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MUSHARRAF
Pervez Musharraf Becomes President [June, 2001]
EVENTS
General Pervez Musharraf while he was also Chief Executive
took over the office of the President of Pakistan on June 20, 2001, under the
Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO) by removing Rafiq Tarar before he was
allowed to complete his five-years tenure. With immediate effect he dissolved
the suspended Senate, National and Provincial Assemblies and dismissed the
Chairman of the Senate and the Speaker of the National Assembly. After assuming
the new office as President, General Pervez Musharraf announced, “The change
will augur well for the future of Pakistan”; and said, “I think I have a role
to play; I have a job to do here; I cannot and will not let this nation down”.
He gave three reasons for taking over as the President of Pakistan:
constitutional, political, and economic.
The critical moment in General Musharraf’s presidency was
9/11, when Washington suddenly and direly needed his support the international
antiterrorism campaign and to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan. Thus he became
a pivotal player on the world stage and a close ally welcomed in Washington and
London alike as a statesman of international standing. General Musharraf did
his best to highlight the core issue of Kashmir at every international forum.
In July 2001, he held his first summit meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee at Agra but couldn’t make much headway in solving the Kashmir
problem. Due to his consecutive efforts, however, a lot of tension between the
two neighboring countries with nuclear-armed rivalry has been eased as they
have restored diplomatic relations and started to build up warming ties
mutually by means of confidence building measures. General Musharraf has given
a new formula for solving the protracted dispute of Kashmir. After the Taliban
were ousted, he offered all possible help to the new government.
President General Musharraf kept his word to restore
democracy and hold elections in October 2002 as mandated by the Supreme Court.
He gratified the nation when after general elections, Pakistan’s National
Assembly and Senate in November 2002 met for the first time since the coup
three years earlier. He also relinquished the post of Chief Executive when
Zafaullah Khan Jamali became Prime Minister of Pakistan in November 2002.
President Musharraf, however, continues to hold the offices of Chief of Army
Staff, and Chief of the Staff Committee. The opposition parties refused to
accept Framework Order (LFO) 2002 as it empowered the President to sack the
prime minister, dissolve parliament and also recognize him as both head of the
army and head of the state. According to the opposition the provisions of the
LFO were unconstitutional and illegal, and against the sovereignty of the
Parliament. As a result, the business of parliament remained in deadlock for a
year. In December, 2003 as part of a deal with MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) to
end the stand-off, General Musharraf agreed that he would step down as military
head of the country on December 31, 2004 and also give up some of the powers he
assumed after the coup while on January 1,2004. After getting vote of
confidence from parliament and the four provincial assemblies, President Pervez
Musharraf would now serve full five-year term as President till 2007 under the
constitutional provisions after the seventeenth amendment was passed by a
two-third majority of the Parliament. He secured 658 votes (56.23 per cent)
with simple majority from a total of 1,170 members of parliament and the four
assemblies amid MMA abstention and opposition boycott.
President Musharraf presents to the world vision of a
modern, tolerant, democratic, Islamic Pakistan and favors economic reforms and
free trade with the West. He has also played a vital role in negotiating an
economic package to assist Pakistan out of its problems.
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