'In The Line of Fire' A Memoir by Parvez Musharraf

Hizb Ut-Tahrir Britain
Book review: 'In the Line of fire' a Memoir by Parvez Musharraf
Vainglorious Musharraf puts America first in his quest for power
It is unprecedented for a sitting head of state to divulge their

memoirs and considering Musharraf has monopolized Pakistan's highest
seat by weakening all possible opposition the motivation for writing
his memoirs before retirement raises a number of questions. Heads of
state usually hold off publishing memoirs until they have left office
behind and are unfettered by diplomatic niceties. As any Pakistani and
now every US senator will tell you, his life in the helm since his coup
in 1999 has been anything but eventful. This book is his meek, but
ultimately feeble, justification for his actions and existence in
power.
His choice of title for his book, "In the Line of Fire," demonstrates
the audience he is targeting. In American popular media the phrase is
tied with the Clint Eastwood Hollywood film about a US secret service
agent taking a bullet in the chest to save the President. The American
public responded in kind, his book became a best seller. However, in
the Urdu translation, the one sold in Pakistan had the title changed to
"Sab say pehlay Pakistan" ("Pakistan First"). The change of title sums
up his dilemma, how do you serve American foreign policy yet sound like
you are doing it in the interests of your people?
Musharraf outlines a complete history prior to his coup of a Pakistan

in the grip of insincere and incompetent rulers, who never put Pakistan
first but only had their own interests or their family’s interests in
mind. He sums up the period from 1985 – 1998 as the dreadful decade;
his description lays the justification for when he decided to carry out
his coup. He has littered the book with one-liners expressing himself
as a great leader and savior of Pakistan. In doing so the book descends
to laughable limits with numerous inaccuracies, such as the Kargil
conflict.
The Kargil debacle of 1999 is blamed completely upon Nawaz Sharif. In

fact Musharraf was closely involved in turning a quick Pakistan victory
into an ignominious defeat. The push into the Kargil, which is a
strategic location high in the mountains on the Indian side of the LOC,
represented a key element of the Kashmir struggle which was being led
by a number of liberation forces alongside the Pakistani army. This
venture sent shock waves in India resulting in fighter jets being
scampered and a backlash against the Indian premier Vajpayee by his BJP
supporters. Fearing defeat at the next elections the US intervened
straight away to prevent further losses. President Clinton ordered
Pakistan to pull their troops back and it was General Musharraf, leader
of the forces, who executed the act. Hence pulling Pakistani troops
back from the strategic heights of Kargil was a deliberate US attempt
and Musharraf the leader of the armed forces who executed it.
Consequently all the blame was levelled at Nawaz Sharif and Kargil was
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used as an emotional pretext to remove him from power. In reality

America had set up the stage for Musharraf’s coup.
Musharraf attempts to justify his coup as something he never wished for

but that was forced upon him due to the insincere leadership of Nawaz
Sharif. He mentions that many people warned Sharif that he was planning
a coup and all this culminated in the infamous incident where his plane
was refused permission to land in Karachi, during this time a new
General of the Army was announced to the People of Pakistan. He
explains that his army due to the embarrassment of Kargil refused to
carry out orders and undertook to remove Nawaz Sharif from power,
ensuring his plane landed safely. The coup, he alleges, was carried out
in three hours with him unaware of such actions until he was handed the
reigns of power.
By contrast, numerous reports clearly prove such a narrative untrue.

Army insiders have explained plans were in place for Musharraf to take
over and recently General Hamid Gul, former head of the Pakistani
secret service, exposed the US support for a Musharraf takeover. The
Kargil affair simply laid the ground for the Musharraf coup.
The chapter on the War on Terror contains a number of illuminating

points. Indeed, Pakistan's unstinting support for America's War on
Terror is perhaps the lasting legacy of the Musharraf era. Musharraf
outlines the support Pakistan gave to the emergence of the Taliban as
they were the lesser of two evils, Musharraf continually describes the
Taliban as 'them' rather then 'us' considering the close ties between
the Taliban and Islamabad. He proudly boasts of the fact that his army
has captured over 672 'terrorists' and handed over half of them to the
US. Again there are a number of inconsistencies with his narrative on
the War on Terror. It was Musharraf who gave the US unstinting support
before even being ordered and he needed no convincing.
The most glaring contradiction in the book is the fact that Musharraf
chastises Nawaz Sharif's regime for following American diktat over the
Kargil affair, yet in siding with America's attack on Afghanistan after
the US administration threatened to "bomb Pakistan into the Stone Age"
he does exactly the same thing. Moreover, the strategic and
geopolitical position of Pakistan at present due to his policies has
never been so perilous. His slavish support of the US has resulted in
the loss of billions to the economy through the war in Afghanistan; the
unprecedented deployment of Pakistani soldiers to fight fellow Muslims
in the tribal areas, the strengthening of Indian influence in
Afghanistan and the loss of autonomy with the establishment of US
forces and FBI bases within Pakistan territory. His actions in regards
to his support to the war on terror do nothing to counteract the common
term of 'Busharraf' to describe the two leaders’ common axis. He is
certainly not following a Pakistan first policy. His actions are now
clear for all to see, hence many sections of the book are presented as
his rationale for doing America’s bidding but none of these stand up
when scrutinized against the events.
This book needs to be understood within the context it was written.

Musharraf has very little support at home and abroad and many people
are questioning Pakistan in terms of their commitment to global terror.
For this reason many facts and half facts are spiced up. His memoirs
are effectively a poor public relations exercise to cover up monumental
disasters in blindly following America in the hope that a hostile
public will forgive and forget. Even to the end, he continues to live
in a fantasy world believing that he will attain his place in history.
Perhaps he will but for the very wrong reasons. After reading the book
one is left to ask the question, is Musharraf a sincere puppet of
America with no dignity of his own or is he a fantasist, fooling
himself into believing he really is doing his actions for Pakistan’s
supreme interests. This would be too kind to him – history will see him
as another traitor to the people of Pakistan and their legitimate
struggles. It is time we had leaders in the Muslim world that put
Muslims first – not the interests of outside powers.

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Hizb Ut-Tahrir Britain

Book review: 'In the Line of fire' a Memoir by Parvez Musharraf

Vainglorious Musharraf puts America first in his quest for power

It is unprecedented for a sitting head of state to divulge their

Musharraf outlines a complete history prior to his coup of a Pakistan

The Kargil debacle of 1999 is blamed completely upon Nawaz Sharif. In

used as an emotional pretext to remove him from power. In reality

Musharraf attempts to justify his coup as something he never wished for

By contrast, numerous reports clearly prove such a narrative untrue.

The chapter on the War on Terror contains a number of illuminating

This book needs to be understood within the context it was written.

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