Musharraf in chopper

Corcoran:  Above the plains of the Punjab he surveys his realm.

Musharraf:  The people were seeing darkness all around. We have now shown them light. We are seeing light.

Corcoran:  General Pervez Musharraf - commander of a half million man army with nuclear weapons. He's now headed into an uncertain future as ruler of a nation facing economic and political collapse. To lead - when so many others have failed - and paid with their lives.

For the man who seized a nation, it's a glorious crusade - even his mother is prepared for the ultimate sacrifice.

ZAREEN MUSHARRAF (MOTHER):  He must do his best for his country -

00.10

00.15

00.24

00.45

00.54

ZAREEN MUSHARRAF

to his last drop of his blood. I would be proud of his achievements - if God forbid - he has to die for the country, I'll be happy.

Corcoran:  So just who is Pervez Musharraf - the man behind the army behind the bomb?

01.15

Drive by parliament/convoy

Corcoran:  The gates to Pakistan's Parliament are locked. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his advisers, under arrest.

01.33

The Prime ministerial motorcade has a new passenger.

The Prime ministerial residence: a new tenant.

01.51

01.57

Musharraf getting out/

lots of salutes

Already General Musharraf looks comfortable in the job. After all - the Army's had plenty of practice - ruling Pakistan for half its 52 year history.

02.03

Musharraf walks into building

There's no timetable for return to civilian rule.  No apologies for overthrowing a democratically elected government.

02.16

Musharraf

Super:

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF

MUSHARRAF:  Unfortunately the previous government had brought the country to the brink of economic disaster. There was no constitutional solution as such to the ills of the country, to the problems that the country was facing, and therefore this spontaneous response by the people and the army, of action against the government, of throwing the government out.

02.24

Convoy

Gen. Musharraf picks up shovel - turns the official sod of earth. Cheering workers.

Soldiers/along side villager's digging/driving tractors.

Villager/Musharraf

Music

Corcoran:   The coup leader is enjoying a honeymoon with the people of Pakistan, who for now  see the military as their nation's last chance.

He maybe a soldier, but he shows a politician's instinct for pleasing the masses.

General Musharraf's put his army to work - repairing and de-silting thousands of kilometres of irrigation canals.

These waterways, vital for this largely agricultural economy, have been neglected by successive governments.

VILLAGER:  Can a law be made forcing the Canal Department to do the cleaning itself, without  the army?

Musharraf: There is a law. They've been getting money every year... a third of that money is for cleaning canals --  but they're fraudulent in mind and spirit. There's a problem - they've got the money, they have to work - if they don't, they're betraying the country

Music

03.09

03.24

03.32

03.47

03.56

Men dancing for General

Corcoran:  Democracy Pakistan-style was in reality, feudal rule by a handful of families.

04.22

Until now there's been to little to celebrate. Under previous governments corruption was endemic, and cronies looted state coffers with impunity.

With half the country's 140 million people still without clean drinking water, it's little wonder they view Musharraf as a hero.

04.29

MUSHARRAF on megaphone to crowd

MUSHARRAF:  This year, canal clearing received only half the money - but twice as much work was done, compared to last year!

Crowd; Long live Pakistan! Long live Pakistan Army!

Lahore fort

MUSIC

Corcoran:  Lahore's Mogul Fort - symbol of Islam's 16^th century conquest of Hindu India. A relic of a martial and often violent past.

Now bizarre new structures dot the landscape.

Looking like something out of a theme park, fibreglass reconstructions of the mountain where Pakistan held its underground atomic tests.   Replica nuclear missiles standing like  monuments to a war yet to be fought.

Political analyst Ahmed Rashid, who declined an offer to join Musharraf's team as a foreign policy adviser, says a dangerous course has been set.

05.23

05.54

Ahmed Rashid and Corcoran

AHMED RASHID:  Well the former government of Nawaz Sharif, you know, tried to inculcate a kind of nuclear culture that Pakistan has strength and prowess and can confront India.

So these monuments were set up all over the country in every centre of every city - and it's been very disturbing to a lot of people, because it's trying to prove that, you know, the country just needs a nuclear bomb, it doesn't need anything else to progress and develop,

06.00

Musharraf walks across garden to squash court, flanked by commando with machine gun.

Musharraf prepares for squash game

Corcoran:  The General  portrays himself as a man with western sensibilities.

He enjoys the occasional drink, night on the town - and game of squash.

06.28

06.34

 Corcoran:   So General, are you playing to win?

MUSHARRAF:  Yes always play to win (laughs).

Musharraf plays squash

Corcoran:  In one sense he's also playing to his friends and supporters, the Americans and the British, to reassure them that this nuclear power is in safe pro-western hands.

The firm hands of a benevolent dictator with a corporate ethos.   A self styled Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Incorporated.

06.49

07.03

General Musharraf after squash game

 Corcoran:    You call yourself Chief Executive - why is that, why is that corporate title?

MUSHARRAF:  I think that is for your consumption - may I say. It's a very palatable name instead of a chief martial law administrator, which is rather draconian in concept, and in name. I want to give it a civil façade.

07.17

07.23

RASHID

AHMED RASHID: He is limited, I think he is limited intellectually. Perhaps, you know, his instincts I think are very good for what he wants for Pakistan - but I think perhaps what he lacks is a vision of how to implement that or a vision of what kind of future Pakistan should have or what he should build.

07.43

Musharraf at wedding.

Corcoran:  These are the people General Musharraf describes as his constituency. Tonight, he's special guest at the wedding of a fellow general's son.

Another 30 generals look on, now mingling with the captains of  industry - at least, those whose business empires haven't collapsed with the Pakistan  economy.

Unlike the soldiers, they're not so reticent when it comes to challenging the Chief Executive when he makes a pitch for business support.

08.09

08.32

Musharraf with businessmen

Musharraf:  We have all the resources... we've got energy, we've got water, we've got land, we've got natural resources, we've got dynamic manpower - now what is the problem? Where lies the problem?

Businessman: It's the co-ordination sir - the problem is a lack of confidence.

08.40

08.50

Corcoran:  In Pakistan, the distinction between the military, politics and big business has long been blurred -- in the past they've all lined their pockets.

FX:  Hubbub

Musharraf leaves wedding

Corcoran:  Musharraf has promised to stamp out corruption.  He claims the master of profitable politics was Nawaz Sharif and his family.

09.14

Corcoran drives to Sharif compound

Corcoran:  We're invited to hear the other side of the story at the vast Sharif family compound near Lahore, where the Prime Minister's male relatives have been under house arrest since the coup.  Guards who once protected the first family now serve as jailers.

09.30

MEETING MARIAM AT DOORWAY

Corcoran:  Hello how are you I'm Mark Corcoran.

MARIAM: I'm Mariam, I'm the elder daughter of the deposed Prime Minister. I would rather say not deposed -- he is the Prime Minister.

Corcoran:   How do you do?

MARIAM:  Hello.

Corcoran:  Mariam has become the champion of her father's cause.

While he languishes in a Karachi jail cell between court appearances - Mariam's husband, and other family members are held - without charge - just a stone's throw away.

10.00

10.05

MARIAM

MARIAM:  I can smell the danger - but whose at the wrong side?  Not my father. Ultimately General Musharraf is going to be the problem - it's not us.

10.16

He says that he's not vindictive - what is this? This is all his personal vendetta against Nawaz Sharif - nothing else. Otherwise, okay, if he has imprisoned Nawaz Sharif for no reason,  why are all the other family members - why are they suffering?

10.25

Mariam's kids in lounge room  kiss Nawaz's photo

Corcoran:  Few outside the Sharif family feel such affection for the man Mariam's children know only as grandfather.

10.47

Musharraf  with family/family photos

Corcoran:   There's another family that knows only too well that had the coup failed the roles may well have been reversed.

The Musharraf family is typical of Pakistan's elite.  Well educated, well travelled.

They arrived in Pakistan as refugees - fleeing a privileged life in Delhi amid the sectarian bloodshed that followed the partition of the British Raj into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu dominated India.

10.58

11.17

ZAREEN MUSHARRAF.

ZAREEN MUSHARRAF  (MOTHER):  We left everything there in '47 when came here after partition. We started from scratch, we left everything, we had to run for our lives .

11.31

Cadets on parade ground.

Military music

Corcoran:  Young Pervez always knew he was going to  be a soldier.

But it was glamour rather than idealism or revenge that drew him to the ranks of the army.

12.01

MUSHARRAF

MUSHARRAF.:  When I was a child in Turkey, my father was in the Pakistan Embassy in Turkey. we had two defence attaches who used to wear these beautiful glamorous uniforms. I always used to look at them and I was extremely impressed by their smartness, and that was the time I also thought I must wear such uniforms. That was one issue - other than that my mother always thought that I am the type who should go into the army.

12.17

Soldiers on parade

MUSIC

Corcoran:  He entered a world that cherished the trappings of the past.

The British Raj was still alive and well at the Pakistan Military Academy.

Officers were gentlemen, and gentlemen played polo.

Equally at ease on the battlefield and at the dinner table.  Manners were as important as tactics.

Today, the academy takes great pride in the most famous graduate of the class of '64.

12.54

12.59

13.04

13.10

13.20

Colonel reading from yearbook

COLONEL:  And here is a yearbook which reads; Pervez Musharraf has the habit of splitting hairs, had a liking for drill and assault course, a dozen oranges in the morning, extra butter at breakfast, raw eggs and milk at night, help Pervez to maintain a ‘cavalry figure'. Quite a guy to be with - especially when in a fix.'

13.27

Cadets training

Corcoran:  But appearances are deceptive. The Academy has undergone radical change since Pervez Musharraf's days.

Most of the so-called cavalry figures have since faded away.

Cadets no longer train for military campaigns - but for jihad. holy war.

GUNFIRE

13.58

Rifle training

Corcoran:  These days few officers are from the elite families. Increasingly they're drawn from the Madrassa's - religious schools that preach Islamic fundamentalism and the liberation of Indian held Kashmir.

14.20

RASHID

Super:

Ahmed Rashid

Political Analyst

AHMED RASHID:   There has been a phenomenal growth of Islamic fundamentalism within the military and this is reflected now even within the senior officers who are in General headquarters, and I think, you know, there are senior officers who are extremely close to the fundamentalist groups of Pakistan, would like to see a much more Islamic Pakistan.

14.35

Faisal mosque exterior

CALL TO PRAYER

14.55

Faisal mosque interior

Corcoran:  Islamabad's Faisal mosque - the largest in Pakistan.

Attending prayers, the nation's elite --  professionals, generals, bureaucrats, diplomats from Islamic countries.

15.07

Mujahadeen spruikers fundraising

Outside, the fundraising stalls of the so-called mujahadeen - Islamic fundamentalist groups waging a guerrilla war against India in Kashmir. The United States claims they're covertly bankrolled by Pakistan military intelligence.

15.27

Mujahadeen with megaphone

Mujahadeen with megaphone:  Kashmir is a war in defence of Pakistan. Kashmir is a war to terminate the idol worshippers. Kashmir is a war to install the rule of Allah.

Mujahadeen

Corcoran:  Among the stalls, young fighters from Harkut ul Mujahadeen, declared a terrorist organisation by the U.S. for its links to alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden - who stands accused of masterminding the bombings of two American embassies in Africa.

16.07

Corcoran:   Who is your leader?

HARKAT MUJ:   Osama bin Laden,

16.25

Poster

Corcoran:  Can you tell me what this says?

HARKAT MUJ:  Have faith in God - fight the Holy War alongside the prophet.

Corcoran:  It's this scene that sends the Americans into a rage. They demand Musharraf ban the groups.

But it's something he dares not do. The fundamentalists are hugely popular here, tapping into a nationalist sentiment that Kashmir is Pakistani.

16.52

MUSHARRAF

MUSHARRAF:  And we would like to resolve this issue.

Corcoran:  Publicly at least, all General Musharraf does is deny the obvious.

17.03

MUSHARRAF:  First of all we wouldn't like to have Osama bin Laden in Pakistan - why would he come to Pakistan? I wouldn't like to have him here at all.

Corcoran:  His group operates quite openly here at mosques though.

MUSHARRAF: No, the group doesn't operate in Pakistan.

17.10

17.19

Corcoran:  Now, there are growing fears that the army has unleashed forces it no longer controls.

RASHID

AHMED RASHID:  They really have an almost kind of different agenda. It's a much more Islamic agenda rather than, if you like, a Kashmiri nationalist agenda. And I think a lot of these groups are out of hand. I don't think they're being controlled by anyone.

17.29

Night rime exterior Musharraf home.

Corcoran:  Late night finds General Musharraf at home in his study, reviewing his secret daily briefing. Kashmir dominates his agenda. 

He's fought there, and is in no mood to give ground to the Indians.

17.43

17.57

MUSHARRAF in study

 MUSHARRAF:  Because there's a total genocide going on in Kashmir! They are killing the civilians!. They were killing them right from the beginning. They have 600 thousand troops in Kashmir! What for? To subjugate them - to terrorise them. They have risen - the people of Kashmir have risen against the Indians. They don't want the Indians there.

Music

18.02

Kashmir mountains in distance

Corcoran:  To find out what's happening with Pakistan's Kashmir jihad you need drive only three hours from the General's home. At independence in 1947, Kashmir's Hindu leader chose to join India, against the wishes of his predominantly Muslim subjects. Pakistan and India have since fought two major wars for control of the state

With another  missile monument aimed up the valley towards the Indians, local sentiments are clear.

18.28

18.58

Corcoran:  The Indians have the advantage - occupying the snow capped peaks. But it poses no problem for a young officer instilled with the spirit of jihad.

19.10

OFFICER:  As far as being a Muslim, if we die here we don't say that we die here -- we say we are shaheed. Shaheed...you can say it's an honour -- it's an honour for us --whenever we see that anyone has been martyred and he has got ‘shahadat' -- we say, like... ‘God should have given this to us - why to that person?'

19.21

Captain in trench briefing men.

Corcoran:  In sub zero temperatures, the captain readies his men for another border patrol on the mountain tracks.

19.53

Pakistan patrol on mountain track.

Corcoran:  But the only strangers they are likely to encounter are the Mujahadeen  - crossing over to launch guerrilla raids in Indian held territory.

20.04

Chiqoti

As snow shrouds the frontline, we descend to the village of Chiqoti, right on the firing line. 

Last year alone, 45 villagers were killed by Indian fire, with many more wounded.

20.16

Villager

VILLAGER:  Twenty-four hours a day - this place is just a shooting range for hunters because of the firing. Just the other day a woman around the corner was martyred. In 10-12 years, there hasn't been a single day without shooting.

20.36

Soldiers at Army headquarters greet Musharraf for prayers

CALL TO PRAYER

Corcoran:  Special Friday prayers are being offered at army headquarters.

21.03

MUSHARRAF:  I'm not a very religious person at all. I wouldn't like to exaggerate this aspect. I'm moderately, very moderately religious.

21.08

Corcoran:  He may not be that religious, but Pervez Musharraf still comes to offer thanks and seek guidance.

Politics here is a dangerous business. Of Pakistan's last four leaders, two died violent deaths, a third lives in exile and Nawaz Sharif may soon hang.

21.21

21.28

Commandos outside tent /Musharraf hands outstretched

bowing in prayer.

The guards face outwards, but some of General Musharraf's toughest foes - fundamentalist officers - are inside the tent, watching and waiting.

For now at least, the fate of Pakistan, and possibly this entire dangerously destabilised region, is in the hands of this one man.

21.43

21.55

Ends 22'10''