Military coup in Pakistan in 1999

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The 1999 military coup was a bloodless coup in Pakistan in which the Pakistani army and then Chief of Staff of the Army and Chairman of the General Staff, General Pervez Musharraf, took control of the government of Nawaz Sharif . Musharraf declared a state of emergency on October 14, 1999 and suspended the constitution .

prehistory

In the parliamentary elections in Pakistan in 1997, Nawaz Sharif and his party PML-N emerged victorious and achieved a two-thirds majority in parliament . His second term was marked by the ruling of the Pakistani Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. The court dealt with the legality of the 13th Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution. This constitutional amendment was passed in April 1997 by the Pakistani National Assembly. According to this addition, the Prime Minister and not the President, as before, should be the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistani armed forces ( Air Force , Armyand Navy ). In addition, the eighth amendment was repealed. This was introduced into the constitution at the time of the Zia-ul-Haq dictatorship in 1985 and resulted in a considerable increase in the power of the president by authorizing him to dismiss the prime minister if necessary and to dissolve the national assembly. The Chief Justice spoke out in favor of the legality of the change. Sajjad Ali Shah was not without controversy as chief judge, as he was appointed in 1994 by the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , circumventing the seniority principle that had been customary at the supreme court. Many lawyers therefore demanded his removal. Nawaz Sharif's party appealed and the court ruled to suspend the passage of laws. Nawaz Sharif was not pleased with this decision. Nawaz Sharif was to be summoned by the Chief Justice for violating house rules. Sharif appeared in court in November 1997, but PML-N supporters stormed the Pakistani Supreme Court building, forcing the Chief Justice to reverse his order. The police in Islamabad managed to restore law and order. The Judicial Commission then investigated and found that Chief Justice Shah's hiring was illegal. Chief Justice Shah subsequently resigned from his position as Chief Justice. The then President Farooq Leghari, who supported Sajjad Shah, also resigned, as the army chief Jehangir Karamat and the chief of the air force Feroze Khan intervened to prevent a state crisis. Nawaz Sharif then nominated Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui as the new Chief Justice and offered Rafiq Tarar the presidency. In 1998, Nawaz Sharif deposed the then Chief of Army Staff, Jehangir Karamat, when he was giving a speech to students. Sharif's dismissal of Karamat was criticized in the cabinet and his relationship with the military deteriorated. The dismissal of the army chief was unique in Pakistani history. After Karamat was released, Sharif decided to appoint Pervez Musharraf as the new army chief. The following year, government-military relations continued to deteriorate when Nawaz Sharif invited Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Lahore for peace talks . Army chief Musharraf was not enthusiastic about this step.

Pakistani soldiers crossed the LoC on orders from Musharraf in 1999 and invaded Kargil, almost starting a war between Pakistan and India. The Indian army responded by preparing for acts of war, while the Indian government put diplomatic pressure on Nawaz Sharif to withdraw the soldiers. Musharraf and Sharif blame each other for the situation in Kargil. In September 1999, Musharraf forcibly retired Lieutenant Tariq Pervez. Pervez urged Nawaz Sharif to act, otherwise the army would take over

The coup

After the Kargil War , rumors surfaced in the Pakistani media in September 1999 that Musharraf would either resign as army chief or take over government. In October 1999, Musharraf visited Sri Lankan Army Chief CS Weerasooriya. Meanwhile, Nawaz dismissed Sharif Musharraf as army chief and nominated General Ziauddin Butt. Musharraf returned to Pakistan. The aviation authority was instructed by Nawaz Sharif to divert the plane in which Musharraf was sitting with other generals to India . The plane was eventually diverted to Nawabshah. The aviation authority was asked to turn off the runway lights at Jinnah International Airport to prevent Musharraf from landing. However, by order of Musharraf, the military occupied and cordoned off the airport, allowing the plane to land. The military also occupied the offices of the stately television station PTV and surrounded the prime minister's secretariat and all airports in the country.

Effects

In December 2000, following an agreement with Saudi Arabia, Musharraf surprisingly accepted the apology from Nawaz Sharif, who was released from prison and allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia with his family . It later emerged that this agreement with Saudi Arabia was forced into existence and meant exile for Sharif . In a 2016 interview, Musharraf admitted that Sharif was released at the request of Saudi Arabia. In May 2000, the Musharraf coup was legalized. However, elections were ordered. Musharraf forced Rafiq Tarar to step down from the presidency in 2001. In a referendum in 2002 , Musharraf was confirmed in office with 98%.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thirteenth Amendment is Passed. storyofpakistan.com, June 1, 2003, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1997. (pdf) World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), April 4, 1997, accessed November 18, 2018 (English, original text, published in the Gazette of Pakistan ).
  3. ^ Iftikhar Haider Malik: The History of Pakistan . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Conn. 2008, ISBN 978-0-313-34137-3 , Nawaz Sharif and the Military Coup, pp. 223 (English, Google Books [GOOGLEBOOKS; accessed February 3, 2017]).
  4. ^ Aqil Shah: The Army and Democracy . Harvard University Press, Stanford 2014, ISBN 978-0-674-72893-6 , From Zia to Musharraf, pp. 381 (English, Google Books [GOOGLEBOOKS; accessed February 3, 2017]).
  5. ^ Lenze Jr: Civil-Military Relations in the Islamic World . Lexington Books, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4985-1874-1 , Pakistan, pp. 212 (English, Google Books [GOOGLEBOOKS; accessed February 3, 2017]).
  6. ^ Aziz Sartaj: Between Dreams and Realities: Some Milestones in Pakistan's History . Oxford University Press, Karachi, ISBN 978-0-19-547718-4 , pp. 408 .
  7. ↑ Kathy Gannon: I is for infidel: from holy war to holy terror in Afghanistan . 1st edition. Public Affairs, Kathy, New York 2005, ISBN 978-1-58648-312-8 , pp. 145-146 ( Google Books ).
  8. ^ Daniel E. Harmon: Pervez Musharraf: President of Pakistan: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition . 24th edition. ReadHowYouWant.com, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4270-9208-3 , Chief of the Army Staff, pp. 156 (English, Google Books [accessed February 3, 2017]).
  9. ↑ Weaver, Mary Anne. "General On Tightrope". Pakistan: in the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. pp. 25-31
  10. ↑ Musharraf Vs. Sharif: Who's Lying? In: The Weekly Voice. October 2, 2006, archived from the original on October 11, 2007 ; accessed on February 9, 2021 .
  11. ^ Name = "Yale University Press, Jones"> Owen Bennett Jones: Pakistan eye of the storm . 2nd edition. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. 2003, ISBN 0-300-10147-3 , The 1999 Coup (English, Google Books [accessed February 3, 2017]).
  12. ↑ et.al Staff writer: COAS denies differences with govt. In: asianstudies.github.io. DAWN WIRE SERVICE:, September 25, 1999, accessed February 3, 2017 .
  13. ^ 'Plot to kill' coup leader . In: BBC News . October 14, 1999 ( online [accessed May 6, 2011]).
  14. ↑ Tim Weiner: Countdown to Pakistan's Coup: A Duel of Nerves in the Air . In: New York Times . October 17, 1999 ( online [accessed May 6, 2011]).
  15. ^ Aqil Shah, The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan | (Harvard University Press, 2014), p. 181-182 [1]
  16. ↑ Pakistan court limits army rule . In: BBC News . May 12, 2000 ( online [accessed May 7, 2011]).