Pakistan

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Constitutional Amendments and Elections

Musharraf pledged to hold provincial and parliamentary elections in October 2002. In a bid to secure his position as president, a title he had adopted in 2001, Musharraf called a referendum in April 2002 on extending his presidency for five years. The referendum returned a majority of votes in favor of the proposal, although low voter turnout, loose voting rules, and the absence of poll monitors tainted the results. In addition, political parties denounced the referendum because under the constitution, the president is to be selected by members of the national and provincial legislatures. In August 2002 Musharraf granted himself sweeping new powers, unilaterally enacting the Legal Framework Order that introduced 29 amendments to Pakistan’s constitution. Among other powers, the amendments allowed him to dissolve the parliament, force the resignation of the prime minister, and appoint Supreme Court justices.

In the October 2002 elections no single party or coalition of parties won a majority of seats in the National Assembly (lower house). The largest number of seats went to the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), or PML-Q, a new PML faction formed as a pro-Musharraf party. Pro-democracy parties, which had formed the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, also made a strong showing, as did hardline Islamic parties. Afterward, Britain announced that in restoring an elected civilian government, Pakistan qualified for readmission to the Commonwealth of Nations.

In December 2003 the parliament passed a constitutional-amendment bill that legitimized Musharraf’s rule and approved most of the special powers that he had awarded himself in 2002. It also specified that Musharraf would have to relinquish his post as chief of army staff by the end of 2004. Before the deadline approached, however, both houses of parliament voted to allow Musharraf to remain in the dual role of president and army chief until 2007. Opposition leaders vehemently opposed the vote, which passed by a simple majority. Musharraf continued to insist that a formal role for the military in governing the country was necessary to ensure stability.

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Regional Diplomacy

Tensions escalated between Pakistan and India following violent attacks on Indian targets by Kashmīri separatists in late 2001 and early 2002. By mid-2002 the two countries had amassed an estimated 1 million troops along their shared border, with most of the military buildup in the disputed Jammu and Kashmīr region. The threat of armed conflict between the two nuclear powers prompted intense international diplomacy, which ultimately helped defuse the crisis.

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In May 2003 India and Pakistan agreed to restore diplomatic ties. High-level contacts followed. In late November Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted Musharraf’s offer of a cease-fire in Jammu and Kashmīr. For the first time in 14 years, artillery fire ceased along the 1,100-km (700-mi) border. The two leaders also made moves toward restoring and improving trade and transportation ties between their countries. In January 2004 India and Pakistan agreed to resume talks on a range of issues, including the status of Kashmīr.

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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program

In February 2004 the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted that he had shared nuclear weapons technology with other nations. Through these deals Khan became enormously wealthy. In a nationally televised address Khan apologized for his actions. The next day Musharraf pardoned Khan, who is regarded as a national hero within Pakistan. Khan’s ties with Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons laboratory had previously been severed in 2001 due to financial irregularities. He was placed under house arrest in early 2004 after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and several Western intelligence agencies confronted Musharraf with overwhelming evidence that Khan had passed nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

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Deadly Earthquake

In October 2005 a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan’s mountainous northern regions. Near the epicenter, located about 105 km (65 mi) northeast of Islāmābād, entire villages were reduced to rubble. The quake killed at least 73,000 people and left about 3 million homeless in Pakistan. International donors pledged more than $5 billion for reconstruction, and aid agencies quickly moved in to provide humanitarian relief. However, the remoteness of many communities impeded aid efforts. As heavy winter snows set in, many survivors were forced to live in tents and other inadequate shelters. A year later about 30,000 people faced another brutally cold winter without adequate shelter, due to the slow pace of rebuilding. The Pakistani government estimated that reconstruction would take several years to complete.

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Opposition to Musharraf

In March 2007 Musharraf formally suspended the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry, and replaced him with an acting chief justice of his own choosing. The dismissal of Chaudhry sparked daily street protests by lawyers and opposition politicians, who accused Musharraf of undermining the independence of the judiciary in the run-up to the presidential elections due in October. The Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry in July, ruling that Musharraf had acted illegally and exceeded his constitutional authority. The opposition against Musharraf gained new impetus from the ruling.

The following month, the Supreme Court ruled that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf had deposed in 1999, had an “inalienable right” to return to Pakistan from exile in Saudi Arabia. Sharif, who had maintained his leadership of the PML faction loyal to him (the PML-N), announced his intention to return and contest upcoming elections. Upon his arrival in September 2007, Sharif was promptly arrested by government forces and sent back to Saudi Arabia. However, in November he was allowed to return to Pakistan.

In early October, Musharraf easily won reelection as president. Most opposition parties boycotted the election, which was held by an electoral college comprising members of the national and provincial assemblies. Although the Supreme Court had allowed the election to go ahead as scheduled, it decided to hear challenges to Musharraf’s right to reelection, thus postponing his inauguration. At issue was his eligibility to run for president while retaining his role as army chief. Musharraf indicated he would give up his military title once his reelection as president was secured.

Meanwhile, Musharraf engaged in negotiations with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the widely popular PPP leader who had remained in self-imposed exile since 1999. Bhutto sought to gain amnesty from the longstanding corruption charges against her, as well as the right to serve a third term as prime minister (disallowed under the amended constitution). In return Bhutto reportedly agreed to accept Musharraf as president, providing he resigned as army chief. In October 2007 Musharraf granted Bhutto amnesty, and she promptly returned to Pakistan.

Bhutto’s arrival procession in Karāchi drew throngs of supporters, but the homecoming celebration turned into a tragedy as suicide-bomb attacks killed at least 136 people and injured hundreds more. Afterward, the government instituted restrictions on public political gatherings. Suicide-bomb attacks, attributed to Islamic militants, had been on the rise in Pakistan for several months.

Musharraf declared a state of emergency in November 2007, claiming that the country was “on the verge of destabilization” due to increasing activity by pro-Taliban militants. Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved the Supreme Court but stopped short of shutting down the parliament. Only the state-run television station was allowed to broadcast, and telephone lines were disabled. Chief Justice Chaudhry refused to endorse the emergency order and was promptly dismissed and put under house arrest. Chaudhry’s supporters and others who staged protests against the imposition of emergency rule were met with baton-wielding police and tear gas.

Musharraf resigned his military post in late November and was subsequently inaugurated as president, this time as a civilian. He lifted the state of emergency in mid-December. Later that month Bhutto was assassinated while campaigning in Rāwalpindi. Parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for January 2008, were postponed until February. The PPP emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly, followed by Sharif’s PML-N. The pro-Musharraf PML-Q and its allies suffered a crushing defeat, losing their majority. The PPP and PML-N formed a coalition government in opposition to Musharraf. Yusuf Raza Gillani of the PPP was named prime minister.