It was 2007 when Pervez Musharraf lost his grip on power

New Delhi: "You should understand something, your security is based on the state of our relationship,” a menacing Pervez Musharraf was heard by the US intelligence agencies, threatening Pakistan People’s Party leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just before her ill-fated return to her home country from exile. 

Within two months of returning to Pakistan, Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007.

The conversation was first reported by Pulitzer Prize-winning US journalist Ron Suskind in his book The Way of the World.

There is a huge body of evidence that at least some parts of the Pakistani state were complicit in Bhutto’s assassination.

And Bhutto’s assassination didn’t help Musharraf.

Bhutto was planning to return to Pakistan with the blessings of the US State Department under Condoleezza Rice. The US had hoped that if Bhutto returned to Pakistan and Musharraf shared power with her, it will give a democratic facade to her regime helping it to survive a few more years but Bhutto’s assassination halted the plan permanently and Musharraf started to lose grip on power more rapidly.

2007 was already a bad year for Musharraf with the Lal Masjid operation leading to suicide bombings in the country and the lawyer community baying for his blood.

The genesis of the operation to oust militants from Lal Masjid, situated within the heart of Islamabad, was centred around the abduction of Chinese nationals by the Lal Masjid vigilantes. Even though the Chinese nationals were released by their abductors but the Chinese Minister of Public Security, Zhou Yongkang was livid with the Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao when he visited Beijing.  The Chinese Minister told Sherpao to protect Chinese nationals working in Pakistan. 

And when the patron state, that China is for Pakistan, says something, it is considered an order and Musharraf had no option but to launch the operation to arrest extremists sheltered in the Lal Masjid. But the Lal Masjid operation made Musharraf’s grip on power wobbly as it tore into pieces the fragile understanding between Pakistani intelligence agencies and local extremists within Pakistan.

Musharraf’s tiff with Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was another reason which created trouble for the military dictator. Chaudhary stood up to Musharraf and his military and civilian aides and didn’t resign despite being told to do so. He exhorted the lawyer community to take on the dictator and lawyers came to the streets of Pakistan.

Under pressure, Musharraf was told to leave the post of chief of army staff and remain President of the country only. Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was handpicked by Musharraf to lead the army but the army is the real source of power and once Musharraf left the post of chief of army staff, power shifted to Kayani though he remained loyal to Musharraf always.

Musharraf’s party lost elections in 2008 and traditional foes - Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif came together to impeach Musharraf. He was forced to resign and left the country. He tried to return in 2013 to participate in the elections but was arrested and then allowed to leave the country the next year on medical grounds. And since then he was staying out of Pakistan now only to return one last time.