At around 4:00 pm on October 12, 1999, Pakistan national television broadcast a piece of news that shocked the whole country: Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif dismissed Pakistan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Army Staff Musharraf that morning. . At that time, Musharraf and Sharif had just concluded their state visits to Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates and were on their way back to Islamabad. A huge change is sweeping across Pakistan.
Not long after Prime Minister Sharif announced on TV that he would sack Army Chief of Staff Musharraf, soldiers loyal to Musharraf took advantage of the darkness to launch a bloodless coup. At around 7 p.m., regular troops appeared on the streets of Islamabad, and some soldiers rushed into the Prime Minister's Office. Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen military vehicles drove into the Prime Minister's Office, no one was allowed to enter or leave, and "protective supervision" was implemented on the Prime Minister and other senior government officials. At the same time, the army also controlled important external communication channels such as Pakistan’s national television station and Islamabad International Airport. At this point, all external communication in the capital Islamabad was cut off.
Around three o'clock in the morning the next day, General Musharraf, dressed in military uniform, gave a serious-looking televised speech. He announced: "The Sharif government has been dissolved by the military in order to prevent the situation from deteriorating..." Sharif was dismissed After a year of imprisonment, he reached a settlement with the military, and he and 18 family members were forced to fly into exile in Saudi Arabia. He cried and said goodbye to this "sad place" where he had devoted his life.
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