Initial Years, 1971 war
During his initial childhood years, Musharaff was brought up in Turkey. He was an admirer of Kemal Atatürk and his vision of a Muslim state with modern secular deposition. His admiration was visible when he quoted in 2005 that Pakistan wants to become a modern state, and not a Westernized state, which is another shade of extremism.
When India and Pakistan went to war in 1971, he was one of the last soldiers planned to be sent from West Pakistan to East Pakistan. But the war ended bitterly even before he reached East Pakistan (current Bangladesh). Pakistan lost half of its nation. This created ever-lasting trauma within him. Once when he was asked about the 1971 war, he responded “I broke down and cried. All my brave soldiers cried with me. It remains a most sad and most painful day of my life. My anger at the General who had taken charge of the government and at some of the politicians of the time, still makes me see red”.
During the 1971 war, Musharaff lost one of his batchmate and close friend namely Major Rana Bilal Ahmed. In his memory, Musharaff named his only son Bilal.
Kargil War
When Benazir Bhutto who was then the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in 1996 learnt about Musharaff Kargil’s plans through intelligence networks, she warned the general not to go ahead, as the war will end in humiliating status for Pakistan in world geopolitics.
In October 1998, fearing risk in his rule from Jahangir Karamat (chief of army staff, COAS, of Pakistan Army — 1998), Nawaz Sharif who was the Prime Minister appointed Musharaff the COAS, firing Jahangir Karamat. At that time, Musharaff was little known to the outside world. Nawaz Sharif believed Musharaff and Ziauddin (ISI chief -1998) will keep their job safe, but the opposite happened a few months later.
In 1999, defiant Musharaff went ahead with his Kargil plans. His plan was simple and tactical: capture the Kargil mountains in winter, overlook Indian National Highway 1 (NH1) from mountain heights, cut the supply lines going from Srinagar to Leh, and bring international mediation for the Kashmir issue. NH1 is the lifeline for troops staying in Leh and Siachen glacier. It is only land route through which logistics supplies needed for the army in Leh are delivered through trucks. In the winter of 1998, Pakistan troops of the Northern Light Infantry captured the Kargil mountains in name of irregulars. Panicked India, responded swiftly bringing back troops, howitzers, and aircraft to fight against intruders. With a combined Indian military response and international pressure, all intruders were pushed back giving a humiliating defeat to Musharaff’s plans. The entire Kargil operation was secretly executed by Musharaff keeping Nawaz sharif in dark about the Kargil.
Kashmir post-Kargil war, coup, Agra Summit
In 1999, Nawaz sharif’s move to instate Musharaff as COAS backfired. After a few months of an uneasy relationship with Sharif & Kargil humiliation, Musharaff toppled sharif’s rule and banished him to Saudi Arabia. Many countries including India condemned this move.
After Kargil’s humiliation, Musharaff and the Pakistan security establishment wanted to avenge the loss in Kashmir. Kashmir insurgency/terrorism touched its zenith when Musharaff was acting as COAS and post-Kargil war. The number of fedayeen attacks increased several times post-Kargil war. Every month, there was the loss of so many human lives including soldiers and civilians on both sides.
Even before the term “Surgical strikes” was invented, Indian and Pakistan troops often cross their respective borders, commonly known as Lines of Control and kill opponent soldiers to avenge their losses. Between 1998 and 2013, there were 9 Indian raids inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, as officially acknowledged by Pakistan. One of the bloodiest Pakistani raids happened in February 2000. Ilyas Kashmiri, a notorious HUJI/Al-Qaeda terrorist led a guerilla attack attacking an Indian post located in an unfavorable position surrounded on all 3 sides by Pakistani posts. All 7 soldiers inside the Indian post were killed in the attack. The most gruesome of this attack was, one of the soldier head was decapitated, taken back to Pakistan Kashmir, and brandished as a trophy. As per media reports, Musharaff honored Ilyas Kashmiri for this gruesome act with prize money of one lakh Pakistan rupees.
Terrorism emanating from Pakistan was giving sleepless nights to the Indian government between 1999 and 2000. In 1999, an Indian Airlines airplane (IC-814, enroute from Kathmandu to New Delhi) hijack paved way for the release of Masood Azhar and the birth of a dreadful terrorist group called Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). A few months later, in October 2001, JeM conducted a suicide bombing in Kashmir legislative assembly killing 38 civilians.
Tragedy struck India again with the dreaded 2001 Bhuj earthquake. Many villages were flattered by the significant number of fatalities from the earthquake. At this moment, Musharaff telephoned Vajpayee and offered humanitarian assistance from Pakistan. This is another ice-breaking moment after the Delhi-Lahore bus confidence building measure (CBM). India accepted the assistance, followed by the Agra summit for peace talks. Agra summit did not yield any major progress, as Musharraf hastily withdrew from the summit as he adamantly wanted to discuss Kashmir on his terms.
9/11 attacks, Indian Parliament Attack, Operation Parakaram
In the 90’s most US citizens believed that their nation is impregnable to any foreign initiated attacks on their homeland. But that belief was shattered on Sept 9, 2001. A few planes struck lofty buildings, bringing down the buildings to rubble. Thousands died in the terror incident, and it questioned the superpower status of the US. In the next few days, Pakistan was coerced to cooperate with the US for upcoming planned retaliations. A few days after 9/11, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage discussed with Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed (ISI director). In that he made a direct threat to Ahmed, commonly paraphrased “Pakistan will be bombed to the stone age if it doesn’t cooperate”. Musharaff accepted to help the US in list of planned retaliation activities. He defended saying “We are surrounded by enemies like India/Iran and Pakistan had no other option other than aligning with US interests”.
After the 9/11 terror incident, World changed its perception of militancy and insurgency. Earlier left leaning nations were praising and defending militant activities happening in Palestine, and Kashmir. This perception changed 180 degrees after the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan which earlier protected Kashmir militant groups in name of insurgency faced now serious setback. It was not able to market terror groups like JeM, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in world forums.
Gazi Baba alias Shabaz Khan was one of the most dreaded terrorists in Kashmir insurgency history. He was the brain behind multiple horrendous attacks inside Kashmir valley, those attacks include the 2001 Kashmir assembly suicide bombing, and car bombing attacks on Army headquarters, Srinagar. This time he masterminded an attack outside J&K. On 13th of Dec 2001, the Indian Parliament was infiltrated and attacked by five armed terrorists which resulted in the death of nine Indians, followed by the 2002 Kaluchak Massacre by three fedayeen terrorists that resulted in the deaths of 34 most of whom were wives and children of Indian soldiers.
Musharaff gave a famous handshake with Musharraf in 2002, peace negotiations thereafter led to the famous 2003 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.
