Pervez Musharraf was born in 1943 in New Delhi. His family moved to Karachi during the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 and lived in Turkey from 1949 to 1956. On his return to Pakistan, he attended two prestigious schools, St. Patrick’s High School in Karachi and Forman Christian College in Lahore. Musharraf married Sehba Fareed in 1968. They have a son, a daughter and two granddaughters.

Musharraf attended the Command and Staff College at Quetta, the National Defense College, and the Royal College of Defense Studies in Great Britain. He subsequently held instructional positions at the Command and Staff College and the National Defense College in turn. He joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961, received a commission to an artillery regiment in 1964 and won recognition for gallantry for during his service in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. In the 1971 war he was a company commander in a commando battalion.

Being made a Major General in 1991, Musharraf was given the command of an infantry division. He served as Director General of military operations at General Headquarters from 1993 to 1995. When he became Lieutenant General in 1995, he took command of a prestigious strike corps. In 1998, he was promoted to the rank of General and the army’s Chief of Staff. In April 1999, he was named Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, his final position before leading the coup that brought him to power.

The General came to power by staging a bloodless coup in October 1999. Nawaz Sharif, then Prime Minister, who had appointed Musharraf Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the previous spring, fired the general when he was visiting Sri Lanka in October. The action backfired. Musharraf led a coup against the government, and Sharif and other government officials were arrested by the army.

Musharraf consolidated his power and fired civilian President Rafiq Tara. On October 14, he suspended the National Assembly and the constitution, which had included provisions of Islamic law. He imposed martial law and assumed the position of Chief Executive of Pakistan. The deposed Prime Minister Sharif was charged with attempted murder, treason, kidnapping and hijacking, and was condemned to life imprisonment.

In December 1999, Musharraf presented a new economic plan that included a farm tax and a sales tax, and he moved to quash money-laundering schemes. He named four civilians to the National Security Council and three to his Cabinet. He set up the National Accountability Bureau to investigate corruption.

In March 2000, he replaced six judges in the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqi, for refusing to swear allegiance to his government. In April, as part of a promise to improve human rights, he condemned the Pakistani observance of “honor killing” - murdering a woman who shames her family by seeking a divorce or choosing a husband by unorthodox means.

Two groups emerged to criticize Musharraf’s domestic policies: the small business community, which opposed the sales tax, and Islamic fundamentalists. On July 15, 2000, he announced an amendment to the proclamation of October 14, 2001, renewing all provisions of Islamic injunctions in the country’s suspended constitution, including punishment for corruption and corrupt practices and the power of the court to freeze property

Pakistan and India endure ongoing political tensions, and both have nuclear capabilities. In 1999, Musharraf was instrumental in sending Pakistani troops across the border into Indian Kashmir to fight in the Kargil conflict. He was, however, the first senior Pakistani leader to acknowledge the legitimacy of India’s claims that the Pakistani military had indeed crossed the Line of Control.

In March 2000, he replaced six judges in the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqi, for refusing to swear allegiance to his government. In April, as part of a promise to improve human rights, he condemned the Pakistani observance of “honor killing” - murdering a woman who shames her family by seeking a divorce or choosing a husband by unorthodox means.

Two groups emerged to criticize Musharraf’s domestic policies: the small business community, which opposed the sales tax, and Islamic fundamentalists. On July 15, 2000, he announced an amendment to the proclamation of October 14, 2001, renewing all provisions of Islamic injunctions in the country’s suspended constitution, including punishment for corruption and corrupt practices and the power of the court to freeze property.

Pakistan and India endure ongoing political tensions, and both have nuclear capabilities. In 1999, Musharraf was instrumental in sending Pakistani troops across the border into Indian Kashmir to fight in the Kargil conflict. He was, however, the first senior Pakistani leader to acknowledge the legitimacy of India’s claims that the Pakistani military had indeed crossed the Line of Control.

India blamed Pakistani intelligence for backing the suicide squad attack on the New Delhi Parliament in December 2001, but Musharraf denied the charge. He ordered a large number of arrests after the attack, but he refused to comply with India’s demand that Pakistan hand over any of the militants to the anti-terror coalition or to the Indian authorities, though some of the accused were Indian nationals.

Since the attack on New York City in September 2001, Musharraf has been walking a political tightrope. On the one hand, he has maintained Pakistani support for the international coalition’s War on Terror and for the elimination of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. On the other, as Pakistan had been one of the only countries in the world to recognize the Taliban regime before September, Musharraf has had to deal with powerful militant anti-American and pro-Taliban factions within his country. In order to prevent domestic instability, Musharraf ordered the arrest of several militant leaders following the reversal of Islamabad’s loyalties. He banned several militant groups, but he has not yet prevented their members from forming new groups with new names and the same militant ideals and objectives.

Washington and London have considered Musharraf a vital world player since September. US President GW Bush agreed to give Pakistan more than a billion dollars in aid in return for its cooperation. Ironically, then, Musharraf is a dictator supported by the world’s most powerful democracy. In 1999, Musharraf declared that democratic elections and civilian rule would resume in October 2002. In October 2001, however, evidently because of the divisions and the delicate balance required in the move toward democracy since September 11th, he changed his mind and announced that he would maintain his position as President for another five years.

Since September 2001, much has been made of two of Musharraf’s heroes, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mustafa Kemel Atatürk of Turkey. Jinnah was the “Founder of the Nation” of Pakistan. He was highly instrumental in the formation of the country as a Muslim nation separate from India in 1947. During every national address, a framed photograph of Jinnah hangs at Musharraf’s back as a symbol of his patriotism. Comparisons have been drawn between the early 20th century leader and the military dictator in 2002. Both Pakistani Muslim political leaders were educated in Christian schools, and both have governed shrewdly. Jinnah, however, helped form and maintain a democratic Pakistan, whereas Musharraf has so far not only ousted an elected leader through a coup d’état, but, for whatever reasons, has also maintained and extended his dictatorship.

Musharraf has called Mustafa Kemel Atatürk, “Father of the Turks,” his “most admired person.” In the 1920s, Atatürk founded and governed the only secular nation with a Muslim population. He closed down madrasas (religious schools) and forced Turks to adopt secular family names. He was confronted by Muslim mullahs who believed in traditionalism, but they differed considerably from 21st century Muslim fundamentalists who reject modernization. Moreover, Atatürk’s actions have been the proof of his views, whereas it is under immense international pressure that Musharraf has offered dim reflections of the Turkish leader’s reforms, which he may or may not implement in Pakistan.