Musharraf's Coup and the Return of Democracy
General Pervez Musharraf ousts Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup and rules for nine years, until a lawyers' movement, Benazir Bhutto's assassination and elections end his rule.
- Pakistan: A New History — Ian Talbot, Hurst (2012)
- The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan — Aqil Shah, Harvard University Press (2014)
- Benazir Bhutto — Encyclopaedia Britannica
The 1990s were Pakistan’s “decade of democracy”, in which Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif each held power twice and were each dismissed amid corruption charges. On 12 October 1999, after Sharif tried to sack him in the aftermath of the Kargil war, army chief General Pervez Musharraf took power. Many Pakistanis initially welcomed him as a modernising, secular-minded leader who promised “enlightened moderation”.
- Pakistan: A New History — Ian Talbot, Hurst (2012)
- The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan — Aqil Shah, Harvard University Press (2014)
After 9/11 Musharraf allied Pakistan with the United States, and the economy grew strongly on aid and investment. But in March 2007 he suspended the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, sparking a nationwide lawyers’ movement. In July his troops stormed the militant-held Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, and in November he declared a state of emergency.
- Pakistan: A New History — Ian Talbot, Hurst (2012)
- The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan — Aqil Shah, Harvard University Press (2014)
Benazir Bhutto returned from exile in October 2007, surviving a bombing in Karachi that killed well over a hundred people. On 27 December she was assassinated after a rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh. Her party won the February 2008 election, and Musharraf resigned in August rather than face impeachment.
- Benazir Bhutto — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Pakistan: A New History — Ian Talbot, Hurst (2012)
Why it matters today
The 2008 transition began Pakistan's longest stretch of civilian governments, and in 2013 the first handover from one elected government to another. But many Pakistanis believe the army still decides who governs from behind the scenes, an arrangement often called the "hybrid regime".