BACKGROUND
Pervez Musharraf was born on 11 August 1943 in Nahr wali Haveli, situated in Kacha Saad Ullah Mohallah, Daryaganj in Delhi, British India.[10] He is from a family of civil servants. After Musharraf's grandfather, Qazi Mohtashimuddin, retired as the commissioner of undivided Punjab he bought Neharwali Haveli in the old walled city of Delhi where Musharraf was born. The haveli, with its high roofs and arches, is believed to have been the home of a "Wazir" (Minister) in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar — the last Mughal emperor of the 19th century.[11] After partition, Musharraf's family migrated to Pakistan where his father, Syed Musharraf Uddin — a graduate of Aligarh University — joined the Pakistan foreign service and later retired as Secretary of foreign affairs. Musharraf's mother, Zarin, received her master's degree from the University of Lucknow in 1944. She recently retired from the UNO agency in ISB.
He revealed in his memoirs that he was critically injured after falling from a mango tree as a teenager, and he considers this his first direct experience with death.[12]
Musharraf attended Saint Patrick's School, Karachi, graduating in 1958, later attending Forman Christian College in Lahore. He is said to have been good in mathematics during his student days.
Musharraf is married to Sehba, who is from Okara. They have a son, Bilal, who was a graduate student at Stanford University and currently works in Silicon Valley, and a daughter, Ayla Raza, who works as an architect in Karachi.
MILITARY CAREER
Pervez Musharraf
Born August 11, 1943 (1943-08-11) (age 65)
General Musharraf
Service/branch Pakistan Army (PA – 6920)
Years of service 1964 - 2007
Rank General
Unit Corps of Artillery
Commands held 40th Infantry Division (Okara)
DG Military Operations (DGMO)
I Strike Corps (Mangla)
Chief of Army Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Battles/wars Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Siachen conflict
Kargil War
Awards Tamgha-e-Basalat
Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military)
Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military)
In 1961, he entered the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul, graduating 11th in his class. He was commissioned on April 19, 1964 in the Artillery Regiment. Later he joined the Special Services Group and was posted to Field Artillery Regiments. A graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, and the National Defence College, Rawalpindi, Musharraf is also a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies of the United Kingdom. Musharraf revealed in his memoirs that in 1965 he was charged with taking unauthorized leave and was about to be court-martialed for it, but was excused due to the war with India.
Lal Masjid siege
The Musharraf government was forced to act against the Lal Masjid militants, after they formally announced the establishment of a parallel judicial system. The pro-Taliban Lal Masjid administration vowed to enforce Islamic laws in the federal capital and threatened to unleash a wave of suicide bombers if the government took any action to counter it. “Our youth will commit suicide attacks, if the government impedes the enforcement of the Sharia and attacks Lal Masjid and its sister seminaries,” Maulana Abdul Aziz, the in-charge of the mosque said in his Friday sermon.
The standoff between the Pakistani government and the clerics of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad finally broke down on the morning of 8 July 2007, when the official government delegation led by Shujaat Hussain declared that the negotiations with the militants holed up in the mosque have reached an agreement. However, the clerics refused to release the hostages as promised by them in the agreement. Musharraf had given the militants some six months to lay down arms and abide the law of country.
The government managed to recover 1,300 men, women and children during the operation. Some of these women, who were recovered safely on the last day of the operation, had their written death wishes with them.Six hundred suicide bombers are present in Karachi revealed Qasim Toori and Danish alias Talha during interrogations by law-enforcement agencies. Most of the suicide bombers are also former students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid.
Relations with Benazir Bhutto
Also on 8 August 2007, Benazir Bhutto spoke about her secret meeting with Musharraf on 27 July, in an interview on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
On 14 September 2007, Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim stated that Bhutto won't be deported, but must face corruption suits against her. He clarified Sharif's and Bhutto's right to return to Pakistan: "Nawaz Sharif's case was different. He went back to Saudi Arabia because of an undertaking he had with the Saudi government; She (Bhutto) was always allowed to come back." Pakistan People's Party Farhatullah Babar said that Benazir Bhutto will forthwith declare the exact date of her return: "We are announcing the date of the return for Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan at 5:00 p.m. (1200 GMT)" (Makhdoom Amin Fahim will publish it at a news conference in Islamabad." Musharraf faced a rising militant violence, with a suicide bombing killing 15 elite commandos on 13 September.Bhutto declared her return from eight years exile on 18 October. Makhdoom Amin Faheem, vice chair of Pakistan Peoples Party said that "Benazir Bhutto will be landing in Karachi on 18 October."
On 17 September 2007, Bhutto accused Musharraf's allies of pushing Pakistan to crisis by refusal to restore democracy and share power. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stated that officials had agreed to grant Benazir Bhutto amnesty in pending corruptioncharges.
Musharraf called for a three day mourning period after Bhutto's assassination on 27 December 2007
