General Pervez Musharraf became president of Pakistan on Wednesday, 20 months after toppling the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and assuming all powers as the country's chief executive.
The general, who continues to lead the army staff, assumed the presidency less than a month before he is due to travel to India for a landmark summit on the disputed region of Kashmir, responsible for two of the three wars between India and Pakistan.
As president, his authority will be strengthened at the landmark summit.
Musharraf, 58, is repeating history. The late General Zia ul-Haq became president in 1978, one year after ousting Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and ruled the country for 11 years.
But unlike Zia, the man who becomes the country's 10th president is seen as a soft dictator, who has not gagged the press since his bloodless coup on October 12, 1999.
Born in New Delhi in August 1943, Musharraf took over as army chief in October 7, 1998, after his predecessor General Jehangir Karamat resigned amid a rift with Sharif.
A year later, he was sacked by Sharif, hours before he launched the coup.
The deposed prime minister was later accused of trying to stop Musharraf's plane from landing at Karachi on the night of the coup, even though it was low on fuel.
Sharif was convicted on hijacking charges in April last year and sentenced to life imprisonment and also barred for 21 years from holding public office for corruption.
Musharraf pardoned Sharif after the intervention of the Saudi royal family but ordered him into exile in Saudi Arabia in December 2000. Under the deal, Sharif is not allowed to make any political statements.
Another vocal former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, is in self-exile in London and faces arrest at home on corruption charges.
After the coup, Pakistan was suspended from meetings of the Commonwealth's council of ministers.
But Musharraf has resisted international pressure to announce a clear roadmap for the country's promised return to democracy and refused to spell out when and how the next general elections will be held.
However, the government, bound by the Supreme Court to hold elections by October next year, has started partyless local council elections in phases.
Musharraf has restricted political activities at home and police have repeatedly cracked down on political gatherings, but the general has not allowed opposition politicians to be detained indefinitely.
His government has also launched a tough anti-corruption campaign but allowed the National Accountability Bureau to release people who agree to refund plundered money.
Before being sworn in on Wednesday, Musharraf dissolved the parliament, which was suspended after the coup, putting to rest speculation that he was about to restore the national assemblies and return the country to civilian rule.
He governs with a civilian-dominated cabinet, while the National Security Council, comprising chiefs of the military, is a key decision-making body.
Musharraf has been at odds with Sharif's handling of the Kashmir conflict with India.
Sharif's decision, under US pressure, to withdraw pro-Pakistan fighters from Indian Kashmir's Kargil peaks was seen as a source of his rift with the military.
A graduate of Pakistan's prestigious Command and Staff College in Quetta, Baluchistan, Musharraf was commissioned in 1964 to an artillery regiment and fought in the 1965 conflict with India.
He has served in several self-propelled artillery regiments, according to his official biography, and spent seven years in various battalions of the Special Services Group (SSG) of army commandos.
He has also commanded an infantry division and a strike corps and received a number of military decorations -- -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
