Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has been named as one of the world's worst dictators by US-based news magazine Parade.
The publication, which gets distributed with every newspaper in the US, ranked Musharraf as 17th in its list of dictators. The magazine said it produces such an annual list 'to remind people of those heads of states who terrorise and abuse the rights of their own people.'
Last year, the magazine had ranked Musharraf as 7th in the world's 10 worst dictators list.
Explaining the change in rankings, the magazine said 'the General had slipped out of the top 10 not because his conduct had improved but because other dictators had got worst.
The Top-10 list is headed by Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, followed by Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, Than Shwe of Burma, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Hu Jintao of China, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Samparmurat Niyazov of Turkmentistan, Sayyed Ali Khamanei of Iran and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.
Writing about the Pakistan President, the publication said," General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup that overthrew an elected government. He appointed himself President of Pakistan in 2001 and then attempted to legitimise his rule by staging an election in 2002. However, the election did not come close to meeting international standards."
"Musharraf agreed to step down as head of the military but then changed his mind, claiming that the nation needed to unify its political and military elements, and that he could provide this unity," it added.
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