| abstract | - The 1999 Pakistani coup d'état was a bloodless coup d'état in which the Pakistan Army and then Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Pervez Musharraf, overthrew elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his existing elected government, on 12 October 1999. Two days later, on 14 October 1999, Musharraf declared a state of emergency and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order. The Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the coup to be legal, but ordered that the army rule be limited to three years. Consequently, Musharraf held a national referendum on allowing himself to continue his rule, on 30 April 2002. The referendum, which Musharraf won with almost 98% of the votes in his favour, was alleged by many, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, to be highly fraudulent.
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