He is one of the most despised men in India. He is seen by Indians as a mischievous, dishonest, insincere man who betrayed their country when they offered a hand of genuine friendship to Pakistan in 1999. He is viewed by Indian think-tanks as an untrustworthy ruler who at various times referred to terrorists striking Indian cities as committed freedom fighters.

Mush on Sale, In Delhi's Midland Book Shop

Musharraf of Indian Minds

General Pervez Musharraf is demonized by the Hindu fundamentalists for being the aggressive head of a Muslim Pakistan, disliked by the liberal intelligentsia for hurting the cause of democracy, feared by the Muslim minority for being the unintentional victims of his frequent irresponsible anti-Indian statements, doubted for his true intentions by the defense establishment, and sighed upon by the exasperated Indian leaders for his penchant of offering peace ideas through media than through the diplomatic channels.

For most of the Indians, Mr. Musharraf is also a man who heads a government that shelter and supports the terrorist activities of a man considered to be India's own Osama Bin Laden - a gangster-terrorist called Dawood Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim is believed to have masterminded a series of single-day bomb blasts in the financial hot spots of Bombay in 1993 that left more than three hundred dead and one thousand injured. 'Black Friday' remains the worst terrorist attack in India's history. It was South Asia's very own 9/11!

General Pervez Musharraf is a man whom Indians love to hate.

Hate That Helps the Hateful

On the closing of the second day of the release of Mr. Musharraf's memoirs, the day his autobiography climbed to No. 2 on Amazon.com, it had already swept the Delhi bookshops clean. Eight thousand copies were imported into India and all were sold out or booked in advance by the day's end. Four thousand more copies have been ordered by the publishers Simon and Schuster. Normally the company brings around two thousand copies of a new hardcover book into India.

The publisher is also producing a Hindi print run of five thousand copies for the first time. The Hindi translation is to be called Agnipath which happens to be the title of an iconic film starring Amitabh Bachchan - Bollywood's biggest movie star.

Sorry, It's Sold Out

Many Indian prime ministers, presidents and army chiefs, after retiring from their posts, have written autobiographies, poetry and reminiscences. But no one managed to create as much hype as Mr. Musharraf has done in the space of a week. A week so Musharraf-infested that he was merely a switch away from a TV remote and only an ear-shot away from cafe conversations.