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'President General Pervez Musharraf (born August 11, 1943) became ruler of Pakistan in 1999 following a bloodless coup.

Musharraf was born in New Delhi, India but moved with his parents to Karachi, Pakistan in 1947, when British India was partitioned into two countries; the Hindu majority India and the Muslim majority East Pakistan (now an independent country called Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now called just Pakistan). He was trained as a commando and fought in two wars against India. In the past, Musharraf has been considered a hawk on India and thought to have orchestrated the (failed) Kargill operation in Kashmir.

Later he rose to the rank of Chief General. As Army Chief of Staff, he seized power in a bloodless military coup d'état on October 12, 1999, placing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under house arrest. He formally became President of Pakistan on June 20, 2001.

Musharraf is considered a moderate leader by Western governments because he is willing to deal with the West. Although many believe that Musharraf is sincere in his desire to bridge the Islamic and the Western worlds and has previously spoken strongly against the idea of the inevitability of a 'clash of civilisations' between them. Mushrraf's emotional ties to the United States could only be conjectured to be fairly strong since at least two close members of his family live there; his brother, a doctor, lives in Chicago and his son lives in Boston. His only other child, a daughter, is an architect.

Unlike orthodox Muslims who consider dogs to be 'unclean', and therefore don't keep them as pets, Musharraf has several dogs. He is quoted to have said in an interview, "My dogs love me. And I love my dogs." Both of his parents attended college; his mother's major was English Literature. He has been open to making economic reforms and to modernize Pakistan. He is considered to be secular, like the old Pakistan army before Muhammad Zia ul-Haq's rule, which was heavily influenced by the United States and whose officers were often trained there. His rise to power was marked by a widespread purge of Islamist elements within the military and security forces, much to the relief of many moderate and left wing Pakistanis.

Following the September 11, 2001 Attacks Musharraf has worked closely with President of the United States George W. Bush in the War on Terror (thus earning him the cynical nickname 'Busharraf' by some). Musharraf's support for America was instrumental in defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan with the ease that it was routed. This was done after his swift and strategically sound decision to cease Pakistan's long running support of the Taliban. Pakistan cut the Taliban's oil and supply lines, provided intelligence and acted as a staging area for Operation Enduring Freedom.

Shortly after the horrific events of 9/11 took place, Musharraf gave a watershed speech on Pakistan Television in which he very emotionally pledged his and Pakistan's support to the United States in its war on terrorism. The Taliban regime is widely believed to be a product of the infamous ISI security agency of Pakistan working on the principle of 'Strategic depth' to ensure a Pakistan friendly regime in Afghanistan. The new policy was a sudden 180 degrees turn from the old one and had been judged a key indicator of Musharraf's sincerity by analysts at think tanks like the Brookings Institute.

Musharraf has given many interviews and speeches on various American and western TV channels and other media. He even paid a visit to the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, in June 2003. He seems to have advisers who are aware of the issues on American leaders' minds from moment to moment and Musharraf always seems to address those issues and seems to always say exactly what those leaders want to hear. Due to these reasons, he is disliked quite strongly by some right wing, minority Islamic fundamentlist parties in Pakistan. But overall, Musharraf enjoys widespread support of the 150 million Pakistani people, who are mostly moderate Muslims many of whom like America and want stable and permanently friendly relations with it. However, America's image has sufferred ostensibly after the war in Iraq without a UN resolution. But this has happened all around the world and Pakistan is no exception. Musharraf has bluntly refused to send any Pakistani troops to Iraq without a UN resolution.

Even though Musharraf didn't exaclty come to power through proper channels, his rule is accepted by most Pakistanis. The reason for this could be that the two leaders before him who were democratically elected, were widely thought to be corrupt and inept. Benazir Bhutto's husband was known as 'Mr.10%' because for every large scale business deal to go through that needed government approvals, he was known to demand 10% for himself.

On December 14, 2003, General Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. It was the third such attempt during his 4 year rule.

11 days later, on December 25, 2003, two suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their car bombs failed to kill the President; 16 others nearby died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windshield on his car.

In November of 2002, much of the existing military government apparatus was dismantled, and Musharraf agreed to hand over certain powers to a newly elected parliament. Musharraf stepped down as Prime Minister and the legislature elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in his place, who in turn appointed his own cabinet. The new government were mostly loyal to Musharaff, who remained President and Head of State in the new government. Musharaff continues to be the active executive of Pakistan, especially in foreign affairs.

On January 1, 2004 Musharraf won confidence votes in both houses of Parliament and in Pakistan's four provincial assemblies. Musharraf received a majority of vote in all, but many opposition and Islamic members of parliament walked out to protest the vote. With the motion passed, Musharraf was "deemed to be elected" thus further legitimizing the President's rule. His term now extends to 2007.

Recently, Musharraf has come under fire in the west, after the disclosure of nuclear proliferation by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the metallurgist known as the father of Pakistan's bomb. Musharraf has denied knowledge of or participation by Pakistan's government or army in this proliferation. Evidence seems to support his claim and Musharraf continues to enjoy strong support of the White House and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Nevertheless, some army officials are believed to have illegally participated without the top leadership's involvement.

In the middle of 2004, Musharraf began a series of talks with Pakistan's longtime nemeis, India, to solve the 50+ year old dispute over the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, through a process known as "composite dialog". Unless this dispute is resolved, the Indo-Pak subcontinent will remain a powder keg, with the very real prospect of nuclear Armageddon perpetually looming over one-sixth of humanity. Both India and Pakistan have enough bombs and nuclear warhead delivery systems to annihilate each other many times over, within a period of less than half an hour, due to their close proximity to each other.

Pakistan has publicly stated that it reserves the right to 'exercise its nuclear option' first, in a large scale war with India. India has declared a policy of 'no first nuclear strike' and demanded that Pakistan pledge the same. Musharraf has so far, refused to do so.