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Musharraf to Take Oath as Civilian Leader
At an elaborate military ceremony inside army headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, right, hands his symbolic bamboo baton to Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, who succeeds Musharraf as chief of the army.
(Pakistan Inter Services Public Relations Via Bloomberg News)
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At the midmorning change of command ceremony in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Musharraf spoke with evident emotion of the institution in which he served for more than four decades, saying that the army had been "like a family to me" and that he had been proud to serve "with honor and dignity." He said that the military had come to the country's rescue in many crises and that it was "our duty to save the nation."
But Musharraf's record as army chief and military ruler was mixed. In the spring of 1999, he presided over a failed attempt to invade the Kargil mountains just over India's border, risking a wider war with Pakistan's longtime rival and fellow nuclear power. That fall, he was nearly ousted by Sharif but retaliated by seizing power in a bloodless coup and later sending the prime minister into exile in Saudi Arabia.
At first, many Pakistanis welcomed the new military leader, a moderate Muslim with a winning manner who pledged to bring about sweeping political, social and economic reforms.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Musharraf quickly sided with the West against the Taliban movement in neighboring Afghanistan.
But Musharraf began to lose support in Pakistan as his policies were resisted by domestic interest groups, Islamic extremism spread and he attempted to legitimize his rule by holding elections that monitors said were badly flawed. The low point came last March, when he tried to depose the chief justice of the Supreme Court, setting off a protest movement by the legal community that gained wide support among the civilian populace.
"This has been like a Greek tragedy. In his struggle for political survival, General Musharraf dismantled brick by brick the positive legacy he had built," said Mushahid Hussain, a former senior aide to Sharif who later joined Musharraf's political coalition.
On Wednesday, people watching the military retirement ceremony on TV in a bazaar in Rawalpindi offered bitter comments that reflected the depth of public hostility the general had reached. A salesman said he wished Musharraf would be arrested on the spot. A pharmaceutical company manager said Musharraf had taken office by force, killed innocent people and deserved to be killed by a suicide bomber.
Political opponents were more circumspect. Bhutto said Musharraf's retirement was a "happy moment in the history of Pakistan," because the army would go back to its professional responsibilities. Sharif also welcomed his move but repeated his previous demands for free and fair elections without emergency rule.
