The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde and Dr.
Jekyll: General Pervez Musharraf
Jyoti Arya
Introduction
The media material on General Pervez
Musharraf presents extremely conflicting and contradictory
pictures. Reporting from various sources with carefully
inserted biases leads to utter confusion. This article
borrows its title from a phrase used by Brig. (r) S. N.
Sachadeva in his op-ed for the Daily Excelsior [[i]]
and by Arvind Lavakare in his article for Rediff News
Service [[ii]].
It adequately sums up the difficulty in assessing General
Musharraf.
This article attempts to
collate information that has emerged from various sources
about the General and puts together a `composite’. This
technique is routinely used in police work to convert a
description of a suspect from many witnesses into a
photograph. In the process of doing this it has also
become possible to address some specific patterns in the
coverage of General Musharraf so wherever possible a
`composite’ has been built up on these topics.
We
begin the article by discussing General Musharraf’s
childhood and possible influences therein. In the next
section we examine the information available about General
Musharraf’s military and political career. In the
section after that we briefly cover the views held by
various commentators on General Musharraf.
Then we look carefully at `composites’ on the
following commonly seen motifs in writings about General
Musharraf; `Musharraf: AtaPak v/s AtaTurk’, `Musharraf
and the West’, and `Musharraf and the Pan-Islamist
Clique’. Lastly we present our concluding remarks.
In
our approach we are faced with severe limitations on the
amount of information available about contacts between
General Musharraf and the Chinese Government and the North
Korean Government. Thus it is difficult to establish the
exact nature of his impact on ties with these two nations.
These are of importance as these nations have contributed
heavily to making Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and
delivery systems.
Childhood
Chronology
August 11, 1943:
General Musharraf was born at Kucha Saadullah Khan behind
Golcha cinema in Daryaganj, Delhi [[iii],[iv]].
Pervez Musharraf was the second of three brothers born in
an educated Syed family. After the creation of Pakistan
the family chose to settle in Karachi. The journey to
Pakistan was complicated by the fact that Musharraf's
father was asked to transport a large sum of money at the
behest of the Pakistani government [[v]].
Pervez’s father Syed Musharrafuddin [[vi]],
a graduate of
Aligarh University, worked as a cashier in the Directorate General of Civil Supplies in Delhi.
Upon moving to Pakistan, he was absorbed into the Pakistan
Foreign Service. General Musharraf’s mother hailed
from a conservative family but with the support of her
progressive father she was able to get an education. She graduated
from Delhi's Indraprastha College with a Masters in
English literature [[vii]].
1949 - 1956:
Musharraf spent this part of his childhood in Turkey. His
father served in the Pakistani Embassy in Ankara and later
as the Pakistani permanent representative to CENTO. He
also became the chairman of the Turkish-Pakistani
Friendship Association. Pervez Musharraf came to Turkey
when he was seven and spent six years in Turkey.
In
Turkey Pervez Musharraf made some interesting friends
including Ilhan Yigitbasoglu, the head of the Protocol
Department of the Foreign Ministry now serving as Turkish
Ambassador to Helsinki. Pervez (along with his brothers)
also learnt Turkish here under the supervision of a German
tutor [7
]. His grasp of Turkish is reputed to be better
than his grasp of Urdu, the national language of Pakistan.
(It
may be noted at this point that Musharaff-ud-Din retired
in 1974 as a Joint Secretary while his wife (Pervez's
mother) devoted her time between her family and serving
the International Labor Organization. She retired in 1987.
It is said that Musharraf-ud-din (and his wife) took
American citizenship at some point before his death in
1999 [[viii]].
)
1957-1961:
After returning from Ankara, the Musharrafs settled in
Karachi, then capital of Pakistan. Pervez attended Saint
Patrick's High School, Karachi and Forman Christian
College, Lahore. His exact grades in these institutions
are not known, however many reports speak of him having
average grades but an avid interest in sports [7
,[ix]].
Childhood
Influences
It is impossible to say
what exactly influenced General Musharraf as a child but
he repeatedly emphasizes the following:
“ I was strongly
attracted to Kemal Ataturk’s model of leadership. He
transformed Turkey from being the `sick man of Europe’
to being the a very advanced nation”
“When I was a child in Turkey, my father was in the Pakistan embassy.
We had two defence attaches 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.”
The General also seems to remember
events from the times of the Partition with some degree of
clarity. These stories are very common among refugees of
the partition (Mohajirs as they are called in Pakistan).
It is unclear if these are real events or some kind of
meta-narrative that he has latched on to.
Section Summary
The repeated reference to his `Syed’ (the highest
level of the Islamic `caste’ system, comprising families
tracing bloodlines to the Prophet of Islam) roots
indicates that Musharraf is conscious of social strata. It
is clear that General Musharraf is exactly where he craved
to be, i.e. in the Army wielding power beyond the dreams
of most others. The attraction to Kemal Ataturk goes back
some distance. Meta-narrative
or otherwise, the events of the Partition have left their
mark on him.
Service
Record
The
Pakistan army plays a very active role in politics. It is
often impossible to segregate army careers and political
activities in Pakistan. General Musharraf’s career is a
classic case of this, i.e. the extension of a military
position into a political career. It appears that in the
early part of his career Pervez Musharraf was purely a
soldier; where exactly his career entered the political
sphere is impossible to pinpoint. There are some guesses
and these are presented here. We have also attempted to
portray plausible motivations for some of the events and
patterns in his career.
Chronology
1961:
Pervez Musharraf joined the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA)
at Kakul (NWFP). He shifted his permanent residence to
Gujranwala in the Punjab and declared it as his hometown.
Some analysts see this as one more action in a pattern
commonly seen among Mohajirs, i.e. the desire to project a
`changed' status. Some Mohajirs affect virulent anti-India
sentiments in order to gain acceptance in Pakistani
society [
24
].
1961-1964:
Somewhere in this period Musharraf is punished for
indiscipline [[x],[xi]].
April 19, 1964:
Musharraf completed the 29th
PMA Long Course at Kakul and joined the 16th
(SP) Field Artillery Regt as a 2nd Lieutenant.
His PA number is PA-6920 [[xii]].
The 16 (SP) Field Artillery Regiment was commanded by
Lt.Col. Akram Chaudhary and was attached to 1st Armored
Division as the divisional artillery [[xiii]].
It is said that General Musharraf was second (passing out
as Battalion Junior Under Officer) [[xiv]]
in his class (29th PMA) and Lt. General Ali
Quli Khan came first and was therefore the sword of honor
recipient [[xv]].
1965:
The 16 (SP) Artillery saw action in three sectors; Khem
Karan, Lahore and Sialkot. During the 1965 war in the
Chawinda (Sialkot) sector in Punjab at night, Pervez
Musharraf’s battery was bombarded by Indian artillery.
Musharraf, then a Lieutenant however, off-loaded
ammunition from the burning gun before it could explode
and refused to abandon his position. For this he was
decorated with the Imtiyaz-i-Sanad (Mention in the
Dispatches). General Javed Ashraf Kazi (then most probably
a Lieutenant in the Pakistan army), currently
Musharraf’s Federal minister for Communications and
Transport witnessed this event. General Musharraf himself
considers his escaping death here a miracle [[xvi]].
1966: Musharraf
most likely volunteered for a transfer to a formation
known then as the 19th Baluch Regiment. In
those days this formation comprised the core of the
Pakistan Army’s irregular warfare unit, the Special
Services Group (SSG). It is here that he learns how to
parachute; the training was done at Cherat in NWFP. It is
in this period that Musharraf first came into contact with
Americans in the CIA. Among those he probably met here are
Robert Buckley, Chuck Lord, and Robert Dunn [[xvii]].
It is alleged that the Pakistan army patronized
Sheikh Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, a radical Islamist
preacher to setup the `Climbers Club of Pakistan’. Some
of this club’s facilities were used to train SSG people
in mountain climbing [[xviii]].
If this were true then Pervez Musharraf would most
probably have come into contact with Sheikh Gilani at this
time. It is estimated that Pervez Musharraf served in the
SSG for approximately 7 years. It may also be noted that
Shiekh Gilani is seen as a sort of father figure to many
Pakistani terrorists presently active in the Kashmir
region.
1967-68: He was
promoted to Captain and spent time on the East
Pakistan’s border with India. As a Captain he headed the
`Kamal’ Company of the SSG and participated in the
reconnaissance missions aimed at planning offensives
against Indian Lines-of-Communication in the region [[xix]].
On December 28, 1968 he married Sehba. In 1968, he
returned to the Infantry School in Quetta from Chittagong.
At infantry school he caused a serious instance of
insubordination. He argued with a senior officer about the
quality of the food in the presence of troops. This in
turn caused an act of collective indiscipline on part of
the troops. [[xx]]
It is likely that for this he faced disciplinary action.
1971: It is said
that Musharraf served as a Company Commander (Major) in
the 2 Battalion of the SSG. This would be an unusually
fast promotion cycle. It is likely that he served as a
captain, and then was made acting company commander and
subsequently promoted after the war. The activities of the
2nd Battalion SSG in 1971 are not well
profiled, sections relating to its functioning have been
deleted from the Hamoodur Rehman report. It is however
known from the report that the 2nd Battalion
SSG saw action either around Dacca or in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts in the 1971 war [[xxi],
[xxii]].
In this period the SSG had come under severe
criticism for carrying out heinous war crimes. It is
unclear if Musharraf was ever mixed up in any of those.
The selective deletion of the activities of the 2
Battalion SSG is nevertheless curious.
1972-1973: He
finished his second tenure at the SSG. At this point he
was most likely still a Major. Towards the end of his
tenure his unit was deployed in Gilgit. He planned to take
a plane back to Rawalpindi (so as to go on leave) but an
avalanche caused him to postpone his visit. In the
meanwhile the plane he was to travel on crashed and all
lives on board were lost; this General Musharraf considers
his second providential escape from death [16
].
1973-1979:
Musharraf attended the Command and Staff College, Quetta
and the National Defence College. He also held various
intermediate posts like Brigade Major in an infantry
brigade. As a Lt. Colonel Musharraf commanded a Field
Artillery regiment, he also served in the DMO [[xxiii]].
As a Colonel, he commanded two self-propelled Artillery
Regiments.
In
1979 General Zia Ul Haq, the Pakistani Chief Of Armed
Staff, conducted a coup toppling the democratically
elected government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. After the coup
General Zia tried Zulfiqar Bhutto in court and sentenced
him to death. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is hanged on April 4,
1979. By this time Zia proclaimed Martial law in the
country and awarded himself the title of Chief Martial Law
Administrator.
1979-1985:Musharraf
catches the eye of General Zia-ul-Haq (who is also a
Mohajir) and Lt. General Mirza Aslam Beg (also a Mohajir
with family ties to Central Asia and Afghanistan). It is
said that General Zia-ul-Haq chose Musharraf for
advancement as he was a devout Deobandi and was strongly
recommended by other religious parties
like the Jamaat-e-Islami [[xxiv]].
General Zia set up a series of martial law
administration offices in the various sub-units of
Pakistan. Musharraf served in a District Martial Law
Administration HQ.
Musharraf
became closely involved in the job of preparing the `Mujaheddin'
for the Anti-Soviet Jihad in Afghanistan. In this effort
he worked closely with Mahmud Ali Durrani, Mohammed Aziz
Khan, and officers of the CIA. At the Pakistani end the
process involved identifying madrassahs for
indoctrination, military training, and planning the
logistics of the covert war. It is in this period that the
Binori Madrassa (Karachi), the Darul Uloom Haqqania (Akora
Khattak), and the Jamiya Ashrafiya (Lahore) began their
meteoric rise. It is during this time that Musharraf came
into contact with the Harakat ul Mujaheedin (HuM). The HuM
developed as nodal body in the Afghan Jihad. There are
also reports of contact with narcotics smugglers. [
24
]
It is also suggested that Musharraf secretly
attended at least one course at the Green Berets training
school at Fort Bragg. Accounts indicate Musharraf's
performance in these courses was above average. Some
regarded him as a `natural' in the field of Psywar
techniques [
10
,[xxv]].
This
activity most probably marked him out for a promotion,
upon receiving which he served as Deputy Director Military
Operations. He also served on the directing staff of NDC
in this period. The Directorate of Military Operations (DMO)
carries out the physical work of coordinating the various
operations conducted by the Pakistan Army and the
Directing Staff decide how best to train future
generations of officers to deal with military situations.
In some sense these two postings comprise the very core of
the Pakistan Army’s operational philosophy.
1985-1987: He
was most likely given command of the 323 Infantry Brigade
at Dansam in the Northern Areas. Here under General Zia's
encouragement he built up a `Special Snow Warfare Force’
at Khapalu and launched an attack on the Indian position
at Bilafond Pass. The attack captured two intermediate
posts but the Indian army retained the pass. General Zia
was satisfied and rewarded Musharraf [24
]. This action made him the Pakistan Army’s top
mountain warfare expert.
Subsequently however the Indian Army dispatched its own
mountain warfare giant (a recipient of the USI medal for
reconnaissance) Brigadier Chandan S. Nugyal. Under Brig. Nugyal’s direction and with a display of
stunning bravery by Subedar Bana Singh, the men of the 8th
Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (102 Infantry Brigade) of
the Indian Army retook the positions at `Qaid Peak’ and
thus once again dominated the Bilafond pass.
The
Pakistanis never reconciled themselves to the loss of `Qaid
Peak’ and the Pakistani Government does not publicly
admit to its loss. Visiting dignitaries are often shown
the peak and told that it is a Pakistani held position [[xxvi]].
May 1988: Using
an SSG unit and some `spare Jihadis’ General Musharraf
suppressed the Shi’ite revolt that demanded an
independent `Karakoram State’. It is alleged that
Musharraf transported a large number of Wahhabi Pashtun
tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan, commanded by
Osama Bin Laden, to Gilgit to teach the Shi’ites a
lesson [[xxvii]].
Musharraf
then started the policy of bringing in Punjabis and
Pashtuns from outside and settling them in Gilgit and
Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shi’ites to a
minority in their traditional land and this policy
continues to this day.
During
these operations in the Siachen area and in the Northern
Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan), Musharraf developed a close
personal friendship with Lt.General Javed Nasir, who was
then Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
He currently serves as Musharraf’s Advisor on
intelligence matters. Musharraf also befriended Major
General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi (then a Brigadier). Major
General Abbasi was later arrested and jailed during
Benazir Bhutto's time for conspiring to overthrow her and
establish an Islamic state. Musharraf also build strong
ties to Lt.General Mohammed Aziz Khan and Mohammed Rafique
Tarar. It is interesting to note that eventually Lt.
General Mohammed Aziz and President Tarar helped Musharraf
conduct and `legalize’ his coup against the Nawaz Sharif
government. President Tarar however was later `retired’
from post of the President of Pakistan.
In
1988, Musharraf worked with an institutional policy that
encouraged Anti-Shi’ite outfits like the Sipaha Saheba
Pakistan (SSP) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) in an
effort to keep Shi’ites down. This error of judgment
proved costly in the future as sectarian violence spiraled
uncontrollably in Pakistan.
He
was up for selection to the post of Military Secretary to
then Military Dictator General Zia ul Haq. However he is
not selected for the post. Oddly enough a few weeks later
the man selected in his place perished in the C-130 crash
that also killed General Zia. This according to General
Musharraf is his third great escape [16
].
1989-1990: He most
likely commanded the divisional artillery at Bhawalpur
attached to the 1st Armoured Division at Multan.
He held several staff postings, which include
Deputy Military Secretary at the Military Secretary's
Branch, member of the War Wing of the National Defence
College.
In
1989, he most likely gave an interview to an American
scholar (Robert Wirsing) on sojourn in Pakistan, where he
said
" It
would be insane to attack India via the Siachin, it would
make more sense to attack at a more southern point closer
to their lines of communication.” [[xxviii]]
Some analysts feel it is
in this period that Musharraf and his friend Mohammed Aziz
first conceived the Kargil invasion.
1990-1991: Musharraf
attended a course at the Royal College of Defence Studies
(RCDS), in the United Kingdom. His course-mates General(r)
Ashok Mehta and Major Gen (r) B.S. Malik recall him as a
`sophisticated’, `pleasant’
and `affable’ man. Further they say that he was an
`an extrovert’, and `not Islamic or
fundamentalist’ [[xxix]].
At RCDS he studied for a year and befriended Colonel (now
Lt. General) Ethem Erdagi of the Turkish Army [[xxx]].
He also chose a research project titled “ Impact
of the Arms Race in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent”.
In his coursework he
performed well, and earned the following remark on his
report from then Commandant, General Sir Anthony Walker [[xxxi]]
"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".
Brigadier Musharraf left
RCDS with a Masters Degree.
1991-1993: Upon
his return to Pakistan, He was promoted to Major General
and given the command of the 40 Infantry Division at Okara
(Punjab) on 15th Jan 1991. At this point the Afghan war
was drawing to a close. There was a glut of `Mujaheddin’
in Pakistan. At the same time a series of operations by
Indian security forces in Kashmir have driven the
insurgency of 1989 on to the back foot. It is at this time
that the Pakistan army made a decision to move the
out-of-work afghan war veterans into the Kashmir Jihad.
There was also severe infighting among the Mujaheddin
factions and soon Pakistan’s Afghan policy became
unworkable.
1993-1995:
He served as Director General Military Operations (DGMO)
at the General Headquarters. Here he aided Naseerullah
Babar in the conduct of the Taliban Operation. He also
conducted two crucial GHQ-level exercises; "Exercise
Tri Star", which was aimed at exposing senior service
officers and select civilians to the planning and
execution of joint military operations, and "Exercise
Zarb-e-Mujahid-II", which was evolved to test the
concept of establishing a Field Army HQ and work out
modalities for moving a number of division-size formations
to their operational locations [[xxxii]].
He
also persuaded his superiors to withdraw troops from an
internal security operation (most likely Operation Blue
Fox or some corollary to it) in the Sindh province. Some
have attributed this in part to his ability to reach an
`understanding’ with the target of the operations, Shri.
Altaf Hussain, the head of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The MQM is an organization representing the interests of
partition refugees i.e. people of Musharraf’s family
background.
1995-1998: On
October 21, 1995 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and
made CC-I Corps Mangla and possible moved later as the
CC-II Corps in Multan. Whenever General Jehangir Karamat
traveled abroad, General Musharraf was acting COAS.
By
1997 Nawaz Sharif returned as the Prime
Minister of Pakistan. This period saw Musharraf jockeying
for political patronage from Nawaz Sharif. As Corps
Commander Mangla, General Musharraf claims he had another
brush with death as he turned down an offer to take a
helicopter ride from Mangla to Rawalpindi that eventually
crashed killing the crew and passengers [16
].
May 1998: The
Pakistan government conducts its nuclear tests at Chagai
in Baluchistan. Very little information is available about
General Musharraf’s involvement in this process. All in
all little information is available about General
Musharraf’s connections to the Pakistani nuclear
program. It seems plausible he came to know of the program
during his postings to the Directorate of Military
Operations (DMO) and that being an artillery officer he
was probably indoctrinated into the raising of the
Pakistan Army’s nuclear armed `2nd Artillery
Division’ in 1989. However as a corps commander in 1998
he would most definitely have been part of the nuclear
decision making chain, and the 1998 tests would not have
been possible without his approval.
After
the nuclear tests, the US slapped sanctions on both
Pakistan and India. The sanctions weakened the Pakistani
economy. This added to the strain between Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif and his COAS General Jehangir
Karamat. Talk of a military coup wafted through the air.
October 7, 1998:
In a deft political move, General Karamat was retired and
Musharraf was promoted to General and appointed Chief of
Army Staff by PM Nawaz Sharif. It is alleged that Nawaz
Sharif carried out this appointment on the recommendation
of his father Mohammed Sharif, President Rafique Tarar,
and Lt. General (r) Javed Nasir [[xxxiii]].
All three of these gentlemen are part of the Tabhlighi
Jamaat, a Sunni revivalist order that is quite popular
among the officers of the Pakistani Army.
The
appointment was unexpected in most quarters. His course
mate from the 29th PMA, Lt. General Ali Quli
Khan then Chief General Staff was widely regarded to be
the 1st in line for COAS. General Quli Khan
felt slighted by the PM and soon resigned from the army.
Lt. General Khalid Nawaz, another senior commander
regarded by external observers as being second in line for
the COAS also resigned. At the same time that General
Musharraf was promoted, another PA officer Lt. General
Khwaja Ziauddin (an engineering corps officer) was made
the Chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)
organization, General Ziauddin replaced Lt. General Nasim
Rana, who was made Master General Ordinance. General
Musharraf viewed this development dimly.
Upon
becoming COAS Musharraf quickly promoted his friend from
the Siachen days, Major General Mohammed Aziz (then
serving as the DDG of the Afghan Bureau in the ISI) to Lt.
General. He also subsequently moved General Aziz to the
post of Chief General Staff. This choice stuck out because
General Aziz until then had never commanded a corps
formation, this is a pre-requisite for being CGS. As CGS
General Aziz had oversight of the DG Military Intelligence
and in very sly move, General Musharraf transfered the
Afghan Bureau out of the ISI and into the DGMI. [[xxxiv]]
Soon afterwards it is believed that General Musharraf
initiated covert military operations across the Line of
Control in Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir. This was
code named `Operation Badr’ and it utilized the same
subterfuge commonly seen in other SSG operations.
It
is said that General Musharraf got his appointment because
he successfully convinced Nawaz Sharif that he (Musharraf)
strongly supported civilian rule.
As time passes on however the relationship between
General Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif soured, and as a sign
of this, Lt. General Khwaja Ziauddin (DG-ISI and reputed
to be connected to Nawaz Sharif’s political party the
Pakistan Muslim League) was not invited to attend the
Corps Commanders conference.
February 21, 1999:
The Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed the
Lahore Declaration with the Indian Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee. The declaration commited both sides to [[xxxv]]:
- Intensify
their efforts to resolve all issues, including the
issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Refrain
from intervention and interference in each other's
internal affairs.
- Intensify
their composite and integrated dialogue process for an
early and positive outcome of the agreed bilateral
agenda.
- Take
immediate steps for reducing the risk of accidental or
unauthorized use of nuclear weapons and discuss
concepts and doctrines with a view to elaborating
measures for confidence building in the nuclear and
conventional fields, aimed at prevention of conflict.
- Reaffirm
their commitment to the goals and objectives of SAARC
and to concert their efforts towards the realization
of the SAARC vision for the year 2000 and beyond with
a view to promoting the welfare of the peoples of
South Asia and to improve their quality of life
through accelerated economic growth, social progress
and cultural development.
- Reaffirm
their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations and their determination to combat this
menace.
- Promote
and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
At this point PM Vajpayee made a historic
bus ride to sign the declaration. General Musharraf kept
away from Lahore sending a strong message that the
Pakistani army does not approve of the agreement. It is
only later that the world learned that all this while
General Musharraf was a busy slipping Pakistani irregulars
and soldiers across the LoC in Kargil.
April 1999: The Pakistani troops from the SSG in mufti, paramilitary troops from
the Northern Light Infantry and irregulars from Islamist
groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba had seized control of
heights overlooking the National Highway-1A in the Kargil
sector. This placed them in a position to interdict
India’s lines of communication and supply to its side of
the battlefield on the Siachen glacier. This glacier was
the site of Musharraf’s earlier failure. Together he and
his old friend from the SSG, Lt. General Mohammed Aziz
were now determined to set things straight.
However before
the logistics needed to support this deployment could be
completed, the Indian army discovered the intrusions by
pure chance. This discovery pushed the Indian Army into
making more reconnaissance patrols and one such patrol
under the leadership of a young 2nd Lt. Saurabh
Kalia (4 Jat Regt.) in Kaksar sub-sector made contact with
the Pakistani troops.
Lt. Kalia and his men were captured alive and in a
manner reminiscent of the war of 1971, they were tortured
and killed by the Pakistani soldiers and irregulars.
June-September 1999: In this period the Pakistani government repeatedly
made attempts to make it appear to the international press
that the intrusions were really the work of `indigenous
Kashmiris’. This media stunt failed.
The Indian Army
slowly gained the upper hand in the ground war in the
Kargil Sector. The IAF dominated the skies and interdicted
supply lines to the Pakistani posts. This put the
irregulars in a bad tactical position. The Pakistani Prime
Minister flew to Washington DC to gain American support
after his nuclear threats failed to stop an Indian
mobilization along the international border. In Washington
PM Nawaz Sharif faced a very hostile President Clinton and
had to hastily order a withdrawal from the positions held
by the Pakistan Army soldiers and irregulars.
Pervez
Musharraf was forced to recall his soldiers and the
paramilitaries that went with them. This was a body blow.
His image among the Islamists took a major beating. There
were some incidents of indiscipline as Musharraf carefully
brought the troops down from the Kargil heights.
Most political
observers at this point remarked that the days of Nawaz
Sharif were numbered. The Kargil War in India left bitter
memories of a peace process betrayed. This marked General
Musharraf in the eyes of most Indian policymakers as man
unworthy of trust.
October 1999:
Nawaz Sharif was well aware of the pressures building
within the government. He attempted to curb the growing
power of the generals and made swift changes to the top
echelons. The changes were not well received and when
Nawaz Sharif `sacked’ General Musharraf, and tried to
insert his choice DG-ISI Lt. General Khwaja Ziauddin as
the COAS, the inevitable coup was set in motion. General
Musharraf was Colombo, Sri Lanka attending a military
function. News of the changes reached him there. He rushed
back to Pakistan on a PIA flight.
In
Pakistan meanwhile the Corps Commanders revolted against
the Prime Minister and on October 12, 1999 Musharraf was
`brought’ to power by a coup orchestrated by his
subordinates Muzzaffar Usmani, Aziz, and Mehmood Ahmed.
Brig. General Salahuddin Satti (CO 111 Bde), a
former Brigade Major from Musharraf’s Siachin days,
assisted the plotters in their task. General took on the role
of 'Chief Executive' of Pakistan on 12th Oct. and
continued to hold the office of Chief of Army Staff (COAS)
and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC).
One
of his first acts as CE was to set Major General Zaheer Ul
Islam Abbasi free. General Abbasi then went on to form an
organization called Hizbullah, which solicited support
from serving and former army officers to set up an Islamic
state in Pakistan. Musharraf also brought back former
Director General-ISI, Lt. General Rana as Military
Secretary. Apart
from this he dressed his `coup’ as a `counter-coup’,
even going to the extent of accusing the elected Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif of having attempted to hijack the
airplane that he (General Musharraf) was traveling in.
This was carefully declared a `terrorist act’ under
Pakistani law by his own ordinance, and then applied
retroactively to cover the case of Nawaz Sharif [[xxxvi]].
To top it all off, General Musharraf claimed that this is
the fifth time he has escaped death [16
].
Among
other things a USG sponsored initiative to get Osama Bin
Laden using a specially trained squad, which was in the
works with the approval of the Nawaz Sharif govt. was
cancelled by General Musharraf [[xxxvii]].
General
Musharraf also appointed his cabinet. Here he used a mix
of former military officers he was comfortable with like
his friend, the former Governor of Sindh, Lt. General (r)
Moinuddin Haider, and people with contacts to media and
foreign businesses like Shaukat Aziz (his finance
minister). His
internal style of functioning with its neurotic reliance
on `Army Monitoring Teams’ to monitor the working of
bureaucrats alienated the Civil Service of Pakistan.
Matters were made more complicated by his insistence on a
change in the equivalence scheme for postings in the civil
service and military service. He routinely posted junior
officers into position earmarked for higher-ranking
civilian officers.
2000:
Musharraf worked feverishly to build up Pakistan’s image
among international lender agencies and to rebuild ties
with the United States. He shuffled his top commanders in
order to keep up appearances, moving Lt. General Aziz Khan
from CGS to CC-IV Corps (Lahore). He also rewarded his
loyalists with plum postings. He revamped the `Ehtesab
Cell', making it into the `National Accountability Bureau'
and initiated a campaign of loan and unpaid tax recovery.
The `accountability’ process was accused of going easy
on former military officers and pressure mounted on
General Musharraf from political classes who were
specifically targeted by the process.
This
situation however took an interesting turn. So as to
render credibility to the process in the eyes of the
international community General Musharraf ordered the
publication of the results of investigation into the
wealth amassed by some former generals. Ultimately the
list of the `Robber Billionaires’ of Pakistan reads like
a page out of an old Pakistani army telephone book from
the Afghan war days with former COAS General Aslam Beg and
the former Corps Commander XI Corps, Lt. General Fazle Haq
in Peshawar at the top [[xxxviii]].
Despite this his relations with politicians deteriorate.
Musharraf
set up a secret task force in the ISI headed by Lt.General
Mahmood Ahmed, the DG, and consisting of
Lt.General (r) Moinuddin Haider, Interior Minister, and
Lt.General Muzaffar Usmani, Deputy Chief of the Army
Staff, to break the PPP, the MQM and the Sindhi
nationalists.
In
August 2000, Musharraf through track-II channels in the
Kashmiri American community he initially promoted and then
betrayed a ceasefire involving the Hizbul Mujaheddin (HM:
the military wing of the Jamaat-I-Islami-J&K). A big
byproduct of this `Hizb-ceasefire' drama was that
Musharraf succeeded in finessing Syed Salahuddin's (Head
of the Hizbul Mujaheddin) cards in the `Kashmir Great
Game'. With the failure of the ceasefire, Salahuddin’s
position in the UJC (United Jihad Council) was greatly
weakened and HM cadres were left dealing directly with
their Pakistani handlers [[xxxix]].
Late 2000 - Early
2001: He utilized
the track-II channels developed by Shirin Taher Kheli,
Major General(r) Mahmud Ali Durrani (the so called BALUSA
group) and his brother Naved Musharraf to set in motion
the `Agra Peace Summit'. He deputed Major General
Ehsan-ul-Haq, DGMI to head up a special cell at GHQ
Rawalpindi that prepared the ground for this. His COS
(Late) Lt. General Ghulam Ahmed coordinated the effort
from CE secretariat. Others including Abbas Sarfaraz Khan
(Min. SAFRON) and Shaukat Aziz (Min. Fin.) are also
involved.
On
the cards at the summit is a proposal to install
surveillance equipment on the LoC with a scheme for
cooperative monitoring. This oddly enough appears very
similar to an American proposal that first made its
appearance during Dr. Robert M. Gates’ (Dy. NSA to
President George W. Bush) visit to the region in 1991.
Robert M. Gates was in the CIA during the Afghan War and
later went to head the CIA.
General
Musharraf used the opportunity to rebuild ties to the
Pakistani political spectrum and met with elements of the
POK political milieu.
June 20, 2001:
He used this consensus to his advantage and eased
out President Rafique Mohammed Tarar. He appointed himself
President of Pakistan, but publicly restates his
commitment to return Pakistan to `true’ democracy.
July 9, 2001:
A car driven by Mr. Abdul Hafeez tried to drive into
Musharraf's convoy. The car damaged either the pursuit car
or the pilot car and Musharraf somehow escaped unhurt.
What is interesting however is the absence of the any
public remarks about having `escaped death’ for the
sixth time.
July 15, 2001:
The summit ran into difficulties but Musharraf used the
assembled Indian media to launch a `Pyswar' attack on
India. In the public eye, the summit is a failure, but it
is also reported that Musharraf's delegation handed over a
list of active Hizbul Mujaheddin `officers' to the Indian
side. At least one member of this list was killed in an
exchange of fire with Indian security forces in the next
month.
July 30, 2001:
He retired VCGS Major General Mohammad Anwar Khan and
appointed him as President POK. This process marginalizes
Sardar Abdul Qayyum, a veteran Kashmiri leader who
supported the Hizbul Mujaheddin Ceasefire.
September 19, 2001:
General Musharraf publicly announced a shift in the
Pakistani policy. He ditched the Taliban and joined the
American led coalition against `Al Qaeeda’ Terror. Soon
after he dispatched his DG-ISI Lt. General Mahmood Ahmed
to deliver an ultimatum to the Taliban. General Ahmed
failed in his mission. Soon the US went into a shooting
war with the Taliban. General Musharraf in exchange for
debt rescheduling, and other massive cash infusions into
Pakistan offered the US access to the bases it needs for
the anti-Taliban operations. He justified this as being a
strategic decision aimed at preserving the `national
interest’ and informed the international press that
opposition to his decision amounts to a small fraction of
the population. Other observers however admit the General
was basically threatened with annihilation by American
negotiators.
In
this period he orders an exfiltration of all serving
Pakistan Army personnel in Taliban held territory. A vast
number of officers including several brigadiers, some
Major Generals and one Lt. General returned to Pakistan
via land and air routes.
October 7, 2001:
The Pentagon completed its war planning and soon the air
campaign against Taliban targets in Afghanistan was due to
begin. At this time a lot of information had also surfaced
about links between the ISI and the September 11 suicide
bombers [[xl]].
General Musharraf `sacked’ his DG ISI Lt. General
Mahmood Ahmed, and his Dy. COAS Lt. General Muzzaffar
Usmani (formerly Corps Commander V Corps-Karachi). He
appointed Ehsan-ul-Haq (now promoted to Lt. Gen) as the
DG-ISI. These actions found favor in the west.
October 9, 2001:
He promoted his juniors Lt. General Mohammed Aziz and Lt.
General Begami Mohammed Yousaf Khan to full generals made
them Chairman JCSC and Vice COAS respectively. He also
quickly shuffled his corps commanders around and replaced
people in the XII Corps in Quetta and the XI Corps in
Peshawar.
In this month he also
made Lt. General Khalid Maqbool the governor of Punjab and
moved Lt. General Jamshed Gulzar, (the man who as Force
Commander Northern Areas, helped him launch the Kargil
operation) to the post of Adjutant General. This set the
ground for large-scale promotions deeper within the army.
(More actions beyond
November 2001 not covered).
Decorations
[[xli],[xlii]]
Ribbon
of General Musharraf: Photo source: www.yahoo.com
First
Row: Nishan-I-Imtiaz
(Military), Hilal-I-Imtiaz, Taghma-I-Basalat 1st
Class, 1965
War Star (Istar-I-Harb 1385)
Second
Row: 1971
War Star (Istar-I-Harb 1391), 1965 War Medal (Taghma-I-Jang
1385), 1971 War Medal (Taghma-I-Jang 1391),
Imitiazi-Sanad(?).
Third
Row:
10 years Service Medal, 20 years Service Medal 30 Years
Service Medal, 100th Anniversary of Quaid–i-Azam(Taghma-I-Sad
Saala Jashan-I-Wiladat Quaid-I-Azam)
Fourth
Row: Hijri
Medal, Jamhuriat Medal, Golden Jubilee Medal of the
Pakistan Revolution, Pakistan Independence Day-Golden
Jubilee Medal.
Section Summary
General
Musharraf’s career in the Pakistan Army was fairly
spectacular. He has consistently displayed an ability to
function within the highly politicized Pakistani Army and
utilize it to carry out aggressive tactical operations.
All in all he seems well outfitted for a political life in
Pakistan.
Throughout
his career he has also displayed his ability to handle
unconventional techniques of warfare. His tenure with the
SSG, with the Afghan-Jihad and the 323 Brigade at Siachen,
speaks volumes about this. His performance at the RCDS
course especially the media-handling segment also in some
way alludes to this.
How
precisely he overcame the adverse remarks from two sets of
disciplinary proceedings is unclear but General Musharraf
has very close ties to the Pan-Islamists in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. He has on several occasions made common cause
with them and achieved personal advancement.
Comments on General
Musharraf from various sources
1) Govt.
of Pakistan:
“He
remains a devoted family man and a loving father to their
two children Ayla and Bilal, both happily married. They
have a granddaughter, Mariam from Ayla. A natural
sportsman, who has always loved the outdoors and spends
most of his leisure time playing Squash, Badminton or
Golf. The General also takes keen interest in water
sports, is a enthusiastic canoeist and loves to sail. An
avid reader he is well versed in Military History, being
his favorite subject.”
2) Profile
given to General V.P. Malik when Musharraf was
appointed COAS:
“The
personality sketch described Musharraf, writes General
Malik, as "aggressive", "ambitious"
with a tendency to "play to the gallery" and
"to constantly prove himself." Immediately on
taking over as COAS Musharraf carried out a major
reshuffle, signs of a man who was "purposeful"
and "impatient.”
3) The
Kargil Review Committee:
"He
(Musharraf) is also seen to be aggressive and ambitious
and is considered to be one of the most experienced
experts in mountain warfare in the Pakistan army."
4) Vijay
Mohan quoting an intelligence assessment:
“Behind
the name is a personality known to be a
professionally-bred, morally upright soldier with strong
links with fundamentalists, who, at times, can be rash and
dangerous… a well-trained officer with a wide-ranging
mind…. hard working and appears to be thoughtful and
shrewd in assessing future developments. To the outside
world, General Musharraf’s expression appears stern and
his manner often abrupt. He is hot headed and considered
to be unpopular among his subordinates, says one
intelligence report. The report adds that he can be rash
and dangerous if he feels that a situation is going out of
his control. He does not mix freely with officers, but
prefers to interact with JCOs and other ranks… a strong
personality, who came to be known for his capability for
taking definite decisions as well as tremendous drive and
tenacity…. His meteoric rise in the Pakistani army is
attributed to his professional competence and his being a
Mohajir. Stockily built and of medium height with a good
soldierly bearing, the General is said to be keen on
squash, golf and shikar. Reports say that he likes drinks,
but is not over-indulgent. He is also fond of ghazals. His
wife Saheba is well educated and holds modern views on
world affairs. They have a son, Bilal, and a daughter. The
family lifestyle is not known to be extravagant.”[xii]
5) Sunday
Observer 1999:
“An
avowed admirer of Kamal Ataturk of Turkey, the General has
shown that he can act decisively in a crisis. The
cigarette-smoking, pistol-toting image of the General that
flashed across television screens initially is now
contending with the Army Chief as a family man- with his
wife, his granddaughter - at home. General Musharraf is no
visionary. He is a hard-boiled soldier, who is aware of
the damage Mr. Sharif and his associates were causing to
the body politic. The Army Chief stood up to the civilian
Prime Minister and sent him packing.” [[xliii]]
6) B Raman
“The
interviews and speeches of General Musharraf since
October, 1998, show his thinking to be as follows:
·
The
acquisition of Kashmir by Pakistan can wait. What is more
important is to keep the Indian army bleeding in Kashmir
just as the Afghan Mujahideen kept the Soviet troops
bleeding in Afghanistan.
·
Even
if the Kashmir issue is resolved, there cannot be normal
relations between India and Pakistan because Pakistan, by
frustrating India's ambition of emerging as a major Asian
power on par with China and Japan, would continue to be a
thorn on India's flesh. And, so long as it does so,
Pakistan would continue to enjoy the backing of China and
Japan.
Quoting
a retired US Army officer:
“"Musharraf
is intelligent, but Zia-ul-Haq was astute".
When
I asked him to explain, he replied: "Astuteness is
the ability to apply intelligence in practice. If one took
Zia and Musharraf to a cliff and asked them to jump down,
Zia would have asked: "Why the hell should I?"
But, Musharraf would have jumped, broken his bones and
then only asked himself: "Why the hell did I?" [[xliv]]
“General Pervez Musharraf by all accounts is all
of the following:
* A plodder.
* A good listener.
* Very loyal to subordinates who are loyal to him.
* Encourages subordinates to speak out their mind freely
& frankly.
* While continuing the ban on public political meetings
& processions, have allowed his critics to let out
steam through the media.
* Corporate style of decision-making. All important
decisions taken in consultation with Corps Commanders.
* Poor in analysis & judgement. A typical commando--
brave, unyielding and unrelenting towards perceived
adversaries and ready to be devious for achieving his
objective. “ [[xlv]]
7) Asra
Q. Nomani
“In this highly polarized country where immigrants
from India have formed a political party to demand more
immigrant (mohajir) rights, it's a coup of sorts for this
group that Musharraf, himself a Mohajir, has risen to
power. Even his wife, Sehba, is nothing like a mullah's
wife. Unlike Bhutto, she doesn't feel the need to drape a
dupatta over her head, wearing it over her shoulders
instead in elegant outfits. She is considered loyal and
devoted -- and the woman behind this man's success. Even
bolder, he's known to prefer Johnny Walker Black Label
scotch.”
“By all accounts, the Musharrafs lived a modest
life, not filled with fancy upholstered sofas. At one
time, according to a family friend, their furniture
included a simple padded low wooden platform with a red
fabric over it and big pillows upon which to rest. Their
furniture often had "MES" printed on the back,
standing for government-issued stock from the Military
Engineering Services. His eldest daughter, Ayla, pursued
an unconventional field in Pakistan for women --
architecture -- going to National College of Art in
Lahore. There, she was courted by a man she eventually wed
in a "love" marriage, as opposed to an arranged
one, also not the norm in this culture. Even more
surprising: The Musharrafs are Sunnis, and their daughter
married a Shiite. By accepting the marriage, they also
transcended many of the hangups of families who don't
allow their children to marry out of their specific group.
“[[xlvi]]
8) Ahmed Rashid (who declined an offer to join
Musharraf’s foreign policy adviser)
“He’s a liberal, he’s a secular man, and he grew up
in Karachi, which is our most cosmopolitan city,” [46
]
9)
Mark Corcoran
“He
is keen to portray himself as a liberal with western
sensibilities, reassuring Washington and London that this
nuclear power is in safe pro-western hands. He is known to
enjoy the occasional drink (behind closed doors so as not
to offend Muslim sensibilities), a night on the town, and
a game of squash. ”[[xlvii]]
Section
Summary
Apart from the General’s family life, which is
portrayed to be the epitome of bliss and his love for
sports, three basic characteristics stand out to most
observers, these are:
a)
An impulsive, somewhat rash nature, given to use of rough
language, and quick decisions. Some analysts suggest that
this is related to his Special Forces tenure.
b)
A strong emphasis on maintaining appearances, so as not offend
others in an Islamic Country. This includes drinking
privately etc…
c)
An apparently liberal and frugal (by Pakistani standards)
personal life.
Other
attributes that appear are an interest in `playacting’
and `putting on a show’. Those who have seen the General
on TV should concur with these views.
Next
we discuss three other issues that this `composite’
throws some light on.
Musharraf: `AtaPak’
v/s `Ataturk
General Musharraf makes frequent comments about his
affinity for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, “Father of the
Turks”. Here are some of these for easy reference.
To
Turkish Journalists after visiting Kemal’s mausoleum:
“ As
a model, Kemal Ataturk [the founder of modern Turkey] did
a great deal for Turkey. I have his biography. We will see
what I can do for Pakistan.''[[xlviii]]
To Bharat Bhushan at an interview in COAS’s house in
Rawalpindi:
“He did
not influence my thoughts as such but I always respect him
for what he did for Turkey. And since I am a soldier I
read about him and about his campaigns to create this
modern Turkey from the Sick Man of Europe. I am impressed
especially by the campaign in Gallipoli where he, along
with three hundred thousand Turks, opposed the allies. I
respect him for both his military and political
achievements in Turkey.”[
5
]
As most observers know however,
that the key to being `Ataturk’ is to push hard for a
transition from a theocratic state to a secular state. On
that matter however General Musharraf’s utterances are
more enlightening. In response to a question from the MEI:
[[xlix]]
“Are you interested in seeing Pakistan in the model of a secular Islamic
state along the lines of Turkey?”
General Musharraf replies:
“ No, not
at all. This is not a secular state. As I said, our
forefathers, the founders of Pakistan, created Pakistan as
an Islamic republic. So this is not a secular state, as
opposed to Turkey. Certainly not. And I am not going to
change that at all. When I praised Ataturk, it was for
what he did for Turkey - he converted the "Sick Man
of Europe" into modern Turkey. We cannot follow
exactly what he did for Turkey here in Pakistan. Pakistan
has its own environment. Therefore, we need to do
something indigenous for Pakistan, and that is what we are
doing. But I respect and admire Ataturk for what he did
for Turkey.”
As Kemal Ataturk’s methods left
an enduring memory in the minds of impressionable
Islamists of Pakistan, in an interview to Newsline,
General Musharraf clarified his position on Kemal Ataturk
[[l]]:
"Yes, I admire him. Now everyone thinks I am
going to follow everything that he did. Obviously not, He
did something in Turkey in a different environment. My
role model is really the Quaid-e-Azam (Jinnah)."
Section Summary
Students of history in the Indian
subcontinent probably do not find anything `new’ about
General Musharraf’s love for all things Turkish. This
falls well within a centuries old pattern common to Pan-Islamist
leaders in the region. However a certain section of the
western media, western public policy circles and some
Pakistanis seem to have fallen for this [[li],[lii]].
The entire `AtaPak’ - `Ataturk’ symbolism rests
on very carefully made public statements. To General
Musharraf this may have a more direct meaning, one that
perhaps dates back to something in his childhood, i.e. the
need for absolute power. General Musharraf has long craved
the power to change society on an arbitrarily short
timescale; this symbolism is a way of expressing it in a
`palatable’ (to western audiences) way.
Perhaps the most obvious contrast
with Ataturk is seen in General Musharraf’s sense of
dress. When meeting westerners the General prefers to wear
an Armani three-piece suit, when meeting Pakistani
politicians he prefers the military uniform, and when
meeting the Pakistani public, he prefers the traditional
sherwani or his SSG camouflage fatigues. For reference
Kemal Ataturk completely abandoned his traditional garb,
and wore only western clothes.
To exactly replicate Ataturk’s work, Musharraf
will have to carry out very long and brutal campaigns to
marginalize and physically eliminate the Islamists. This
is impossible as the roots of Islam are embedded deep in
Pakistan [[liii]].
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