength against terrorists. Musharraf also pointed out, according to Time magazine, that the kidnapping and murder of Pearl “may have been part of an effort to rattle his government, particularly after his decision … to crack down on Islamic militants and regulate their schools [the madrasas].” In February 2002, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh surrendered to police for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Pearl. Saeed was a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in July 2002. Musharraf’s Leadership

Since taking power in 1999, President Musharraf has lived at Army House in Islamabad, the home of the army chief of staff. Although his father died in 2000, his mother continues to live with the Musharraf family. According to one close friend of the president, “His mother is his main inspiration.” But his mother counters, “Never in my wildest of dreams did I imagine him president.” As president, Musharraf tried to gain greater support for his efforts by announcing a national referendum in April 2002. Pakistanis were asked to vote “yes” or “no” on their support of the president’s performance in office. This was similar to the

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Pervez musharraf referendum held by President Zia during the 1980s. Musharraf claimed before the election that his government was dedicated to eliminating corruption, reducing poverty, and ending violence. About 98 percent of voters apparently supported Musharraf and gave him a five-year term as president. But only a small percentage of the electorate actually voted. As Musharraf moved to strengthen his control of the government, he made further efforts to weaken the power of radical Islamic groups. In May, according to author Mary Anne Weaver, Musharraf had promised to stop fundamentalist soldiers from traveling into Kashmir. According to Weaver, there were about 128 military camps in Pakistan training militants to fight in Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, more and more Islamic radicals, including al Qaeda members, had crossed back into Pakistan to fight in Kashmir. The United States wanted Musharraf to stop these al Qaeda operatives from entering Pakistan. Meanwhile, American troops in Afghanistan who provided support for the new Afghan regime searched for Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was thought to be hiding in the mountains that straddle the Pakistani-Afghan border. Other al Qaeda leaders had fled to Pakistan, where some of them were rounded up in the spring of 2002. But many others remained in the streets. According to counterterrorism expert Mazhar Hussain, at least 50 terrorist groups were operating in Pakistan that have connections with al Qaeda. “Osama is not alone,” Hussain says. “He has a big organization, in every city, in every district here.” Musharraf has said that he would not support a policy of “hot pursuit,” allowing U.S. soldiers to cross the Pakistani border from Afghanistan in pursuit of al Qaeda members. Nevertheless, in the spring, President Musharraf permitted U.S. commandos to establish a base of operations inside Pakistan. According to Richard Behar, a correspondent for the magazine Fortune, Pakistan “probably harbors more terrorists than any place on earth.” But Musharraf did not publicly

Musharraf and the impact of 9/11 admit that Americans were operating inside Pakistan because this would have angered many Pakistanis, especially the Islamic fundamentalists. According to Time magazine, one of Musharraf ’s biggest challenges in the war against terrorism may be taking control of the ISI. It has often been called “a kingdom within a state.” The ISI bankrolled and trained the Taliban while giving support to al Qaeda. There were early indications that just after 9/11 this support was continuing. But by mid-2002, according to Time, “preliminary signs are that Musharraf, despite many obstacles, may actually be succeeding in taming the ISI.” As one diplomat put it, “There’s grudging compliance. They’re saluting Musharraf and obeying him.” At least 300 al Qaeda operatives have been arrested by the ISI. Continuing Problems

While Musharraf continued his war on terrorism, the government was being criticized by many groups inside Pakistan. In May, they met together at an All Parties Conference in Lahore. The conference included religious leaders and politicians who called on Musharraf to resign and demanded a restoration of democracy in Pakistan. They claimed that the president and the Americans operating inside Pakistan were a far greater threat than the Taliban or al Qaeda. Meanwhile, 12 al Qaeda members were arrested in Karachi by Pakistani special forces, assisted by the American FBI. But many others were suspected of living along the border areas near Afghanistan and operating inside Pakistan or in Kashmir. Some terrorists launched attacks into Indian-controlled Kashmir. In May 2002, this raised tensions between Pakistan and India, which called on President Musharraf to stop the attacks. According to the Economist magazine, the terrorists “sneak across the mountains—with the help of Pakistan’s army—and into Indian Kashmir.” In response, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told his troops who occupy

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Officials search through the wreckage after a bomb explosion in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 8, 2002. In what officials believed was a suicide bombing, nine French passengers and their bus driver were killed. Fighting terrorism has been one of Musharraf’s greatest challenges.

Kashmir to ready themselves for “a decisive battle.” India might retaliate with air attacks against the terrorist camps. An even greater threat might be a confrontation between two nuclear powers, which could lead to nuclear war. The Pakistani government was testing ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear warheads. These tests indicated that Musharraf was prepared to stand fast against any Indian assaults on Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. A war between Pakistan and India over Kashmir would undercut the effort to fight al Qaeda. According to USA Today, about 1,000 American soldiers are stationed in three military sites inside Pakistan. They are involved in hunting Osama bin Laden. President George W. Bush asked President Musharraf

Musharraf and the impact of 9/11 to “stop the incursions [attacks] across the line of control” in Kashmir. But the confrontation between India and Pakistan continued. “We have seen,” Vajpayee said, “that cross-border infiltration has increased, violence in Kashmir has continued unabated, and terrorist camps continue to exist across our border.” President Bush sent Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to the area to bring an end to the nuclear confrontation. The United States also put heavy pressure on Musharraf to stop the Pakistani terrorist attacks in India. According to Newsweek, this angered many of the radical guerrilla groups in Kashmir. “After ditching the Taliban,” one of their leaders said, “Musharraf has now betrayed the Kashmiri cause. How can we accept this?” But President Musharraf brought the terrorist guerrillas under control, which helped reduce the risk of war between Pakistan and India. While Musharraf was dealing with the Kashmir problem and the battle against Osama bin Laden, violence continued in Pakistan. A suicide bomber killed 14 people in Karachi at the Sheraton Hotel in May, and a car bomb exploded outside the American consulate in Karachi in June. In August, a Christian hospital outside Islamabad was bombed by an Islamic fundamentalist group, killing several people. Musharraf himself is also at risk of being assassinated by terrorists. He carries a gun with him and travels in a bulletproof car. The president also relies on three motorcades to throw off potential assassins. He travels in one vehicle, while the others are meant to be decoys. “The threat to his life is very real,” said Major General Mahmoud Durrani, a former army chief of staff. Political and Economic Conditions in Pakistan

In order to strengthen support for his government, Musharraf ordered elections to be held in October 2002 for local offices and provincial legislatures. But according to author Stephen Philip Cohen, “the elections were manipulated at many

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Pervez musharraf levels. Nominations of pliable politicians [who favored the government] were supported, and there was interference by the security forces and the bureaucracy on polling day.” The government also tried to abolish the political parties run by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who were not permitted to return to Pakistan to participate in the elections. “I miss Pakistan,” said Benazir from her exile in Dubai, a country in the Middle East. “I want to return to my country.” But she would be arrested on charges of corruption if she tried to fly back to Pakistan. Nevertheless, the elections surprised Musharraf. A group of religious parties that supported the Taliban won control of the provincial legislature in the Northwest Frontier Province and took 60 seats in the national parliament. However, 118 seats, the most in Parliament, went to the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-E-Azam (PML-Q), a party that supports Musharraf. Although the government wanted to shut down the PPP, it won 81 seats. By November, the PML-Q had formed a majority coalition in Parliament, with support from several small parties. The new prime minister, selected by Parliament, was Zafrullah Khan Jamali, a friend of the president. Thus, General Musharraf continued to run the government in what he called “guided democracy.” Meanwhile, the Musharraf government had decided to weaken the provincial legislatures by developing a new government structure in the provinces. This was called the “Nazim system” and it was similar to the basic democracies developed by General Ayub Khan in the 1960s. Federal money was channeled directly to the Nazims, made up of local leaders who support the government, “bypassing the bureaucracy and the provincial legislators,” according to author Stephen Philip Cohen. Nevertheless, serious economic problems continued to plague Pakistan. An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis evaded paying income taxes. According to Wayne Blackburn, a leading expert on corruption, “The whole economy is predicated on avoiding taxes,” and most business deals are done in

Musharraf and the impact of 9/11 cash so there is no trace of them. This meant that the Pakistani government was always short of money and constantly in debt to foreign countries from which it had borrowed money. Smuggling and drug running were also widespread. Items such as cigarettes and televisions were shipped into Pakistan from the Middle East and sold on the black market. This was one way that Pakistanis tried to earn extra money. In Pakistan, adults in 2002 earned an annual income of only about $430. Many adults working abroad sent money home to their families, but the income arrived in cash and was not taxed. As a result, the government lacked money to spend on health care or schools. Most children did not attend school, and, even where schools existed, they were often extremely poor, lacking indoor toilet facilities, books, and computers. This created a large number of unemployed young people who were illiterate and untrained to fill jobs. They were easily enlisted by radical groups who criticized the government and threatened the future of the Musharraf regime. Without a broad base of support throughout the country, President Musharraf faced the same problems as military leaders in the past. Nevertheless, he believed that his government was making progress. Musharraf pointed to the recent elections in a speech at the United Nations in the fall of 2002. He also talked about his support for the new government in Afghanistan and his role in the war against world terrorism. And he vowed to increase his efforts in the war against poverty. “Despite current differences among governments, people from rich and poor nations are beginning to embrace universal values and common goals such as avoiding war, ending poverty, hunger, disease, discrimination and human rights violations, promoting democracy … and protecting the environment. We must capture the growing spirit of global humanism to advance the quest for global prosperity and universal peace.”

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C H A P T E R

7

The President, Politics, and Pakistan In December 2002, President Musharraf’s motorcade sped along

the roadway in Rawalpindi, just outside of Islamabad. Two terrorists had parked automobiles filled with explosives along the president’s route. As the motorcade passed, one of the terrorists’ cars lurched out of the gas station and struck a vehicle in the motorcade, causing an explosion. Musharraf ’s armored Mercedes narrowly missed being hit by the second terrorist before his car exploded. Although 16 people were killed, the president escaped unharmed. This was the second attempt on Musharraf ’s life. Intelligence sources believed that the assassination attempts were engineered by Pakistani Islamic extremists. The attacks arose because of Musharraf ’s policies after September 11, 2001,

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The president, politics, and pakistan

Musharraf’s strong ties with the United States make him an enemy of anti-U.S. Islamic extremist groups. In the photo above Musharraf meets with former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on December 4, 2002, in Islamabad.

and his close work with the United States in the War on Terror. As one U.S. official put it, “Frankly, the assassination attempts are another indication that Musharraf is going in the way that we’d like him to.” On the other hand, the president faces strong opposition from Islamic extremist groups that are opposed to his position against al Qaeda and the Taliban. As a result, Musharraf has moved cautiously trying to chart a middle course between the United States and radical Pakistani religious groups. Musharraf’s Middle Way

President Musharraf ’s middle course has been designed to hold Pakistan together in the face of pressures from many directions. In order to satisfy the powerful religious parties, he had permitted them to run candidates in the 2002 elections. The strength of these parties was demonstrated when 60 of their

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Pervez musharraf members were elected to the national parliament and they took control of the provincial government in the Northwest Frontier Province. Musharraf decided that if they had been kept out of the elections, they could have mobilized their supporters to threaten the stability of the government. The Economist magazine stated that at mosques across Pakistan, Islamic mullahs preached jihad, or holy war. Although Musharraf ’s government had banned extremist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba, these were permitted to re-form themselves under different names. “They seem to have plenty of money,” according to the Economist, and “they are setting up new offices, enlisting fresh recruits to their cause, and training them in not-so-secret camps across the country.” In the Northwest Frontier Province, the new provincial government stated that it would not allow American commando forces to enter the area to hunt for members of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Inside Pakistan, madrasas continued to flourish with very little control by the government. There were an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 of these schools. Many Pakistanis supported the work done by the madrasas, which provide a free education to thousands of young people who receive no schooling from the government. The government spent only $8 per person on education in 2003, and more than half of the nation’s children did not receive a primary education. While Musharraf tried to satisfy the Islamic radicals in Pakistan, he also worked with the United States. In March 2003, Pakistani security agents and the FBI cooperated in arresting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be al Qaeda’s chief of operations. President George W. Bush thanked President Musharraf for his efforts in support of the War on Terror. In April 2003, the Pakistanis arrested another six operatives thought to be members of al Qaeda. As a U.S. State Department official put it, “The government of Pakistan has arrested and transferred hundreds of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists to

The president, politics, and pakistan

Musharraf and Pakistan’s government arrested many key al Qaeda operatives, including the organization’s chief of operations, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

U.S. custody.” According to a report in USA Today, Pakistan had helped reduce the threat from al Qaeda. Nevertheless, Karachi was still considered the hub of terrorist operations in Pakistan. In June, Musharraf and President Bush appeared at a news conference outside Washington, D.C. Bush announced $3 billion in assistance for Pakistan, calling Musharraf a “courageous leader who has offered essential help in America’s War on Terror.” Later in the year, Musharraf said in an interview that Pakistan had “to follow a path of enlightened moderation . . . . We have to decide for ourselves what is the path forward. Is the path one of confrontation, extremism, fundamentalism, intolerance, which the minority is trying to spread? Or is the path one of enlightened moderation?” But this path had many obstacles. According to Time magazine, the United States asked Musharraf for coopera-

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Pervez musharraf tion in rounding up al Qaeda members along the border with Afghanistan. These lands are inhabited by tribesmen who have little loyalty to the government. Although the Pakistani military tried to help American commandos, the tribes mounted large protests and the Pakistani forces had to stop the operation. While the United States wanted to run its own operations in the tribal lands, a Pakistani military officer reportedly said that the tribesmen might revolt. A Western diplomat added, “These hotshot CIA guys . . . . want to tear up everything—mosques, villages—to get bin Laden. Well, the Pakistani army has to live with the fallout.” That fallout was proving to be heavy. In October, al Qaeda called for Musharraf to be driven from office. Pakistan and the Nuclear Bomb

While President Musharraf was dealing with al Qaeda, another crisis broke in Pakistan. For several years American intelligence had suspected that Abdul Qadeer Khan, who directed Pakistani efforts in successfully developing nuclear weapons, had been selling technology to other countries. Khan, 67 years old, was considered the father of the Islamic bomb and revered as a hero throughout Pakistan. But on February 4, 2004, Khan admitted to President Musharraf that he had been selling nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya, and Iran. These governments were regarded by the United States as rogue states. According to the Economist, Khan had been operating through a “network of middlemen and companies [in] Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South Africa.” According to the report, “The nuclear program was supposed to be under close military control. General Musharraf insists there was no official involvement, either now or in the past, in any of these transactions, which, he claims, were motivated by personal greed (official tales of Mr. Khan’s national heroism have now given way to tales of his great personal wealth and many villas).” Nevertheless, Musharraf decided to pardon Khan. “He has made mistakes, but he is our hero,” the president said.

The president, politics, and pakistan According to Seymour M. Hersh, a reporter with the New Yorker magazine, the Bush administration supported Musharraf ’s decision. U.S. officials did not completely believe that the Pakistani government had not been involved in the sales of nuclear secrets, but the U.S. government decided to use the pardon as a means of gaining leverage on President Musharraf. Hersh wrote, According to past and present military and intelligence officials, Washington’s support for the pardon of Khan was predicated on what Musharraf has agreed to do next: look the other way as the U.S. hunts for Osama bin Laden in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan dominated by the forbidding Hindu Kush mountain range, where he is believed to be operating. American commanders have been eager for permission to conduct major sweeps in the Hindu Kush for some time, and Musharraf has repeatedly refused them . . . . A large-scale American military presence in Pakistan could also create an uproar in the country . . . . The operation represents a tremendous gamble for him personally (he narrowly survived … assassination attempts).

In the spring of 2004, an operation began in the remote northwestern region of Waziristan that involved approximately 70,000 Pakistani soldiers and tribesmen from the region. They were working with U.S. forces to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda. The operation led to fierce battles in which scores of Pakistani soldiers lost their lives. According to Pakistani sources, approximately 50 terrorists were killed in the operation. But bin Laden was not among them. Meanwhile, many al Qaeda supporters left Waziristan and secretly moved to Karachi and Quetta, where violence increased. Bombs were set off, two mosques were leveled, and almost 60 people were killed. In September 2004, Musharraf journeyed to the United States, where he met with President Bush. Bush asked Musharraf

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The so-called Father of the Islamic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, gets support in this demonstration in Karachi on February 5, 2004. Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan for passing nuclear technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

whether there was more that the Pakistani government could do to round up high-level al Qaeda and Taliban members thought to be living in Pakistan. “If the U.S. has specific evidence that the Taliban are hiding there,” said an aide to Musharraf, “they should tell us, and we will act.” Musharraf was reportedly “exasperated” by these claims. Pakistan had already turned over hundreds of accused terrorists to the United States since 9/11. But the leaders of al Qaeda still remained on the loose. As a result, Musharraf continued a difficult balancing act, trying to satisfy the political demands of Pakistanis while dealing with the pressure from the United States to carry out the war against terrorism.

C H A P T E R

8

The Future of Pakistan In 2005, as Pervez Musharraf entered his sixth year as president of

Pakistan, there were hopeful signs that the nation was improving under his leadership. While he had not restored democracy, Musharraf had provided stability to the political situation. Meanwhile, the Pakistani economy had improved markedly since the late 1990s, when Musharraf came to office. The Pakistani Economy

Under the Bhutto and Sharif governments, the Pakistan economy had grown at a rate of about 4 percent annually. This growth rate had more than doubled by 2005. Some of the improvement had resulted from U.S. financial aid—a reward for President Musharraf ’s strong support in the War on Terror. But there were other factors as well. In 2004, Musharraf had selected Shaukat Aziz as Pakistan’s new prime minister. Aziz had a career in private banking, with one of

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Pervez musharraf the United States’ leading financial institutions, Citibank. According to Fortune magazine, “Aziz placed privatization front and center.” This meant that many government-owned businesses were being sold to private companies, bringing in much-needed revenue. The government sold off part of Pakistan Telecommunication, and was planning to sell Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan State Oil Company. As one Pakistani finance expert put it, “I believe it’s a defining moment for Pakistan.” Foreign companies were investing in Pakistan. Swedish and Norwegian telecommunications companies entered the fast-growing cell phone market. The government was constructing a huge new seaport at Gwandar in Balochistan to handle some of Pakistan’s exports, which had increased by about 50 percent. The Musharraf government also hoped to import oil from Iran through a new pipeline and to ship it to China from the new seaport. The bulk of the Pakistani exports, however, were agricultural products grown on large estates. These were owned by wealthy Pakistani landlords, similar to feudal nobles, who employed poor Pakistani farmers to work their fields. After coming to office, President Musharraf had promised that these large estates would be divided up among many of the poor farmers. But the president had not carried through on this commitment. A major reason is that Musharraf needed the support of the wealthy landowners as he confronted other issues in Pakistan. As author Sharif Shuja pointed out, With Islamic extremists clearly defined as the enemy, Musharraf knows that he cannot afford to jeopardize the feudals’ [large landowners’] support. Since the feudals are more committed than most Pakistanis to the maintenance of the status quo, Musharraf is well aware that they can be relied upon to back up and support his campaign against the forces of radical Islam.

The future of pakistan In addition to the large landlords, the army also played a major role in the economy. For example, the army owned the Fauji Foundation, a $2 billion conglomerate that runs sugar mills, chemical plants, power plants, and a gas company. Another business enterprise controlled by the military was the Army Welfare Trust (AWT). The AWT owned a huge bank, farms, real estate, and a variety of other businesses, including pharmaceuticals (drugs and medicines). The army also ran Frontier Works Organization, a profitable road construction business. Musharraf as President and Army Chief

Since 2000, President Musharraf had served not only as chief executive of Pakistan but also as head of the army. The Islamic religious parties had repeatedly asked Musharraf to give up his position as head of the army, yielding some of the power that he holds in Pakistan. While promising to do this in 2004, Musharraf continued to hold on to his position as army chief. One reason may be that the army is the most powerful organization in Pakistan. Indeed, Musharraf increased the army’s role in the government by creating the National Security Council—which includes some top army generals—to help him run Pakistan. In 2005, Musharraf and the NSC gave no indication that they were willing to return Pakistan to the era of the 1990s when Pakistani political parties led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif competed for power. According to Newsweek magazine, “Musharraf still proudly refers to the country’s step-by-step transition to ‘genuine democracy.’ But his critics called it a clever imitation. Rather than let democracy evolve naturally, the president has made sure that he and the military are calling the shots and keeping a firm hand on the levers of power.” Late in 2005, Musharraf called for local elections in which Pakistanis voted for mayors in their districts. Approximately 40 percent of Pakistani voters went to the polls. But Musharraf did not allow the parties of Bhutto or Sharif to participate. Indeed, both of these political leaders were not permitted to return to

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Pervez musharraf Pakistan from exile abroad. According to the Pakistani human rights commission, “the polls were roundly rigged and election rules [violated] by the government.” Voting districts were changed to give the edge to government-supported candidates, police were sent to some districts to make sure Pakistanis voted for President Musharraf’s candidates, and voting booths were moved so voters could not find them. As the Economist reported, “The consolidation of one-party rule behind a general [Musharraf] is not the democracy that many Pakistanis still crave.” A Major Earthquake

Pakistanis were also critical of the Musharraf government in October 2005 when a major earthquake struck northern Pakistan. More than 87,000 people were killed, many of them children. According to Steve Coll, a writer for the New Yorker magazine, Musharraf “faced sharp questions from civilian politicians, Islamic leaders, and reporters about why the government, and the Army, had not organized relief more quickly.” Musharraf criticized these politicians, saying, “Panic and alarm in the face of a calamity are signs of weakness and defeat—let’s come out of that.” Many of the victims were stranded in small villages in the mountainous region of Kashmir that were difficult for relief workers to reach. Musharraf promised that aid would reach these villages by winter. Funds were raised by many Western nations to help the victims, but many villages were still without warm shelter or sufficient food during the cold Kashmir winter. Much of the relief effort was complicated by relations between India and Pakistan, which still have no peace agreement over Kashmir. As a result, both countries could not fully cooperate with each other to bring aid to victims on both sides of the line of control, separating Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. In the spring of 2006, Pakistani relief efforts were still underway in many small villages around the center of the earth-

The future of pakistan

Kashmiri earthquake victims cook meals in a refugee camp in Pakistan on December 11, 2005. The October 8 earthquake killed more than 87,000 people, destroyed the homes of 3.5 million others, and left 4.5 million dependent on food aid.

quake. One of these towns was Balakot, home to about 30,000 Pakistanis. This town lies near the earthquake’s epicenter. It also risked being struck by another earthquake because it was located on two fault lines. A fault line is a crack in rocks located beneath the surface of the Earth, and along these fault lines the rocks move, creating large quakes. “And these are extremely active fault lines,” according to Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, the deputy chairman of Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority. “If, God forbid, they get activated [and another quake occurs], this town is just going to blow up.” As a result, the Pakistani government decided to move the town of Balakot to a new location. In the October 2005 quake, the town was devastated. Although townspeople have rebuilt homes and shops in Balakot, the Pakistani government has

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Pervez musharraf decided not to risk the impact of another quake. The town will be moved to Bakarial, about 15 miles from Balakot. The task is likely to take three years to complete at a cost of about $100 million. Many residents of Balakot were opposed to the government’s decision. They did not want to leave their homes. According to the New York Times, “many simply doubted that the government would fulfill its grand promises” to move the people to a better home. Musharraf’s Middle Road

Even in the face of doubts by some Pakistanis regarding his rule, President Musharraf continued to hold a strong position as head of Pakistan. He seemed to have found a middle road between the position of Islamic extremists and the United States, which expected him to remain a leader in the War on Terror and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. While he had not yet found a way to markedly reduce poverty in Pakistan, he had pleased the major business interests—large estate owners, private investors, and industrial heads who have benefited from his policies. “For now,” wrote Newsweek reporter Zahid Hussain, “Musharraf does not face any major threat to his power. The economy is doing well. … Pakistan’s powerful business class are fully behind him, and so is the military.” Author Sharif Shuja, writing in the Contemporary Review, has called Musharraf “one of the critical figures in today’s world. He is making a determined bid to lead the Islamic world out of the sense of hopelessness and anti-Western hostility that has characterized it over recent decades.” Shuja emphasized that Musharraf ’s approach to “the Islamic world’s salvation lay in ‘modern enlightenment’—a suggestion that the Muslim world needed to pursue the path of moderation and enlightenment in order to come out of its present impasse.” In contrast to religious extremists who have called for a religious war against the West, Musharraf has advocated moderation and cooperation with the United States and other Western nations.

The future of pakistan War Against Terrorism Continues

Unfortunately, this approach has often brought him criticism from Muslims inside Pakistan as well as from the United States. In January 2006, American forces launched a rocket attack against a Pakistani village, Damadola. This attack was aimed at killing a top al Qaeda leader, named Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is second in command to Osama bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri was not in the village of Damadola, located in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan. At least 18 villagers were killed—among them, six children—but several al Qaeda terrorists also died. An official spokesman of the Pakistani government condemned the American attack. The Pakistani information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said that the government wanted “to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur.” The incident led to mass protests across Pakistan. Protesters criticized the Pakistani government for allowing the attack and the U.S. armed forces for launching it. In Balochistan, along the border with Afghanistan, another struggle was underway against al Qaeda terrorists, led by Musharraf. In January 2006, 14 al Qaeda guerrillas were killed in battles with Pakistani armed forces. Approximately 23,000 Pakistani troops have been assigned to the Balochistan area. Many of the tribesmen who live in Balochistan want to establish their independence from Pakistan, and they support the guerrillas who are fighting the Musharraf government. A rebellion led by militant tribesmen has been underway in Balochistan for several years. General Musharraf has vowed to stop any independence movement in Balochistan. “I will sort them out—they won’t know what hit them.” Nevertheless, the Pakistani army had been unable to capture the rebels and stop the revolt. Balochistan holds special value to the Pakistani government because the province contains large reserves of oil and natural gas. But the Pakistani government has been unable to explore the area because of the rebellion.

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Pakistani citizens protest the United States and Pervez Musharraf in a huge demonstration on January 14, 2006. The protesters live near the Afghan border, where U.S.-initiated airstrikes killed 17 people and destroyed many homes.

Relations with the Taliban

Across the border in Afghanistan, Taliban forces were fighting their own battle to regain control of the government. The Taliban had been operating from inside Pakistan “with very little interference by the Pakistani authorities,” according to leaders of the Afghan government. This situation had a negative impact on the relationship between the United States and the Musharraf government. U.S. forces led a military campaign

The future of pakistan

Attacks in Pakistan have often come in the form of suicide bombings.

that ousted the Taliban regime late in 2001, following the attacks of September 11. Attacks in Pakistan have often come in the form of suicide bombings. During the early months of 2006, approximately 70 people had been killed in the attacks. Some of the wouldbe suicide bombers were captured by the Afghan government before they could carry out their missions. They talked about “the recruitment of young bombers in the sprawling Pakistani port city of Karachi,” according to the New York Times. “The bombers are moved to safe houses [where they could hide] in the [Pakistani] border towns … and then transferred into Afghanistan, where they are provided with cars and explosives and sent out to find a target.” However, the Taliban denied any part in the attacks. “This is a propaganda campaign of the government,” a Taliban spokesman said. He added that the Taliban did not rely on Pakistanis to help them. He said the suicide bombers “are all Afghans.” Nevertheless, the Afghan government blamed Musharraf for not preventing the suicide bombers from crossing the Pakistani border. Musharraf had been fighting a battle to bring the frontier areas under control by his government. The struggle had not only taken place in Balochistan, but in Waziristan. This is an area that Musharraf describes as an “al Qaeda training camp,” where Taliban supporters slip across the border into Afghanistan to fight against the Afghan government. Beginning late in 2001, after the overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Musharraf reinforced the troops stationed in Waziristan. About 80,000 Pakistani soldiers occupy

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Pervez musharraf the towns in the area, such as Miran Shah. The soldiers have been the target of attacks by guerrillas who resent Pakistani control. Battles have broken out between the guerrillas and the government forces, leading to hundreds of deaths. According to one observer, “It’s chaos. The army is on the streets but everyone knows it’s not in control.” Finally, in September 2006, Musharaff was forced to sign an agreement with rebellious tribal leaders in Waziristan. Under this agreement, the tribal leaders retained control of the province. In return, they agreed to stop guerillas operating inside Afghanistan. Many observers believe that the tribes in Waziristan were protecting guerillas fighting for the Taliban and al Qaeda, allowing them to slip inside Afghanistan. The agreement caused grave concern in Afghanistan. According to the New York Times, “the government may have in effect ceded [given] the militants a sanctuary [safe place in which to operate] in the area….” However, on a visit to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Musharraf gave his assurances that he would continue to fight against the Taliban. Later in September, President Musharraf traveled to the United States. There he told President Bush that his agreement with tribal leaders in Waziristan would not prevent him from removing guerillas allied with al Qaeda and the Taliban. Dealing With a Revolt Inside Pakistan

Meanwhile, President Musharraf was forced to deal with massive protests in other parts of Pakistan. In February 2006, protesters marched to show their opposition to cartoons appearing in a Dutch newspaper that depicted the prophet Muhammad. The Pakistani protests were part of a larger movement across the Muslim world denouncing the cartoons. Protests broke out in Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar. Protesters were marching in response to the cartoons, but they were also criticizing the policies of Musharraf. Many Pakistanis oppose Musharraf ’s close alliance with the United States and other Western nations in the

The future of pakistan

George W. Bush and Pervez Musharraf walk together during their meeting in Islamabad on March 4, 2006. Although Musharraf’s war-on-terror alliance with the United States is at odds with many in Islamic Pakistan, he has been praised by Bush and U.S. allies.

war against terrorism. Pakistani police tried to control the demonstrations and prevent them from turning violent. However, some Pakistanis were killed and others were injured. Fires also broke out, set by the demonstrators. According to the New York Times, the demonstrators torched a KFC restaurant, several Western-owned cell phone companies, and a bus station. These demonstrations continued during the summer, in opposition to the Pakistani army’s campaign in Waziristan and Balochistan that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of soldiers.

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Pervez musharraf The President’s Power

Regardless of its troubles at home, the Musharraf administration continued to remain a strong ally of the United States in its war against terrorism. As Musharraf once told the people of Pakistan, “The world sees us as backward and constantly going under. Is there any doubt that we have been left behind although we claim Islam will carry us forward in every age, every circumstance and every land? … How does the world judge our claim? It looks upon us as terrorists. We have been killing each other. And now we want to spread violence and terror abroad.” Musharraf has called on extremists inside Pakistan and in the Muslim world to end terrorism. Through cooperation with the West, he has attempted to build a more stable economy in Pakistan and to chart a moderate, middle course in the Islamic world. After September 11, 2001, he said, “We must finish off religious extremism. We must not use mosques to spread hatred.” As Sharif Shuja wrote, with its large army of 600,000, Pakistan “is the most powerful Muslim country in the world,” and President Musharraf has become one of its most significant leaders. President Musharraf himself put it this way: “We want to carry out a Muslim renaissance and let Pakistan be the source of light. Let Pakistan be the center from where the real understanding of the real values of Islam flows—the Muslim renaissance, showing light within the Muslim world and the world at large. … It may be a tall order. But they say for a journey of thousands of miles, it is always the first step that has to be taken. We will take the first step.” Whether this step will be enough is the question that confronts Musharraf in the years ahead. Can he deal with the conflicting pressures from the United States, on one side, and from Pakistanis who are opposed to his government, on the other side? The answer will determine whether President Musharraf remains in power and continues to lead Pakistan.

Chronology Muslimsinvade present-day Pakistan. MughalEmpire is established in present-day Pakistan. European traders begin to arrive. 18th century BritishEast India Company becomes dominant trading group. 19th century Britishgovernment controls present-day Pakistan. 1943 PervezMusharraf born in India. 1947 Indiaand Pakistan are partitioned by British; Musharraf family flees to Pakistan; Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes first leader of Pakistan. 1949 Musharraf family goes to Ankara, Turkey. 1957 Musharraf attends high school in Karachi, Pakistan 1958 Musharraf begins boarding school in Lahore, Pakistan; General Ayub Khan becomes leader of Pakistan. 1961 Musharraf enters Pakistan Military Academy. 1964 Musharraf joins 16th Field Artillery Regiment. 1965 Musharraf is decorated for bravery. 1966 Musharraf joins commando unit. 1969 Musharraf is promoted to captain. 1971 Musharraf is promoted to major; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes president. 1972 Musharraf attends Command and Staff College, Quetta, Pakistan. 1977 GeneralZia ul-Haq overthrows Bhutto, becomes president. 1979 Formerpresident Bhutto is hanged; Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. 1980s Musharraf trains soldiers to resist Soviet army in Afghanistan.

8th century



16th century

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2006

President Zia is killed in airplane crash. BenazirBhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan. Musharraf goes to England for advanced military training. Musharraf becomes director general of military operations; Benazir Bhutto is elected prime minister of Pakistan. Bhuttois dismissed as prime minister. NawazSharif returns as prime minister. Musharraf overthrows Sharif; becomes leader of Pakistan. AlQaeda destroys World Trade Center, New York City. Musharraf pledges support to U.S. in War on Terror; Taliban overthrown in Afghanistan. Musharraf works with U.S. to round up Taliban and al Qaeda members in Pakistan; improves Pakistani economy. Devastatingearthquake strikes Pakistan. Musharraf signs agreement with tribal leaders in Waziristan; President Musharraf visits United States.

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Bibliography books

Cohen, Stephen. The Idea of Pakistan. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2004. Goodwin, William. Pakistan. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books, 2003. Jones, Owen Bennett. Pakistan: Eye of the Storm. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. Talbot, Ian. Pakistan: A Modern History. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Weaver, Mary Anne. Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2002. articles

Coll, Steve. “Faultlines,” The New Yorker, November 21, 2005. Sengupta, Somini. “Quake Strains 58-Year-Old Fault Line,” New York Times, October 24, 2005. Shuja, Sharif. “Musharraf ’s Administration and Pakistan’s Economy,” Contemporary Review, March 2005. WEB SITES "Khyber Pass," http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html

"U.S. Journalist Daniel Pearl is Dead, Officials Confirm," "The First Government of Benazir Bhutto," "Ayub Khan," "Zia Ul-Haq," http://countrystudies.us/pakistan/74.htm

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Further Reading Crompton, Samuel Willard. Pakistan, Second Edition. New York: Chelsea House, 2003. Greenberger, Robert. Historical Atlas of Pakistan. New York: Rosen, 2003. Haque, Jameel, Pakistan. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Gareth Stevens, 2002. Wagner, Heather Lehr. India and Pakistan. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2002. "Pakistan's Historical Background," http://www.infopak.gov.pk/public/govt/history.html

"General Pervez Musharraf-Presidential Speeches: Policy," http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/PolicySpeechLIst.aspx

"Pakistan: Foreign Policy," http://countrystudies.us/pakistan/16.htm

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Picture Credits

Page : Frontis : Associated Press, AP 13 : Associated Press, AP 16 : Associated Press, AP 19 : © Paul Almasy/CORBIS 23 : © Lindsay Hebberd/ CORBIS 28 : © Bettmann/CORBIS 34 : Associated Press, AP 38 : © Bettmann/CORBIS 40 : © Bettmann/CORBIS 42 : Associated Press, AP 48 : © Getty Images 52 : Associated Press, AP 55 : Associated Press, AP 59 : Associated Press, AP







Cover: Shaun Heasley/Reuters/Landov

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62 : Associated Press, AP 66 : Associated Press, PRESS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT 68 : Associated Press, AP 72 : Associated Press, AP 77 : © Press Information Department/Reuters/ CORBIS 79 : © Reuters/CORBIS 82 : Associated Press, AP 87 : Associated Press, AP 90 : Associated Press, AP 93 : Associated Press, AP

Index Afghanistan Benazir Bhutto and, 47 Great Game and, 25–26 Osama Bin Laden and, 62, 65, 70 Taliban and, 53–54, 60–61, 90–92 war in, 43, 50–51 Aga Khan III, 26 Ahmed, Nadeem, 87 Ahmed, Rashid, 89 aid, foreign, 43, 63, 65–66, 79, 83 Akbar, 21 al Qaeda, 53–54, 59–61, 62–63, 70, 78–79 Alexander the Great, 15, 19 All-India Muslim League, 26, 28, 29, 32 army Benazir Bhutto and, 47 British, 24–25 leadership of, 54–56, 85–86 Nawaz Sharif and, 49 time in, 15–16, 36, 50 Army Welfare Trust (AWT), 85 assassinations, 44, 73, 76–77 Ataturk, Mustapha Kemal, 28–29, 32–33 Awami Party, 37 Ayub Khan, Mohammad, 33–36, 74 Azad Kashmir, 30, 56 Aziz, Shaukat, 83–84 Babur, 21 Balakot, 87–88 Balochistan, 15, 26, 32, 38, 89–93 Bangladesh, 37 Bhutto, Benazir, 44–48, 51–53, 58, 74 Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali, 34, 35, 36, 37–41, 46

Bin Laden, Osama, 52–54, 60–61, 65, 70, 81 blasphemy law, changes to, 59–60 Britain, 13–14, 22–25, 25–30 Buddhism, 19–20 Bush,George H.W., 50 Bush, George W., 62–63, 72–73, 78–79, 81–82 cartoons, protesting and, 92–93 caste system, 19 Cawnpore, 24–25 Chir-Tope Stupa, 19 Chitral, 26 Christianity, 22, 54 Clinton, William J., 51, 53–54, 57 Command and Staff College, 15 Congress-Muslim League Pact, 27 corruption, 39, 47–48, 49, 58, 74–75 cows, 24 cyclones, 36–37 dacoits, 49 Damadola, 89 Delhi Sultanate, 20–21 Devil's Wind, 25 dogs, Muslim faith and, 58 earthquakes, 86–88 East Pakistan, 31 economy, 48–49, 74–75, 83–85 education Benazir Bhutto and, 46 economic problems and, 75 madrasas and, 43, 59–60, 65–66, 78 of Musharraf, 14–15, 50 Syed Ahmad Khan and, 26 in Turkey, 32–33

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elections Aga Mohammad Yahya Khan and, 36–37 Bhutto and, 39–40, 45–46 General Zia and, 41, 43–44 Musharraf and, 58, 69–70, 73–74, 85–86 religious candidates and, 77–78 Sharif and, 48 extremists, religious, 65–69, 76–78, 94

investment, foreign, 84 Iqbal, Muhammad, 27 Ishaq Khan, Ghulam, 45, 46, 47, 49–50 Islam, 20, 41–43, 54, 58. See also Muslims Islamabad, 16–17, 35 Islami Jamhoori Itihad (IJI), 46, 47 Islamic Democratic Alliance, 46, 47 Islamic Jamaat ul-Fuqra, 69

Fauji Foundation, 85 Federal Security Force (FSF), 39, 40, 41 foreign aid, 43, 63, 65–66, 79, 83 Free Kashmir, 30, 56 Frontier Works Organization, 85 Gandhara, 18–19 Gandhi, Mohandas "Mahatma", 27 Gautama, Siddhartha, 19–20 Gilani, Mubarik Ali, 69 Gilgit, 26 Great Game, 25–26 Great Indian Mutiny, 24–25 Hindus, 18–19, 24, 26, 29 Hunza, 26 Hussein, Sarwat, 16–17 Hyderabad, 47 India control of Kashmir and, 30, 35–36, 61, 71–73 formation of Pakistan and, 13–14 nuclear weapons and, 39, 50, 56 Indian National Congress, 26 International Labor Organization, 12–13 Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), 43, 51, 61–62, 65, 71

Jahan, 22 Jaish e-Mohammad, 65–66, 78 Jamaat-e-Islami, 66 Jamali, Zafrullah Khan, 74 Jamat-I-Islami, 59 Jamiat-ul-Islam (JUI), 66 Jamira Darul Uloom Haqqania, 68 jihad, 78 Jinnah, Muhammad Ali, 14, 27–30 Johnson, Lyndon B., 35 Junejo, Muhammad Khan, 44 Kabul, 65 Kakar, Abdul Waheed, 49 Kandahar, 65 Karachi, 14–15, 33, 47, 69, 71 Karamat, Jehjanigir, 54 karma, defined, 18 Karzai, Hamid, 92 Kashmir earthquakes and, 86–87 fundamentalist soldiers and, 70 history of, 23, 30 India and, 35–36, 61, 71–72 Khan, Abdul Qadeer, 80–81, 82 Khan, Genghis, 20–21 Khan, Syed Ahmad, 26 Khyber Pass, 15, 19, 25–26 Koran, 20

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Lahore, 14–15 Lashkar-e-Toiba, 65–66, 78 laws, Sharia Court and, 41–43 Leghari, Farooq, 52–53 Liaquat Ali Khan, 32, 33 Lodhi, Maleeha, 62–63 Lucknow Pact, 27

Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), 23, 51, 66 nuclear weapons, 39, 50, 54–56, 72, 80–81

Madras, 23 madrasas, 43, 59–60, 65–66, 78 Mahal, Mumtaz, 22 Marxism, 7 Mehmood, Ahmed, 62–63, 66 Miran Shah, 92 Mission School, 27 Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM), 49 mohajirs, 12–13, 32, 47, 49 Mohammed, Khalid Sheikh, 78, 79 Mongols, 20–21 Mountbatten, Louis, 29 Mughal Empire, 21–22 Muhammad, 20, 92–93 mujahideen, 43 mullahs, 65 Musharraf, Ayla (daughter), 58–59 Musharraf, Sehba (wife), 12 Musharraf, Zarin (mother), 12–13, 15 Musharraf-ud-Din, Syed (father), 12–13, 14–15, 32 Muslim League, 26, 28, 29, 32 Muslims, 26, 29, 49. See also Islam National Security Council, 85 nationalization, 46 Nawaz, Asif, 49 Nazim system, 74 Nazism, 7 Nehru, Jawaharlal, 29 nepotism, 47–48

Omar, Mullah Mohammad, 53 Operation Gibraltar, 35 Osama Bin Laden, 52–54, 60–61, 65, 70, 81 Pakistan Military Academy, 15, 36 Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-EAzam (PML-Q), 74 Pakistan People's Party (PPP), 36, 45–46 Pakistani General Headquarters, 50 Pantheon Committee, 23 Pashtuns, 66 Pearl, Daniel, 68–69 Pentagon, 62–68 Peshawar, 15 Punjab, 23, 29, 31, 50 punjab, defined, 15 Qasim, Muhammad Bin, 20 Quaid-i-Azam, 14, 27–30 race, determinism and, 7 Rahman, Mujibur, 37 referendums, 69–70 religion. See also Islam Akbar and, 21 Buddhism, 19–20 Christianity, 22, 54 European explorers and, 22 extremists and, 65–69, 76–78, 94 formation of Pakistan and, 13–14 Hinduism, 18–19, 24, 26, 29 Musharraf and, 58–60 violence and, 54, 61 rifles, sepoys and, 24 riots, 33, 38, 47, 51

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Roosevelt, Franklin, 7 Royal College of Defense Studies, 50 Rumsfeld, Donald, 73 Russia, 25–26, 42, 43, 50

groups operating in Pakistan, 70–71 religious extremists and, 65–66 September 11 attacks and, 62–63 tidal waves, 36–37 Tocqueville, Alexis de, 9, 11 Tolstoy, 6–7 torture, 39 Turkey, 14, 32–33

Saudia Arabia, 53–54 schooling. See education scorched-earth policy, 20–21 sepoys, British army and, 24 September 11 attacks, 62–68 Sharia Court, 41–43 Sharif, Nawaz, 16–17, 46–50, 53–56, 58, 74 Shiite Muslims, 49, 58 Siachen Glacier, 56 Sindh, 23, 38, 49, 51 Soviet Union, 25–26, 42, 43, 50 St. Patrick's High School, 33 suicide bombings, 91 Sunni Muslims, 49, 58

United States Afghanistan and, 50 General Zia and, 42, 43 Mohammad Ayub Khan and, 35 Musharraf and, 57–58, 78–80 Osama Bin Laden and, 53–54 Taliban and, 51 Vajpayee, Atal Behari, 61, 71–72, 73 Veda, 19 voting. See elections

Taliban, 51, 53–54, 59–63, 71, 90–92 Tashkent Agreement, 35–36 taxation, 25 Taxila, 20 telecommunication companies, 84 terrorism arresting operatives and, 78–79, 81–82 assassination attempts and, 76–77 attacks on India and, 71–73 continuing war against, 89

War and Peace, 6–7 Waziristan, 81, 91–93 West Pakistan, 31 World Trade Center, 62–68 World War II, 29, 41 Yahya Khan, Aga Mohammad, 36–37, 38 Zardari, Asif Ali, 47 Zawahiri, Ayman al-, 89 Zia-ul-Haq, Muhammad, 39, 40–44

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About the Authors is a writer and corporate trainer with more than 25 years of experience writing young adult nonfiction. He has published more than 50 books in areas such as biography, history, current events, and the criminal justice system. Worth’s book Gangs and Crime was included on the New York Public Library’s Best Books for the Teen Age list. Some of his other books include American Slave Trade, Plantation Life, Africans in America, and Colonial America. richard worth

is the leading American historian of our time. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Age of Jackson (1945) and A Thousand Days (1965), which also won the National Book Award. Professor Schlesinger is the Albert Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities at the City University of New York and has been involved in several other Chelsea House projects, including the series Revolutionary War Leaders, Colonial Leaders, and Your Government. ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR.,

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