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Did Pervez Musharraf really anticipate all this when he decided to return to Islamabad? It is anybody's guess, a question only he can answer. Former army general-turned-dictator-turned-president’s problems have gone from bad to worse. The former military ruler has been placed under house arrest at his home in Islamabad for two days. On August 18, 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into exile in London and Dubai.
On March 24, he returned to Pakistan, saying he planned to contest three court cases and run in upcoming elections. Pakistan will hold parliamentary polls on May 11. This is the first time in the country's history that an elected government has completed its full term.
On March 24, he returned to Pakistan, saying he planned to contest three court cases and run in upcoming elections. Pakistan will hold parliamentary polls on May 11. This is the first time in the country's history that an elected government has completed its full term.
In 2010, he launched the All-Pakistan Muslim League to contest in polls. Though his nomination papers were rejected from Kasur and Karachi constituencies, Musharraf will be contesting from Chitral in north-west Pakistan. Days after he ended his seven year self-imposed exile, he suffered the insult of having a shoe thrown at him in a crowded corridor of a court building in Karachi, narrowly missing him.
Charges
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A) The former president faces charges in a Karachi court that he illegally deposed and detained 62 senior judges during a period of emergency rule he imposed seven years ago.
B) He is also accused of not doing enough to protect the life of Benazir Bhutto, the country's first woman to be elected prime minister of Pakistan. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007, after leaving a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, just two weeks before the general election.
C) In the third case, he is charged with ordering his troops to kill Nawab Akbar Bugti, a popular tribal leader in the volatile province of Balochistan, in 2006.
Downfall
In 2007, Musharraf's popularity began declining, after he suspended Pakistan supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry for "misuse of authority." The attempt resulted in protests and allegations that he was attempting to influence the court's verdict on whether he could seek another five-year term.
Musharraf has said he has been living under threats of death since 9/11, when he supported the US war on terror ism and targeted the Taliban.
Timeline
. 12 October 1999: Deposes PM Nawaz Sharif in coup
. 20 June 2001: Names himself president while remaining head of the army
. 12 January 2002: Launches war against terrorism in Pakistan
. 14 December 2003: Survives first of several assassination plots
. 3 November 2007: Declares state of emergency before judiciary can rule on his re-election as president
. 28 November 2007: Steps down as army chief to become a civilian president
. 18 August 2008: Announces he will resign as president
Key US ally
Musharraf became a strategic partner to the US in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. Former US President George W. Bush built a strong relationship with the general as he launched the US-led war in Afghanistan to oust the country's Taliban rulers.
Musharraf became a favourite target for Islamic hardline groups, notably al-Qaeda and the Taliban, for his alliance to the US. In December 2003, he survived two assassination attempts later found to have been carried out by the Taliban.
Musharraf became a favourite target for Islamic hardline groups, notably al-Qaeda and the Taliban, for his alliance to the US. In December 2003, he survived two assassination attempts later found to have been carried out by the Taliban.
Bloody politics
Liaquat Ali Khan ( 1 Oct 1895 – 16 Oct 1951) was Pakistan’s first prime minister, defence minister and minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir affairs when he was shot dead on October 16, 1951.
Iskander Mirza (13 Nov 1898-12 Nov 1969) was the first president. Mirza was forced to leave the country and General Ayub Khan, the commander-in-chief of the Pakistani Army, declared himself president. This was the first successful coup in the history of Pakistan, bringing to power its first military regime under Ayub Khan. Mirza spent rest of his life in a hotel room in London. He died in November 1969.
Muhammad Ayub Khan (May 14, 1907 – 19 April 1974) was the second President of Pakistan and its first military dictator. General Muhammad Yahya Khan forced him to resign in 1969.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ( 5 January 1928- 4 April 1979) led Pakistan’s first democratically elected government, but was ousted from power in a military coup in 1977. He was hanged two years later by the then military ruler General Zia ul Haq in what is widely seen to have been a controversial death sentence.
Zia ul Haq (12 August 1924 - 17 August 1988) became president in 1978 and he launched a campaign to introduce Islamic law and usher in an Islamic system in Pakistan. In August 1988, General Zia, the US ambassador and top Pakistan army officials die in mysterious air crash.
Nawaz Sharif came to national prominence during the early days of Gen Zia's martial law, serving as Punjab province's finance and then chief minister. He became prime minister in 1990, but was dismissed in 1993, clearing the way for the then opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, to form a government. He ousted in the bloodless 1999 coup was exiled by military ruler, Gen Musharraf, a year later. Sharif flew back to Pakistan in November 2007 to challenge the rule of President Musharraf.
Benazir Bhutto (21 June - 27 December 2007) , twice prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated on 27 December, 2007, while campaigning for parliamentary and provincial elections. She was hailed as one of the Muslim world's first democratically elected female leaders, and, at 35, one of the youngest ever prime ministers.
Stage set for poll battle
Former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, who will not be an aspirant this time, has been entrusted by the Pakistan People's Party to lead the campaign in Punjab. Gilani lost his post as prime minister and was disqualified as an MP on April 26, 2012, following a court ruling.
Cricket legend and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has announced that he will be contesting five national assembly seats from the constituencies NA-1 (Peshawar-II), NA-56 (Rawalpindi-VII), NA-71 (Mianwali-I), NA-122 (Lahore-V), NA-125 (Lahore-VIII).
Pakistan Muslim League-N boss Nawaz Sharif will be contesting from NA-119 Lahore. The PML-N is in power in Punjab province and is the main opposition party. This Lahore heavyweight is also the owner of leading steel conglomerate, Ittefaq Group.
Cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, chief of Pakistan's Awami Tehreek party, who returned from Canada in 2012 and conducted the well-attended "Lahore March" on December 23, 2012, demanding the resignation of the federal government and setting up of an interim regime in consultation with all ‘stakeholders’’ including the military and the judiciary. Qadri however has announced that his party will not participate in the elections and will hold sit-in protests at polling stations.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was flayed by the supreme court for holding a position in the Pakistan People's Party, despite being the country's President, following which he gave up the party position. His son and PPP chairman, the 24-year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cannot contest as the minimum age is 25 years. His campaigns are expected to be limited fearing terrorist attacks.
Several political analysts see Musharraf’s arrest as a positive step and will hail that the letter of the law can be applied to all. But others see his detention as an embarrassment for country’s powerful establishment.
