 General Musharraf - came to power as head of the army |
The period since Pakistan's army chief took power in a coup in Pakistan in 1999 has seen dramatic upheavals.
Gen Pervez Musharraf seized power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promising to bring "true" democracy, law and order and economic revival to Pakistan.
The early years of his rule were also dominated by questions of foreign policy, particularly tensions with India over Kashmir.
Then came the events of 11 September 2001 that became the defining feature of his presidency, leading to a dramatic change in Pakistan's relations with the rest of the world. It became a country in the forefront of President George W Bush's "war on terror".
Suicide bombings
Such a course inevitably meant that President Musharraf would end up clashing with Islamic militants in his country sympathetic to the Taleban and al-Qaeda.
Perhaps the most powerful manifestation of this change of direction came in July 2007, when the president ordered his security forces to storm the Red Mosque with its adjacent Islamic school in Islamabad, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people.
Clerics and students of the mosque were accused of waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to enforce strict Sharia law in Pakistan's capital.
In the weeks after the mosque was seized, clashes between soldiers and Islamic militants in the country's northern tribal regions escalated and suicide bombings - a rarity in Pakistan - became more commonplace.
In recent months, President Musharraf has not just been challenged by Islamist hardliners, however.
His decision to suspend the country's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, in March 2007 backfired seriously. The move triggered huge protests across the length of the country against his perceived flouting of the rule of law.
Such was the level of dissent over the decision that the president was forced to back down and reinstate Mr Chaudhry in July.
Gen Musharraf's oft-stated desire to remain head of the army while simultaneously being president of Pakistan was then challenged in the courts.
Although he was elected to a new term as president by the four provincial assemblies and both houses of parliament in October, the result has still to be validated by the Supreme Court.
Before the vote, the president's lawyers said he would stand down as army chief once re-elected.
President Musharraf's position has been so weakened in recent months that speculation is rife that he may try to reach some form of political accommodation with exiled Pakistan People's Party leader, Benazir Bhutto, which remains the most popular political grouping in the country. But so far both sides say that no agreement has been reached.
The latest uncertainty and violence is in contrast to the peaceful way in which the man who was shunned as a dictator by many in the West after his bloodless coup became, almost overnight, a pivotal player on the world stage as Washington realised it needed the cooperation of Pakistan in order to defeat the Taleban.
Pakistan had previously been one of only three countries to recognise the Taleban diplomatically and had been accused of playing a pivotal role in its early development.
The president has often been described as walking a tightrope as he has sought to balance demands from the US to crack down on extremism in Pakistan and the demands from an increasingly vocal, and anti-American, Islamist constituency.
Humanitarian tragedy
At least tensions with nuclear rival India have lowered since the two countries began peace talks in early 2004.
Relations had worsened after an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi in December 2001. India blamed terrorists sponsored by Pakistan - an allegation denied by Pakistan.
By the summer of 2002 the two countries appeared to be on the brink of war with over a million troops massed along both sides of the Line of Control that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Tension has also recurred with neighbouring Afghanistan. Afghan officials have increasingly accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stem the movement of militants sympathetic to al-Qaeda and the Taleban across the border into Afghanistan.
Pakistan counters that it has sent its troops into the tribal regions of Waziristan to target al -Qaeda and Taleban fighters for the first time in the history of Pakistan.
Gen Musharraf is also engaged on another front against nationalists in the province of Balochistan who accuse the government of exploiting the region's natural resources but neglecting its development.
Gen Musharraf also had to cope with a humanitarian tragedy in October 2005 as a massive earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
More than 73,000 people died and three million were made homeless as a result of the quake.
Turning around the decline in economic growth was part of President Musharraf's promise on assuming power.
And he has overseen an improvement in economic growth, receiving praise from international institutions for the introduction of economic reforms. Poverty has also fallen somewhat.
But there are still major questions ahead, not least about how the country is governed.
Another of President Musharraf's promises on assuming office was to devolve power to the grassroots and improve accountability.
'Failed state'
The Delhi-born son of an Urdu-speaking family that migrated to Pakistan after the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 has survived numerous assassination attempts and plots - the latest in December 2003.
But he is facing an increasing number of challenges on the domestic front - especially rising prices of fuel and food.
Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims also simmers on.
Pakistan today sits in the shadow of an increasingly blossoming relationship between the US and India, its battle against militancy continues unabated and it was recently labelled in an American study as a "failed state".
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