Gen. (retd.) Pervez Musharraf died in Dubai on Sunday morning after a long illness, leaving behind a legacy that is still being debated. Ruling Pakistan as a dictator from 1999 to 2008, he was convicted of high treason in 2019—years after he went into self-exile in Dubai—and sentenced to death for imposing emergency and subverting the judiciary in November 2007; this was the result of a summary process after he failed to appear in court six times.
In its 75-year history Pakistan has lived under three, lengthy martial laws, even as no civilian prime minister has completed their constitutional tenure. Musharraf, while typifying past military rulers who took over the civilian order, differed from his predecessors, as he resisted imposing “ideology” through religion and pursued a foreign policy that allied Islamabad with both the U.S.—after the events of 9/11—and China, which appreciated his attention to bilateral investments. Unlike the traditional military viewpoint, he also approached India for normalization, an action that would undoubtedly have brought the Pakistan Army’s wrath down upon any civilian ruler who attempted the same.
The final years of Musharraf’s tenure were, however, marred by controversy and tragedy. The Lal Masjid operation of July 2007 saw him lose support among both the public and media. Six months later, the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi further dented his stature, as her Pakistan Peoples Party issued emails in which she said he was to blame if anything happened to her for providing inadequate security.
Musharraf’s supporters, however, maintain that he accomplished much that set him apart from other dictators. They credit him with holding Pakistan’s fairest elections since 1970 and respecting freedom of the press. He is also credited with highlighting the clash between ideology and pragmatism in Pakistan, with his government’s foreign policy running counter to the traditional “mission statement” embodied in Pakistani nationalism. He is also widely perceived as a “clean” man, unlike the “corrupt politicians,” with nobody accusing him of any financial wrongdoing. Announcing his resignation as president during a televised address in August 2008, Musharraf said he wished to avoid any further political polarization and violence among his countrymen, adding he might have opted for a different course if his actions were motivated by self-interest. Nonetheless, he maintained, he must put “Pakistan first, as always.”
The former president emphasized that all his actions, right or wrong, were undertaken in good faith and in the cause of Pakistan. To his credit, he will be remembered for introducing unprecedented freedoms for the media and trying to lift Pakistan out of its quagmire—but ultimately failing. The rest is history.