Pervez Musharraf

General (retired) Syed Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرويز مشرف‎) (born 11 August 1943) is a Pakistani politician and retired Four-star general of the Pakistan Army, who was a former military dictator and the tenth President of Pakistan from 20 June 2001 to 18 August 2008, when he tendered his resignation to avoid Impeachment. Previously, he was Chief Executive of Pakistan as well as former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army and he took over power in Pakistan in 1999, by one day removing the then elected government of Nawaz Sharif.

He has charged with multiple murders in April 2013 and was given bail in October 2013. Then he was arrested again. In 2019, Musharraf was sentenced to death in absentia over his treason charges.

Syed Pervez Musharraf was born on 11 August 1943 in Delhi, British India (present-day India) during the British Raj. Musharraf was raised in Karachi and Istanbul. He studied Mathematics at Forman Christian College in Lahore and was also Educated at the Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom. Musharraf entered the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961 and was Commissioned to the Pakistan Army in 1964, playing an active Role in the Afghan civil war. Musharraf saw action during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 as a second Lieutenant. By the 1980s, he was commanding an Artillery brigade. In the 1990s, Musharraf was promoted to Major general and assigned an Infantry division, and later commanded the Special Services Group. Soon after, he also served as Deputy military secretary and Director general of military operations.

Musharraf rose to national Prominence when he was promoted to a Four-star general by Prime minister, Nawaz Sharif in 1998, making Musharraf the head of the Armed forces. He led the Kargil infiltration that almost brought India and Pakistan to a full-fledged War in 1999.