Pervez Musharraf

Musharraf was born on 11 August 1943 to an Urdu-speaking family in Delhi, British India, the son of Syed Musharrafuddin and his wife Begum Zarin Musharraf. His family were Muslims who were also Sayyids, claiming descent from prophet Muhammad. Syed Musharraf graduated from Aligarh Muslim University and entered the civil service, which was an extremely prestigious career under British rule. He came from a long line of government officials as his great-grandfather was a tax collector while his maternal grandfather was a qazi (judge). Musharraf's mother Zarin, born in the early 1920s, grew up in Lucknow and received her schooling there, after which she graduated from Indraprastha College at Delhi University, taking a bachelor's degree in English literature. She then married and devoted herself to raising a family. His father, Syed, was an accountant who worked at the foreign office in the British Indian government and eventually became an accounting director.

Musharraf was four years old when India achieved independence and Pakistan was created as the homeland for India's Muslims. His family left for Pakistan in August 1947, a few days before independence. His father joined the Pakistan Civil Services and began to work for the Pakistani government; later, his father joined the Foreign Ministry, taking up an assignment in Turkey. In his autobiography In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, Musharraf elaborates on his first experience with death, after falling off a mango tree.

Musharraf's family moved to Ankara in 1949, when his father became part of a diplomatic deputation from Pakistan to Turkey. He learned to speak Turkish. He had a dog named Whiskey that gave him a "lifelong love for dogs". He played sports in his youth. In 1956, he left Turkey and returned to Pakistan in 1957 where he attended Saint Patrick's School in Karachi and was accepted at the Forman Christian College University in Lahore. At Forman, Musharraf chose mathematics as a major in which he exceled academically, but later developed an interest in economics.

In 1961, at the age of 18, Musharraf entered the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. During his college years at PMA and initial joint military testings, Musharraf shared a room with PQ Mehdi of the Pakistan Air Force and Abdul Aziz Mirza of the Navy (both reached four-star assignments and served with Musharraf later on) and after giving the exams and entrance interviews, all three cadets went to watch a world-acclaimed Urdu film, Savera (lit. Dawn), with his inter-services and college friends, Musharraf recalls, In the Line of Fire, published in 2006. With his friends, Musharraf passed the standardise, physical, psychological, and officer-training exams, he also took discussions involving the socioeconomics issues; all three were interviewed by joint military officers who were designated as Commandants. The next day, Musharraf along with PQ Mehdi and Mirza, reported to PMA and they were selected for their respective training in their arms of commission.

Finally in 1964, Musharraf graduated with a Bachelor's degree in his class of 29th PMA Long Course together with Ali Kuli Khan and his lifelong friend Abdul Aziz Mirza. He was commissioned in the artillery regiment as second lieutenant and posted near the Indo-Pakistan border. During this time in the artillery regiment, Musharraf maintained his close friendship and contact with Mirza through letters and telephones even in difficult times when Mirza, after joining the Navy Special Service Group, was stationed in East-Pakistan as a military advisor to Eastern Corps.

Musharraf married Sehba, who is from Karachi, on 28 December 1968. They have a daughter, Ayla, an architect married to film director Asim Raza, and a son, Bilal. He also has close family ties to the prominent Kheshgi family.

Musharraf was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1974; and to colonel in 1978. As staff officer in the 1980s, he studied political science at NDU, and then briefly tenured as assistant professor of war studies at the Command and Staff College and then assistant professor of political science also at the National Defense University. One of his professors at NDU was general Jehangir Karamat who served Musharraf's guidance counselor and instructor who had significant influence on Musharraf's philosophy and critical thinking. He did not play any significant role in Pakistan's proxy war in the 1979–1989 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1987, he became a brigade commander of a new brigade of the SSG near Siachen Glacier. He was personally chosen by then-President and Chief of Army Staff general Zia-ul-Haq for this assignment due to Musharraf's wide experience in mountain and arctic warfare. In September 1987, Musharraf commanded an assault at Bilafond La before being pushed back.

The Military Police held former prime minister Sharif under house arrest at a government guesthouse and opened his Lahore home to the public in late October 1999. He was formally indicted in November on charges of hijacking, kidnapping, attempted murder, and treason for preventing Musharraf's flight from landing at Karachi airport on the day of the coup. His trial began in early March 2000 in an anti-terrorism court, which is designed for speedy trials. He testified Musharraf began preparations of a coup after the Kargil conflict. Sharif was placed in Adiala Jail, infamous for hosting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's trial, and his leading defence lawyer, Iqbal Raad, was shot dead in Karachi in mid-March. Sharif's defense team blamed the military for intentionally providing their lawyers with inadequate protection. The court proceedings were widely accused of being a show trial. Sources from Pakistan claimed that Musharraf and his military government's officers were in full mood to exercise tough conditions on Sharif, and intended to send Nawaz Sharif to the gallows to face a similar fate to that of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979. It was the pressure on Musharraf exerted by Saudi Arabia and the United States to exile Sharif after it was confirmed that the court is about to give its verdict on Nawaz Sharif over treason charges, and the court would sentence Sharif to death. Sharif signed an agreement with Musharraf and his military government and his family was exiled to Saudi Arabia in December 2000.

Musharraf is the second son of his parents and has two brothers—Javed and Naved. Javed retired as a high-level official in Pakistan's civil service. Naved is an anesthesiologist who has lived in Chicago since completing his residency training at Loyola University Medical Center in 1979.

Earlier in 1988–89, as Brigadier, Musharraf proposed the Kargil infiltration to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto but she rebuffed the plan. In 1991–93, he secured a two-star promotion, elevating him to the rank of major general and held the command of 40th Army Division as its GOC, stationed in Okara Military District in Punjab Province. In 1993–95, Major-General Musharraf worked closely with the Chief of Army Staff as Director-General of Pakistan Army's Directorate General for the Military Operations (DGMO). During this time, Musharraf became close to engineering officer and director-general of ISI lieutenant-general Javed Nasir and had worked with him while directing operations in Bosnian war. His political philosophy was influenced by Benazir Bhutto who mentored him on various occasions, and Musharraf generally was close to Benazir Bhutto on military policy issues on India. From 1993 to 1995, Musharraf repeatedly visited the United States as part of the delegation of Benazir Bhutto. It was Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman who lobbied for his promotion to Benazir Bhutto, and subsequently getting Musharraf's promotion papers approved by Benazir Bhutto, which eventually led to his appointment in Benazir Bhutto's key staff. In 1993, Musharraf personally assisted Benazir Bhutto to have a secret meeting at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C. with officials from the Mossad and a special envoy of Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin. It was during this time Musharraf built an extremely cordial relationship with Shaukat Aziz who, at that time, was serving as the executive president of global financial services of the Citibank.

His last military field operations posting was in the Mangla region of the Kashmir Province in 1995 when Benazir Bhutto approved the promotion of Musharraf to three-star rank, Lieutenant-General. Between 1995 and 1998, Lieutenant-General Musharraf was the corps commander (CC-I) of I Strike Corps stationed in Mangla, Mangla Military District.

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. Starting with the PAF, Musharraf pressured President Tarar to appoint most-junior air marshal to four-star rank, particularly someone with Musharraf had experienced working during the inter-services operations. Once Air-chief Marshal Pervez Kureshi was retired, the most junior air marshal Muschaf Mir (who worked with Musharraf in 1996 to assist ISI in Taliban matters) was appointed to four-star rank as well as elevated as Chief of Air Staff. There were two extremely important military appointments made by Musharraf in the Navy. Although Admiral Aziz Mirza (a lifelong friend of Musharraf, he shared a dorm with the admiral in the 1960s and they graduated together from the academy) was appointed by Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Mirza remained extremely supportive of Musharraf's coup and was also a close friend of Musharraf since 1971 when both participated in a joint operation against the Indian Army. After Mirza's retirement, Musharraf appointed Admiral Shahid Karimullah, with whom Musharraf had trained together in special forces schools during the 1960s, to four-star rank and chief of naval staff.

Although both Nawaz Sharif and general Jehangir Karamat were educated, and held common beliefs concerning national security, problems arose with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Chief of Army Staff General Karamat in October 1998. While addressing the officers and cadets at the Naval War College, General Karamat promoted the creation of the National Security Council, which would be backed by a "team of civil-military experts" for devising policies to seek resolution ongoing problems relating the civil-military issues; also recommended a "neutral but competent bureaucracy and administration of at federal level and the establishment of Local governments in four provinces." This proposal was met with hostility, and led to Nawaz Sharif's dismissal of General Karamat. In turn, this reduced Nawaz's mandate in public circles, and led to much criticism from Leader of the Opposition Benazir Bhutto.

Nawaz Sharif has maintained that the Operation was conducted without his knowledge. However, details of the briefing he got from the military before and after the Kargil operation have become public. Before the operation, between January and March, Sharif was briefed about the operation in three separate meetings. In January, the army briefed him about the Indian troop movement along the LOC in Skardu on 29 January 1999, on 5 February at Kel, on 12 March at the GHQ and finally on 17 May at the ISI headquarters. During the end of the June DCC meeting, a tense Sharif turned to the army chief and said "you should have told me earlier", Musharraf pulled out his notebook and repeated the dates and contents of around seven briefings he had given him since beginning of January.

After the elections, the PML-Q nominated Zafarullah Khan Jamali for the office of prime minister, which Musharraf also approved. After first session at the Parliament, Musharraf voluntarily transferred the powers of chief executive to Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Musharraf succeeded to pass the XVII amendment, which grants powers to dissolve the parliament, with approval required from the Supreme Court. Within two years, Jamali proved to be an ineffective prime minister as he forcefully implemented his policies in the country and caused problems with the business class elites. Musharraf accepted the resignation of Jamali and asked his close colleague Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to appoint a new prime minister in place. Hussain nominated Finance minister Shaukat Aziz, who had been impressive due to his performance as finance minister in 1999. Musharraf regarded Aziz as his right hand and preferable choice for the office of Prime minister. With Aziz appointed as Prime minister, Musharraf transferred all executive powers to Aziz as he trusted Shaukat Aziz. Aziz proved to be extremely capable in running the government; under his leadership economic growth reached to a maximum level, which further stabilised Musharraf's presidency. Aziz swiftly, quietly and quickly undermined the elements seeking to undermine Musharraf, which became a factor in Musharraf's trust in him. Between 2004 and 2007, Aziz approved many projects that did not require Musharraf's permission.

When Musharraf came to power in 1999, he promised that the corruption in the government bureaucracy would be cleaned up. However, some claimed that the level of corruption did not diminish throughout Musharraf's time.

In March 2000, Musharraf banned political rallies. In a television interview given in 2001, Musharraf openly spoke about the negative role of a few high-ranking officers in the Pakistan Armed Forces in state's affairs. Musharraf labelled many of his senior professors at NDU as "pseudo-intellectuals", including the NDU's notable professors, General Aslam Beg and Jehangir Karamat under whom Musharraf studied and served well.

Shortly after Musharraf's takeover, Musharraf issued Oath of Judges Order No. 2000, which required judges to take a fresh oath of office. On 12 May 2000, the Supreme Court asked Musharraf to hold national elections by 12 October 2002. After President Rafiq Tarar's resignation, Musharraf formally appointed himself as President on 20 June 2001. In August 2002, he issued the Legal Framework Order No. 2002, which added numerous amendments to the Constitution.

Musharraf has survived multiple assassination attempts and alleged plots. In 2000 Kamran Atif, an alleged member of Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami, tried to assassinate Musharraf. Atif was sentenced to death in 2006 by an Anti Terrorism Court. On 14 December 2003, Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi; It was the third such attempt during his four-year rule. On 25 December 2003, two suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their car bombs failed to kill him; 16 others died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windshield on his car. Amjad Farooqi was an alleged mastermind behind these attempts, and was killed by Pakistani forces in 2004 after an extensive manhunt.

His cultural policies liberalized Pakistan's media, and he issued many television licenses to the private-sector to open television centers and media houses. The television dramas, film industry, theatre, music and literature activities, were personally encouraged by Pervez Musharraf. Under his policies, the rock music bands gained a following in the country and many concerts were held each week. His cultural policies, the film, theatre, rock and folk music, and television programmes were extremely devoted to and promoted the national spirit of the country. In 2001, Musharraf got on stage with the rock music band, Junoon, and sang national song with the band.

After the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Musharraf expressed his sympathies to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and sent a plane load of relief supplies to India.

From September 2001 until his resignation in 2007 from the military, Musharraf's presidency was affected by scandals relating to nuclear weapons, which were detrimental to his authoritative legitimacy in the country and in the international community. In October 2001, Musharraf authorised a sting operation led by FIA to arrest two physicists Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, because of their supposed connection with the Taliban after they secretly visited Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2000. The local Pakistani media widely circulated the reports that "Mahmood had a meeting with Osama bin Laden where Bin Laden had shown interest in building a radiological weapon;" it was later discovered that neither scientist had any in-depth knowledge of the technology. In December 2001, Musharraf authorized security hearings and the two scientists were taken into the custody by the JAG Branch (JAG); security hearings continued until early 2002.

Another scandal arose as a consequence of a disclosure by Pakistani nuclear physicist Abdul Qadeer Khan. On 27 February 2001, Musharraf spoke highly of Khan at a state dinner in Islamabad, and he personally approved Khan's appointment as Science Advisor to the Government. In 2004, Musharraf relieved Abdul Qadeer Khan from his post and initially denied knowledge of the government's involvement in nuclear proliferation, despite Khan's claim that Musharraf was the "Big Boss" of the proliferation ring. Following this, Musharraf authorized a national security hearing, which continued until his resignation from the army in 2007. According to Zahid Malik, Musharraf and the military establishment at that time acted against Abdul Qadeer Khan in an attempt to prove the loyalty of Pakistan to the United States and Western world.

Musharraf called for nationwide political elections in the country after accepting the ruling of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Musharraf was the first military president to accept the rulings of the Supreme Court and holding free and fair elections in 2002, part of his vision to return democratic rule to the country. In October 2002, Pakistan held general elections, which the pro-Musharraf PML-Q won wide margins, although it had failed to gain absolute majority. The PML-Q formed government with far-right religious parties coalition, the MMA and the liberals MQM; the coalition legitimised Musharraf's rule.

In December 2003, Musharraf made a deal with MMA, a six-member coalition of far-right Islamic parties, agreeing to leave the army by 31 December 2004. With that party's support, pro-Musharraf legislators were able to muster the two-thirds supermajority required to pass the Seventeenth Amendment, which retroactively legalised Musharraf's 1999 coup and many of his decrees. Musharraf reneged on his agreement with the MMA and pro-Musharraf legislators in the Parliament passed a bill allowing Musharraf to keep both offices.

In 2004, Musharraf began a series of talks with India to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

On 1 January 2004, Musharraf had won a confidence vote in the Electoral College of Pakistan, consisting of both houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies. Musharraf received 658 out of 1170 votes, a 56% majority, but many opposition and Islamic members of parliament walked out to protest the vote. As a result of this vote, his term was extended to 2007.

Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigned on 26 June 2004, after losing the support of the Musharraf's party, PML(Q). His resignation was at least partially due to his public differences with the party chairman, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. This was rumored to have happened at Musharraf's command. Jamali had been appointed with the support of Musharraf's and the pro-Musharraf PML(Q). Most PML(Q) parliamentarians formerly belonged to the Pakistan Muslim League party led by Sharif, and most ministers of the cabinet were formerly senior members of other parties, joining the PML(Q) after the elections upon being offered positions. Musharraf nominated Shaukat Aziz, the minister for finance and a former employee of Citibank and head of Citibank Private Banking as the new prime minister.

A few months after the 11 September attacks, Musharraf gave a speech against extremism. He instituted prohibitions on foreign students' access to studying Islam within Pakistan, an effort that began as an outright ban but was later reduced to restrictions on obtaining visas. On 18 September 2005, Musharraf made a speech before a broad based audience of Jewish leadership, sponsored by the American Jewish Congress's Council for World Jewry, in New York City. He was widely criticised by Middle Eastern leaders, but was met with some praise among Jewish leadership.

In 2005, the Bugti clan attacked a gas field in Balochistan, after Dr Shazia was raped at that location. Musharraf responded by 4,500 soldiers, supported by tanks and helicopters, to guard the gas field.

In March 2005, a couple of months after the rape of a Pakistani physician, Dr. Shazia Khalid, working on a government gas plant in the remote Balochistan province, Musharraf was criticised for pronouncing, Captain Hammad, a fellow military man and the accused in the case, innocent before the judicial inquiry was complete. Shazia alleged that she was forced by the government to leave the country.

In an interview given to The Washington Post in September 2005, Musharraf said that Pakistani women who had been the victims of rape treated rape as a "moneymaking concern", and were only interested in the publicity in order to make money and get a Canadian visa. He subsequently denied making these comments, but the Post made available an audio recording of the interview, in which Musharraf could be heard making the quoted remarks. Musharraf also denied Mukhtaran Mai, a Pakistani rape victim, the right to travel abroad, until pressured by US State Department. The remarks made by Musharraf sparked outrage and protests both internationally and in Pakistan by various groups i.e. women groups, activists. In a rally, held close to the presidential palace and Pakistan's parliament, hundreds of women demonstrated in Pakistan demanding Musharraf apologise for the controversial remarks about female rape victims.

In 2006, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited Pakistan for the first time as King. Musharraf honoured King Abdullah with the Nishan-e-Pakistan. Musharraf received the King Abdul-Aziz Medallion in 2007.

The National Assembly voted in favour of the "Women's Protection Bill" on 15 November 2006 and the Senate approved it on 23 November 2006. President General Pervez Musharraf signed into law the "Women's Protection Bill", on 1 December 2006. The bill places rape laws under the penal code and allegedly does away with harsh conditions that previously required victims to produce four male witnesses and exposed the victims to prosecution for adultery, if they were unable to prove the crime. However, the Women's Protection bill has been criticised heavily by many for paying continued lip service and failing to address the actual problem by its roots: repealing the Hudood Ordinance. In this context, Musharraf has also been criticized by women and human rights activists for not following up his words by action. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that "The so-called Women's Protection Bill is a farcical attempt at making Hudood Ordinances palatable" outlining the issues of the bill and the continued impact on women.

On 6 July 2007, there was another attempted assassination, when an unknown group fired a 7.62 submachine gun at Musharraf's plane as it took off from a runway in Rawalpindi. Security also recovered 2 anti-aircraft guns, from which no shots had been fired. On 17 July 2007, Pakistani police detained 39 people in relation to the attempted assassination of Musharraf. The suspects were detained at an undisclosed location by a joint team of Punjab Police, the Federal Investigation Agency and other Pakistani intelligence agencies.

By August 2007, polls showed 64 percent of Pakistanis did not want another Musharraf term. Controversies involving the atomic issues, Lal Masjid incident, the unpopular War in North-West Pakistan, the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and widely circulated criticisms from rivals Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, had brutalized the personal image of Musharraf in public and political circles. More importantly, with Shaukat Aziz departing from the office of Prime Minister, Musharraf could not have sustained his presidency any longer and dramatically fell from the presidency within a matter of eight months, after popular and mass public movements called for his impeachment for the actions taken during his presidency.

On 9 March 2007, Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and pressed corruption charges against him. He replaced him with Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal.

Musharraf's moves sparked protests among Pakistani lawyers. On 12 March 2007, lawyers started a campaign called Judicial Activism across Pakistan and began boycotting all court procedures in protest against the suspension. In Islamabad, as well as other cities such as Lahore, Karachi, and Quetta hundreds of lawyers dressed in black suits attended rallies, condemning the suspension as unconstitutional. Slowly the expressions of support for the ousted Chief Justice gathered momentum and by May, protesters and opposition parties took out huge rallies against Musharraf and his tenure as army chief was also challenged in the courts.

Lal Masjid had a religious school for women and the Jamia Hafsa madrassa, which was attached to the mosque. A male madrassa was only a few minutes drive away. In April 2007, the mosque administration started to encourage attacks on local video shops, alleging that they were selling porn films, and massage parlours, which were alleged to be used as brothels. These attacks were often carried out by the mosque's female students. In July 2007, a confrontation occurred when government authorities made a decision to stop the student violence and send police officers to arrest the responsible individuals and the madrassa administration.

On 27 July, Bhutto met for the first time with Musharraf in the United Arab Emirates to discuss her return to Pakistan. On 14 September 2007, Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim stated that Bhutto will not be deported, but must face corruption charges against her. He clarified Sharif's and Bhutto's right to return to Pakistan. On 17 September 2007, Bhutto accused Musharraf's allies of pushing Pakistan to crisis by refusal to restore democracy and share power. Bhutto returned from eight years exile on 18 October. Musharraf called for a three-day mourning period after Bhutto's assassination on 27 December 2007.

Sharif returned to Pakistan in September 2007, and was immediately arrested and taken into custody at the airport. He was sent back to Saudi Arabia. Saudi intelligence chief Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and Lebanese politician Saad Hariri arrived separately in Islamabad on 8 September 2007, the former with a message from Saudi King Abdullah and the latter after a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in London. After meeting President General Pervez Musharraf for two-and-a-half hours discussing Nawaz Sharif's possible return. On arrival in Saudi Arabia, Nawaz Sharif was received by Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz, the Saudi intelligence chief, who had met Musharraf in Islamabad the previous day. That meeting had been followed by a rare press conference, at which he had warned that Sharif should not violate the terms of King Abdullah's agreement of staying out of politics for 10 years.

On 2 October 2007, Musharraf appointed General Tariq Majid as Chairman Joint Chiefs Committee and approved General 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 28 September 2007, in a 6–3 vote, Judge Rana Bhagwandas's court removed obstacles to Musharraf's election bid.

On 3 November 2007 Musharraf declared emergency rule across Pakistan. He suspended the Constitution, imposed a 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 detained in their homes. Independent and international television channels went off air. Public protests were mounted against Musharraf.

The PML-N has tried to get Pervez Musharraf to stand trial in an article 6 trial for treason in relation to the emergency on 3 November 2007. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gilani has said a consensus resolution is required in national assembly for an article 6 trial of Pervez Musharraf"I have no love lost for Musharraf ... if parliament decides to try him, I will be with parliament. Article 6 cannot be applied to one individual ... those who supported him are today in my cabinet and some of them have also joined the PML-N ... the MMA, the MQM and the PML-Q supported him ... this is why I have said that it is not doable," said the Prime Minister while informally talking to editors and also replying to questions by journalists at an Iftar-dinner he had hosted for them. Although the constitution of Pakistan, Article 232 and Article 236, provides for emergencies, and on 15 February 2008, the interim Pakistan Supreme Court attempted to validated the Proclamation of Emergency on 3 November 2007, the Provisional Constitution Order No 1 of 2007 and the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007, after the Supreme Court judges were restored to the bench, on 31 July 2009, they ruled that Musharraf had violated the constitution when he declared emergency rule in 2007.

On 4 July 2008, in an interview, Abdul Qadeer Khan laid the blame on President Musharraf and later on Benazir Bhutto for transferring the technology, claiming that Musharraf was aware of all the deals and he was the "Big Boss" for those deals. Khan said that "Musharraf gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the armed forces. The equipment was sent in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistan security officials." Nuclear weapons expert David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security agreed that Khan's activities were government-sanctioned. After Musharraf's resignation, Abdul Qadeer Khan was released from house arrest by the executive order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. After Musharraf left the country, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tärik Majid terminated all further debriefings of Abdul Qadeer Khan. Few believed that Abdul Qadeer Khan acted alone and the affair risked gravely damaging the Armed Forces, which oversaw and controlled the nuclear weapons development and of which Musharraf was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until his resignation from military service on 28 November 2007.

General elections were held on 18 February 2008, in which the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) polled the highest votes and won the most seats. On 23 March 2008, President Musharraf said an "era of democracy" had begun in Pakistan and that he had put the country "on the track of development and progress". On 22 March, the PPP named former parliament speaker Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani as its candidate for the country's next prime minister, to lead a coalition government united against him.

On 7 August 2008, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) agreed to force Musharraf to step down and begin his impeachment. Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif announced sending a formal request or joint charge sheet that he step down, and impeach him through parliamentary process upon refusal. Musharraf refused to step down. A charge-sheet had been drafted, and was to be presented to parliament. It included Mr Musharraf's first seizure of power in 1999—at the expense of Nawaz Sharif, the PML(N)'s leader, whom Mr Musharraf imprisoned and exiled—and his second in November 2007, when he declared an emergency as a means to get re-elected president. The charge-sheet also listed some of Mr Musharraf's contributions to the "war on terror."

On 18 August 2008, Musharraf announced his resignation. On the following day, he defended his nine-year rule in an hour-long televised speech. However, public opinion was largely against him by this time. A poll conducted a day after his resignation showed that 63% Pakistanis welcomed Musharraf's decision to step down while only 15% were unhappy with it. On 23 November 2008 he left for exile in London where he arrived the following day.

In 2010, all constitutional changes carried out by Musharraf and Aziz's policies were reverted by the 18th Amendment, which put the country back to its initial position and restored the powers of the Prime Minister.

Musharraf launched his own political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in June 2010.

After his resignation, Musharraf went to perform a holy pilgrimage to Mecca. He then went on a speaking and lectureship tour through the Middle East, Europe, and United States. Chicago-based Embark LLC was one of the international public-relations firms trying to land Musharraf as a highly paid keynote speaker. According to Embark President David B. Wheeler, the speaking fee for Musharraf would be $150,000–200,000 for a day plus jet and other V.I.P. arrangements on the ground. In 2011, he also lectured at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on politics and racism where he also authored and published a paper with George Perkvich.

Abbottabad's district and sessions judge in a missing person's case passed judgment asking the authorities to declare Pervez Musharraf a proclaimed offender. On 11 February 2011 the Anti Terrorism Court, issued an arrest warrant for Musharraf and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder of Benazir Bhutto. On 8 March 2011, the Sindh High Court registered treason charges against him.

Since the start of 2011, news had circulated that Musharraf would return to Pakistan before the 2013 general election. He himself vowed this in several interviews. On Piers Morgan Tonight, Musharraf announced his plans to return to Pakistan on 23 March 2012 in order to seek the Presidency in 2013. The Taliban and Talal Bugti threatened to kill him should he return. On 3 April 2014, Musharraf escaped the fourth assassination attempt, resulting in an injury of a woman, according to Pakistani news.

On 24 March 2013, after a four-year self-imposed exile, he returned to Pakistan. He landed at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, via a chartered Emirates flight with Pakistani journalists and foreign news correspondents. Hundreds of his supporters and workers of APML greeted Musharraf upon his arrival at Karachi airport, and he delivered a short public speech.

On 16 April 2013, an electoral tribunal in Chitral declared Musharraf disqualified from candidacy there, effectively quashing his political ambitions (several other constituencies had previously rejected Musharraf's nominations). A spokesperson for Musharraf's party said the ruling was "biased" and they would appeal the decision.

While Musharraf had technically been on bail since his return to the country, on 18 April 2013, the Islamabad High Court ordered the arrest of Musharraf on charges relating to the 2007 arrests of judges. Musharraf escaped from court with the aid of his security personnel, and went to his farm-house mansion. The following day Musharraf was under house arrest but was later transferred to police headquarters in Islamabad. Musharraf characterized his arrest as "politically motivated" and his legal team has declared their intention to fight the charges in the Supreme Court. Further to the charges of this arrest, the Senate also passed a resolution petitioning that Musharraf be charged with high treason in relation to the events of 2007.

On 25 June 2013, Musharraf was named as prime suspect in two separate cases. The first case was subverting and suspending the constitution, and the second was a Federal Investigation Agency probe into the conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto. Musharraf was indicted on 20 August 2013 for Bhutto's assassination in 2007. On 2 September 2013, a first information report (FIR) was registered against him for his role in the Lal Masjid Operation in 2007. The FIR was lodged after the son of slain hard line cleric Abdul Rahid Ghazi (who was killed during the operation) asked authorities to bring charges against Musharraf.

On Friday 26 April 2013 the court ordered house arrest for Musharraf in connection with the death of Benazir Bhutto. On 20 May, a Pakistani court granted bail to Musharraf. On 12 June 2014 Sindh High Court allowed him to travel to seek medical attention abroad.

On 18 March 2016, Musharraf's name was removed from the Exit Control List and he was allowed to travel abroad, citing medical treatment. He currently lives in Dubai in self-imposed exile. Musharraf vowed to return to Pakistan, but has not done so. It was first disclosed in October 2018 that Musharraf suffers from amyloidosis, a rare and serious illness for which he has undergone treatment in hospitals in London and Dubai; an official with Musharraf's political party said that Musharraf would return to Pakistan after he made a full recovery.

In 2017, Musharraf appeared as a political analyst on his weekly television show Sab Se Pehle Pakistan with President Musharraf, hosted by BOL News.

On 31 August 2017, the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi declared him an "absconder" in Bhutto's murder case. The court also ordered that his property and bank account in Pakistan be seized.

On 17 December 2019, a special court declared him a traitor and sentenced him in absentia to death for abrogating and suspending the constitution in November 2007. The three-member panel of the special court which issued the order was spearheaded by Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court Waqar Ahmed Seth. He is also the first Pakistani Army General to be sentenced to death. Analysts did not expect Musharraf to face the sentence given his illness and the fact that Dubai has no extradition treaty with Pakistan; the verdict was also viewed as largely symbolic given that Musharraf retains support within the current Pakistani government and military.

Musharraf challenged the verdict, and on 13 January 2020, the Lahore High Court annulled the death sentence against Musharraf, ruling that the special court that held the trial was unconstitutional. The unanimous verdict was delivered by a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court, consisting of Justice Sayyed Muhammad Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir. The court ruled that the prosecution of Musharraf was politically motivated and that the crimes of high treason and subverting the Constitution were "a joint offense" that "cannot be undertaken by a single person."