President Musharaf

Introduction:-

On October 12, 1999, the Pakistan Army once again ousted the Civilian Government. At that time Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif headed the Government. The coup immediately followed the premieres attempt to replace the Army Chief while he was on a tour to Sri Lanka. After two days of chilling uncertainty, Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf assumed the title of Chief Executive. Although the use of the term "Martial Law" was avoided, Pakistan once again came under military rule. It was claimed that the Army was forced to take this step to save the country from "turmoil and uncertainty".

After the military takeover, the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif (his brother and former Chief Minister of Punjab) and five other officials were booked on charges of hijacking, kidnapping and attempted murder in the "Plane Conspiracy" case. The prosecution's case was based on a police report filed by an Army Colonel. Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as Prime Minster, was accused of giving orders to the Civil Aviation Authority to prevent a Colombo-Karachi Pakistan International Airlines commercial flight, with Musharraf on board, from landing at Karachi or anywhere else in Pakistan. He was to face a charge of attempted murder endangering the lives of General Pervez Musharraf and 200 other passengers on board by disallowing the plane to land when its fuel was at a low level. The case was tried by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, ironically established by Nawaz Sharif himself, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. In their appeal to the High Court, Mr. Sharif's lawyers maintained that no charge of corruption was proved against the former Prime Minister, and that it was the Prime Minister’s constitutional right to remove the Army Chief.

Later on, Mr. Nawaz Sharif was, however, pardoned and exiled by the military government to Saudi Arabia on conditions that he would forfeit Rupees 500 million (equivalent to roughly US$ 8 million) in property and stay out of politics for the next 21 years.

President General Musharraf kept his word to restore democracy and hold elections in October 2002 as mandated by the Supreme Court. He gratified the nation when after general elections, Pakistan's National Assembly and Senate in November 2002 met for the first time since the coup three years earlier. He also relinquished the post of Chief Executive when Zafaullah Khan Jamali became Prime Minister of Pakistan in November 2002. President Musharraf, however, continues to hold the offices of Chief of Army Staff, and Chief of the Staff Committee. The opposition parties refused to accept Framework Order (LFO) 2002 as it empowered the President to sack the prime minister, dissolve parliament and also recognize him as both head of the army and head of the state. According to the opposition the provisions of the LFO were unconstitutional and illegal, and against the sovereignty of the Parliament. As a result, the business of parliament remained in deadlock for a year. In December, 2003 as part of a deal with MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) to end the stand-off, General Musharraf agreed that he would step down as military head of the country on December 31, 2004 and also give up some of the powers he assumed after the coup while on January 1,2004. After getting vote of confidence from parliament and the four provincial assemblies, President Pervez Musharraf would now serve full five-year term as President till 2007 under the constitutional provisions after the seventeenth amendment was passed by a two-third majority of the Parliament. He secured 658 votes (56.23 per cent) with simple majority from a total of 1,170 members of parliament and the four assemblies amid MMA abstention and opposition boycott.

President Musharraf presents to the world vision of a modern, tolerant, democratic, Islamic Pakistan and favors economic reforms and free trade with the West. He has also played a vital role in negotiating an economic package to assist Pakistan out of its problems.

General Pervaiz Mushraf’s LFO was based upon his famous 7 point agenda which is as follows:-

1. Rebuild national confidence and morale.

2. Strengthen the federation, remove inter provincial disharmony and restore national cohesion.

3. Revive the economy and restore investor confidence

4 Ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice.

5. Depoliticise state institutions.

6. Devolution of power to the grass roots level.

7. Ensure swift and across the board accountability

Achievements:-

He attracted and gained the trust of millions of people of Pakistan by his 7 point agenda. His regime lasted for approximately 10 years in which he has achieved a lot and also failed a lot. His achievement and failures are as follows:-

The Situation on 12th October 1999, when Mr. Musharraf took over was that Pakistan faced:

1.     Economic bankruptcy.

2.     International isolation.

3.     The Country was referred to as a ‘failed state’.

4.     Political instability and chequered political history of previous governments. Opposition never allowed an elected government to complete term and derailed the process / institutions.

Achievements Summary:

1.     Empowerment of people through devolution at grass roots level.

2.     Empowerment of Women at all tiers of government / legislature.

3.     Legislation against honour killings. Women Protection Bill.

4.     Empowerment of minorities through joint electorate as well as reserved seats.

5.     Empowerment of younger generation by reducing voter age from 21 to 18 years.

6.     Empowerment of media by allowing total freedom to press and print media and flow of information.

7.     Empowerment of economy through wide ranging economic reforms.

8.     Record allocations for science and technology, education and health sectors. Emphasis on human resource development.

9.     Free, Fair, Transparent and Peaceful Election.

Economic Achievements

General:

Ø During his years in power, Pakistan pursued consistent and favourable policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization.

Ø Economic recovery, institutional reforms and good governance were our declared priorities.

Ø For economic recovery, the Government pursued a two-pronged strategy of ensuring macro-economic stability and introducing structural reforms for self-sustainable growth.

Ø As a result, the economy had expanded at an average rate of 7% per annum during the last four years. Its growth touched a record level of 9% in 2004-05.

Ø Growth of large scale manufacturing which was 3.6% during 1999-00, registered an average increase of 11.31 % per annum during the period from 2000-07. Growth of this sector was highest in 2004-05 i.e. 19.9%.

Ø Exchange rate remained stable despite widening of trade and current account deficits, clearly indicating strong inflows of external resources.

Ø Foreign Exchange reserves have crossed US$ 16 billion mark and the increased reserves can now finance more than 31 weeks of imports against only 10 weeks in 1998-99.

Ø Per capita income had increased from $ 526 (1999-00) to $925 (2006-07).

Revenue Collections

Ø Total revenue collections increased from Rs 308 billion in 1999 to Rs 846 billion during 2007.

GDP

Ø GDP growth which was 3.9% in 1999-00 grew at an average rate of 6% per annum during the period from 2000-07.

Ø Total GDP which ranged between Rs 769.7 billion (1988-89) and Rs 2,938.4 billion (1998-99), registered an enormous growth during the last 8 years and ranged between Rs 3,826 billion (1999-00) and Rs 9,970 billion (2006-07).

Ø Stock Market

Ø  Growth of stock market ranged between (–) 44.7% (in 1997-98) and 219.1% during 1988-99.

Ø  As against KSE index of 1,257 points on 12th October, 1999, it was 13,772 in 2006-07.

Ø  As against market capitalization of Rs 334 billion on 12th October, 1999, it was Rs 3,980 billion at the close of financial year 2006-07.

State of Foreign Debt

Ø  Foreign debt and liabilities grew at an average rate of 7.4% per annum during 11 years from 1989-99. Total debt in 1989 was $20.522 billion which rose to $38.922 billion in 1999.

Ø  If this trend had continued, Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities would have been over $ 60 billion. This level was brought down to $38.86 billion. 

Ø  External Debt and Liabilities (EDL) as % of GDP, which fluctuated between 51% and 66.3% during the period from 1988-99; (66.3% in 1988-89), fluctuated between 42.6% (2002-03) and 27.1% (2006-07).

Agriculture

Ø  In 1998-99 our country was importing key staples to meet domestic requirements. In contrast, in FY07, country witnessed significant rise in the productivity in almost all major crops.

Ø  Agriculture credit market was quite shallow and gross disbursements were only Rs 42.9 billion in 1998-99.  Gross disbursements of agri-credit rose to Rs 168 billion in 2006-07.

Remittances

Ø  As against US$ 1.06 billion received during 1998-99, US$ 5.5 billion were received during 2006-07.

Social Sector Achievements 

Health Sector

Ø  During 1998-1999 total health expenditure was Rs 25 billion which had increased to Rs 50 billion.

Ø  There had been an increase of about 20,000 registered doctors, around 3,000 registered dentists, about 15,000 nurses, and 56,000 lady health workers. The quantity, quality and distribution of this workforce were being improved.

Ø  During 2000-2008 health indicators had shown gradual improvement.

Ø  Many new initiatives in the health sector were undertaken during this period, including the Expanded Program of Immunization; Polio Eradication Programme; Hepatitis Control Programme; Primary Health Care Programme, TB Prevention & Control Programme; Aids Prevention & Control Programme; Blindness Prevention & Control Programme; National Maternal and Child Health Programme; and National Nutrition Program.

Education Spread

Ø  81 new universities including Degree Awarding Institutions (DAI) and 14,117 schools/colleges were opened.

Ø  1,267,519 stipends to the needy students.

Ø  47,546,520 students were provided books free of cost.

Ø  127,623 missing facilities were provided in educational institutions.

Women Empowerment

Ø  National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women was announced on 7th March, 2002. 

Ø  This policy contained a vision, defined goals, aims and objectives, formulated through a laborious and detailed consultative process.

Ø  Reservation of 20% women’s seats in the National Assembly (There were 72 women Members of the National Assembly against 60 reserved seats).

Ø  Reservation of 18% seats for women in the Senate (There were 17 women Members of the Senate).

Ø  Reservation of women seats in the Provincial Assemblies (There were 139 women Members of the Provincial Assemblies against 128 reserved seats).

Ø  There were six (6) women members of the then Federal Cabinet, which was an important step towards increasing women’s role in the national decision – making. We have a woman as Governor of the State Bank.

Ø  Reservation of 33% seats for women at all tiers of local government remains a hallmark of the new system centered on the devolution of power (There are 27,624 Women Councillors’ against 28,549 reserved seats in local bodies).

Legal and Social Empowerment of Women

Ø  Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2004 (Honour Killing Bill) enacted.

Ø  Reservation of quota for women in Government jobs including Central Superior Services.

Ø  Presidential Ordinance promulgated on 8th of July 2006, “the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2006,” allowed bail for women held on all charges with the exception of terrorism and murder. Out of more than 6,000 jailed women, around 1,000 were freed.

Ø  Enactment of Women Protection Act, 2006 which provides a just and secure environment for women to work as equal partners for the development of Pakistan.

Employment opportunities

Ø  During 1999-07, as many as 110,086 teachers, 65,231 Lady Health Visitors and 78,024 personnel in Police Department were appointed.

Ø  1,187,432 job opportunities were created in the Telecom Sector and 126,742 in Local Government Departments.

Ø  6.6 million Job opportunities were created in Punjab in new business/industries.

Ø  165,609 jobs were provided in various departments in the provinces.

Infrastructure Development

Mega Projects

Ø  Work on 102 mega projects was initiated in various sectors from 2000.

Ø  Such projects included Makran Coastal Highway, Lowari Tunnel, Pindi Bhattian – Faisalabad Motorway (M-3), Karachi Northern Bypass, Mirani Dam, Raising of Mangla Dam, Gomal Zam Dam, Sabakzai Dam, Satpara Dam, Kachhi Canal, Rainee Canal, Greater Thal Canal, Gwadar Port, Lining of Watercourses, Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road, Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Electric Project  and Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Road.

Ø  Six projects costing between Rs 1-5 billion have since been completed.

Ø  Work on six projects including raising of Mangla Dam and Lyari Expressway and first unit of 4 MW of Satpara Dam, was nearing completion.

Ø  Work on the remaining 89 projects was in progress and was scheduled to be completed during April, 2008 to December, 2016.

Ø  As many as 34,251 development schemes were launched during the period from 1999-07.

Failures:-

1.   Abrogated the constitution:-

General Pervaiz Musharaf abrogated the constitution and gave his own 7 point agenda which he himself failed to follow. Instead he gave LFO (legal framework order) and PCO (provincial constitutional order) according to which he said that he would file the corrupt Politian but he himself joined them in the regular elections of 2003.

2.   Bases give to American forces:-

After the incident of 9/11 American forces started attacking Afghanistan. For this President Musharaf allowed and gave bases to the Americans in the North West frontier in 2001. This was one the biggest mistake for the security of the country.

3.   Chief justice issue

                                                            i.      President Musharaf dismissed the chief justice of Pakistan, Ch. Iftikhar because he didn’t take oath under PCO and was imprisoned for this too. President Musharaf took over the independence of judiciary.

4.   Media issue

                                                            i.      President Musharaf banned many channels which showed the live or recorded coverage of judiciary movement. Such channels included GEO, AAJ and other private channels.

5.   Lal masjid issue

                                                             i.      The downfall of President Musharaf started when he overtook the Lal masjid. The issue is very controversial to talk about and is said to have easily taken under control but was at first left loose for 4 days and then a grand operation took it all over

6.   Akbar bugti issue

                                                             i.      The assassination of Akbar Bugti in Baluchistan has caused a lot of troubles for Musharaf in Baluchistan.

7.   Allowed drone attacks

                                                               i.      These drone attacks in the country are considered to be one of his pacts signed between him and American forces.

8.   Security failure and assignations under his regime

                                                            i.      One of the biggest failures of his regimes is the assignation of Banazir Bhutto and the assassination attempt over Nawaz Sharif and other political leaders. This convinced the people of Pakistan that they are not safe under these suicidal attacks.

9.   Kargil issue

Also in his service as the chief of army of staff Musharaf is reported to have killed many people and pressed the issue under so that so no one would know what really happened.