Martial Law Tenure of Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled Pakistan as Chief Executive from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008. Facing impeachment, he preferred to resign on 18 August 2008.

After loss in Kargil conflict Musharraf met with President Rafiq Tarar on October 13 to deliberate on legitimizing the coup. On October 15, Musharraf ended emerging hopes of a quick transition to democracy after he declared state of emergency, suspended the Constitution, and assumed power as Chief Executive. He also quickly purged the government of political enemies, notably Ziauddin and national airline chief Shahid Khaqan Abbassi. On October 17, he gave his second national address and established a seven-member militarycivilian council to govern the country.He named three retired military officers and a judge as provincial administrators on October 21.Ultimately, Musharraf assumed to executive powers and held powers of chief executive, but did not obtained the office of Prime minister. The Prime minister secretariat (official residence of Prime minister of Pakistan) was closed by the military police and the staff was deposed by Musharraf immediately. There were no organized protests within the country to the coup. The coup was widely criticized by the international community. Consequently, Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations. Sharif was put under house arrest and later exiled to Saudi Arabia on his personal request and under a contract. The senior military appointments in the inter-services were extremely important and crucial for Musharraf to keep the legitimacy and the support for his coup in the joint inter-services. By the end of October, Musharraf appointed many technocrats and bureaucrats in his Cabinet, including former Citibank executive Shaukat Aziz as Finance Minister and Abdul Sattar as Foreign Minister. In early November, he released details of his assets to the public. In late December 1999, Musharraf's dealt with his first international crisis when India accused Pakistan's involvement in the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking.Though United States President Bill Clinton pressured Musharraf to ban the alleged group behind the hijacking Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Pakistani officials refused because of fears of reprisal from political parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami.In March 2000, Musharraf banned political rallies. When Musharraf came to power in 1999, he claimed that the corruption in the government bureaucracy would be cleaned up.According to a survey conducted by Transparency International Pakistan ranked in 2001 as the world's 11th most corrupt nation. In 2007 Pakistan ranked as the 41st most corrupt nation.

On 9 March 2007, Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and pressed corruption charges against him. He replaced him with ally Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal. Lal Masjid and Bugti dispute also destroyed the reputation of Musharraf and By August 2007, polls showed 64 percent of Pakistanis did not want another Musharraf term. On 2 October 2007, Musharraf named Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani as vice chief of the army starting 8 October. When Musharraf resigned from military on 28 November 2007, Kayani became Chief of Army Staff. On 3 November 2007 Musharraf declared emergency rule across Pakistan. He suspended the Constitution, imposed State of Emergency, and fired the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court again. In Islamabad, troops entered the Supreme Court building, arrested the judges and kept them under detention in their homes. Troops were deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations, while independent channels went off air. Public protests mounted against Musharraf. On 18 August 2008, Musharraf resigned.