Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 to 05 February 2023) was a former Pakistani military officer who served as the 10th President of Pakistan. He also served as the 10th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1998 to 2001 and the 7th Chief of Army Staff from 1998 to 2007. He took power in a military coup in 1999 and ruled the country until 2008.
Pervez Musharraf was born in Delhi, India and died at the age of 79 in Dubai. In 1961, at the age of 18, he entered the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul and rose through the ranks to become a four-star general. During his military career, he served in several key positions, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Army Staff.
In 1999, Musharraf led a bloodless military coup against the elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and declared himself the Chief Executive of Pakistan. He suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly and the provincial governments.
Musharraf ruled Pakistan as a military dictator for almost nine years. He introduced several economic and social reforms during his tenure and played a vital role in the US-led war on terror following the September 11 attacks in 2001. However, his rule was also marked by allegations of human rights abuses and suppression of political dissent.
In 2008, Musharraf resigned as President and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai and London. He returned to Pakistan in 2013 to participate in the general elections but was barred from running for office and faced numerous legal challenges. In 2019, he was sentenced to death in absentia by a Pakistani court for high treason, but he remains in exile and has not faced the sentence.