Parvez Musharraf died in Dubai yesterday after a long illness. It's ironic that he couldn't live long despite having collected billions in his lifetime.
When Parvez Musharraf overthrew Nawaz Sharif in October, 1999, people welcomed him. Nawaz Sharif was a nincompoop who had been elected with a two thirds majority, which is why he thought no one could touch him. He wanted to further Islamize Pakistan, wanting to be the Amirul Momineen (Commander of the Faithful). Nawaz's biggest mistake was not heeding his father's advice. The old man had repeatedly told him not to defy the army. Instead, he sacked Musharraf (who was in Sri Lanka) and appointed a Kashmiri general (Ziauddin Butt) in his place. Not only that, he closed all airports in the country so Musharraf would be forced to land in a neighboring country (probably India). Musharraf's cronies re-opened Karachi airport and allowed his plane to land.
Everyone expected Nawaz to be sentenced to death, instead he got 25 years in jail, but the Saudis forced Musharraf to release him. Nawaz signed an agreement not to return for 10 years, in fact he did come back to attend his father's funeral but was deported immediately.
Musharraf attended the same school that I did (St. Patrick's). He was in the same class as two of my cousins. I don't remember meeting him, although he was only a year ahead of me.
Musharraf made many mistakes, like suspending the Constitution, for which he received the death penalty (it was later overturned). He was allowed to leave the country and spent the last ten years out of Pakistan. In my opinion, he should not have allowed our natural gas to be used in vehicles. With the large scale theft of gas in the country, it was only a question of time before we consumed all of it. We're paying for this mistake today.
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